Reduction of Spanish Word-Final /s/ and /n/

1986 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Lipski
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Present Note ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Linear Analysis ◽  
Simple Analysis ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Fundamental Nature ◽  
Spanish Word ◽  
Spanish Phonology

The non-linear analysis of Spanish phonology as proposed by Harris (1984) and others promises to augment the explanatory power of currently available phonological descriptions, and may offer significant insights into the description of phonological differences among dialects. However, the interaction between previously held notions of phonological processes and the new theoretical analysis has not yet been fully explored, and the claim that the latter apparatus must necessarily completely supplant the former is perhaps over ambitious. The present note will deal with competing analyses of two frequent processes in Spanish, velarization of underlying /n/ and aspiration of underlying /s/, both of which have been used in support of the latest theoretical proposals. I will attempt to demonstrate that the data used to formulate these proposals have been excessively idealized. The full range of complexity and variation which surrounds these and similar phenomena necessitates a more ramified analysis, and even an idealization which does not distort the fundamental nature of the two processes casts doubt on the simple analysis suggested as a replacement for orthodox generative and traditional structuralist analyses.

scholarly journals On the mechanical relations of the energy of magnetisation

1916 ◽  
Vol 93 (646) ◽  
pp. 20-27
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Energy Density ◽  
Total Energy ◽  
Present Note ◽  
Dynamical Theory ◽  
Complete Agreement ◽  
Consistent Theory ◽  
Fundamental Nature ◽  
Usual Form ◽  
Consistent Manner

1. There still appears to be some uncertainty in the expression for the total energy of a magnetic field, and the mode of its separation into its fundamental constituents, as belonging to the æther and the matter. This is chiefly due to certain discrepancies of sign which exist in the results of the theory in its statical and dynamical aspects. In the statical theory the energy is usually made to appear as though distributed over the field with the density μ H 2 /8 π , which corresponds to an æthereal density of amount H 2 /8 π , but in the dynamical theory the same expressions are obtained with opposite signs. In some quarters it is considered that there are difficulties of a fundamental nature involved in any attempt to remove this discrepancy, and several authors have tried to construct a more consistent theory on a new basis. The object of the present note is mainly to prove that it is possible to interpret the older and more usual form of the theory in a perfectly logical and consistent manner, so that the aforementioned discrepancy does not even present itself. It is shown that the whole difficulty arises partly from an unfortunate choice of æthereal vector, and partly also in the fact that the usual expression for the energy density in the statical case, although in complete agreement with the proper total, is not the proper expression to use in a consistent theory.

The Reasoned Action Model

2012 ◽  
Vol 640 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Jaccard
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Reasoned Action ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Reasoned Action Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Action Model

The reasoned action model (RAM) of Fishbein and Ajzen has been highly influential in the social and health sciences. This article describes three areas for future research that should expand its explanatory power. One area of research focuses on an idiographic RAM that encourages researchers to pursue the estimation of RAM parameters on a per-individual level rather than through traditional nomothetic modeling. The second area encourages scientists to develop a split-second RAM, that is, a RAM that can provide perspectives on the split-second decisions people make in everyday life. Integration of the RAM with models of working (short-term) memory is stressed. The third area for research encourages scientists to develop a multioption RAM that incorporates and is responsive to the choices that people make when confronted with multiple alternatives. This perspective stresses the need to apply the RAM to the full range of behavioral options that are available to people as they contemplate performing one behavior versus another. Perspectives for theoretical advancement in each area are developed.

Linguistic Meaning Meets Linguistic Form

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Duffley
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Fundamental Relation ◽  
Columbia School ◽  
Linguistic Sign ◽  
Solid Foundation ◽  
Radical Revision

This book steers a middle course between two opposing conceptions that currently dominate the field of semantics, the logical and cognitive approaches. It brings to light the inadequacies of both frameworks, and argues along with the Columbia School that linguistic semantics must be grounded on the linguistic sign itself and the meaning it conveys across the full range of its uses. The book offers 12 case studies demonstrating the explanatory power of a sign-based semantics, dealing with topics such as complementation with aspectual and causative verbs, control and raising, wh- words, full-verb inversion, and existential-there constructions. It calls for a radical revision of the semantics/pragmatics interface, proposing that the dividing-line be drawn between semiologically-signified notional content (i.e. what is linguistically encoded) and non-semiologically-signified notional content (i.e. what is not encoded but still communicated). This highlights a dimension of embodiment that concerns the basic design architecture of human language itself: the ineludable fact that the fundamental relation on which language is based is the association between a mind-engendered meaning and a bodily produced sign. It is argued that linguistic analysis often disregards this fact and treats meaning on the level of the sentence or the construction, rather than on that of the lower-level linguistic items where the linguistic sign is stored in a stable, permanent, and direct relation with its meaning outside of any particular context. Building linguistic analysis up from the ground level provides it with a more solid foundation and increases its explanatory power.

The Phonology of Chichewa

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura J. Downing ◽  
Al Mtenje
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Prosodic Morphology ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Place Assimilation ◽  
Core Issues

Bantu languages have played and continue to play an important role as a source of data illustrating core phonological processes—vowel harmony, nasal place assimilation, postnasal laryngeal alternations, tonal phenomena such as high tone spread and the OCP, prosodic morphology, and the phonology–syntax interface. Chichewa, in particular, has been a key language in the development of theoretical approaches to these phonological phenomena. This book provides thorough descriptive coverage, presented in a clear, atheoretical manner, of the full range of phonological phenomena of Chichewa. Less well-studied topics—such as positional asymmetries in the distribution of segments, the phonetics of tone, and intonation—are also included. The book surveys, where relevant, important recent theoretical approaches to phonological problems—such as vowel harmony, the phonology–syntax interface, focus prosody, and reduplication—where Chichewa data is routinely referred to in the theoretical literature. The book will therefore serve as a resource for phonologists—at all levels and working in different theoretical frameworks—who are interested in the processes discussed. Because many of the phonological processes in Chichewa are conditioned by particular morphological or syntactic contexts, the book should also be of interest to linguists working on the interfaces. As there are almost no other monographs on the phonology of Bantu languages available, this book serves as an excellent introduction to core issues in the phonology of Bantu languages.

scholarly journals The Cortical Organization of Syntax

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 1481-1498 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Matchin ◽  
Gregory Hickok
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Cortical Organization ◽  
Parietal Lobes ◽  
Candidate Regions ◽  
Infinite Range

Abstract Syntax, the structure of sentences, enables humans to express an infinite range of meanings through finite means. The neurobiology of syntax has been intensely studied but with little consensus. Two main candidate regions have been identified: the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). Integrating research in linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neuroscience, we propose a neuroanatomical framework for syntax that attributes distinct syntactic computations to these regions in a unified model. The key theoretical advances are adopting a modern lexicalized view of syntax in which the lexicon and syntactic rules are intertwined, and recognizing a computational asymmetry in the role of syntax during comprehension and production. Our model postulates a hierarchical lexical-syntactic function to the pMTG, which interconnects previously identified speech perception and conceptual-semantic systems in the temporal and inferior parietal lobes, crucial for both sentence production and comprehension. These relational hierarchies are transformed via the pIFG into morpho-syntactic sequences, primarily tied to production. We show how this architecture provides a better account of the full range of data and is consistent with recent proposals regarding the organization of phonological processes in the brain.

scholarly journals Beyond social learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1828) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manvir Singh ◽  
Alberto Acerbi ◽  
Christine A. Caldwell ◽  
Étienne Danchin ◽  
Guillaume Isabel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural ◽  
The Social ◽  
Transmission Of Information ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Cumulative Cultural Evolution

Cultural evolution requires the social transmission of information. For this reason, scholars have emphasized social learning when explaining how and why culture evolves. Yet cultural evolution results from many mechanisms operating in concert. Here, we argue that the emphasis on social learning has distracted scholars from appreciating both the full range of mechanisms contributing to cultural evolution and how interactions among those mechanisms and other factors affect the output of cultural evolution. We examine understudied mechanisms and other factors and call for a more inclusive programme of investigation that probes multiple levels of the organization, spanning the neural, cognitive-behavioural and populational levels. To guide our discussion, we focus on factors involved in three core topics of cultural evolution: the emergence of culture, the emergence of cumulative cultural evolution and the design of cultural traits. Studying mechanisms across levels can add explanatory power while revealing gaps and misconceptions in our knowledge. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Foundations of cultural evolution’.

scholarly journals Modeling Vowel Quantity Scales in Q Theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karee Garvin ◽  
Myriam Lapierre ◽  
Martha Schwarz ◽  
Sharon Inkelas
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Underlying Representation ◽  
Q Theory ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Phonological Feature ◽  
As Stress ◽  
Vowel Quantity

A growing body of research suggests that vowels vary in degree of strength. These strength differences are borne out in the degree to which these segments undergo or trigger phonological processes such as stress assignment or harmony. Traditionally, this variability has been accounted for through binary differences in phonological representations, such as presence or absence of a segment in the underlying representation, presence or absence of a phonological feature, and moraicity or non-moraicity of the relevant segment. While distinctions in underlying status and moraic structure are an effective tool for capturing some of the observed differences in vowel strength, they do not capture all attested differences. In this paper, we offer evidence supporting a four-point strength scale to which faithfulness and markedness constraints can refer. This model allows for strength differences among underlying and inserted vowels, and within monomoraic and bimoraic vowels as well, subject to scalar implications.  We argue that Q-Theoretic representations offer the necessary representational tool to capture the full range of vowel strength.

scholarly journals The cortical organization of syntax

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Matchin ◽  
Gregory Hickok
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Cortical Organization ◽  
Parietal Lobes ◽  
Candidate Regions ◽  
Infinite Range

Syntax, the structure of sentences, enables humans to express an infinite range of meanings through finite means. The neurobiology of syntax has been intensely studied, but with little consensus. Two main candidate regions have been identified: the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). Integrating research in linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neuroscience, we propose a neuroanatomical framework for syntax that attributes distinct syntactic computations to these regions in a unified model. The key theoretical advances are adopting a modern lexicalized view of syntax in which the lexicon and syntactic rules are intertwined, and recognizing a computational asymmetry in the role of syntax during comprehension and production. Our model postulates a hierarchical lexical-syntactic function to the pMTG, which interconnects previously identified speech perception and conceptual-semantic systems in the temporal and inferior parietal lobes, crucial for both sentence production and comprehension. These relational hierarchies are transformed via the pIFG into morpho-syntactic sequences, primarily tied to production. We show how this architecture provides a better account of the full range of data and is consistent with recent proposals regarding the organization of phonological processes in the brain.

Rotor Whirl Measurements on a Long Rotating Cylinder Partially Filled With Liquid

1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorgen Colding-Jorgensen
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Dynamic Stability ◽  
Limit Cycle ◽  
Rotational Speed ◽  
Fluid Motion ◽  
Rotating Cylinder ◽  
Linear Analysis ◽  
Whirl Speed ◽  
Frequency Ratios ◽  
Further Development

Abstract A theoretical analysis of a long flexibly suspended, rotating cylinder partially filled with liquid has been presented earlier (Colding-Jørgensen, 1990). Special emphasis has been placed on dynamic stability, application in centrifuges, and the influence of external damping. The present paper presents, experimental results for comparison with the theoretical analysis, especially in regard to unstable speed ranges, whirl speed relative to rotational speed, and limit cycle amplitudes with external damping. The theory agrees quantitatively with regard to speed ranges and whirl frequency ratios but only qualitatively with regard to whirl amplitudes, indicating the need for further development of the non-linear analysis of the fluid motion with external damping.

Variation through markedness suppression

Phonology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Proper Subset ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Multiple Constraint ◽  
Empirical Coverage

Certain optional phonological processes may apply to any number of the potential targets in a form, yielding outputs in which the process applies to a proper subset of the available loci. Such patterns are incompatible with OT-based frameworks that produce variation by providing multiple constraint rankings. While one ranking may favour exhaustive application and another no application, no ranking favours application at just some loci. The framework presented here, Markedness Suppression, solves this problem:evalmay ignore any violation mark assigned by designated markedness constraints, creating variation by manipulating candidates' violation profiles. By ignoring different violation marks on different evaluations, the full range of attested forms is produced, including ones with intermediate levels of process application. Markedness Suppression achieves better empirical coverage than competing frameworks, in terms of both producing the correct range of variants and modelling their output frequencies.

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