Friday, November 12th, 2010 @ 10:35AM

by David Odden
–Review by Lee Ballard

David Odden’s Introduction to Phonology text is an ok introduction to the field.  Strong points include problem sets with data from a wide variety of languages, approaches to phonology from the different schools of the past hundred years (phonemicist, generative phonology with features, and non-linear representation), and good layout and formatting.  Weaknesses include a bad first chapter on phonetics, obstinate use of APA at the expense of IPA throughout, inadequate motivation concerning changes in theoretical perspective, and omission of optimality theory.  Furthermore, the glossary is incomplete and the index was not well-updated for the second addition.  In conclusion, if your teacher is using this, you have to buy it, but if you can choose, try to get one that uses IPA.

Posted by floridalinguistics
Categories: Book Reviews, Lee Ballard