Consonantal Sound Change in American English

An Analysis of Clustered Sibilants

Wiebke H. Ahlers (Universität Dortmund)

$179.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Cambridge University Press
24 August 2023

Sociolinguistics; Historical & comparative linguistics; Phonetics, phonology

Series: Studies in English Language

Research on sound change often focuses on vowels, yet consonantal sound change also offers fascinating insights into language development and variation. This pioneering book provides a detailed investigation of consonantal sound change in English, by analyzing a large corpus of specifically designed field recordings from Austin, Texas. It offers one of the most in-depth analyses of /str/-retraction to date, drawing comparisons with studies of change in the distinguishing phonetic features of other varieties of English, and with studies of /str/-retraction in other Germanic languages. It further deepens our understanding of sound change by including qualitative data to position the sound change in the social reality of Austin, showing that specific sound changes are universally driven by age, gender and ethnicity. The results provide a testing ground for models of sociolinguistic and sound change, and highlight the importance of the social fabric of language in modeling language change.

By: Wiebke H. Ahlers (Universität Dortmund)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
ISBN: 9781316512722
ISBN 10: 131651272X
Series: Studies in English Language
Pages: 180
Publication Date: 24 August 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1. Introduction; 2. Phonetic and phonological background for sibilant analysis; 3. Sound change; 4. Methodology and data; 5. Results; 6. Discussion; 7. Conclusion; Glossary; References; Index.

Wiebke Ahlers is a postdoctoral researcher of English Linguistics at TU Dortmund University. She is a Fulbright scholar.