Markedness: Reduction and Preservation in Phonology 1st Edition

Book Name: Markedness: Reduction and Preservation in Phonology 1st Edition
Author: de Lacy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2006
Pages: 466
Language: English
File size: 3383 KB
File format: PDF

Markedness: Reduction and Preservation in Phonology 1st Edition Pdf Book Description:

‘Markedness’ describes this tendency of languages to demonstrate a preference for certain sounds or structures. This bias ‘marked’ components is constant inside and across languages, also tells us a fantastic deal about what languages can and can’t do. This pioneering study presents a revolutionary concept of markedness in phonology. De Lacy asserts that markedness a part of our linguistic competence, and can be set by three contradictory mechanisms in the mind: (a) pressure to keep noticeable sounds (‘preservation’), (b) strain to flip conspicuous noises into unmarked sounds (‘loss’), and (c) a mechanism permitting the differentiation between marked and unmarked seems to be dropped (‘conflation’).

He reveals that because of those mechanics, markedness happens just when preservation is immaterial. Drawing on cases of happenings like epenthesis, neutralisation, assimilation, vowel loss and sonority-driven anxiety, Markedness provides a significant insight into this vital concept in the comprehension of human language.