This paper reconciles the standpoint that language users do not aim at improving their
sound systems with the observation that languages seem to improve their sound systems. If …

Synchronic and historical explanation Evolutionary Phonology. Evolutionary Phonology
seeks to derive typological generalizations from recurrent patterns of language change …

Using novel data from Kipsigis (Southern Nilotic; Kenya), we present the first attested case of
across-the-board paradigmatic tonal polarity. The nominative case forms of nominal …

In this paper, I present an analysis of the typology of laryngeal co-occurrence restrictions
based on contrast markedness. The key ingredient of the analysis, for which I provide …

Compensatory lengthening occurs when the featural content of a nucleus or moraic coda is
deleted, or becomes reaffiliated with a nonmoraic position—typically an onset—and the …

This study examined the perception of the typologically frequent/m/-/n/contrast and the less
common/n/-/ŋ/contrast in syllable-onset position. In an acoustic study of [ma],[na], and [ŋa] …

The two main arguments in this dissertation are 1. That laryngeal co-occurrence restrictions
are restrictions on the perceptual strength of contrasts between roots, as opposed to …

Steriade (2008) argues that faithfulness constraints in Optimality Theory are perceptually
grounded: the faithfulness of a phonological map** is directly proportional to the …

This paper uses novel data showing gradient labial harmony in Kazakh to compare Kaun's
(1995) feature-based analysis with a dispersion-based analysis in a Maximum Entropy …

Abstract Long-distance (or 'transparent') vowel harmony systems have frequently been
considered 'unnatural'and analyzed as 'crazy rules'(Bach & Harms, 1972) because they …