Editing The Sound Pattern of English

{{Short description|Book by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle}}
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{{More citations needed|date=September 2015}}
[[File:TheSoundPatternOfEnglish.jpg|thumb|First edition (publ. [[Harper & Row]])]]
'''''The Sound Pattern of English''''' (frequently referred to as '''''SPE''''') is a 1968 work on [[phonology]] by [[Noam Chomsky]] and [[Morris Halle]]. In spite of its title, it presents not only a view of the [[phonology of English]], but also discussions of a large variety of phonological phenomena of many other languages. The index lists about 100 such languages. It has been very influential in both the field of phonology and the analysis of the English language. Chomsky and Halle present a view of phonology as a linguistic subsystem, separate from other components of the [[grammar]], that transforms an underlying [[phonemic]] sequence according to rules and produces as its output the [[phonetic]] form that is uttered by a speaker. The theory fits with the rest of Chomsky's early theories of language in the sense that it is [[Transformational grammar|transformational]]; as such it serves as a landmark in Chomsky's theories by adding a clearly articulated theory of phonology to [[Syntactic Structures|his previous work]] which focused on [[syntax]].

==Overview==
''The Sound Pattern of English'' has had substantial influence on subsequent work. Derivatives of the theory have made modifications by changing the inventory of segmental features, considering some to be absent rather than having a positive or negative value, or adding complexity to the linear, segmental structure assumed by Chomsky and Halle. Its treatment of phonology as rules that operate on features, as well as its particular feature scheme, survive in various altered forms in many current theories of phonology. Some major successor theories include [[autosegmental phonology]], [[Paul Kiparsky|lexical phonology]] and [[optimality theory]].

Chomsky and Halle represent speech sounds as bundles of plus-or-minus valued features (e.g. vocalic, high, back, anterior, nasal, etc.) The phonological component of each lexical entry is considered to be a linear sequence of these feature bundles. A number of context-sensitive rules transform the underlying form of a sequence of words into the final [[phonetic form]] that is uttered by the speaker. These rules are allowed access to the tree structure that the syntax is said to output. This access allows rules that apply, for example, only at the end of a word, or only at the end of a noun phrase.

The influence of SPE has led to rules of the form given in SPE, <nowiki>A→B / [precontext _ postcontext]</nowiki>, often being called "SPE-style rules" or "SPE-type rules".<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/linguisticglossary/PDF-HO/SPE-type%20rule.pdf | title=SPE-type Rule | website=digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk | publisher=[[Hong Kong Baptist University]]}}</ref>

==Editions==
* {{cite book |last1=Chomsky |first1=Noam |last2=Halle |first2=Morris |title=The Sound Pattern of English |date=1968 |publisher=Harper & Row |location=New York |url=https://web.mit.edu/morrishalle/pubworks/papers/1968_Chomsky_Halle_The_Sound_Pattern_of_English.pdf |access-date=16 December 2024}}

==Related works==
* Goyvaerts, Didier L. and Pullum, Geoffrey K. (eds.) (1975) ''Essays on the Sound Pattern of English''. Ghent: Editions Story-Scientia.
* Halle, Morris and Mohanan, K. P. (1985) "Segmental phonology of Modern English". ''Linguistic Inquiry''; 16, 57–116.  
* [[Bruce Hayes (linguist)|Hayes, Bruce]] (1982) "[[Extrametricality]] and English stress". ''Linguistic Inquiry''; 13, 227–76. 
* Ross, John Robert (1972) "A reanalysis of English word stress". In: ''Contributions to Generative Phonology'', ed. [[Michael Brame]], pp.&nbsp;229–323. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. 
* Stampe, David (1973) "On chapter nine". In: ''Issues in Phonological Theory'', ed. [[Michael Kenstowicz|Kenstowicz, Michael]] and Charles W. Kisseberth, pp.&nbsp;44–52. The Hague: Mouton.

==References==
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{{Noam Chomsky}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sound Pattern Of English, The}}
[[Category:1968 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Books by Noam Chomsky]]
[[Category:English phonology]]
[[Category:English orthography]]
[[Category:Cognitive science literature]]
[[Category:Harper & Row books]]
[[Category:Phonology books]]
[[Category:Generative linguistics]]
[[Category:Books about the English language]]