Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Tone
  • Cited by 404
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2012
Print publication year:
2002
Online ISBN:
9781139164559
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139164559
Subjects:
Phonetics and Phonology, English Language and Linguistics: General Interest, Language and Linguistics
Series:
Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics
Information

Book description

The sounds of language can be divided into consonants, vowels, and tones - the use of pitch to convey word meaning. Seventy percent of the world's languages use pitch in this way. Assuming little or no prior knowledge of the topic, this textbook provides a clearly organized introduction to tone and tonal phonology. Comprehensive in scope, it examines the main types of tonal systems found in Africa, the Americas, and Asia, using examples from the widest possible range of tone languages. It provides students with a basic grasp of the simple phonetics of tone, and covers key topics such as the distinctive feature systems suitable for tonal contrasts, allophonic and morphophonological tonal alterations, and how to analyze them within Optimality Theory. The book also examines the perception and acquisition of tone, as well as the interface between tonal phonology and the morphosyntax.

Reviews

‘… a clearly written introduction to tone that manages to address both needs … it explains the basics of the field in such a way that it is accessible to beginning students who have just had the rudiments of phonetics and phonology. But is is precise and scholarly enough that is serves also as an excellent review of the tone literature for practising linguists … even those who specialize in the study of tone will find themselves learning …’.

Source: Journal of Linguistics

‘… a welcome addition to the line-up of the Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics … a gem of a textbook …’.

Source: Journal of Phonology

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.