phonotax

English

Etymology

A blend of phonotactics +‎ syntax or phonology + syntax.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfəʊnə(ʊ)taks/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfoʊnətæks/, /ˈfoʊnoʊtæks/

Noun

phonotax (countable and uncountable, plural phonotaxes)

1. (phonology, uncommon) The total sum of a language's phonological or phonotactic rules.
   • 1990, Jarmo Lainio, “Sweden Finnish — development or deterioration?”, in Durk Gorter, editor, Fourth International Conference on Minority Languages: Western and Eastern European papers‎^[1], Multilingual Matters, →ISBN, page 31:

     It is crucial for the phoneme structure of Finnish — traditionally /d/ has not been included in the Finnish phonotax, but it fulfils the criteria of a phoneme (Karlsson, 1983: 66-7).

   • 2009, Anders Stenström Beregond, “Phonotactic Preferences in the Root Repertories of "Qenya Lexicon" and "The Etymologies"”, in Arda Philology 2: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on J.R.R. Tolkien's Invented Languages, Omentielva Tatya, Antwerp, 8-11 August 2007‎^[2], Arda Society, →ISBN, page 99:

     On the level of word-shape, the phonotax of a language is a first determinant of its style, but the pattern of distribution within that frame is perhaps of equal importance.

   • 2012, Karen Langgård, “Considerations about the impact of Danish on the morphology of Kalaallisut”, in Hitomi Otsuka, Cornelia Stroh, Aina Urdze, editors, More Morphologies: Contributions to the Festival of Languages, Bremen, 17 Sep to 7 Oct, 2009‎^[3], Brockmeyer Verlag, →ISBN, page 10:

     Finally, names more or less adapted to Greenlandic phonotax will show a few deviations from the declination paradigms: e.g. Suulut ought to become Suulutip in ergative like t-stems use, but will become Suulup.

Related terms

• phonotactics