New thoretical foundations for phonology
Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2024 2:41 pm
The search for the most appropriate data structure for an SCA cannot be separated from the quest for the definitive theory of phonology. I've recently investigated Dependency Phonology and Radical CV Phonology, both of which have some interesting ideas but - the latter in particular - are not easy to turn into code. But something else occurred to me, which I began to investigate. Briefly, you start with some "basic" or "fundamental" phones or phonemes, such as /p t k/ and /i a u/, and derive the others from them via successive processes. For example:
Note: By "basic phone" I don't mean something like this, just to clear up any confusion.
- /p t k/ -> /b d g/ (voicing), f s x/ (frication), /pf ts /kx/ (affrication), and /m n ŋ/ (nasalisation)
- /b d g/ -> /v z ɣ/ (frication), also from /p t k/ by voicing
- /f s x/ -> /ɸ θ χ/ (whatever you call the removal of the feature [+strident]
Note: By "basic phone" I don't mean something like this, just to clear up any confusion.