|
Surface Filter
{{Unreferenced, date=May 2011 In linguistics, a surface filter is a type of sound change that operates not at a particular point in time but over a longer period. Surface filters normally affect any phonetic combination that is not permitted according to the language's phonetic rules and so preserve the phonotactics of that language. They are also often a source of complementary distribution between certain sets of sounds. A trivial example of a surface filter is the replacement of sounds foreign to a language with sounds native to the language. For example, a language that has no front rounded vowels may replace such vowels with either front unrounded or back rounded vowels, whenever it borrows a word containing such a vowel. Strictly speaking, that is not a surface filter, as it is merely the way in which the phonetics of one language are matched to that of another. That example, however, still illustrates the importance of surface filters in preserving the phonological structure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguistics is concerned with both the cognitive and social aspects of language. It is considered a scientific field as well as an academic discipline; it has been classified as a social science, natural science, cognitive science,Thagard, PaulCognitive Science, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). or part of the humanities. Traditional areas of linguistic analysis correspond to phenomena found in human linguistic systems, such as syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences); semantics (meaning); morphology (structure of words); phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures in sign languages); phonology (the abstract sound system of a particular language); and pragmatics (how social con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sievers' Law
Sievers's law in Indo-European linguistics accounts for the pronunciation of a consonant cluster with a glide ( or ) before a vowel as it was affected by the phonetics of the preceding syllable. Specifically it refers to the alternation between and , and possibly and as conditioned by the weight of the preceding syllable. For instance, Proto-Indo-European (PIE) became Proto-Germanic *''harjaz'', Gothic ''harjis'' "army", but PIE became Proto-Germanic *''hirdijaz'', Gothic ''hairdeis'' "shepherd". It differs from ablaut in that the alternation has no morphological relevance but is phonologically context-sensitive: PIE followed a heavy syllable (a syllable with a diphthong, a long vowel, or ending in more than one consonant), but would follow a light syllable (a short vowel followed by a single consonant). History Discovery This situation was first noticed by the Germanic philologist Eduard Sievers (1859-1932), and his aim was to account for certain phenomena in the Ger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |