Phonotactics of Czech

The book offers a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the occurrence and combinations of phonemes in Modern Standard Czech. It accounts for more than 500 combinations of consonants as well as combinations of vowels and consonants. It also presents a way to predict structurally possible but actually unattested combinations.

The ability to combine and arrange formal and meaningful units is an unquestionable advantage that languages have in comparison to other communication systems. If we want to know how languages work, we must understand how they make use of this combinatory potential and what its limits are. This book analyzes the occurrence and combinations of phonemes in Modern Standard Czech, which is known for exploiting the combinatory potential of formal units to a high degree. The analysis comprises more than 500 combinations of consonants as well as combinations of vowels and consonants within the so-called distributional unit a phonotactic model superior to the syllable. It also presents a way to predict structurally possible but actually unattested combinations with this model.

Autorentext

AleS Bican, Masaryk University, and Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, specializes in general phonological theory and particularly the phonology of Slavonic languages. He is the author of articles published in Zeitschrift für Slawistik and La Linguistique, and a co-editor of several books.

Inhalt
Contents: Phoneme system of Czech Neutralization Processes Accidental Gaps and Impossible Combinations Limitations of the Occurrence of Phonemes Nuclearity of /r/ and /l/ Combinations of Consonants, their Properties and Analysis Combinations of Consonants with Vowels Potential Combinations.