1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910816945703321

Autore

Kazmierski Kamil

Titolo

Vowel-shifting in the English language : an evolutionary account / / Kamil Kaźmierski

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berlin : , : De Gruyter Mouton, , [2015]

©2015

ISBN

3-11-036609-6

3-11-039434-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (234 p.)

Collana

Topics in English Linguistics, , 1434-3452 ; ; volume 88

Classificazione

830.2

Disciplina

427.009

Soggetti

English language - Vowels - History

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 index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Abbreviations and Symbols -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Informal outline -- 3. Data and previous accounts -- 4. Theoretical framework -- 5. The full account -- 6. Concluding remarks -- Appendix 1: Comparison to other languages -- Appendix 2: Chart of vocalic changes -- Appendix 3: Materials used for recordings -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

English has long been suspected to be a vowel-shifting language. This hypothesis, often only adumbrated in previous work, is closely investigated in this book. Framed within a novel framework combining evolutionary linguistics and Optimality Theory, the account proposed here argues that the replacement of duration by quality as the primary cue to signaling vowel oppositions has resulted in the ‘shiftiness’ of many post-medieval English varieties.