NP EXTENSION: B&B PHONOTACTICS

This paper will report on an extension of the framework of Natural Phonology in the area of syl- lable phonology and phonotactics. In particular, it will present a universal model of phonotactics constructed within Beats-and-Binding Phonology (B&B Phonology, cf. Dziubalska-Kołaczyk 2002) – a syllable-less theory of phonology embedded in Natural Phonology. The thrust of the theory is the claim that intersegmental cohesion determines syllable structure, rather than being determined by it (if one insists on the notion of the “syllable” which is epiphenomenal here). The core of B&B phonotactics is the Net Auditory Distance Principle, according to which phonologi- cal naturalness of clusters can be evaluated

NATURAL PHONOLOGY AS A FUNCTIONAL THEORY

This paper presents Natural Phonology as a functional theory. Natural Phonology is shown to be functional in two senses: as focusing on explanation and thus increasing our understanding of how language works, and as having practical applications, especially to second language acquisi- tion and speech therapy. The contribution argues that crucial as formalism is in computational linguistics and speech technology, Natural Phonology, with less rigid and less formalized claims, has important applications in the areas where language and not totally predictable human factors are involved. The paper discusses approaches to autonomy in language, explanation and hy- pothesis in Natural Phonology, and applications of Natural Phonology

CONSONANT CLUSTERS ACROSS MORPHEME BOUNDARIES: POLISH MORPHONOTACTIC INVENTORY AND ITS ACQUISITION

Morphonotactics is a term introduced by Dressler and Dziubalska-Kołaczyk (2006) to refer to the interaction of phonotactics and morphotactics. This paper examines the acquisition of phonotac- tics and morphonotactics, i.e. consonant clusters occurring within morphemes and across mor- pheme boundaries. It is hypothesized that morphonotactic clusters will be better retained in pro- duction than lexical clusters as they carry significant morphological information. Additionally, the acquisition of consonant clusters will be investigated in terms of markedness. With respect to markedness, two hypotheses have been put forward. Firstly, less marked (preferred) sequences will emerge earlier. Secondly, preferred clusters will be retained in production better

Metaphonology in text messages

The proliferation of mobile phones has introduced a phenomenon known as text messaging, which has prompted the dynamic and rapid growth of a new quality of the English language. One of the characteristics of text messages is the extensive use of metaphonological phenomena, like in the following instances: ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing), 2nite (tonight) B4 (before) and coz (because). The paper is organized in the following way: first, an introduction to the phenomenon of text messages is presented. Then, metaphonological phenomena such as acronyms, blendings, the ABC language and simplified orthography are illustrated and discussed. The paper concludes that text messages creatively exploit the existing metaphonological phenomena due the medium’s specific properties which are a 148-160 characters protocol and the numeric phone keypad rather than as a form of puns or word play