Final Devoicing in the Phonology of German / / Wiebke Brockhaus.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DGBA Linguistics and Semiotics 1990 - 1999
• VerfasserIn: Brockhaus, Wiebke,
• Place / Publishing House: Tübingen : : Max Niemeyer Verlag, , [2012]; ©1995
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Edition: Reprint 2012
• Language: English
• Series: Linguistische Arbeiten , 336
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (273 p.) :; Zahlr. Abb.

Dieses Buch befaßt sich mit der Auslautverhärtung des Deutschen. Insbesondere wird erörtert, wie dieses phonologische Phänomen in einer Theorie zu behandeln ist, die Prinzipien und Parameter anstelle von Regeln einsetzt. Zunächst werden die zu analysierenden Daten aufgeführt, worauf eine eingehende Diskussion früherer Arbeiten zu diesem Thema folgt. Anschließend wird die Rektionsphonologie vorgestellt und eine rektionsphonologische Analyse der Auslautverhärtung entwickelt, die viele der Probleme in früheren Ansätzen löst. Die Auslautverhärtung wird als phonologischer Reduktionsprozeß interpretiert, wobei dem laryngalen Element L (= Stimmhaftigkeit in Obstruenten) die autosegmentale Lizenz entzogen wird. Schließlich wird danach gefragt, ob und in welchem Sinne durch die Auslautverhärtung phonologische Kontraste neutralisiert werden, wie oft in der Literatur angenommen wird.

This book deals with the phonological event of final devoicing in a theoretical framework based on principles and parameters rather than rules. It refers to data coming almost exclusively from German (native and non-native items). The first chapter presents the 'raw facts', providing an outline of the sort of alternations and distributional restrictions on voicing to be accounted for. Previous treatments of final devoicing in German are discussed and evaluated in the second chapter. Chapters 3 and 4 provide an analysis of final devoicing in German couched in the framework of Government Phonology (GP), a phonological theory operating with principles and parameters. Some of the central tenets of GP are introduced at the beginning of chapter 3, and additional concepts of the theory are explained as they become relevant to the discussion of final devoicing. The author argues that final devoicing should be interpreted as a phonological weakening process involving the withdrawal of autosegmental licensing from the laryngeal element L (which represents voicing in obstruents). This occurs in phonologically 'weak' environments, where, due to clearly definable prosodic conditions, only reduced autosegmental licensing potential is available. This analysis, developed with reference to the prestige variety of German (Hochlautung), is then extended to Northern Standard German, and the phonological differences between the two dialects are identified. In the final chapter, the author investigates whether final devoicing results in phonological neutralisation, as is often assumed in the literature. She observes that the GP account developed in chapters 3 and 4 is incompatible with this traditional view. This is desirable, since, among other things, the conflict between earlier phonological analyses and experimental studies of final devoicing can now be resolved.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of contents -- Abbreviations and Notational Conventions -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction and Overview -- 1. The ‘Facts’ of Final Obstruent Devoicing -- 2. 25 Years of FOD: Earlier Approaches from 1968 to 1993 -- 3. What is Final Obstruent Devoicing? A Government Phonology Approach -- 4. Where Does Final Obstruent Devoicing Occur? A Government Phonology Approach -- 5. Final Obstruent Devoicing and Neutralisation -- References