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Article published In: Linguistics in the Netherlands 2018
Edited by Bert Le Bruyn and Janine Berns
[Linguistics in the Netherlands 35] 2018
► pp. 51–64

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Glides and laryngeals as a structural class

 | Leiden University
 | Leiden University
 | Leiden University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 3 December 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/avt.00004.kok
Abstract
Phonological processes typically affect natural classes of sounds, with the members of such classes sharing some phonetic property to the exclusion of other sounds. Recent typological work shows that not all phonological classes are natural, however (Mielke, Jeff. 2008. The emergence of distinctive features. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). This paper considers the class of glides and laryngeals, a combination of sounds which resists a straightforward characterization in terms of shared features. Adopting the framework of Element Theory (Harris, John & Geoff Lindsey. 1995. “The elements of phonological representation.” Frontiers of phonology: Atoms, structures, derivations ed. by J. Durand and F. Katamba, 34–79. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Backley, Phillip. 2011. An introduction to Element Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), we argue that class behaviour of glides and laryngeals is due not to their having shared phonetic content, but shared phonological structure: glides and laryngeals contain a single element in their melodic structure. We conclude that phonological processes can be sensitive to the difference between simple and complex expressions.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Element Theory and the idea of a “structural class”
  • 3.Some implications of our proposal
  • 4.Summary and discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (43)
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2025.  Florian Breit, Yuko Yoshida & Connor Youngberg (eds.) (2023). Elements, Government, and Licensing: Developments in Phonology. London: UCL Press. Pp. xvii + 278. Phonology 42 DOI logo

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