Three tiers in Polish and English phonology By Jolanta Szpyra (review)

BOOK NOTICES 201 men Silva-Corvalán provides an analysis of resumptive pronouns in Chilean Spanish. Syllable structure is treated by both Maria M. Carreira, who examines the role of place in consonant clusters in Spanish, and Lori Repetti, who analyzes syllabification patterns of final clusters in two northern Italian dialects. Rhythm and intonation is addressed by Michael L. Mazzola, who treats liaison and the phonology/syntax interface in French; Pilar Prieto and Jan van Santen provide experimental evidence concerning secondary stress in Spanish. The section on optimality theory is made up of papers by Haike Jacobs, who treats lenition in historical Romance, and Bernard Tranel, who reexamines some of his earlier work on liaison and elision in this newer framework. Although obviously dominated by studies on syntax , this volume includes papers from all of the core areas of linguistic research as well as papers treating important issues such as acquisition and discourse. Papers also come from a variety of perspectives, including diachronic, comparative, and experimental. The only notable absence is the sociolinguistic perspective . Nevertheless, it is probably not an overstatement to say that this volume reflects 'the richness and vitality of current linguistic research on Romance Languages' (xiv). [Randall S. Gess, University of Utah.] Three tiers in Polish and English phonology . By Jolanta Szpyra. (Rozprawy wydziahi humanistycznego. rozprawy habilitacyjne 82.) Lublin, Poland : Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej, 1995. Pp. viii, 257. Using original data and novel interpretations of other much-analyzed data, thus 'fill[ing] gaps' in earlier analyses (250), Szpyra examines in detail some basic assumptions of nonlinear phonology of the last two decades, and makes original, important modifications of the theory. Ch. 1, Basic assumptions of three-tiered phonology' (1-24), presents generallyaccepted suppositions about syllables (the sonority sequencing principle, sonority scale, minimal distance constraints, extrasyllabicity), the skeleton (C, V, X slots; linking; unlinked elements), and the melody (feature geometry; multiple Unkings, nonlinkings ). Each tier is accorded a chapter: Ch. 2: "The syllable: The formation of clippings' (25-89); Ch. 3: "The skeleton: "Incomplete" vowels', (90-170); and Ch. 4: "The melody: Palatalization phenomena', (171-247). S considers relevant Polish data in great detail and English data in some detail. The analysis is thorough, penetrating, and convincing in its broad outlines. To S's credit, the wealth of examples includes exceptions to her analyses and usually also exceptions to competing analyses. Exceptions, of course, do not invalidate an analysis, but they do aid future analysts in extending or bettering the analysis. The chapter on syllables concludes that both languages use templates to form clippings. Polish and English syllables are a challenge to syllable theories. S uses extrasyllabicity and late adjunction judiciously to resolve apparent contradictions between the simple underlying syllable in the two languages (especially Polish) and relatively complex surface syllables. While some data around the edges of the analysis are messy, S makes maximally interesting use of them and squeezes maximal theoretical mileage out of them (78-79). Even the weak parts of the template analysis are better than the nonanalysis any other approach offers. S provides evidence (§2.2) that the coda is part ofthe rhyme; the few diehard skeptics on this point have ever less evidence for their position . The chapter on the skeleton considers Polish yers (deletable vowels) and English schwa and [i]. S builds on previous studies of Polish by Gussmann, Rubach, and others and shows that recent advances, with reasonable, relatively concrete and articulatorbased assumptions, lead to a simpler, phonetically motivated analysis of this most complex phenomenon , which covers more cases than previous analyses (without many previously posited abstract yers). Yers are unconnectable to the syllable but vocalize when next to a nonsyllabified consonant. S shows that English schwa is an underspecified segment —the neutral segment in English. The maximally underspecified vowel in English is [i], like the [e] of PoUsh (or Spanish). Polish yers and English word-final [i] are vowels which are unlinked to their X-slot (extrasyllabic vowels!). Much of the analysis is based on appealing but arguable assumptions (e.g. that [i] and [y] are predictable based on syllable position , which is also predictable on universal principles ); these are laudably carried to their logical conclusions. For yers...