Understanding Phonology

This text provides a broad yet up-to-date introduction to phonology. Assuming no previous knowledge of phonology or linguistic theory, the authors introduce the basic concepts and build on these progressively, discussing the main theories and illustrating key points with carefully chosenexamples. The book covers a wide range of phenomena, including speech production, segmental contrasts, tone, quantity, prosodic structure, metrical relations, and intonation, as well as such key theories as feature geometry and Optimality Theory. In this new edition the authors have revised andupdated the text of the original in light of recent research and as a result of users' comments.

Carlos Gussenhoven is Professor of General and Experimental Phonology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

Haike Jacobs is Professor of French Language and Linguistics, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands