We propose that the interface between phonology and phonetics is mediated by a transduction process that converts elementary units of phonological computation, features, into temporally coordinated neuromuscular patterns, called ‘True Phonetic Representations’, which are directly interpretable by the motor system of speech production. Our view of the interface is constrained by substance-free generative phonological assumptions and by insights gained from psycholinguistic and phonetic models of speech production. To distinguish transduction of abstract phonological units into planned neuromuscular patterns from the biomechanics of speech production usually associated with physiological phonetics, we have termed this interface theory ‘Cognitive Phonetics’ (CP). The inner workings of CP are described in terms of Marr’s (1982/2010) tri-level approach, which we used to construct a linking hypothesis relating formal phonology to neurobiological activity. Potential neurobiological correlates supporting various parts of CP are presented. We also argue that CP augments the study of certain phonetic phenomena, most notably coarticulation, and suggest that some phenomena usually considered phonological (e.g., naturalness and gradience) receive better explanations within CP.

We argue that the representational primes of the human phonological faculty, the so-called distinctive features, are innate and substance-free. Our arguments for the innateness of features are built on traditional and novel logical arguments, experimental evidence accumulating over recent decades, and somewhat detailed proposals about their neurobiological reality. As symbols in the brain, features are substance-free, that is, they are devoid of articulatory and acoustic content, or even any direct reference to such phenomena. This is consistent with our substance-free conception of phonological computation, an approach that eschews functionalist notions like markedness, ease of articulation, and so on. We also outline a neural model of the phonetics-phonology interface called Cognitive Phonetics, which transduces innate features to speech articulation and from speech acoustics. These extra-grammatical transduction procedures are also part of the human biological endowment, which leaves no room for language-specific phonetics in our theory of the externalization of language. We show how Cognitive Phonetics can account for traditionally recognized intersegmental coarticulation, as well as the previously unexplored intrasegmental coarticulation, strongly suggesting that the basic units of speech production are transduced features.

No abstract

The paper provides a partial phonological and phonetic description of the segmental structure of L2 Telugu English (TE). Previous research on the subject has been carried out in the context of a more general notion of Indian English (IE), so the properties of TE as distinct from other varieties of IE (e.g., Gujarati English) have largely remained unexplored. We have primarily focused on areas that previous research identified as prominent issues in the study of IE: vowel inventory and production, representation and realization of liquids, word-final obstruent phenomena, and allophones of /w/. To account for these aspects of TE, we have combined a generative approach to the study of an individual’s linguistic competence with linguistic fieldwork as a means of collecting first-hand data. On the basis of collected data, we have conducted a spectrographic analysis of TE vowels and a distributional analysis of TE consonants. The paper provides the first description of the acoustic spaces of TE vowels. We found that all vowels except [?] and [i] are more central in TE than in General American English. /r/ was realized as either [r] or [?] without a specific pattern, and occasionally as [?] in the intervocalic position. /l/ was realized as [?] in word-final position and as [l] elsewhere. TE displayed word-final obstruent devoicing for all obstruents except for /b/, which was consistently unreleased. /w/ was realized as [?] before front vowels and as [w] elsewhere. While previous research that concentrated on the broad notion of Indian English recognized the issue of /w/-allophony, it has not provided a principle that governs the exact distribution of /w/’s allophones. By combining the generative framework with linguistic fieldwork, we have accounted for this long-standing puzzle with a single rule: /w/ ? [?] / __ [–CONS, –BACK].

Ovaj članak uvod je u optimalnosnu teoriju i u načela njezine primjene ufonologiji. Optimalnosna teorija (OT) naziv je za teoriju jezika koja se zasniva na interakciji univerzalnih, prekršivih i rangiranih jezičnih ograničenja. Osnovna je ideja optimalnosne teorije da su površinski jezični oblici rezultat razrješavanja konfliktnih zahtjeva kojeim nameću dvije vrste ograničenja: ograničenja vjernosti koja zahtijevaju da površinski oblici budu što sličniji temeljnima te ograničenja obilježenosti koja zahtijevaju da površinski oblici budu što jednostavniji, prirodniji,prototipniji, odnosno što manje obilježeni. Jezični je oblik koji najbolje zadovoljava takva konfliktna ograničenja optimalan. U radu se prikazuju četiri područja. Prvo, optimalnosnu teoriju dovodi se u relaciju s ranijim generativnim modelima te se ističu određeni značajni fonološki problemi, kao što su duplikacija i urote, koji su doveli do preispitivanja derivacijske generativne fonologije i do osnutka fonologije zasnovane na ograničenjima. Drugo, obrazlaže se ustroj gramatike u optimalnosnoj teoriji i definiraju se ključni OT pojmovi kao što su optimalnost, ograničenja, evaluacija i obilježenost. Treće, načela OT gramatike primjenjuju se na raznolik skup segmentnih fonoloških alternacija kao što su jednačenja, ispadanja i umetanja. Četvrto, razmatraju se suprasegmentni procesi kao što su tonske alternacije i sinkope uzrokovane ritmom i prikazuje se njihova analiza u sklopu optimalnosne teorije. Optimalnosna teorija posljednjih je dvadesetak godina dominantan deskriptivni model u svjetskoj fonologiji, a ovim ju radom nastojimo približiti i hrvatskomu jezikoslovlju.