Generative Phonology and French Phonology [Paperback]

A general introduction and a detailed illustration of the operation of generative phonology in practice.This book provides a general introduction and a detailed illustration of the operation of generative phonology in practice, introducing the main concepts of phonology and its place in the grammar of a language. Like Chomsky and Halle, Dell aims to discover general principles which shape the sound patterns of languages.This book provides a general introduction and a detailed illustration of the operation of generative phonology in practice, introducing the main concepts of phonology and its place in the grammar of a language. Like Chomsky and Halle, Dell aims to discover general principles which shape the sound patterns of languages.Generative phonology has many adherents, and not a few critics, but surprisingly few good expositors. Fran?ois Dell provides here both a general introduction and a detailed illustration of the operation of the theory in practice, introducing the main concepts of phonology and its place in the grammar of a language. The approach is in the tradition of Chomsky and Halle, emphasizing the interactions between syntax, morphology and phonology, and aiming at the discovery of general principles which shape the sound patterns of all languages. He then applies these concepts to particular case studies, on the maxim that the best way to understand a system of this kind is to use it. This was first published as Part I of Les r?gles et les sons (Hermann, 1973).Foreword; Preface; Notations and conventions; Pronunciation of the phonetic symbols; Part I. Languages and Grammars: 1. The sound-meaning correspondence; 2. Formal languages and grammars; 3. The general organization of grammars; Surface structures; 4. Linguistic theory; Part II. From Surface Structures to Phonetic Representations: 1. Phonetic representations; 2. The system of distinctive features; 3. From surface structures to phonetic representations; 4. The order of application of phonologil“7