Understanding Phonology

by Carlos Gussenhoven, Haike Jacobs (Contributor)

Understanding Phonology, Fourth Edition provides a clear, accessible and broad introduction to Phonology. Introducing basic concepts, it provides a comprehensive account of phonological issues such as segmental contrasts; syllables and moras; quantity, tone, intonation and stress; feature geometry; and prosodic constituent structure.

This new edition has been reorganized and revised with key features including:

A brand new eResource at www.routledge.com/9781138961425, which contains a full answer key for all exercises, and audio recordings of illustrative examples;

Illustrations in languages from all six continents and all major language families, including Arabic, Mandarin, Finnish, Zulu and Hawaiian;

Over 140 exercises to test understanding, including new exercises involving larger data sets;

Revised coverage of tone, stress and opacity in OT.

Understanding Phonology is essential reading for students coming to this topic for the first time.

Genres: Linguistics, Language, Nonfiction, School

297 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 25, 1998

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty interesting topic for what turned out to be a pretty engaging course.

Better review soon.

[Said Dhimni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful read.

[Kourosh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unlike what is written in the book's preface, I don't think this is for beginners: it doesn't provide a very good introduction, and goes into a level of detail which would probably be considered too extreme for an introductory textbook.

I *think* this was probably intended as a mid-level or advanced-level textbook - an introduction to advanced topics for those who are already well-read in the subject. If that is the case, then the book's true failing is how awfully written it is.

I found so many pages too terse to get anything out of them. Sometimes a concept will be given a general introduction in one paragraph, but only one aspect of that general introduction is explored in detail. There are a few paragraphs which are very confusing, and it describes some concepts discussed in individual papers, but doesn't explain if those concepts have become standard. It is quite strangely ordered and often feels like a handbook, i.e., a collection of articles about different aspects of phonology. Some of the exercises are impossible to answer correctly, since either the contextual information provided is not specific enough, the question is not specific enough, or the question relies on information not yet given (for example, Q73 on p. 117).

About halfway through, I started listing the issues I came across and actually intend on emailing them to the authors to see if a later edition will ever resolve them. I admit that it may simply be my stupidity that prevented me from really enjoying this book, but my main suspicion is that it is indeed, badly written.

For context, I read the 4th edition (2017).

[Viet Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good book to learn from basic to more complex concepts in phonology. With many practical examples and exercices, I think it can help you improve understanding about phonology and phonetics.

[Veronika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Understanding Phonology is actually a really great book. I read it when I was studying for my final exams, and it explained everything in a way that I could grasp quite easily. I also appreciated the fact that an abstract was provided at the beginning of each chapter. For those who want to understand phonology.. especially if OT is what you're after.

[Iris Windmeijer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not understand the explanations in this book all the time, but there were enough examples provided to make sure everything was clear. Unfortunatly, this did not always make it clear.

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good exercises to practice the theory, but gosh it's dense...