1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910784723603321

Autore

Mielke Jeff

Titolo

The emergence of distinctive features [[electronic resource] /] / Jeff Mielke

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford ; ; New York, : Oxford University Press, 2008

ISBN

1-383-03472-9

1-281-34145-2

9786611341459

0-19-152594-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (299 p.)

Collana

Oxford linguistics

Oxford studies in typology and linguistic theory

Disciplina

414

Soggetti

Distinctive features (Linguistics)

Innateness hypothesis (Linguistics)

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Preface; List of figures and tables; Abbreviations; 1 Natural classes and distinctive features in phonology; 2 Phonetic and psycholinguistic evidence; 3 Survey methods; 4 Ambivalent segments; 5 Emergent feature theory; 6 General survey results; 7 Survey results in terms of feature theories; 8 The emergence of linguistic structure; Appendix A: Languages in the survey; Appendix B: Detailed survey results; Appendix C: Detailed phonetic similarity results; References; Language Index; Feature index; Index

Sommario/riassunto

Jeff Mielke presents the results of a crosslinguistic survey of natural classes of distinctive features covering almost six hundred of the world's languages drawn from a variety of different families. In doing so he systematically tests the supposition that features are innate and universal rather than learned and language-specific. - ;This book makes a fundamental contribution to phonology, linguistic typology, and the nature of the human language faculty. Distinctive features in phonology distinguish one meaningful sound from another. Since the mid-twentieth century they have been seen as a