This is an attempt to view historical phonological change as an ongoing, recurrent process. The author sees like events occurring at all periods, a phenomenon which he considers is disguised by too great a reliance upon certain characteristics of the scholarly tradition. Thus he argues that those innovations arrived at by speakers of the English language many years ago are not in principle unlike those that can be seen to be happening today. Phonological mutations are, on the whole, not to be regarded as unique, novel, once ...
Read More
This is an attempt to view historical phonological change as an ongoing, recurrent process. The author sees like events occurring at all periods, a phenomenon which he considers is disguised by too great a reliance upon certain characteristics of the scholarly tradition. Thus he argues that those innovations arrived at by speakers of the English language many years ago are not in principle unlike those that can be seen to be happening today. Phonological mutations are, on the whole, not to be regarded as unique, novel, once only events. Speakers appear to present to speech sound materials, a limited set of evaluative and decoding perceptions, together with what would seem to be a finite number of innovation producing stratagems in response to their interpretation. It is stressed that this interpretation may itself be a direct product of the kinds of data selected for presentation in traditional handbooks and Jones notes the fact that phonological change is often "messy" and responsive to a highly tuned ability to perceive fine phonetic detail of a type which, by definition, rarely has the opportunity to surface in historical data sources.
Read Less
Add this copy of A History of British Phonology to cart. $39.62, very good condition, Sold by Cambridge Rare Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Cambridge, Gloucestershire, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1989 by Longman.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
1989. Longman. First. Hard Cover. Book-VG. Dj-VG. 8.5x6.5. 318pp. Ex-libris-Queen Mary College, London. This surveys the changes which have arisen in the principles of the pronunciation of English from the time of the language's earliest recorded use to the present day.