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At the heart of generative phonology lies the assumption that the sounds of every language have abstract underlying representations, which undergo various changes in order to generate the 'surface' representations; that is, the sounds we actually pronounce. The existence, status and form of underlying representations have been hotly debated in phonological research since the introduction of the phoneme in the nineteenth century. This book provides a comprehensive overview of theories of the mental representation of the sounds of language. How does the mind store and process phonological representations? Krämer surveys the development of the concept of underlying representation over the last 100 years or so within the field of generative phonology. He considers phonological patterns, psycholinguistic experiments, statistical generalisations over data corpora and phenomena such as hypercorrection. The book offers a new understanding of contrastive features and proposes a modification of the optimality-theoretic approach to the generation of underlying representations.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• 1 Getting started
• 2 Arbitrariness and opposition
• 3 Derivation and abstractness
• 4 Underspecification returns
• 5 The devil is in the detail: usage-based phonology
• 6 Psycho- and neuro-linguistic evidence
• 7 On the form and contents of contrastive features
• 8 Underlying representations in optimality theory
• 9 Preliminary results

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CHOICE Review

The second book to appear in Cambridge's new "Key Topics in Phonology" series, this volume provides a sustained examination of an area of theoretical phonology dealing with the existence and form of underlying representations, and the rules or constraints that may act upon these forms. Works in this series are intended to bridge the gap between textbooks and the primary literature; Kramer (Univ. of Tromsr, Norway) suggests that his study would serve as a graduate text or succinct guide for advanced researchers. The author assumes that readers will already have knowledge of linguistic conventions, and chapters outlining developments in generative phonology and optimality theory will best serve as reviews for those already familiar with these theoretical principles. The strength of the author's work lies in its evaluation of evidence in support of competing theories--including theories that minimize the need for abstract forms--and its acknowledgment of current limitations on what can be said to be known for certain. The final chapter, wryly titled "Preliminary Results," summarizes current thought, highlights contradictory evidence, and acknowledges that theories will continue to evolve. Although not comprehensive, the volume presents a good snapshot of the state of the field. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. J. Adlington McMaster University