Phonology From The Ground Up - University of North Dakota
Phonology From The Ground Up - University of North Dakota
Phonology From The Ground Up - University of North Dakota
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Draft!8/3/11!(not!for!citation);!©!Stephen!A.!Marlett;!provisional!title:!<strong>Phonology</strong>(from(the(<strong>Ground</strong>(<strong>Up</strong>((Part(1).!<br />
! 14!<br />
B.10.! ! Even!more!problematic!are!the!language!names!used!in!the!popular!<br />
literature!or!even!<strong>of</strong>ficial!government!lists.!For!example,!for!many!people!in!<br />
Mexico!there!is!one!Zapotec!language,!and!that!was!the!<strong>of</strong>ficial!government!<br />
position!for!several!decades.!(Today,!however,!the!government!<strong>of</strong>ficially!<br />
recognizes!more!than!fifty!separate!Zapotec!“variants”!without!deciding!<br />
how!many!languages!there!are. 13 )!In!some!cases!these!names!correspond!to!<br />
what!are!now!being!referred!to!as!MACROLANGUAGES,!which!is!a!technical!<br />
designation!that!is!applied!(inappropriately,!one!might!argue)!to!cases!like!<br />
Zapotec. 14 !!!<br />
B.11.! ! One!recent!book!on!the!phonology!<strong>of</strong>!English!makes!clear!the!difficulty!<strong>of</strong>!<br />
describing!even!one!language,!with!all!its!“variants”!(referring!to!dialects,!<br />
sociolects,!and!idiolects):!“It!is!a!rather!difficult!matter!to!define!the!sounds!<br />
<strong>of</strong>!a!language,!and!doing!so!for!English!poses!a!special!challenge.!First,!<br />
English!is!probably!the!most!widely!spoken!language!in!the!world,!and!the!<br />
phonology!varies!with!geographic!and!social!differences.!A!detailed!analysis!<br />
<strong>of</strong>!all!<strong>of</strong>!these!variants!in!a!single!volume!is!quite!impossible.” 15 !<br />
Language variation<br />
B.12.! ! All!speech!communities!have!internal!variation!<strong>of</strong>!different!sorts,!<br />
including!phonetic!differences!between!speakers.!Hockett!wrote!that!“if!a!<br />
language!is!spoken!by!at!least!two!people,!then!there!are!always!some!<br />
differences!<strong>of</strong>!usage!which!an!observer!can!detect!if!he!looks!closely!<br />
enough.” 16 !Siblings!in!the!same!family,!for!example,!may!have!very!similar!<br />
speech\patterns,!but!they!are!not!identical.!A!husband!and!a!wife!may!have!<br />
no!trouble!communicating!with!each!other!(at!least!as!far!as!the!sounds!are!<br />
concerned),!but!one!may!not!even!have!the!same!vowels!as!the!other.!<strong>The</strong>!<br />
differences!become!more!obvious!as!one!looks!at!more!inclusive!groups!<br />
within!the!community!and!as!the!size!<strong>of</strong>!the!community!increases.!!<br />
B.13.! ! Some!<strong>of</strong>!this!kind!<strong>of</strong>!variation!is!<strong>of</strong>ten!overlooked!in!phonological!<br />
descriptions,!simply!for!the!sake!<strong>of</strong>!logistics.!No!one!researcher!or!average!<br />
team!<strong>of</strong>!researchers!can!be!expected!to!include!all!<strong>of</strong>!the!variation!found!in!<br />
a!speech!community.!However,!the!omission!<strong>of</strong>!any!mention!or!description!<br />
<strong>of</strong>!variation!makes!a!write\up!seriously!incomplete.!!<br />
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br />
13!<strong>The</strong>!<strong>of</strong>ficial!government!list!includes!more!than!what!appear!in!the!Ethnologue,!and!several!<strong>of</strong>!<br />
these!<strong>of</strong>ficially!recognized!“variants”!have!not!been!assigned!an!ISO!639\3!code.!See!<br />
http://www.inali.gob.mx/catalogo2007/mapa.html!\!5.!<br />
14!See!http://www.sil.org/iso639\3/scope.asp!\!M.!<br />
15!Hammond!(1999,!1).!<br />
16!Hockett!(1958,!471).!
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