Introduction
Challenging Sonority - Cross-linguistic Evidence - Martin J. Ball
Martin J. Ball [+ ]
Bangor University, Wales; Wrexham University, Wales; and University College Cork, Ireland
Until recently he was Professor of Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics at Linköping University, Sweden, having formerly held the position of Hawthorne-BoRSF Endowed Professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders, at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He received his bachelor’s degree with honours in Linguistics and English from the University of Wales (Bangor); his Master’s degree in phonetics and linguistics from the University of Essex; his Ph.D. from the University of Wales (Cardiff), and a DLitt degree from Bangor University.
Dr Ball has authored and edited over 35 books, 50 contributions to collections and 100 refereed articles in academic journals. He has also presented at conferences around the world. He is co-editor of the journal Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics (Taylor & Francis); and of the book series Studies in Phonetics and Phonology (Equinox), Communication Disorders across Languages (Multilingual Matters), and Language and Speech Disorders (Psychology Press). His main research interests include sociolinguistics, clinical phonetics and phonology, and the linguistics of Welsh. He has been President of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association; he is an honorary Fellow of the UK Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. His most recent books are Principles of Clinical Phonology (Routledge, 2016) and Challenging Sonority (co-edited with N. Müller, Equinox, 2016).
Nicole Müller [+ ]
University College Cork
Description
The aim of this edited collection is to extend our knowledge of the important phonological concept of sonority to a range of other languages (several of them under-described languages). Sonority in previous accounts has most often been applied to languages commonly described ion the linguistics literature. In this collection we have expanded this to include languages of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, as well as phonological development in lesser reported languages. The challenges to sonority that these chapters throw up is dealt with in the concluding chapters where alternative to this concept are explored.The opening chapters contain an overview of sonority and a review of its use in the phonology and developmental/disordered phonology literature. The other chapters all present new material. The final chapter will have some material reviewing previous alternatives to the concept as well as the author’s own original ideas.