Optimality theory has drawn a good deal of criticism, most of which is directed at its application to phonology rather than syntax or other fields. One point, already mentioned above, is the fact that ot has incorporated notions like markedness and output constraint which already played an important role in studies on child language phonology. The early stages abstract recent experimental work indicates that by the age of ten months, infants have already learned a great deal about the phonotactics legal sounds and sound sequences of their language. It also addresses some frequently asked questions about this theory and offers suggestions. It is not to be confused with the meaning of the word reduction in phonetics, such as vowel reduction, but phonetic changes may contribute to phonemic mergers. Optimality theory ot is a linguistic model originally proposed by the linguists alan prince and paul smolensky in 1993. Studies of phonological acquisition usually take childrens productions as the data to be accounted for by phonological analysis, and studies of child phonology in optimality theory ot usually. Though originally developed from generative phonology, the principles of optimality theory have also been applied in studies of syntax, morphology, pragmatics, language change, and other areas. A split in phonology is where a once identical phoneme diverges in different instances. For example in english, the ng sound, as in ring, will never appear at the beginning of a word. The goal of this chapter is to elucidate the state of the art with respect to issues and questions in child phonology, including recent findings, research methodologies and theoretical models. Like the natural phonology theory, this theory holds that a child stores speech forms correctly but has production constraints that lead to the use of phonological processes. Most topics which in conventional phonology have been viewed as sources of external evidence zwicky 1972b arein the province of natural phonology as surely asthe. It espouses a serialist view of morphology that is rejected by most current phonologists.
Occasionally, the term reduction refers to phonemic merger. Natural phonology is a modern development of the oldest explanatory theory of phonology. The field is very interdisciplinary, and approaches differ drastically. Mergers, nearmergers and phonological interpretation. Mergers, nearmergers and phonological interpretation unidue. Articulation and phonological development theories flashcards. Optimality theory, phonological acquisition and disorders. The essence of underspecification theory is to supply such predictable distinctive features or feature specifications by rule. Phonemic merger is a loss of distinction between phonemes.
In this weeks episode, we take a look at optimality theory. Hoenigswald in 1965, a historical sound law can only affect a phonological system in one of three ways. This free online tool allows to combine multiple pdf or image files into a single pdf document. Hyman represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in brigham young university. Every language has a wide variety of speech sounds phonemes. Pdf merge combinejoin pdf files online for free soda pdf. In class we mainly approached phonology from a rulebased perspective, and were breifly told of ots constraintbased approach in passing. Project muse phonological acquisition and phonological. Yet certain welldocumented phenomena that are highly characteristic of child phonology remain to be integrated into theories of adult phonology. Scope of the theory in the following, we will first outline this word producing system as we conceive it.
What are the advantages disadvantages of a rulebased method of phonological analysis over competing methods such as optimality theory. A reader is a collection of readings on this important new theory by leading figures in the field, including a lengthy excerpt from prince and smolenskys neverbeforepublished optimality theory. What are the advantages disadvantages of a rulebased. Cantonese loanword phonology and optimality theory. The basic assumptions of this constraintbased theory as a general model of grammar. Although much of the interest in ot has been associated with its use in phonology the area to which ot was first applied, the theory is also applicable to other subfields of. Optimality theory was introduced in the 1990s by linguists alan prince and paul smolensky optimality theory. This is hard to say because people add their own obscure proposals all the time. Mccarthy university of massachusetts amherst abstract. Candidate d, however is harmonically bounded by a, and by c. We will then turn in more detail to the four levels of processing involved in the theory. For phonology, the complexity approach is typically associated with the work of mary elbert, dan dinnsen, and judith gierut all formerly affiliated with indiana university. A reader is a collection of readings on this important new theory by leading figures in the field, including a lengthy excerpt from john j.
It is a theory that has been most widely accepted in the realm of phonology, but has implications for all areas of linguistics. Viewed in this way, the general idea of underspecification has always been a part of any theory of phonology that includes such an evaluation metric. Merger can refer to a property of a language, of variety of a. Optimality theory, autosegmental phonology and linear. It consists of ordered levels, which are the domain for certain phonological or morphological processes. Optimality theory is a general model of how grammars are structured. Phonology tells us what sounds are in a language, how they do and can combine into words, and explains why. Optimality theory ot is a theory of constraint interaction. Acquisition of phonology andor child phonology has been studied from at least early this century, but it can hardly be said that there is a consensus about what the main issues are.
Optimality theory in phonology alan prince and paul smolensky 1. Optimality theory in phonological acquisition journal of. An optimality theory account of phonological variation in. Your book is focused on oldfashioned rewrite rules. How many phonological constraints are there in optimality. In the case of natural phonology this means everything that language owes to the fact that it is spoken. Segmental phonology suprasegmental phonology are the phonological representations segmental or suprasegmental. Formal comparison and synthesis russell james norton a thesis submitted for the degree of doctor of philosophy. Conditioned merger which hoenigswald calls primary split, in which some instances of phoneme a become an existing phoneme b. Ot is a theory of constraint interaction in grammar, which aims to solve a couple of problems that have confronted generative phonological theory since its earliest days. Feel free to add an analysis to an existing example. As the theory of representations in syntax has ramified, the theory of operations has dwindled in content, even to triviality and, for some, nonexistence. Constraint interaction in generative grammar compiles the most important readings about optimality theory in phonology from some of the most prominent researchers in.
The matter at hand is that of phonemic mergers and all that they entail. Ot differs from other approaches to phonological analysis, such as autosegmental phonology and linear phonology spe, which typically use rules rather. Current approaches to phonological theory edited by daniel a. Phonology and second language acquisition edited by jette g. Could someone point me to a textbook or a paper which has the same example analayzed by the three approaches sidebyside. Though originally developed from generative phonology, the principles of optimality theory have also been applied in studies of syntax, morphology, pragmatics, language change, and other. Children have a set of ordered universal tendencies that are either innate or learned early on in life. In addition, it spans both theory and application in l2 phonology.
Phonology can be described as an aspect of language that deals with rules for the structure and sequencing of speech sounds. Optimality theory makes two particular strong points for acquisition research. Phonology, syntax, and acquisition 144, the section on prosodic representation begins with luigi burzios contribution, cycles, nonderivedenvironment blocking and correspondence 4787. Theories of articulatory and phonological skills according to 4 major theories. The book is divided into three parts, with each section unified by broad thematic content. Optimality theory confronts these issues directly, designing its basic architecture to deal with them.
Mergers, nearmergers and phonological interpretation raymond hickey essen university introduction the issue treated in this paper is a phenomenon which has caused linguists of very different theoretical persuasions considerable concern. These borrowed words usually undergo adaptation processes to conform to the structural constraints of the borrowing language phonology. Language acquisition in optimality theory request pdf. The basic formal element of the theory is the constraint. Many criticisms of ot are, according to its proponents, based on fundamental misunderstanding of how it works. Lexical phonology is an approach to phonology that accounts for the interactions of morphology and phonology in the word building process. The lexicon plays a central, productive role in the theory. For our purposes, it will be convenient to classify phonological changes under two headings, roughly corresponding to the. The wikipedia entry on optimality theory states, that.
Given the architecture of generative phonology, which distinguishes between underlying lexical forms and surface forms, and given the. The wide selection of topics discussed in the nine papers should appeal to phonologists whose interests range from metrical theory. Dec 04, 2002 after the useful introduction by the editors and paul boersma, introductionoptimality theory. Constraint interaction in generative grammar, 19932004. Natural phonology was a theory based on the publications of its proponent david stampe in 1969 and more explicitly in 1979. Reviews phonological acquisition and phonological theory. In optimality theory ot the essence of both language learning in general learnability and language acquisition the actual development children go through entails the ranking of constraints. In english, this happens most often with vowels, although not exclusively.
Formal comparison and synthesis russell james norton a thesis submitted for the degree of doctor of philosophy department of language and linguistics university of essex july 2003. Soda pdf merge tool allows you to combine two or more documents into a single pdf file for free. It is claimed that optimality theory cannot account for phonological opacity see idsardi 2000, for example. We are aware that this contradicts other proposals which merge the relement with the. Explaining natural phonology phonology cambridge core. Nov 30, 2016 in this weeks episode, we take a look at optimality theory. In linguistics, optimality theory frequently abbreviated ot.
Optimality theory has attracted substantial amounts of criticism, most of which is directed at its application to phonology rather than syntax or other fields. I will argue that loanword phonology in cantonese does not exist as a separate component of the grammar and that the differences between english language source forms and their cantonese equivalents can be understood as the result of subjecting nonnative inputs to the constraints that define wellformed cantonese words. Segmental phonologysuprasegmental phonology are the phonological representations segmental or suprasegmental. The book is based on typological, crosssectional, longitudinal, and experimental evidence from over 200 children. In derivational phonology, effects that are inexplicable at the surface. Ovaj clanak uvod je u optimalnosnu teoriju i u nacela njezine primjene u fonologiji. This article surveys the motivations for ot, its core principles, and the basics of analysis. Ot provides new angles on longstanding diachronic questions, whilst historical data and models of change bear directly on the assessment of ot. This chapter presents an overview of optimality theory ot as applied to phonology. This learning occurs before infants can utter words or apprehend most phonological. Ot differs from other approaches to phonological analysis, such as autosegmental phonology and linear phonology. Aspects of underspecification theory phonology cambridge.
Oct 20, 2008 the essence of underspecification theory is to supply such predictable distinctive features or feature specifications by rule. This tutorial presents an introduction to the contemporary linguistic framework known as optimality theory ot. In this view, phonology is based on a set of universal phonological processes which interact with one another. Optimality theory ot shifts the focus of linguistic discovery from rules and derivations to constraints and rankings. In a typological scheme first systematized by henry m. Our pdf merger allows you to quickly combine multiple pdf files into one single pdf document, in just a few clicks. Its diverse elements evolved in nineteenthcentury studies of phonetics and phonetic change sweet, sievers, dialect varia. Phonology and second language acquisition edited by.
Articulation and phonological development theories. Focusing on the phonologies of children with functional nonorganic speech disorders, this volume reports the latest findings in optimality theory, phonological acquisition and disorders. Part i, theoretical issues and frameworks in l2 phonology, lays the groundwork for examining l2 phonological acquisition. After the useful introduction by the editors and paul boersma, introductionoptimality theory. Pdf this paper is to describe a phonological framework in which the study of. The prevailing nonsequential approach to phonology, the optimality theory, ot, is based not on rewrite rules but on constraints. Therefore, d cannot be the optimal candidate under any ranking of just these three constraints, though it could be optimal with a larger constraint set. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Available formats pdf please select a format to send.
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