The Phonetics and Phonology of Contrast: The Case of the Romanian Vowel System

Margaret E. L. Renwick

Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2014

The Phonetics and Phonology of Contrast

The Case of the Romanian Vowel System

Margaret E. L. Renwick

Volume 19 in the series Phonology and Phonetics [PP]

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110362770

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book proposes that phonological contrast, in particular the robustness of a phonemic contrast, does not depend solely on the presence of minimal pairs, but is instead affected by a set of phonetic, usage-based, and systemic factors. This perspective opens phonology to a more direct interpretation through phonetic analysis, undertaken in a series of case studies on the Romanian vowel system. Both the synchronic phonetics and morpho-phonological alternations are studied, to understand the forces that have historically shaped and now maintain the phonemic system of Romanian. A corpus study of phoneme type frequency in Romanian reveals marginal contrasts among vowels, in which a sharp distinction between allophones and phonemes fails to capture relationships among sounds. An investigation of Romanian /Ɨ/ provides insight into the historical roots of marginal contrast, and a large acoustic study of Romanian vowels and diphthongs is a backdrop for evaluating the phonetic and perceptual realization of marginal contrast. The results provide impetus for a model in which phonology, phonetics, morphology and perception interact in a multidimensional way.

New data on Romanian vowels
Synchronic and historical approaches to language
Acoustic, and perceptual, and type-frequency studies

Author information

Margaret E. L. Renwick, University of Georgia, USA.

Supplementary Materials

Contents

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Foreword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
1. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Relative frequency of Romanian phonemes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
3. On the origins of /ᵻ/ in Romanian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
4. The distribution of /e̯a/ and /o̯a/ in Romanian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
5. Distributional evidence for marginal contrast Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
6. Acoustics of Romanian monophthongs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
7. Acoustics of Romanian diphthongs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
8. Perception of vowels in Romanian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
9. A multidimensional model of contrast Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Pages
- Front matter: 12
- Main content: 201
Keywords: Phonetics; Phonology; Romanian; Vowels

eBook

Published: September 12, 2014
ISBN: 9783110362770

Hardcover

Published: August 25, 2014
ISBN: 9783110362152