The purpose of this meta-synthesis is to formulate a hypothesis concerning the importance of diacritical marks in Arabic word recognition for typically developed Arabic readers. I propose that the importance of diacritical marks in Arabic word recognition varies as a function of grade level, stimuli frequency, and text affiliation. Stimuli…

Since the colonization of the Americans, Filipinos have been using English as their second language and have been accustomed to using the language alongside local languages. The centuries of the extensive contact between American English and Filipino language raises questions pertaining language change and language identity. This paper reports the…

Describes the Torus Model of phonological space, which illustrates the usefulness of distinctive feature theory. (AM)

This study of linguistic change is done within the "dynamic paradigm" of linguistic description, in which the strict dichotomy between diachronic and synchronic linguistics found in "static paradigms" is not maintained. The chief purpose here is to indicate how rate could be built into a linguistic description of sound change, such change being…

Presents a five-step phonological analysis which relies on experimental phonetics. (AM)

The major consonant assimilation processes occurring in Classical and Colloquial Arabic are listed (classified as progressive or regressive, partial or complete), and an autosegmental analysis is performed on them. It is argued, on the basis of the autosegmental approach to the underlying representation of segments and to the application of…

IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES THE TECHNIQUE OF COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS (TAKEN FROM THE FIELD OF FORMAL SEMANTICS) IS APPLIED TO A SET OF TERMS WHICH FORM A CULTURALLY RELEVANT DOMAIN. THIS METHOD PROCEEDS BY RECOGNIZING SEMANTIC DISTINCTIONS (COMPONENTS) WHICH APPORTION THE TERMS OF THE SET INTO CONTRASTING SUB-SETS SUCH THAT EVERY ITEM IS…

THE BINARY PRINCIPLE OF DISTINCTIVE FEATURE ANALYSIS IS CONSIDERED UNECONOMICAL FOR FORMULATION OF THE RULES FOR VOWEL COMBINATION IN SPANISH. CLASSIFICATORY FEATURES IN A TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR ARE ALL BINARY. HOWEVER, STRICT ADHERENCE TO DISTINCTIVE FEATURE ANALYSIS IS CONSIDERED UNECONOMICAL FOR FORMULATION OF RULES FOR VOWEL COMBINATION…

In Quiegolani Zapotec (QZ), a language spoken by approximately 3,000 people in Oaxaca, Mexico, words contain minimal consonant clusters of two or even three consonants, and most of these clusters show a decreasing scope of sonority. This violates sonority constraints proposed by Greenberg (1978) and further discussed by Bell and Saka (1983). QZ,…

Presents arguments to disprove the thesis that "the phoneme is a bundle of distinctive features." (RM)

This paper examines the distinction between primary and secondary articulations of consonants. It shows that the description and classification of speech sounds should not be based on physical parameters alone. Some essential distinctions reveal themselves only inferentially through the relation of a sound to others in the language system.…

Presents a "phonetological" approach for the improvement of the phonetic transcription of English, in order to account for certain distinctions in the language not currently rendered due to phonemic influence on phonetic transcription. (AM)

Criticizes Chomsky's theory of the syllabic feature as a major class feature in The Sound Pattern of English'' (New York, Harper and Row, 1968). (RS)

Revised version of a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Atlanta, Georgia, December 27-29, 1972. (DD)

Outlines a hierarchical model of acquisition of second-language phonology, based on the scrutinization of contexts and evocation of appropriate rules through contact situations in which a conflict emerges between the native and target phonologies. (23 references) (Author/CB)