Published in Theoretical Linguistics
Benjamin Macaulay advises us not to diagnose syllable structure, more specifically the distinction between vowel + vowel clusters and diphthongs in the Taiwanese language Budai Rukai, on the basis of speaker judgements. I fully endorse his approach, since much of current work in phonology unwarrantedly takes syllabification for granted, without arg...
Published in Theoretical Linguistics
Prosodic details offer valuable insight into the phonology of languages, but prosodically-grounded analysis alone does not reveal the whole picture. Benjamin Macaulay’s prosodic study into Rukai provides valuable insights into the syllable structure of the language, but phonological alternations, particularly the alternation of glides and fricative...
Published in Theoretical Linguistics
This commentary paper offers a discussion on the methodological, epistemological, and theoretical issues concerning the status of the syllable and mora, as well as the problems raised by their (mis)characterization. It first addresses some methodological biases that occur in the description and analysis of the phonological units of languages, the p...
Published in Theoretical Linguistics
This reply explores issues with documenting prosodic structures given their unique relationship with metalinguistic knowledge. New evidence and perspectives are incorporated into a deeper investigation of Budai Rukai and the analytical decisions that underlie its reanalyzed prosodic system. This case study is then taken as a basis for discussion of...
Published in Theoretical Linguistics
Using the Popperian three-world theory, we draw a general picture of linguistic variables in linguistic data elicitation, judgement, and analysis. To cope with these three worlds of variables, we have two suggestions, namely careful variable control and bigger data size, as well as two reminders with respect to indiscriminate data and proportional ...
Published in Theoretical Linguistics
This target paper builds on previous literature in Budai Rukai to develop a nuanced framework for examining the syllable structure and the impact of Chinese language education on speakers’ judgments. It demonstrates new dimensions of overarching corroboration of intonational phonology and is a worthwhile endeavor. In this commentary, I address the ...
Published in Theoretical Linguistics
Linguistic elicitation is a kind of behavioral experiment. It remains an important source for phonological (and more generally, grammatical) argumentation even if it does not meet all the requirements for a proper behavioral experiment (in terms of the number of participants, for example). While the basic analysis proposed for Budai Rukai syllable ...
Published in Theoretical Linguistics
This commentary offers evidence for three general language types that may lack evidence for syllables as prosodic constituents: mora-dominant languages; foot-dominant languages; and word-dominant languages. It also highlights the important role of native-speaker judgements in identifying these language types.
Published in Theoretical Linguistics
Macaulay has performed a great service by pointing out unfounded leaps of logic in the syllable sections of descriptive grammars, but the auxiliary hypotheses that underlie such leaps require close scrutiny everywhere, including in his own argument: intuitions are more reliable than he claims, intonation is less reliable than he assumes, inconsiste...
Published in Theoretical Linguistics
The ease and consistency with which speakers of many languages provide direct judgments about syllable structure has been taken by scholars as evidence that these judgments are accurate and sufficient argumentation for an analysis of syllable structure in descriptive works. This paper questions whether the results of direct elicitation tasks reliab...
