Preliminaries: -- What is evolutionary phonology? -- Evolution in language and elsewhere -- Explanation in phonology: a brief history of ideas -- Sound Patterns: -- Laryngeal features -- Place features -- Other common sound patterns -- The evolution of geminates -- Some uncommon sound patterns -- Implications: -- Synchronic phonology -- Diachronic phonology -- Beyond phonology
Summary
This groundbreaking book explores the nature of sound change in human language over the past 7000 8000 years. It presents a new approach to the problem of how genetically unrelated languages can often show similar sound patterns, and why there are many exceptions to the patterns often regarded as universal
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-356) and indexes
