Cover not available
Part of
Essays on Linguistic Realism
Edited by Christina Behme and Martin Neef
[Studies in Language Companion Series 196] 2018
► pp. 185–202

Chapter 7
Autonomous Declarative Phonology

A realist approach to the phonology of German

| TU Braunschweig
In the paradigm of Linguistic Realism, phonology deals with abstract objects. Consequently, phonological units cannot be derived from phonetics as the material side of speech production and reception. I suggest a theoretical approach that conceives of phonology as autonomous from phonetics; hence Autonomous Declarative Phonology. The central questions of this kind of phonology are: What are the phonological elements of a specific language system (in particular: German)? How can these phonological elements be combined in the language under analysis? I give a definition of what phonology is and show how individual phonological units can be motivated. In order to give a model-theoretic reconstruction of phonological sequences, I make reference to the concept of syllable, employing and re-interpreting ideas from generative phonology and other approaches such as hierarchical syllable structure, CV-phonology, and sonority.
Keywords: declarative phonology, minimal pairs, syllable, phonological word, sonority
Article outline
  • 1.Fields of linguistics
  • 2.A theory for languages as abstract objects
  • 3.Autonomous Declarative Phonology
    • 3.1Defining phonology
    • 3.2Determining the set of phonological units
    • 3.3Paradigmatic properties of phonological units
    • 3.4Syntagmatic properties of phonological units
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 26 July 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.196.07nee
References (30)
References
Becker, Thomas. 2012. Einführung in die Phonetik und Phonologie des Deutschen. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Bloomfield, Leonard. 1933. Language. New York: Holt.Google Scholar
Brandão de Carvalho, Joaquim. 2002. Formally-grounded phonology: From constraint-based theories to theory-based constraints. Studia Linguistica 56: 227–263. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Browman, Catherine P. & Goldstein, Louis. 1992. Articulatory phonology: An overview. Phonetica 49: 155–180. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam & Halle, Morris. 1968. The Sound Pattern of English. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1986. Knowledge of Language. New York NY: Praeger.Google Scholar
Clements, George N. & Keyser, Samuel J.. 1983. CV phonology: A Generative Theory of the Syllable [Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 9]. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Coleman, John. 1998. Phonological Representations: Their Names, Forms and Powers [Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 85]. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duden. 2016. Die Grammatik, 9th edn. Mannheim: Dudenverlag.Google Scholar
Hall, T. Alan. 1997. The Phonology of Coronals [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 149]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harris, Zelig S. 1951. Methods in Structural Linguistics. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hjelmslev, Louis. 1961 [1943]. Prolegomena to a Theory of Language. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
[IPA]. 1999. Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Katz, Jerrold J. 1981. Language and Other Abstract Objects. Totowa NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Lieb, Hans Heinrich. 1998. Morph, Wort, Silbe: Umrisse einer Integrativen Phonologie des Deutschen. Germanistische Linguistik 141–142: 344–407.Google Scholar
. 2008. The case for two-level-phonology: German obstruent tensing and nasal alternation in French. In Explorations in Integrational Linguistics [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 285], Robin Sackmann (ed.), 21–96. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Neef, Martin. 1996. Wortdesign: Eine deklarative Analyse der deutschen Verbflexion [Studien zur deutschen Grammatik 52]. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.Google Scholar
. 2004. Segments with inherently falling sonority. Studia Linguistica 58: 252–268. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. Die phonologischen Einheiten des Deutschen aus der Sicht einer Autonomen Deklarativen Phonologie. Linguistische Berichte 202: 207–249.Google Scholar
Neef, Martin & Neugebauer, Moritz. 2002. Beschränkte Korrespondenz: Zur Alternation von Schwa und silbischen Sonoranten im Deutschen. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 21: 234–261. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nespor, Marina & Vogel, Irene. 2007 [1986]. Prosodic Phonology, 2nd edn [Studies in Generative Grammar 28]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Port, Robert F. & Leary, Adam P. 2005. Against formal phonology. Language 81: 927–964. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Prince, Alan & Smolensky, Paul. 1993. Optimality Theory. Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar [Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science Technical Report 2]. Ms, Rutgers University.Google Scholar
Samuels, Bridget D. 2009. The Structure of Phonological Theory. PhD dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
de Saussure, Ferdinand. 1916. Cours de linguistique générale. Paris, Lausanne: Payot.Google Scholar
Scobbie, James M., Coleman, John S. & Bird, Steven. 1996. Key aspects of Declarative Phonology. In Current Trends in Phonology: Models and Methods, Vol. II, Jacques Durand & Bernard Laks (eds), 685–709. Salford: European Studies Research Institute.Google Scholar
Selkirk, Elisabeth. 1984. Phonology and Syntax: The Relationship between Sound and Structure. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Vennemann, Theo. 1982. Zur Silbenstruktur der deutschen Standardsprache. In Silben, Segmente, Akzente, Theo Vennemann (ed.), 261–305. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Vennemann, Theo & Jacobs, Joachim. 1982. Sprache und Grammatik. Grundprobleme der linguistischen Sprachbeschreibung. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Wiese, Richard. 1996. The Phonology of German. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Bérces, Katalin Balogné & Patrick Honeybone
2020. Representation-based models in the current landscape of phonological theory. Acta Linguistica Academica 67:1 ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Nefdt, Ryan M.
2018. Chapter 6. Languages and other abstract structures. In Essays on Linguistic Realism [Studies in Language Companion Series, 196], ► pp. 139 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.