Constraint-based phonology

Phonology is the systematic study of the sounds used in language, their internal structure, and their composition into syllables, words and phrases. Computational phonology is the application of formal and computational techniques to the representation and processing of phonological information. This chapter will present the fundamentals of descriptive phonology along with a brief overview of computational phonology. 1 Phonological contrast, the phoneme, and distinctive features There is no limit to the number of distinct sounds that can be produced by the human vocal apparatus. However, this infinite variety is harnessed by human languages into sound systems consisting of a few dozen language-specific categories, or phonemes. An example of an English phoneme is t. English has a variety of t-like sounds, such as the aspirated th of ten the unreleased t�of net, and the flapped of water (in some dialects). In English, these distinctions are not used to differentiate words, and so we do not find pairs of English words which are identical but for their use of th versus t�. (By comparison, in some other languages, such as Icelandic and Bengali, aspiration is contrastive.) Nevertheless, since these sounds (or phones, or segments) are phonetically similar, and since they occur in complementary distributio

Speaking with a Difference: Border Thinking in Rufumbira

The present study approaches variation in Rufumbira, a Bantu language of southwestern Uganda and a variety of Kinyarwanda (JD60) from the angle of variationist sociolinguistics and postcolonial linguistics. By analyzing 'border thinking' in Rufumbira, the thesis intends to give a sociohistorical overview of the emergence of the language and likewise aims at discussing the most salient structural differences between Rufumbira and (standardized) Kinyarwanda. Apart from phonological and morphosyntactic divergence, the main focus lies on the social meaning of linguistic variation across and within the border triangle of Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo, taking alternative approaches into account on how to conceptualize the colonial and geographical as well as linguistic and cultural boundaries in this contact zone

Bowdoin Orient v.136, no.1-25 (2006-2007)

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