A Critical Introduction to Phonology

Reviews / Votes

Teachers of phonology and graduate students will find this book immensely stimulating and thought-provoking. * Prospect (of the first edition) * Daniel Silverman has written a book that is both thought-provoking and enjoyable to read. By presenting an interdisciplinary approach, it will be of interest to phonologists and scholars in related fields. And by challenging established ideas, it will essential reading for established experts and advanced students. * Bert Botma, Lecturer, Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Netherlands * Daniel Silverman's thought-provoking book is essential reading for anyone interested in phonology, from beginning students to established scholars. In it, he manages to discuss all the issues phonologists care deeply about - from children's acquisition of sound-meaning mappings to sound change taking place over generations - while challenging many of the fundamental notions of mainstream phonology. This new edition includes well-known phonological problem sets that demonstrate how to 'do' phonology in the framework he proposes - a framework that is both innovative (as it rejects a number of core assumptions that many introductory textbooks take for granted) and firmly embedded in a tradition of over a century of scholarship, quoted throughout the book. Silverman's approach relies strongly on the relationship between phonetics and phonology, and manages, almost casually, to teach the reader as much about the former as the latter. * Koen Sebregts, Assistant Professor of English Linguistics, Utrecht University, Netherlands *