silverman book review silverman daniel 1997 phasing recoverability outstanding dissertations linguistics series new york garland publishing 242 pages reviewed stefan frisch university michigan book revised version author 1995 ucla dissertation primary thesis defended silverman auditory salience plays important role explaining typology phonological segment inventories relative phasing laryngeal supralaryngeal gestures examined case study silverman demonstrates typological preference phasing patterns gestures optimally recoverable proposes suboptimal patterns found inventories optimal patterns also present note silverman crucially adopt segment phonological primitive concerned primarily gestures realization system syntagmatic contrasts terms egment egment inventory used expository convenience synopsis chapter 1 introduction chapter introduces primary thesis cross linguistically laryngeal supralaryngeal gestures phased make values maximally auditorily salient silverman argues parallel production contrastive gestures informationally optimal gestures auditorily recoverable cases parallel production would make contrastive values unrecoverable gestures serially sequenced example aspirated stops laryngeal abduction sequences follow stop closure resulting broadband noise laryngeal abduction stop closure simultaneous state larynx would recoverable resulting acoustic signal silence silverman also introduces gestural score notation articulatory phonology browman goldstein 1986 used description gestural patterns gestural score accompanied set temporally aligned descriptions acoustic cues highlight importance recoverability gestures resulting segmental percept also given highlight whether contrastive segmental information effectively transmitted using notation exemplifies four logically possible phasing patterns parallel sequenced expanded truncated parallel phasing pattern two gestures phased fully simultaneous sequenced pattern two gestures serially ordered expanded pattern one gesture begins ends another truncated pattern one gesture phased simultaneous portion beginning end another gesture chapter 2 previous work chapter silverman reviews previous research articulatory timing auditory response acoustic signals relevance auditory contrastiveness segmental inventories two results particular importance first combination auditory factors favor patterns low intensity signals followed high intensity signals second languages employ contrasts maximally auditorily distinct chapter 3 obstruents laryngeal gestures chapter contains typological evidence support silverman thesis cross linguistically laryngeal gestures abduction constriction overwhelmingly phased follow supralaryngeal constriction maximizes recoverability gestures suboptimal pattern laryngeal gesture precedes stop release found optimal pattern also present obstruents minimum acoustic energy work two phasing patterns chapter 4 sonorants laryngeal gestures sonorants greater amount acoustic energy laryngeal gestures overlap supralaryngeal gestures attested pattern languages laryngeal contrast sonorants laryngeal gesture truncated beginning portion supralaryngeal gesture parallel obstruent case phasing pattern puts lowenergy breathy glottalized portion sonorant highenergy modallyvoiced portion maximizing auditory salience less optimal pattern truncates laryngeal gesture latter portion supralaryngeal gesture ordinarily laryngeal supralaryngeal gestures completely overlapped contrastive supralaryngeal gestures nasal place articulation example would rendered non recoverable however interesting special case found laterals due formant structure laterals languages generally contrasts place articulation thus cases e g zulu contrastive laryngeal gestures realized fully parallel supralaryngeal gesture similar pattern found coda nasals comaltapec chinantec place articulation contextually determined contrast onset nasals contrastive place articulation laryngeal abduction realized parallel supralaryngeal gesture coda nasals contrasts lost chapter 5 vowels laryngeal gestures chapter vowels contrastive laryngeal gestures discussed silverman claims since vowels abundance acoustic energy laryngeal gestures implemented parallel supralaryngeal gestures without loss auditory contrast however pattern auditorily least optimal like sonorant case optimal pattern laryngeal gesture truncated beginning portion vowel resulting v hv sequences less optimal opposite phasing pattern resulting v vh typologically hv indeed much prevalent voiceless vowels vh similarly laryngeal constriction bulk chapter book devoted laryngeally complex vowels otomanguean languages term larygeally complex used vowels realize contrastive phonation breathy creaky tone one example comaltapec chinantec eight vowel qualities five tonal qualities two voice qualities addition language nasalization length contrast leads 320 possible realizations nucleus surprisingly words language generally monosyllabic nucleus quality used differentiate many lexical contrasts silverman argues simultaneous realization breathiness creakiness tone would render tone contrasts unrecoverable crosslinguistically prevalent pattern laryngeal contrast truncated beginning vowel auditorily optimal tone saliently realized modal phonation latter portion vowel opposite sequencing laryngeal tonal contrast modal phonation also attested silverman finds two cases tonal laryngeal contrasts executed simultaneously tibeto burman languages mpi tamang one cases two tones tonal contrasts may much danger tones would distinct case comaltapec chinantec eight tones critical evaluation overall inspirational volume demonstrating importance auditory phonetic explanation phonological patterning one first series ucla dissertations topic together address wide range phonological phenomena silverman analysis bridges phonetics phonology gap number ways example arbitrary number phasing differences might dismissed phonetic implementation shown reducible small set phonologically contrastive reduction via abstract temporal relationships simultaneity precedence nicely complements work speech perception crosslinguistic crossspecies robustness categorical perception voice onset time continua kuhl miller 1975 pisoni 1977 credit book contains dozen reasonably detailed case studies realization laryngeal contrasts different languages many cases recordings available presence phasing relationships verified spectrograms appropriate examples given case studies often address potential counterexamples silverman typological claims example mon khmer language chong possesses coda stops contrastive creakiness creakiness realized nonoptimal way preglottalized stop chong case however aspects morphophonology require nonoptimal realization avoid loss contrast particular coda stops obligatorily unreleased language nonsuffixing due additional constraints postglottalized phasing would saliently encode larygneal contrast type constraint interaction quite compatible general approach optimality theory prince smolensky 1993 fact original version dissertation presented constraint tableau cases proposed constraints quite broad informally described optimality theoretic analysis add exposition book reads easily without despite lack formalist analysis book raises number issues relevant current formal concerns otomanguean language copala trique different phasing relationships vocalic laryngeal gestures laryngeal gestures breathiness creakiness truncated first portion vowel second portion vowel interrupt vowel appearing middle three locations laryngeal gesture support lexical contrasts clear evidence interrupted vowels monosyllabic encoding three configurations using abstract representations articulatory phonology trivial task addition correspondence theory approach faithfulness considers segmentally aligned ordered input output mccarthy prince 1995 presence relatively small contrastive differences phasing require subsegmental correspondence relations input output another missing aspect optimality theoretic analysis would factorial typology constraint interactions silverman coverage quite extensive would interested seeing discussion pros cons logical possibility phasing laryngeal supralaryngeal gestures discussion eventually needed order determine whether silverman proposal truly predictive informally defined extent observed pattern could explained instances silverman makes use upsid database segmental inventories maddieson 1986 demonstrate typological predictions satisfied unfortunately quantitative differences reported cases sufficient data may available quantitative analysis desirable order address current question work phonetic explanation phonological patterns nonoptimal patterns avoided degree nonoptimal words hypothesized functional force auditory recoverability transparently reflected patterns within across languages phonologized way language learner quantitative relationship answer question implications architecture phonetically grounded grammar quantitative constraints quantitative constraint rankings would required book touches number important issues topics ongoing research central role recoverability contrasts leads inevitably question contrast assuming psychological reality segment provides simple answer one entirely correct three contrastive phasing relationships copala trique amenable segmental analysis chong combination coda unrelease lack suffixation claimed lead preglottalized stops case contrasted korean suffixation postglottalized stops maintained environment neutralized elsewhere wonder frequent neutralizing environment must nonoptimal pattern becomes necessary contrast lost nt laryngeal gesture phased stop closure neutralizing environment nonneutralizing environment perhaps constraint involved many case studies given simple syllable structure monosyllabic tendencies languages mentioned reasons complex nonoptimal phasing relations found cases optimal recoverability supralaryngeal gestures found contrastive laryngeal gestures used suggests minimal set contrasts required create sufficient number open class items language useful communication system differences syllable structure word length segmental inventory size interact fashion end answers deeper questions appear closer understanding phonological system conceptualized implied book combinatorial system articulatory acoustic contrasts highly constrained variety functional factors references browman c p goldstein l 1986 towards articulatory phonology phonology yearbook 3 219252 kuhl p k miller j 1975 speech perception chinchilla voiced voiceless distinction alveolar plosive consonants science 190 6972 mccarthy j j prince 1995 faithfulness reduplicative identity papers optimality theory university massachusetts occasional papers 18 amherst glsa pp 249384 pisoni b 1977 identification discrimination relative onset time two component tones implications voicing perception stops journal acoustical society america 61 13521361 prince smolensky p 1993 optimality theory constraint interaction generative phonology rutgers university center cognitive science technical reports 2 new brunswick nj ruccs reviewer stefan frisch language learning visiting research assistant professor program linguistics university michigan ph northwestern university 1996 research interests include phonetics phonology psycholinguistics computational linguistics reviewer address stefan frisch program linguistics university michigan 1076 frieze building 105 state st ann arbor mi 481091285 safrisch umich edu http wwwpersonal umich edu sfrisch