Foundations of Phonology

Foundations of Phonology: Linguistic Development, Speech Pathology, and Communicative Disorders addresses the importance of clinical phonetics in the diagnosis and remediation of communicative disorders. This introductory text provides comprehensive coverage of foundational concepts and constructs, and outlines the relationships between speech development in both motoric and linguistic terms and human development overall.

Students learn about speech sound production, and the physical and acoustic properties used to classify and describe sounds. The text focuses on the importance of phonetic transcription in diagnosing disorders and developing effective treatment plans. Students also become familiar with the role of coarticulation and assimilation processes in speech production and the four areas of phonological knowledge: understanding constrastive phonemes, rules for allophonic variations, phonotactics, and morphophonemic adjustments. The final two chapters of the book provide detailed information on transcribing and analyzing disordered speech.

Featuring exercises that allow readers to practice the target knowledge and concepts, the book emphasizes clinical applicability. Foundations of Phonology is an outstanding instructional tool for courses in speech-language pathology, human communication, linguistics, and communicative disorders.