The Phonology of Polish

by Edmund Gussmann

Overview

This book is the most complete phonology of contemporary Polish ever published. It is topic-oriented and presents the fundamental characteristics and problems associated with each topic, among them syllable structure, vowel-zero alternations, palatalizations, and other vowel and consonant changes. Professor Gussmann re-examines assumptions about phonological contrasts and alternations, and raises and addresses central questions in morphophonology. He takes morphophonology to be systematically separate from phonology. Palatalizations, he shows, are crucial to Polish, as both phonological and morphophonological phenomena: their detailed description leads him to a systematic presentation of vocalic alternations.

The book develops a Government Phonology account of Polish, but is primarily a description of the language with the model subordinated to the organization of data. All the many examples used to illustrate the presentation are transcribed in standard IPA, and translated. This important book will interest all scholars and advanced students of Polish and Slavic phonology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199267477
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/07/2007
Series:	The ^APhonology of the World's Languages
Pages:	382
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.30(h) x 1.10(d)

Editorial Reviews

"This manuscript is of interest to all scholars and advanced students of Polish and Slavic phonology. The book discusses a variety of topics in Polish phonology and morphophonology, and provides numerous examples for wach topic. The examples are well presented and easily accessible to the reader, and are an invaluable source for data for future research on Polish." —Phonology

"Intelligent, interesting, and thought-provoking. This is indisputably a book of great importance and impeccable scholarship." —Slavic and East European Journal

From the Publisher