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We argue that the representational primes of the human phonological faculty, the so-called distinctive features, are innate and substance-free. Our arguments for the innateness of features are built on traditional and novel logical arguments, experimental evidence accumulating over recent decades, and somewhat detailed proposals about their neurobiological reality. As symbols in the brain, features are substance-free, that is, they are devoid of articulatory and acoustic content, or even any direct reference to such phenomena. This is consistent with our substance-free conception of phonological computation, an approach that eschews functionalist notions like markedness, ease of articulation, and so on. We also outline a neural model of the phonetics-phonology interface called Cognitive Phonetics, which transduces innate features to speech articulation and from speech acoustics. These extra-grammatical transduction procedures are also part of the human biological endowment, which leaves no room for language-specific phonetics in our theory of the externalization of language. We show how Cognitive Phonetics can account for traditionally recognized intersegmental coarticulation, as well as the previously unexplored intrasegmental coarticulation, strongly suggesting that the basic units of speech production are transduced features.

We propose that the interface between phonology and phonetics is mediated by a transduction process that converts elementary units of phonological computation, features, into temporally coordinated neuromuscular patterns, called ‘True Phonetic Representations’, which are directly interpretable by the motor system of speech production. Our view of the interface is constrained by substance-free generative phonological assumptions and by insights gained from psycholinguistic and phonetic models of speech production. To distinguish transduction of abstract phonological units into planned neuromuscular patterns from the biomechanics of speech production usually associated with physiological phonetics, we have termed this interface theory ‘Cognitive Phonetics’ (CP). The inner workings of CP are described in terms of Marr’s (1982/2010) tri-level approach, which we used to construct a linking hypothesis relating formal phonology to neurobiological activity. Potential neurobiological correlates supporting various parts of CP are presented. We also argue that CP augments the study of certain phonetic phenomena, most notably coarticulation, and suggest that some phenomena usually considered phonological (e.g., naturalness and gradience) receive better explanations within CP.

The paper provides a partial phonological and phonetic description of the segmental structure of L2 Telugu English (TE). Previous research on the subject has been carried out in the context of a more general notion of Indian English (IE), so the properties of TE as distinct from other varieties of IE (e.g., Gujarati English) have largely remained unexplored. We have primarily focused on areas that previous research identified as prominent issues in the study of IE: vowel inventory and production, representation and realization of liquids, word-final obstruent phenomena, and allophones of /w/. To account for these aspects of TE, we have combined a generative approach to the study of an individual’s linguistic competence with linguistic fieldwork as a means of collecting first-hand data. On the basis of collected data, we have conducted a spectrographic analysis of TE vowels and a distributional analysis of TE consonants. The paper provides the first description of the acoustic spaces of TE vowels. We found that all vowels except [?] and [i] are more central in TE than in General American English. /r/ was realized as either [r] or [?] without a specific pattern, and occasionally as [?] in the intervocalic position. /l/ was realized as [?] in word-final position and as [l] elsewhere. TE displayed word-final obstruent devoicing for all obstruents except for /b/, which was consistently unreleased. /w/ was realized as [?] before front vowels and as [w] elsewhere. While previous research that concentrated on the broad notion of Indian English recognized the issue of /w/-allophony, it has not provided a principle that governs the exact distribution of /w/’s allophones. By combining the generative framework with linguistic fieldwork, we have accounted for this long-standing puzzle with a single rule: /w/ ? [?] / __ [–CONS, –BACK].

Ovaj članak uvod je u optimalnosnu teoriju i u načela njezine primjene ufonologiji. Optimalnosna teorija (OT) naziv je za teoriju jezika koja se zasniva na interakciji univerzalnih, prekršivih i rangiranih jezičnih ograničenja. Osnovna je ideja optimalnosne teorije da su površinski jezični oblici rezultat razrješavanja konfliktnih zahtjeva kojeim nameću dvije vrste ograničenja: ograničenja vjernosti koja zahtijevaju da površinski oblici budu što sličniji temeljnima te ograničenja obilježenosti koja zahtijevaju da površinski oblici budu što jednostavniji, prirodniji,prototipniji, odnosno što manje obilježeni. Jezični je oblik koji najbolje zadovoljava takva konfliktna ograničenja optimalan. U radu se prikazuju četiri područja. Prvo, optimalnosnu teoriju dovodi se u relaciju s ranijim generativnim modelima te se ističu određeni značajni fonološki problemi, kao što su duplikacija i urote, koji su doveli do preispitivanja derivacijske generativne fonologije i do osnutka fonologije zasnovane na ograničenjima. Drugo, obrazlaže se ustroj gramatike u optimalnosnoj teoriji i definiraju se ključni OT pojmovi kao što su optimalnost, ograničenja, evaluacija i obilježenost. Treće, načela OT gramatike primjenjuju se na raznolik skup segmentnih fonoloških alternacija kao što su jednačenja, ispadanja i umetanja. Četvrto, razmatraju se suprasegmentni procesi kao što su tonske alternacije i sinkope uzrokovane ritmom i prikazuje se njihova analiza u sklopu optimalnosne teorije. Optimalnosna teorija posljednjih je dvadesetak godina dominantan deskriptivni model u svjetskoj fonologiji, a ovim ju radom nastojimo približiti i hrvatskomu jezikoslovlju.

Ovaj članak uvod je u optimalnosnu teoriju i u načela njezine primjene u fonologiji. Optimalnosna teorija (OT) naziv je za teoriju jezika koja se zasniva na interakciji univerzalnih, prekršivih i rangiranih jezičnih ograničenja. Osnovna je ideja optimalnosne teorije da su površinski jezični oblici rezultat razrješavanja konfliktnih zahtjeva kojeim nameću dvije vrste ograničenja: ograničenja vjernosti koja zahtijevaju da površinski oblici budu što sličniji temeljnima te ograničenja obilježenosti koja zahtijevaju da površinski oblici budu što jednostavniji, prirodniji, prototipniji, odnosno što manje obilježeni. Jezični je oblik koji najbolje zadovoljava takva konfliktna ograničenja optimalan. U radu se prikazuju četiri područja. Prvo, optimalnosnu teoriju dovodi se u relaciju s ranijim generativnim modelima te se ističu određeni značajni fonološki problemi, kao što su duplikacija i urote, koji su doveli do preispitivanja derivacijske generativne fonologije i do osnutka fonologije zasnovane na ograničenjima. Drugo, obrazlaže se ustroj gramatike u optimalnosnoj teoriji i definiraju se ključni OT pojmovi kao što su optimalnost, ograničenja, evaluacija i obilježenost. Treće, načela OT gramatike primjenjuju se na raznolik skup segmentnih fonoloških alternacija kao što su jednačenja, ispadanja i umetanja. Četvrto, razmatraju se suprasegmentni procesi kao što su tonske alternacije i sinkope uzrokovane ritmom i prikazuje se njihova analiza u sklopu optimalnosne teorije. Optimalnosna teorija posljednjih je dvadesetak godina dominantan deskriptivni model u svjetskoj fonologiji, a ovim ju radom nastojimo približiti i hrvatskomu jezikoslovlju., This paper serves as an introduction to Optimality Theory and to the principles of its application to phonology. Optimality Theory (OT) is a formal theory of language, based on the interaction of universal, violable and ranked constraints. The core idea of Optimality Theory is that the surface language forms are a product of the resolution of the conflicting demands that are forced upon them by two types of constraints: faithfulness constraints that command the output form to be as similar to the input form as possible and markedness constraints which demand that the output forms be in agreement with the universal principles of simplicity and unmarkedness. The language form that best meets these conflicting requirements is the optimal candidate. The paper introduces four areas of significance. First, Otimality Theory is related to the earlier generative models of phonology, especially pointing out certain prominent phonological problems, such as the Duplication Problem and conspiracies, which have brought the traditional derivational phonology into question and which consequently led to the founding of constraintbased phonological models such as OT. In the second part, the architecture of the OT grammars is explained and certain central ideas like optimality, constraints, evaluations and markedness are defined. Third, the main principles of Optimality Theory are applied on a wide variety of segmental processes such as assimilations, deletions, epenthesis etc. In the fourth part, suprasegmental processes like rhythminduced vowel syncope and various tone alternations are described within the OT framework. Since Optimality Theory has been the dominant descriptive model in international phonology for the last two decades, the aim of this paper is to bring it one step closer to contemporary Croatian linguistics.

U radu se unutar teorijskoga okvira suvremene sociolingvistike i kroatističke standardologije istražuju stavovi društva prema hrvatskome pravopisu. Posebno se ispituje odnos između ek-splicitne (kodificirane) pravopisne norme i stvarne uporabne norme u svrhu usavršavanja i sta-bilizacije postojeće eksplicitne norme. Kako bi se stvorila teorijska i metodološka podloga za eksperimentalno istraživanje, razjašnjavaju se četiri područja: mjesto pravopisa u procesu jez-ične standardizacije, odnos između jezičnoga standarda i društva, uloga i svrha ispitivanja društvenih stavova te planiranje pravopisa u sklopu etapnoga modela jezičnoga planiranja. Također se radi pojašnjavanja sadašnjih pravopisnih prilika sažeto prikazuje suvremena hrvat-ska pravopisna praksa, a ukazuje se i na pojedine problematične neujednačenosti u eksplicitnoj normi. U eksperimentalnome dijelu provedeno je anketno istraživanje društvenih stavova pre-ma pravopisu s posebnim osvrtom na pojedina sporna pravopisna rješenja. Istraživanje stavova prema pravopisu pokazalo je da društvo pridaje relativno veliku važnost pravopisu u sva-kodnevnome životu, da sadašnje stanje u pravopisu ocjenjuje uglavnom zbunjujućim i ne-dovoljno sređenim, ali da bi se taj stav poboljšao u slučaju da se postigne jedinstvena kodifici-rana pravopisna norma. Istraživanje stavova o eksplicitnoj normi pokazalo je da društvo daje značajnu prednost oblicima tipa pogreška, zadaci, neću i u ime (u prijedložnome značenju). Sporna i medijski eksponirana pravopisna rješenja poput pogrješka, zadatci, ne ću i uime nisu pokazala spontanu prihvaćenost u društvu., In order to ascertain the attitude of the society towards Croatian orthography and to examine the implicit orthographic norm both theoretical and experimental sociolinguistic methods were employed. The first part of the paper describes the position of orthography within the totality of the standardization process. This topic is expanded by explaining the role and purpose of investigating language attitudes in order to perfect the standard norm. The relationship be-tween the standard language and the society that uses it is also explored. The second part of the paper offers a description of the contemporary Croatian orthographic situation. It does so by providing a brief overview of the existing orthographic manuals and the discrepancies of the explicit orthographic norm between the manuals. Apart from the description of the ortho-graphic praxis, the current orthographic situation is linked to decades of strong political and ideological hegemony. The third part provides a concrete and succinct theoretical and practical model for evaluating the explicit orthographic norm by investigating the implicit norm that is used by the society. The fourth part focuses on the experimental investigation of the social language attitudes towards the explicit norm. A questionnaire was devised and used to collect the research data. The examination of language attitudes showed that the Croatian society considers orthography an important part of their daily lives, that they evaluate the present or-thographic state as mostly disordered and confusing, but also that their opinion about the or-thography would greatly improve if the situation became uniform. The investigation of the implicit norm showed that certain orthographic solutions, like pogrješka, zadatci, ne ću, uime etc. are not a part of the actual implicit norm, while the forms pogreška, zadaci, neću, u ime etc. are used by the vast majority of the society.

In this paper Croatian voicing assimilation was described within the framework of contemporary Optimality Theory, which is based on the interaction of universal, violable and ranked constraints. This research had two main goals. The first goal was to provide a complete and accurate formal description of Croatian voicing assimilation in Optimality Theory, currently one of the dominant research paradigms in generative phonology. The second goal was to modify the universal set of constraints by postulating a new, phonetically based positional faithfulness constraint IDENT-PS[voice], thus altering the way voicing assimilation should formally be described in OT phonology. By applying the OT framework on Croatian voicing assimilation, certain overlooked facts about its relation to Croatian syllable structure have emerged, most notably the fact that voicing assimilation in Croatian always occurs in the direction from the phonologically weaker segment toward the phonologically stronger segment, where phonological strength is determined by the segment’s proximity to the most sonorous part of the syllable – it’s nucleus. In addition, reasons for the regressive direction of this assimilation have been formalized and explained. By postulating the new faithfulness constraint IDENT-PS[voice], which assigns one violation mark to each case in which the voicing of the input segment is not identical to the voicing of the output segment in the position before a [+sonorant] segment, Optimality Theory has been enriched with a new hypothesis about the nature of the universal grammar.

Članak je pregled povijesnoga razvoja neurolingvistike. U članku se kronološki prikazuje proučavanje odnosa između jezične sposobnosti i čovjekova živčanoga sustava, počevši od najranijih takvih razmatranja u starome Egiptu i antičkoj Grčkoj. Sve do 19. stoljeća sačuvani izvori uglavnom su svjedočili o pojedinačnim, više ili manje detaljno dokumentiranim učincima oštećenja mozga na jezik i govor. Najznačajniji takvi slučajevi, koji su imali nemali utjecaj na razvoj neurolingvistike i afaziologije, prikazani su u ovome članku. U 19. stoljeću javila su se važna nastojanja da se jeziku i govoru odrede mjesta (da ih se lokalizira) u mozgu, pri čemu su se posebno istaknuli Franz J. Gall, Paul Broca i Carl Wernicke. Dvadeseto stoljeće obilježeno je ubrzanim razvojem teorija i eksperimentalnih metoda za istraživanje odnosa između jezika i živčanoga sustava te uspostavljanjem neurolingvistike u 1960-ima kao interdisciplinarne znanosti koja crpe teoriju i istraživačku metodu iz lingvistike i neuroznanosti., The article deals with the historical development of the field of neurolinguistics. It provides a chronological survey of inquiry into the relationship between the language faculty and the human nervous system, beginning with the first such investigations in ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. Up to the nineteenth century, most records were single case descriptions of the effects of brain lesions on the language faculty, and the most notable of these are presented in this paper. Some influential attempts were made in the nineteenth century to localize the language faculty in the brain, such as those of Franz J. Gall, Paul Broca, and Carl Wernicke. The twentieth century saw an explosion in the number of theories and experimental methods for investigating the relationship between language and the nervous system, along with the birth of neurolinguistics in the strict sense as an interdisciplinary field of scientific inquiry borne from linguistics and neuroscience in the 1960s.

U članku su prikazani pojedini zanimljivi i manje poznati događaji iz života Ljudevita Gaja, i to posebno oni iz razdoblja nakon 1848. godine. Jednom veoma utjecajan preporoditelj, Ljudevit je Gaj u drugoj polovici 19. stoljeća bio tek sjena negdašnje veličine. U ovome članku nastoji se objasniti što je dovelo do Gajeva pada. Ta su promišljanja potkrijepljena citatima iz govora "Slova nad grobom Ljudvita Gaja" koji je Fran Kurelac održao povodom Gajeve smrti 1872. godine.