We analyse dynamic formant data from a corpus of Derby English spanning three generations, focusing on the relationship between yod-dropping and GOOSE (/uː/)-fronting. Derby English exhibits a stable but variable pattern of yod-dropping in postcoronal position (e.g. new [njuː]~[nuː]), and an ongoing process of /uː/-fronting. The degree of /uː/fronting is highest in words which categorically inc...

This paper deals with a focusing strategy, focus fronting, whereby the focused information unit precedes the finite nucleus. Our principal concern is with the micro-parametric variation between Nuorese Sardinian, Sicilian, and Italian, three Romance languages which display focus fronting to different extents and in different modalities. We claim that whereas focus fronting in Sardinian occurs i...

This paper presents a novel analysis of the phenomenon of stylistic fronting in Icelandic. It is argued that stylistic fronting is not a head-movement operation, but rather phrasal movement to subject position. In many cases, however, independent factors determine evacuation of the phrase prior to raising, i.e. the fronted phrase can be a remnant. It is shown that this approach can account for ...

Communication in general requires a process for (a) producing an optimal form given a certain meaning, and recovering that meaning given the optimal form, and (b) arriving at an optimal interpretation given a certain form, and reproducing that form given the optimal interpretation (Blutner et al. 2006). Hence, optimal communication involves more than the sum of two unidirectional processes of o...

Communication in general requires a process for (a) producing an optimal form given a certain meaning, and recovering that meaning given the optimal form, and (b) arriving at an optimal interpretation given a certain form, and reproducing that form given the optimal interpretation (Blutner et al. 2006). Hence, optimal communication involves more than the sum of two unidirectional processes of o...

!e study is concerned with the contribution of synchronic consonant-on-vowel coarticulation to the diachronic fronting of high back vowels. !e "rst part of the paper makes use of an empirical analysis of German vowels to explain why high back vowels are more likely to front diachronically than high front vowels are to retract. !is study is then linked to the changing coarticulatory relationship...

Communication in general requires a process for (a) producing an optimal form given a certain meaning, and recovering that meaning given the optimal form, and (b) arriving at an optimal interpretation given a certain form, and reproducing that form given the optimal interpretation (Blutner et al. 2006). Hence, optimal communication involves more than the sum of two unidirectional processes of o...

Houston Anglos of all ages show advanced degrees of /u/-fronting. However, a close acoustic analysis of the fronted /u/ of younger and older Anglo Houstonians reveals two distinct types: a more monophthongal type, consistent with prior descriptions of fronted /u/ in the rural South, and a more diphthongal type, consistent with descriptions of /u/-fronting in non-Southern speakers. The two types...