This book is a detailed examination of the phonetics and phonology of consonant strength, drawing data from parallel acoustic and articulatory studies of English and Spanish, as well as a cross linguistic survey of lenition and fortition.

Product Description: This book analyzes 153 languages from a large variety of families to establish a previously unexplored relationship between phonetically conditioned sound changes such as lenitions and functional (meaning maintenance related) considerations...read more

Product Description: This collection of papers explores the theme of phonological strength. The general notion of strength plays a central role in explaining a variety of apparently disparate phonological effects relating to language acquisition, tone and pitch accent patterns, as well as segmental distribution...read more

Product Description: The author of this volume attempts to establish a link between the notions of lenition and fortition on the one hand, and the implicational hierarchy of obstruents on the other, through the property of sonority. Earlier theories of lenition and fortition are critically assessed and the typological patterning of obstruent systems is given thorough treatment...read more

Product Description: The first serious typological survey of the lenition process in modern phonological literature.