Optimality theory

Abstract: Prefactory Note. Acknowledgments. 1. Preliminaries:. Background and Overview. Optimality. Overall Structure of the Argument. Overview of Part I. 2. Optimality in Grammar: Core Syllabification in Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber:. The Heart of Dell & Elmedlaoui. Optimality Theory. Summary of discussion to date. 3. Generalization--Forms in Domination Hierarchies IBlocking and Triggering: Profuseness and Economy:. Epenthetic Structure. Do Something Only When: The Failure of Bottom--up Constructionism. 4. Generalization--Forms in Domination Hierarchies IIDo Something Except When: Blocking, or The Theory of Profuseness:. Edge--Oriented Infixation. Interaction of Weight Effects with Extrametricality. Background: Prominence--Driven Stress Systems. The Interaction of Weight and Extrametricality: Kelkar's Hindi/Urdu. Nonfinality and Nonexhaustiveness. Nonfinality and the Laws of Foot Form: Raw Minimality. Nonfinality and the Laws of Foot Form:Extended Minimality Effects. Summary of Discussion of the Except When Effect. Except meets Only: Triggering and Blocking in a Single Grammar. 5. The Construction of Grammar in Optimality Theory:. Construction of Harmonic Orderings from Phonetic and Structural Scales. The Theory of Constraint Interaction. Comparison of Entire Candidates by a Single Constraint. Ons: Binary constraints. Hnuc: Non--binary constraints. Comparison of Entire Candidates by an Entire Constraint Hierarchy. Discussion. Non--locality of interaction. Strictness of domination. Serial vs. Parallel Harmony Evaluation and Gen. Binary vs. Non--binary constraints. Paoini's Theorem on Constraint Ranking. Overview of Part II. 6. Syllable Structure Typology I: the CV Theory:. The Jakobson Typology. The Faithfulness Interactions. Groundwork. Basic CV Syllable Theory. Onsets. Codas. The Theory of Epenthesis Sites. 7. Constraint Interaction in Lardil Phonology:. The Constraints. The Ranking. Some Ranking Logic. Ranking the Constraints. Verification of Forms. Consonant--Final Stems. Vowel Final Stems. Discussion. 8. Universal Syllable Theory II: Ordinal Construction of C/V and Onset/Coda Licensing Asymmetry:. Associational Harmony. Deconstructing Hnuc: Berber, Take 1. Restricting to Binary Marks. Reconstructing the C and V Classes: Emergent Parameter Setting via Constraint Ranking. Harmonic Completeness of Possible Onsets and Peaks. Peak-- and Margin--Affinity. Interactions with Parse. Restricting Deletion and Epenthesis. Further Necessary Conditions on Possible Onsets and Nuclei. Sufficient Conditions on Possible Onsets and Nuclei. The Typology of Onset, Nucleus, and Coda Inventories. The Typology of Onset and Nucleus Inventories. Onset/Coda Licensing Asymmetries. An Example: Berber, Take 2. Simplifying the Theory by Encapsulating Constraint Packages. Encapsulating the Association Hierarchies. An Example: Berber, Take 3. Sufficiency and Richness of the Encapsulated Theory. 9. Inventory Theory and the Lexicon:. Language--Particular Inventories. Harmonic Bounding and Nucleus, Syllable, and Word Inventories. Segmental Inventories. Universal Inventories. Segmental Inventories. Syllabic Inventories. Optimality in the Lexicon. 10. Foundational Issues and Theory--Comparisons:. Thinking about Optimality. Fear of Optimization. The Reassurance. The Connectionism Connection, and other Computation--based Comparisons. Why Optimality Theory has nothing to do with connectionism. Why Optimality Theory is deeply connected to connectionism. Harmony Maximization and Symbolic Cognition. Analysis of 'Phonotactics+Repair' Theories. CV Syllable Structure and Repair. General Structure of the Comparisons: Repair Analysis. Persistent Rule Theory. English Closed Syllable Shortening. Shona Tone Spreading. Summary. The Theory of Constraints and Repair Strategies. Appendix. A.1 The Cancellation and Cancellation/Domination Lemmas. A.2 CV Syllable Structure. A.3 Paoinia s Theorem on Constraint--ranking. References. Index of Constraints. Index of Languages. General Index

Abstract: The Gradual Learning Algorithm (Boersma 1997) is a constraint-ranking algorithm for learning optimality-theoretic grammars. The purpose of this article is to assess the capabilities of the Gradual Learning Algorithm, particularly in comparison with the Constraint Demotion algorithm of Tesar and Smolensky (1993, 1996, 1998, 2000), which initiated the learnability research program for Optimality Theory. We argue that the Gradual Learning Algorithm has a number of special advantages: it can learn free variation, deal effectively with noisy learning data, and account for gradient well-formedness judgments. The case studies we examine involve Ilokano reduplication and metathesis, Finnish genitive plurals, and the distribution of English light and dark /l/.

Abstract: OPTIMALITY THEORY: CONSTRAINT INTERACTION IN GENERATIVE GRAMMAR. Alan Prince and Paul Smolensky. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. Pp. xi + 289. 39.95 paper.This book is very similar to the manuscript (written by the same authors and bearing the same title) that has been circulating among phonologists since 1993. As mentioned by the authors in the preface, “those familiar with an earlier version of the text will not find new notions and notations here” (p. ix). For this reason, the 2004 publication date may seem anachronistic, as it does not reflect the state of Optimality Theory (OT) in 2004, but rather in 1993. The most notable difference between the two versions of this text is the disappearance of two sections (on variable rules and stochastic grammars and on declarative phonology) that were to be added in the manuscript form.

Abstract: In Localism versus Globalism in Morphology and Phonology, David Embick offers the first detailed examination of morphology and phonology from a phase-cyclic point of view (that is, one that takes into account recent developments in Distributed Morphology and the Minimalist program) and the only recent detailed treatment of allomorphy, a phenomenon that is central to understanding how the grammar of human language works. In addition to making new theoretical proposals about morphology and phonology in terms of a cyclic theory, Embick addresses a schism in the field between phonological theories such as Optimality Theory and other (mostly syntactic) theories such as those associated with the Minimalist program. He presents sustained empirical arguments that the Localist view of grammar associated with the Minimalist program (and Distributed Morphology in particular) is correct, and that the Globalism espoused by many forms of Optimality Theory is incorrect. In the "derivational versus nonderivational" debate in linguistic theory, Embick's arguments come down squarely on the derivational side. Determining how to make empirical comparisons between such large positions, and the different frameworks that embody them, is at the heart of the book. Embick argues that patterns of allomorphy implicate general questions about locality and specific questions about the manner in which (morpho)syntax relates to (morpho)phonology. Allomorphy thus provides a crucial test case for comparing Localist and Globalist approaches to grammar.