The Phoneme Literature Review

Dresher, Elan B. 2011. The Phoneme. In Mark Van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth Hume, Keren Rice (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. 241-266. Malden, MA & Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Dresher’s chapter on the phoneme explains how the phoneme is used in phonology and how it can be defined as a physical, psychological or fictional concept. This also describes that with the different approaches of the theory of the phoneme, the phoneme can change the way how features in distinctive feature theory are ordered. In addition to this, the chapter also describes the different approaches to how allophones are perceived on phonetic and phonemic theory. Dresher’s work has helped me understand the different approaches to analyzing the phoneme

2011. Distinctive Features. In Mark Van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth Hume, Keren Rice (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. 391-415. Malden, MA & Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell This chapter about distinctive feature theory by Jeff Mielke describes the methodology of distinctive feature theory. He enumerates the hierarchy of features from laryngeal configuration to passive and active articulators as well as feature economy and specific feature classes. This article was quite useful to me in that it helped me understand the specific boundaries and intentions of distinctive feature theory. The fact that distinctive feature theory relies on the organization of phonemes into specific classes and rule formalizations allowed me to further look into whether or not allophones should be allowed in distinctive feature theory.
Maddieson, Ian. 1987. Revision of the IPA: Linguo-Labials as a Test Case. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 17.1. 26-30 This article by Ian Maddieson argues whether or not apicolabials should be added to the International Phonetic Alphabet. He enumerates the pros and cons for each side, stating that their rarity does not merit a symbol on the chart, to transcribing them as core phonemes with a double frontal diacritic, to proposing the use of diagraphs in

2006. Tutuba Apicolabials: Factors Influencing the Phonetic Transition from Apicolabials to Labials. Oceanic Linguistics 45.1. 217-228. This article analyzed the Tutuba language on the island of Espiritu Santo and how the apicolabials shifted to labials during the apicolabial shift. Although Espiritu Santo is a large island like Malekula, the apicolabial consonants shifted to labials instead of alveolars like
Tirax.
This article helped me to understand the extent that the apicolabial shift had on the languages of Vanuatu. This also helped me realize how quickly the Bislama creole language was encroaching on the other native languages, making apicolabial speakers assimilate to fit that language more.
Vanuatu. https://www.ethnologue.com/country/VU. (21 April 2016). This website provided specific information about the many different languages spoken in Vanuatu and their current statuses of existence and use. This website also provided statistics about the population of Vanuatu as well as dictating what areas of Vanuatu speak what