This volume focuses on the theoretical and analytical challenges that languages with complex morphologies pose for the theory and typology of word-level prosodic phenomena. The morphological complexity and phonological length that are characteristic of words in these languages make them a particularly fruitful ground for investigating the effects of both phonological and morphological factors in the assignment of prominence. The first three chapters in the volume explore general theoretical issues pertaining to word prominence in synthetic languages, including the issue of 'wordhood' and the empirical, theoretical, and methodological issues with delineating word-level prominence and the higher-level prosodic phenomena in these languages. These are followed by a series of case studies on stress, accent, and tone in a geographically and genetically diverse set of languages with highly synthetic morphologies including languages of the Americas, Europe and Asia, and Australia. The volume adopts an interdisciplinary perspective, combining phonetic, phonological, and morphosyntactic insights. It will be of interest not only to phonologists and morphologists, but to all those interested in the typological and theoretical issues relating to polysynthetic languages.

This book offers a comprehensive account of the phonological structure of modern Turkish within the framework of recent linguistic models. While phenomena at both the segmental and suprasegmental levels are discussed, the emphasis is on the latter, with analysis of phonological processes that extend over a number of different domains. Lower-level prosodic constituents, including syllables, feet, and prosodic words, are incorporated into a general theory alongside higher-level constituents - the phonological phrase and the intonational phrase - on the assumption that phonological structure is hierarchical in nature and that phonological representations consist of more than a single linear sequence of segments. The approach employed here draws on theories of both representation - Prosodic Phonology and Autosegmental Phonology - and computation, in the form of Optimality Theory. An overarching theme that emerges in every chapter is that not only regular but also apparently “exceptional” phonological forms demonstrate a systematic pattern, and that both can be captured by the same grammar. The volume provides a critical synthesis of research in Turkish phonology, as well as offering new analyses and data from a theoretically-oriented perspective.

Representing Phonological Detail Part I: Segmental Structure and Representations Part II: Syllable, Stress and Sign Part II of Representing Phonological Detail focuses on the latest phonological research on suprasegmental structure and sign language. The first main theme in this volume is syllable structure, touching on phonotactics, syllabification, gemination, syllable weight, diphthongization, and other rules. The other main theme is tone and stress, including issues in data collection, the assignment of primary and secondary stress, resolution of stress clashes, lexical accent, and syntax-tone interaction. The final section is on sign language, with special attention paid to iconicity, phonological processes, and the relation between phonetic and phonological representation.

Illustrated with real-life examples throughout, this book provides a complete introduction to one of the most fundamental question about what it means to be human: how does human language arise in the mind? Theory is explained in an easy-to-understand way, making it accessible for students without a background in linguistics.

Over the past few decades, the book series Linguistische Arbeiten [Linguistic Studies], comprising over 500 volumes, has made a significant contribution to the development of linguistic theory both in Germany and internationally. The series will continue to deliver new impulses for research and maintain the central insight of linguistics that progress can only be made in acquiring new knowledge about human languages both synchronically and diachronically by closely combining empirical and theoretical analyses. To this end, we invite submission of high-quality linguistic studies from all the central areas of general linguistics and the linguistics of individual languages which address topical questions, discuss new data and advance the development of linguistic theory.

Contents: Christian Uffmann, Markedness, faithfulness and creolization: The retention of the unmarked. - Albert Valdman/Iskra Iskrova, A new look at nazalization in Haitian Creole. - Emmanuel Nikiema/Parth Bhatt, Two types of R deletion in Haitian Creole. - Sabine Lappe/Ingo Plag, Rules versus analogy: Modeling variation in word-final epenthesis in Sranan. - Norval Smith, New evidence from the Past: To epenthesize or not to epenthesize, that is the question. - Emmanuel Schang, Syllabic structure and creolization in Saotomense. - Anne-Marie Brousseau, The accentual system of Haitian Creole: The role of transfer and markedness values. - David Sutcliffe, African American English suprasegmentals: A study of pitch patterns in the Black English of the United States. - Winford James, The role of tone and rhyme structure in the organisation of grammatical morphemes in Tobagonian. - Shelome Gooden, Prosodic contrast in Jamaican Creole reduplication. - Thomas Klein, Syllable structure and lexical markedness in creole morphophonology: Determiner allomorphy in Haitian and elsewhere. - Margot van den Berg, Early 18th century Sranan -man. - Patrick Steinkrüger, Morphological processes of word formation in Chabacano (Philippine Spanish Creole). - Nicholas Faraclas, The -pela suffix in Tok Pisin and the notion of >simplicityTonjes Veenstra, What verbal morphology can tell us about creole genesis: the case of French-related creoles. - Marlyse Baptista, Inflectional plural marking in pidgins and creoles: a comparative study. - Alain Kihm, Inflectional categories in creole languages.