Primitives of Phonological Structure

Abstract

The primitives of phonological theory—whether we call them features, elements, gestures, or by some other name—stand in some relation to phonetic reality. Although there is consensus about this, there seems to be little agreement about most of the specifics involved. How many features are there? Are they privative or binary? Do segments need to be specified for all features? This book brings together discussions and investigations touching on these pressing and central issues from phonologists working in different traditions ranging from Articulatory Phonology to ‘traditional’ Distinctive Feature Theory to Element Theory, instantiating a wide range of views on the phonological primitives, covering a wide range of methodologies and domains, including experimental work, fieldwork, language acquisition, aphasia, theory-internal concerns, and many more. Through this diversity, the book offers new insights both on the empirical and theoretical side of the primitives, as well as the commonalities and fundamental differences between the various approaches.

Elements, Government, and Licensing

“…The nature of segmental melody was similarly re-evaluated, here leading to a more radical departure from the notion that phonology is really about deriving 'phonetic' representations from more abstract 'phonological' representations (for an overview and current work on debates surrounding the nature of phonological primitives, see also Breit et al 2023), with no significant level of phonetic substance being acknowledged at any level of phonological representation . Instead of the common equipollent articulatory features popularised with The Sound Pattern of English ), melody is represented by combination of more abstract, privative features known as elements, similar but not identical to the privative features found in Dependency Phonology and Particle Phonology .…”

“…Pöchtrager and Kaye 2013). Variation also concerns other matters such as the role of headedness and dependency, the role of substance (see also van 't Veer et al 2023), and representational organisation. For a more in-depth overview of variation within ET see .…”