The architecture of the human language faculty has been one of the main foci of the linguistic research of the last half century. This branch of linguistics, broadly known as Generative Grammar, is concerned with the formulation of explanatory formal accounts of linguistic phenomena with the ulterior goal of gaining insight into the properties of the 'language organ'. The series comprises high quality monographs and collected volumes that address such issues. The topics in this series range from phonology to semantics, from syntax to information structure, from mathematical linguistics to studies of the lexicon. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert

The Handbook of the Syllable approaches the study of the phonology and phonetics of the syllable with theoretical, empirical and methodological heterogeneity as its guiding principle. Since the mid-nineteenth century, scholars in the phonetic and phonological sciences have found it convenient to refer to the syllable, but definitions are scarce and none apply to all areas where the syllable is frequently invoked. The Handbook’s seventeen chapters focus on empirical studies of the syllable by presenting both new data and new kinds of data. The work addresses the syllable in phonology, phonetics, experimental psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, diachronic linguistics, and orthography. It is a seminal reference book for researchers exploring any empirical area where the notion of 'the syllable' is invoked.

As a testament to the scope of Peter MacNeilage’s scholarly work across his 40 year career, contributions to this tribute volume represent a broad spectrum of the seminal issues addressed by phonetic and evolutionary science over a number of years. Approaches to the problems raised by attempting to understand these fundamental topics are illustrated in the broad diversity of paradigms represented in the volume. This diversity in itself is a tribute to the breadth of scholarly questions pursued by MacNeilage across his career. Chapters are arranged around five thematic areas. Two themes, Evolutionary Perspectives on Speech Production and Acquisition of Speech, reflect the major thrust of Peter’s scholarly career over the past 25 years. The other themes are reflective of the broad implications of MacNeilage’s work for scholars in disparate scientific domains. One of the strengths of this volume is the unitary focus of contributions by scientists from diverse scientific backgrounds in considering the applicability of the Frame Content Theory within their own scholarly perspectives. Thematic strands in the volume include: - Evolutionary Perspectives on Speech Production - Neurobiological Aspects of Speech - Perception / Action Relationships - Acquisition of Speech Production Skill - Modeling and Movement - Alternative Perspectives on the Syllable.

This book offers thorough analyses of two typologically different languages, English and Slovak, from the viewpoint of two different approaches to language: namely, structuralism, as introduced by Ferdinand de Saussure in the first half of the 20th century, and generativism, based on the ideas of Noam Chomsky’s generative grammar presented in the 1960s. Considering structuralist and generative phonology, the most important unit of phonological analysis for both is the syllable. Most of the theories within generative phonology provide a syllable model or rules for syllabification that are considered language-universal, but syllabification is not exhaustive since consonants that are part of a word but somehow violate the given syllable model or rules remain unsyllabified. On the other hand, in structuralist phonology, syllable theories fulfil the condition of universality such that all languages have syllables, and their syllabification is always exhaustive; that is, all segments in a word are syllabified. In this book, a generative understanding of the syllable is represented by the CVX syllable theory and the Syllable Structure Algorithm from Lexical Phonology, and the synthetic phonological theory was chosen to typify structuralism. As such, the book adds to current research bridging the gap between generative and structuralist linguistics.

In this volume, notable scholars honor James W. Harris for his contributions to Romance phonology. Inscribed within generative grammar, the studies seek to explain various phonological processes, structured around glides, aspects of onsets/codas as well as stress and weight. This book will be a useful reference tool for specialists in theoretical phonology, language acquisition, language in contact, bilingualism, and Spanish dialectology.

The syllable has always been a key concept in generative linguistics: the rules, representations, parameters, or constraints posited in diverse frameworks of theoretical phonology and morphology all make reference to this fundamental unit of prosodic structure. No less central to the field is Optimality Theory, an approach developed within (morpho-)phonology in the early 1990s. This 2003 book combines two themes of central importance to linguists and their mutual relevance in recent research. It provides an overview of the role of the syllable in OT and ways in which problems that relate to the analysis of syllable structure can be solved in OT. The contributions to the book not only show that the syllable sheds light on certain properties of OT itself, they also demonstrate that OT is capable of describing and adequately analyzing many issues that are problematic in other theories. The analyses are based on a wealth of languages.