Against Formal Phonology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2961100 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert F Port (Indiana University), Adam P Leary (Indiana University) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 81 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 927-964 |
| Publication date | 2005-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0097-8507 • E-ISSN: 1535-0665 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/lan.2005.0195 |
| OpenAlex | W2067965259 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 68 |
| References cited | 89 |
Chomsky and Halle (1968) and many formal linguists rely on the notion of a universally available phonetic space defined in discrete time. This assumption plays a central role in phonological theory. Discreteness at the phonetic level guarantees the discreteness of all other levels of language. But decades of phonetics research demonstrate that there exists no universal inventory of phonetic objects. We discuss three kinds of evidence: first, phonologies differ incommensurably. Second, some phonetic characteristics of languages depend on intrinsically temporal patterns, and, third, some linguistic sound categories within a language are different from each other despite a high degree of overlap that precludes distinctness. Linguistics has mistakenly presumed that speech can always be spelled with letter-like tokens. A variety of implications of these conclusions for research in phonology are discussed
Linguistics · Phonetics · Phonology · Theoretical linguistics · Variety (cybernetics · Computer Science · Language and cultural evolution · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence · Philosophy
Sequential structure and diachronic assimilation in signed languages
Language and Languaging from a Phonetic Point of View
Incomplete neutralization and the blueprint model of production
Generalization Beyond Similarity
Perception, Processing and Storage of Subphonemic and Extralinguistic Features in Spoken Word Recognition - An Argument from Language Variation and Change
From hiatus to diphthong
Perspectives on final laryngeal neutralisation
Place assimilation and phonetic grounding
The blueprint model of production
Phonetically incomplete neutralisation can be phonologically complete
The Discriminative Lexicon
La nueva lingüística del habla
Canonical phonology and criterial conflicts
Language learning as uncertainty reduction
Sounds like a dynamic system
The role of discourse context frequency in phonological variation
Language, languaging, and the Extended Mind Hypothesis
Documenting the acquisition of indigenous languages
A Typological Approach to Child Language Research – The Case of Whole-Word Phonology
How children learn to communicate discriminatively
Dismantling the universal prosodic hierarchy with possible evidence for the absence of syllables
Linguistics in Cognitive Science
Against stored abstractions
Testing Theories of Linguistic Constituency with Configural Learning
Across-Language Perspective on Speech Information Rate
Irregularity and sound change in signed and spoken languages
Phoneme inventory size and population size
Floating yet grounded
Phonetic Segments and the Organization of Speech
Akustische Analysen zur koartikulatorischen Beeinflussung des frikativischen Teils stimmloser Plosive im Deutschen und im Bulgarischen
Fine-grained and probabilistic cross-linguistic influence in the pronunciation of cognates
Degemination in Hungarian
Implications of learning models for linguistic theory
We Don't Know What We Become
Uma Proposta Sobre a Coda Do Português Brasileiro a Partir Da Fonologia Gestual, Com Foco Especial Na Nasal
Representações Mentais Na Aquisição Da Linguagem Oral E Escrita
Effects of Acquisition Rate on Emergent Structure in Phonological Development
Segmental phonology in Ancient India
Speech as the Perception of Affordances
Language as a Social Institution
Language and other complex behaviors
Conceptualist semantics
Phonological Knowledge and Speech Comprehension
Forensic Transcription
Generalization to Novel Consonants
Why underlying representations
On the Role of Variables in Phonology
Variable Velic Movement in Karitiâna
Embodied Cognition is Not What you Think it is
The Acquisition of Morphophonology
Pre-established categories don't exist
Righting language
Ecolinguistics
Are languages digital codes
On languaging and languages
How spoken languages work in the absence of an inventory of discrete units
Rich memory and distributed phonology
CLASSIC Utterance Boundary
Neutralisation and contrast preservation
Selection and coordination
Using meta-analysis for evidence synthesis
Spirantization in Spanish
Assessing incomplete neutralization of final devoicing in German
Imperceptible incomplete neutralization
The genetic matrix of Mayan applicative acquisition
Incomplete devoicing in formal phonology
Comparative concepts and descriptive categories in crosslinguistic studies
The art of failure in translating a Navajo poem
Artificial Intelligence
Natural-Born Cyborgs
The Linguistics of Literacy
A Thematic Guide to Optimality Theory
Papers in Laboratory Phonology
Probabilistic Linguistics
Phonology and Language Use
Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure
Connectionism and cognitive architecture
Exemplar dynamics
Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/
Echoes of echoes? An episodic theory of lexical access.
Computer science as empirical inquiry
Linguistic uses of segmental duration in English
Articulatory Phonology
On the ‘Incomplete Neutralization’ of German Final Obstruents
Vowel Length Variation as a Function of the Voicing of the Consonant Environment
Speech Perception in Infants
Duration of Syllable Nuclei in English
Alcove
Perception of the speech code.
Word-specific phonetics
Cross-language speech perception
"Schema abstraction" in a multiple-trace memory model.
The dynamics of attending
The sounds of the world's languages
Current Issues in Linguistic Theory
The Sounds of English and German
Being There
A Phonetic Study of West African Languages
The Structure of Language
Some Effects of Context On Voice Onset Time in English Stops
Voicing” in English
The discreteness of phonetic elements and formal linguistics
Variation and universals in VOT
Variable domains and variable relevance
The three degrees of vowel length in German
On the Acoustic Basis of the Perception of Intonation by Linguists
On the neutralizing status of Polish word-final devoicing
Segmental features and implementation in acquisition of English by Arabic speakers
Roles and representations of systematic fine phonetic detail in speech understanding
Incomplete neutralization and other sub-phonemic durational differences in production and perception
"On the notion of "possible speech sound
A letter from an incompletely neutral phonologist
Dental flaps, vowel duration and rule ordering in American English
Neutralization of syllable-final voicing in German
Meter and speech
On the quantal nature of speech
On attributing grammars to dynamical systems
Effects of temporal correction on intelligibility of foreign-accented English
Rhythmic constraints on stress timing in English
Resonant neural dynamics of speech perception
The Social Motivation of a Sound Change
On the structure of the phonetic space with special reference to speech timing
A Cross-Language Study of Voicing in Initial Stops
What Are Linguistic Sounds Made of
Is There a Universal Phonetic Alphabet
Phonetic and Phonological Representation of Stop Consonant Voicing
Distinctive Features and Laryngeal Control
Word Frequency and the Actuation of Sound Change
Quality of American English front vowels before /r
| Unique citing works | 68 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,42 |
| Citation span | 1978 - 2026 (49) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 58 |