This course is an introduction to phonology from the perspective of formal generative theory. Explored topics include the definition and core properties of I-language (linguistic competence), mental grammar and its components, levels of phonological representation (underlying, intermediate, surface), the organization of phonological derivation, phonemes and allophones, logical procedures that can be used to determine underlying representations from observable data, the definition of rules and natural classes, and the typology of segmental alternations.
Reading suggestions:
- Kenstowicz, M. 1994. Phonology in Generative Grammar. Chapters 2 and 3. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Zsiga, E. 2024. The Sounds of Language. An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. 2nd edition. Chapters 10-13. Oxford: Wiley–Blackwell.