Consonant Structure and Prevocalization

This monograph proposes a new interpretation of the intrasegmental structure of consonants and provides the first systematic intra- and cross-linguistic study of consonant prevocalization. The proposed model represents consonants as inherently bigestural and makes strong predictions that are automatically relevant to phonological theory at both the diachronic and synchronic levels, and also to the phonetics of articulatory evolution. It also clearly demonstrates that a wide generalization of the notion of consonant prevocalization provides a uniform account for many well-known processes generally considered independent – from asynchronous palatalization in Polish to intrusive [r] in nonrhotic English, to vowel epentheses in Avestan, and to pre-/s/ vowel prothesis in Welsh. Consonant prevocalization has not played a significant role in the development of modern phonological theory to date, and this work is the first to highlight its broad theoretical significance. It develops important theoretical insights, with a wealth of supporting data and a rich bibliography. No doubt, this book will be of great interest to phonologists, phoneticians, typologists, and historical linguists.

Leo Wetzels, VU University Amsterdam & Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie, CNRS, Paris:
On the basis of a wide selection of languages, Natalie Operstein proposes a model of the bigestural composition of consonants in a laudable effort to explain the hitherto understudied phenomenon of consonant prevocalization. The book will be obligatory reading for those interested in the question of how the interaction between phonology and phonetics shapes the sound structure of human language.