Endangered Sound Patterns: Three Perspectives on Theory and Description

In this essay, I highlight the important role of endangered language documentation and description in the study of sound patterns. Three different perspectives are presented: a long view of phonology, from ancient to modern traditions; an areal and genetic view of sound patterns, and their relation to theory and description; and a practical perspective on the importance of research on endangered sound patterns. All perspectives converge on a common theme: the most lasting and influential contributions to the field are those with seamless boundaries between description and analysis. � The study of sound patterns of spoken human languages has occupied linguists for thousands of years. In this essay, I highlight the important role that work on endangered languages has played and continues to play in identifying, describing, and explaining sound patterns. Three perspectives are presented: in Section 2 I present a long view of the field, with emphasis on phonological approaches grounded in the study of endangered languages; in Section 3 I take an areal/genealogical snapshot of the field, emphasizing specific ways that the study of endangered languages contribute to theoretical debate, and vice versa, and reflecting on some of the world’s best known sound patterns from these areas. Section 4 provides a practical view of the topic, briefly discussing some of the many reasons for studying endangered sound patterns. 2. From AnciEnT To moDErn: A long viEw oF ThE FiElD. Phonology is a relatively old science, with early roots in ancient Indic, European, Chinese, and Arabic traditions. One feature of the most influential of these traditions is rarely remarked upon: each is grounded in the study of an endangered, moribund, or already highly marginalized

[1]  D. Archangeli Underspecification in Yawelmani phonology and morphology , 1984 .

[2]  Juliette Blevins A theoretical synopsis of Evolutionary Phonology , 2006 .

[3]  Charles F. Hockett The Yawelmani Basic Verb , 1967 .

[4]  John D. Lynch Low Vowel Dissimilation in Vanuatu Languages , 2003 .

[5]  Robert Blust,et al.  Low vowel dissimilation in Oceanic languages : An addendum , 1996 .

[6]  Robert Blust,et al.  Low vowel dissimilation in Ere , 1996 .

[7]  Juliette Blevins,et al.  Evolutionary Phonology: The Emergence of Sound Patterns , 2004 .

[8]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  The Sound Pattern of English , 1968 .

[9]  P. Smolensky,et al.  Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar , 2004 .

[10]  B. A. Sommer Kunjen phonology : synchronic and diachronic , 1969 .

[11]  William Bright,et al.  The Yurok language : grammar, texts, lexicon , 1959 .

[12]  Robert Blust,et al.  Disyllabic attractors and anti-antigemination in Austronesian sound change* , 2007, Phonology.

[13]  J. Blevins,et al.  Nhanda: An Aboriginal Language of Western Australia , 2001 .

[14]  John J. McCarthy,et al.  The Prosody Of Phase In Rotuman , 2000 .

[15]  J. Goldsmith Autosegmental and Metrical Phonology , 1990 .

[16]  Ilya Yakubovich Lenguas En Contacto: El Testimonio Escrito , 2007 .

[17]  B. A. Sommer An Australian Language without CV Syllables , 1970, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[18]  Rachel Walker,et al.  Sibilant Harmony in Kinyarwanda and Coronal Opacity , 2005 .

[19]  Patricia A. Shaw,et al.  CONSONANT HARMONY SYSTEMS: THE SPECIAL STATUS OF CORONAL HARMONY , 1991 .

[20]  Harry Hoijer,et al.  The Phonology and Morphology of the Navajo Language , 1967 .

[21]  Juliette Blevins The Bimoraic Foot in Rotuman Phonology and Morphology , 1994 .

[22]  K. Hale,et al.  Classification of Northen Paman Languages, Cape York Peninsula, Australia: A Research Report , 1964 .

[23]  Eugene Buckley Theoretical aspects of Kashaya phonology and morphology , 1994 .

[24]  David Odden,et al.  Anti antigemination and the OCP , 1988 .

[25]  Juliette Blevins,et al.  The origins of consonant-vowel metathesis , 1998 .

[26]  Zellig S. Harris Yokuts Structure and Newman's Grammar , 1944, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[27]  John J. McCarthy,et al.  Consonant harmony via correspondence: Evidence from Chumash , 2007 .

[28]  Juliette Blevins Some Notes on Nhanda, as Spoken by Mrs. Lucy Ryder (1919-2003) , 2006 .

[29]  Rachel Walker,et al.  A Typology of Consonant Agreement as Correspondence , 2004 .

[30]  M. Kenstowicz,et al.  Generative Phonology , 1979 .

[31]  C. F. Hockett Yokuts as Testing-Ground for Linguistic Methods , 1973, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[32]  Edward J. Vajda,et al.  The languages of native North America , 1999 .

[33]  J. McCarthy Comparative markedness , 2003 .

[34]  J. Stemberger,et al.  Optimality Theory , 2003 .

[35]  M. S. Beeler Sibilant Harmony in Chumash , 1970, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[36]  Karl V. Teeter Consonant Harmony in Wiyot (With a Note on Cree) , 1959, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[37]  M. Kinkade,et al.  The Languages of Native North America , 2000 .

[38]  Robert Dixon,et al.  The languages of Australia , 1980 .

[39]  Peri Bhaskararao,et al.  Phonetic documentation of endangered languages: Creating a knowledge- base containing sound recording, transcription and analysis , 2004 .

[40]  Juliette Blevins,et al.  The Phonology of Yurok Glottalized Sonorants: Segmental Fission under Syllabification1 , 2003, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[41]  P. Ladefoged,et al.  The sounds of the world's languages , 1996 .

[42]  Nicholas Evans,et al.  Australian Languages Reconsidered: A Review of Dixon (2002) , 2005 .

[43]  J. McCarthy OCP effects: Gemination and antigemination , 1986 .

[45]  K. Hale DEEP-SURFACE CANONICAL DISPARITIES IN RELATION TO ANALYSIS AND CHANGE: AN AUSTRALIAN EXAMPLE , 1973 .

[46]  Kamaleswar Bhattacharya Panini, His Work and Its Traditions , 2007 .

[47]  Niko Besnier,et al.  An autosegmental approach to metathesis in Rotuman , 1987 .

[48]  Rob J. Pensalfini,et al.  Arrernte: A Language with No Syllable Onsets , 1999, Linguistic Inquiry.

[49]  L. A. Reid Possible Non-Austronesian Lexical Elements in Philippine Negrito Languages , 1994 .

[50]  Raimo Anttila,et al.  An introduction to historical and comparative linguistics , 1974 .

[51]  Paul Kiparsky,et al.  Pāṇini as a variationist , 1984 .

[52]  Stanley S. Newman Yokuts Language of California , 1944 .

[53]  Alexandre Kimenyi,et al.  Studies in Kinyarwanda and Bantu phonology , 1979 .

[54]  D. P. Branner On Early Chinese Morphology and its Intellectual History1 , 2002, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

[55]  H. Schmidt Rotuma : Sprache und Geschichte , 1999 .

[56]  Nicholas Evans,et al.  The non-Pama-Nyungan languages of northern Australia : comparative studies of the continent's most linguistically complex region , 2003 .

[57]  C. F. Hockett The Stressed Syllabics of Old English , 1959 .

[58]  K. Wilkinson Prosodic structure and lardil phonology , 1988 .