Vowel-Shifting in the English Language : : An Evolutionary Account / / Kamil Kaźmierski.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus DeG Package 2015 Part 1
• VerfasserIn: Kaźmierski, Kamil,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter Mouton, , [2015]; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL] , 88
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (222 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- 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