Frequent violation of the sonority sequencing principle in hundreds of languages
How often and by which sequences
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21714432 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ruihua Yin (0000-0001-7064-3114, The University of Queensland, corresponding author), Jeroen Van De Weijer (0000-0003-1473-6505, Shenzhen University , Shenzhen , Guangdong , P.R. China), Erich R Round (The University of Queensland), Erich Round (0000-0002-7533-8052, The University of Queensland) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 381-403 |
| Publication date | 2023-07-26 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Linguistic Typology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1430-0532 • E-ISSN: 1613-415X |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/lingty-2022-0038 |
| OpenAlex | W4315750310 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 66 |
The Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) is a fundamental governing principle of syllable structure; however, its details remain contested. This study aims to clarify the empirical status of the SSP in a cross-linguistic study of 496 languages. We adopt a phonetically-grounded definition of sonority – acoustic intensity – and examine how many languages contain SSP-violating clusters word-initially and word-finally. We consider the treatment of complex segments both as sonority units and as clusters. We find a significant proportion of languages violate the SSP: almost one half of the language sample. We examine which clusters cause the violations, and find a wide range: not only the notorious case of clusters with sibilants, but also with nasals, approximants and other obstruents. Violations in onsets and codas are not symmetrical, especially when complex segments are treated as units. We discuss where existing theoretical accounts of the SSP require further development to account for our crosslinguistic results
Linguistics · Natural language processing · Obstruent · Optimality theory · Phonology · Sonority hierarchy · Syllable · Vowel · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research
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The Handbook of Phonological Theory
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Universals in phonology
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Universals of Prenasalized Consonants
Nasal Consonants and the Internal Structure of Segments
Numerical Simulation of Vowel Quality Systems
Large Linguistic Areas and Language Sampling
Comparability and measurement in typological science
Phonetic analysis in phonological description
Sound level protrusions as physical correlates of sonority
A Metrical Analysis of Primary Stress Placement in Southern East Cree
Placeless and Historical Laryngeals in Yucatec Maya
Automated methods for the investigation of language contact, with a focus on lexical borrowing
Autosegmental Aims in Surface-Optimizing Phonology
The phonology of being understood
The Syllable in Phonological Theory
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| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |