DOCSLIB.ORG

Acquisitio a D Opacity

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Acquisitio a D Opacity ACQUISITIO AD OPACITY OLGA TIHOOVA Master’s Thesis in Theoretical Linguistics (LIN-3990) Department of Language and Linguistics Faculty of Humanities University of Tromsø Spring semester 2009 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. - 1 - Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... - 3 - Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2: Learnability in Optimality Theory .......................................................................................... 9 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Learning the Constraint Ranking ................................................................................................. 10 2.3 Learning Underlying Representations ......................................................................................... 21 2.3.1 Using phonotactics to learn phonological alternations ....................................................... 22 2.3.2 Surgery in Language Learning .............................................................................................. 26 2.3.3 Residual Issues: the Free Ride .............................................................................................. 27 2.4 Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 3: Opacity in Optimality Theory ............................................................................................... 31 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 31 3.2 Opacity in Optimality Theory ...................................................................................................... 33 3.2.1 Counterbleeding ................................................................................................................... 33 3.2.2 Counterfeeding ..................................................................................................................... 35 3.3 Approaches to Opacity in Optimality Theory .............................................................................. 39 3.3.1 Enriching Representations and Creating New Constraints .................................................. 40 3.3.2 Multistratal Variants of OT ................................................................................................... 45 3.3.3 Horizontal Correspondence.................................................................................................. 53 3.4 Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 4: Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains ........................................................................... 59 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 59 4.2 Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains ................................................................................... 59 4.3 Counterbleeding and counterfeeding in OT-CC .......................................................................... 64 4.3.1 Counterbleeding ................................................................................................................... 64 4.3.2 Counterfeeding ..................................................................................................................... 66 4.3.3 Zero-terminating chain-shifts ............................................................................................... 70 4.4 Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 73 Chapter 5: Metaconstraint on Ranking ................................................................................................. 75 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 75 5.2 Three reasons to discard the metaconstraint ............................................................................. 75 5.2.1 Obligatorily counterbleeding processes ............................................................................... 78 5.2.2 Non-derived environment blocking ..................................................................................... 79 5.2.3 Spontaneous opacity ............................................................................................................ 90 5.3 The status of Precedence constraints ......................................................................................... 93 5.4. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 96 Chapter 6: Spontaneous Opacity in Acquisition .................................................................................... 99 6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 99 6.2 Spontaneous Counterbleeding .................................................................................................... 99 6.2.1 Learner A: overapplication effects ....................................................................................... 99 6.2.2 Learner B: alternative acquisition path ............................................................................. 107 6.2.3 More cross-subject variation data ..................................................................................... 110 6.3 Spontaneous counterfeeding .................................................................................................... 115 6.4 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 126 Chapter 7: Acquisition of Target-Like Opacity..................................................................................... 129 7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 129 7.2 Target-like opacity acquisition in OT-CC ................................................................................... 130 7.3 Target-like opacity acquisition in Stratal OT ............................................................................. 142 7.4 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 144 Chapter 8: Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 147 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... - 151 - - 1 - Acknowledgements I would like to use this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to professors at the University of Tromsø, who, over the past two years, generously shared with me their skills and expertise in all areas of phonology. I am especially indebted to my supervisor, Dr. Martin Krämer. Without his wise guidance and invaluable assistance, this work could never have been written. During my thesis year, Dr. Krämer provided not only fruitful discussions and to-the-point criticism, but also encouragement and reassurance. Finally, and most importantly, I am deeply grateful to my family for their endless patience, understanding, moral support and all imaginable help that they provided. - 3 - Abstract This thesis focuses on the most recent OT-based theory of opacity called Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains (OT-CC, see McCarthy 2007). To date very little attention has been dedicated to the problem of acquisition of OT-CC grammars and to the treatment of spontaneous opacity effects in the light of OT-CC. In this thesis we demonstrate that OT-CC grammars can be effectively learned by the BCD algorithm (Prince & Tesar 2004). Also, on the basis of evidence from obligatorily counterbleeding processes, NDEBs and non-target-like opacity effects, we propose to make certain changes to the status of Precedence constraints with the view to increase the descriptive adequacy of OT-CC. We show that our proposed adjustments allow OT-CC to account for emergence and subsequent loss of spontaneous opacity effects, as well as for the phenomenon of U-shaped learning and cross-subject variation in early production data. Chapter 1: Introduction 5 Chapter 1: Introduction This thesis deals with a phenomenon that causes heated controversy among the proponents of different currents in phonological theorizing; the phenomenon that can shed light on such long-standing problems as language change and acquisition; the phenomenon that has been dubbed “the single most important issue in current phonological theory”(Idsardi 2000:337). I am talking, of course, about phonological opacity. The term ‘phonological opacity’ refers to cases where a surface
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Chain Shifts in First Language Acquisition
    CHAIN SHIFTS IN FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION MASTER’S THESIS BY FRANSIEN WALTON MASTER’S PROGRAMME TAAL, MENS EN MAATSCHAPPIJ TAALWETENSCHAP UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT STUDENT NUMBER 0419273 SUPERVISOR PROF. DR. RENÉ KAGER SECOND READER PROF. DR. WIM ZONNEVELD 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 5 1. INTRODUCTION 7 2. PREVIOUS RESEARCH 14 2.1 EARLY GENERATIVE GRAMMAR 15 2.1.1 SMITH (1973) 17 2.1.2 MACKEN (1980) 19 2.2 OPTIMALITY THEORY 21 2.2.1 INTRODUCTION TO OPTIMALITY THEORY 21 2.2.2 CHAIN SHIFTS IN OPTIMALITY THEORY 26 2.2.3 LOCAL CONSTRAINT CONJUNCTION 28 2.2.4 FAITHFULNESS TO INPUT PROMINENCE 39 2.2.5 OPTIMALITY THEORY WITH CANDIDATE CHAINS 52 2.2.6 UNDERSPECIFIED UNDERLYING REPRESENTATIONS 58 2.3 CONCLUSION 62 3. A NEW PROPOSAL 65 3.1 INDEPENDENT PROCESSES 68 3.2 ARTICULATORY DIFFICULTIES 70 3.3 UNDERLYING REPRESENTATIONS 74 3.4 MISPERCEPTION 79 3.5 PREDICTIONS REVISITED 83 3.6 CONCLUSION 86 4. DISCUSSION 88 5. CONCLUSION 103 REFERENCES 105 3 4 PREFACE The idea for this thesis originated in the course Phonological Acquisition taught by René Kager. I read the article On the characterization of a chain shift in normal and delayed phonological acquisition by Daniel Dinnsen and Jessica Barlow (1998) and was intrigued by the phenomenon. After I started reading more on the subject, I became increasingly unhappy with the proposed analyses in the literature and decided to dive deeper into the matter. The result is this thesis. I would like to thank René for his useful comments, critical questions and positive feedback.
    [Show full text]
  • Handouts for Advanced Phonology: a Course Packet Steve Parker GIAL
    Handouts for Advanced Phonology: A Course Packet Steve Parker GIAL and SIL International Dallas, 2016 Copyright © 2016 by Steve Parker and other contributors Page 1 of 304 Preface This set of materials is designed to be used as handouts accompanying an advanced course in phonology, particularly at the graduate level. It is specifically intended to be used in conjunction with two textbooks: Phonology in generative grammar (Kenstowicz 1994), and Optimality theory (Kager 1999). However, this course packet could potentially also be adapted for use with other phonology textbooks. The materials included here have been developed by myself and others over many years, in conjunction with courses in phonology taught at SIL programs in North Dakota, Oregon, Dallas, and Norman, OK. Most recently I have used them at GIAL. Many of the special phonetic characters appearing in these materials use IPA fonts available as freeware from the SIL International website. Unless indicated to the contrary on specific individual handouts, all materials used in this packet are the copyright of Steve Parker. These documents are intended primarily for educational use. You may make copies of these works for research or instructional purposes (under fair use guidelines) free of charge and without further permission. However, republication or commercial use of these materials is expressly prohibited without my prior written consent. Steve Parker Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics Dallas, 2016 Page 2 of 304 1 Table of contents: list of handouts included in this packet Day 1: Distinctive features — their definitions and uses -Pike’s premises for phonological analysis ......................................................................... 7 -Phonemics analysis flow chart ..........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Sympathy and Phonological Opacity* John J
    Sympathy and phonological opacity* John J. McCarthy University of Massachusetts, Amherst 1 Statement of the problem A central idea in rule-based phonology is the serial derivation (Chomsky and Halle 1968). In a serial derivation, an underlying form passes through a number of intermediate representations on its way to the surface: (1) Serial Derivation Underlying representation = UR UR transformed by rule 1 = output1 Output1 transformed by rule 2 = output2 ... Outputn-1 transformed by rule n = Surface representation Implementational details can differ: the order of rules might be stipulated or it might be derived from universal principles; the steps might be called "rules", "cycles", or "levels"; the steps might involve applying rules or enforcing constraints. But, details aside, the defining characteristic of a serial derivation, in the sense I will employ here, is the preeminence of the chronological metaphor: the underlying form is transformed into a succession of distinct, accessible intermediate representations on its way to the surface. I will call any theory with this property "serialism". *This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant SBR-9420424. Versions of it were presented at MIT (4/4/97), the Hopkins Optimality Workshop/Maryland Mayfest ‘97 (5/11/97), the LSA Linguistic Institute (7/22/97), the University of Amsterdam (9/25/97), Ohio State University (10/24/97), UT Austin (11/7/97), and the Rutgers Optimality Research Group (5/15/98). I acknowledge with particular gratitude the comments of Alan Prince;
    [Show full text]
  • Handouts for Advanced Phonology: a Course Packet Steve Parker GIAL
    Handouts for Advanced Phonology: A Course Packet Steve Parker GIAL and SIL International Dallas, 2018 Copyright © 2018 by Steve Parker and other contributors Page 1 of 281 Preface This set of materials is designed to be used as handouts accompanying an advanced course in phonology, particularly at the graduate level. It is specifically intended to be used in conjunction with two textbooks: Phonology in generative grammar (Kenstowicz 1994), and Optimality theory (Kager 1999). However, this course packet could potentially also be adapted for use with other phonology textbooks. The materials included here have been developed by myself and others over many years, in conjunction with courses in phonology taught at SIL programs in North Dakota, Oregon, Dallas, and Norman, OK. Most recently I have used them at GIAL. Many of the special phonetic characters appearing in these materials use IPA fonts available as freeware from the SIL International website. Unless indicated to the contrary on specific individual handouts, all materials used in this packet are the copyright of Steve Parker. These documents are intended primarily for educational use. You may make copies of these works for research or instructional purposes (under fair use guidelines) free of charge and without further permission. However, republication or commercial use of these materials is expressly prohibited without my prior written consent. Steve Parker Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics Dallas, 2018 Page 2 of 281 1 Table of contents: list of handouts included in this packet Day 1: Distinctive features — their definitions and uses -Pike’s premises for phonological analysis ......................................................................... 7 -Phonemics analysis flow chart ..........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Rule Flipping and the Feeding–Bleeding Relationship∗
    Rule ipping and the feeding–bleeding relationship∗ Johannes Hein, Andrew Murphy & Joanna Zaleska University of Leipzig October óþÕ¦ Abstract In this paper, we discuss the relationship that holds between feeding and bleeding in the interaction of rules. Whereas it is presently well understood how to change, for example, a feeding relation into one of counterfeeding (i.e. by reversing the order of application), the transformation from feeding to bleeding is still unclear. We show that there is a systematic way to go from feeding to bleeding and vice versa by means of ‘ipping’ rules (reversing the input and output). e ensuing discussion uncovers more about the nature of rules in general and opens up a wealth of further analytical possibilities. Õ Introduction In the discussion of grammatical rules, much attention has been paid (especially in phonology) to the interaction of rules. Generally, if there is an interaction between two rules it may vary along two dimensions Õ.C §í (with the two values timely vs. tardy) and ó.I ±u§u§uhu (with the two values non-inhibitory vs. non-excitatory) whose cross-classication gives the familiar four types of rule-interaction in (Õ) rst discussed by Kiparsky(ÕÉä). (Õ) Types of rule-interactionÖ C§í timely tardy non-inhibitory feeding counterbleeding I±u§u§uhu non-excitatory bleeding counterfeeding ∗We are indebted to the audience of the IGRA-Klausurtagung in Großbothen for a lively discussion of the general ideas of this working paper and for the encouragement to expand on them. ÖWe refrain from using the more common terms transparent for feeding and bleeding and opaque for counter- feeding and counterbleeding here, because there is no clear-cut one-to-one correspondence between opacity and chronology.
    [Show full text]
  • Cover Title: Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology Author
    cover file:///D:/Documents%20and%20Settings/superstar/Mes%20document... Cover title: Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology author: Trask, R. L. publisher: Taylor & Francis Routledge isbn10 | asin: print isbn13: 9780203696026 ebook isbn13: 9780203695111 language: English subject Phonetics--Dictionaries, Grammar, Comparative and general--Dictionaries.--Phonology , Gramática comparada y general--Fonología--Diccionarios, Phonetics, Phonology. publication date: 1996 lcc: P216.T73 1996eb ddc: 414/.03 subject: Phonetics--Dictionaries, Grammar, Comparative and general--Dictionaries.--Phonology , Gramática comparada y general--Fonología--Diccionarios, Phonetics, Phonology. cover Page i A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology Written for students of linguistics, applied linguistics and speech therapy, this dictionary covers over 2,000 terms in phonetics and phonology. In addition to providing a comprehensive yet concise guide to an enormous number of individual terms, it also includes an explanation of the most important theoretical approaches to phonology. Its usefulness as a reference tool is further enhanced by the inclusion of pronunciations, notational devices and symbols, earliest sources of terms, suggestions for further reading, and advice with regard to usage. R.L.Trask is Lecturer in Linguistics in the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences at the University of Sussex. His previous publications include A Dictionary of Grammatical Terms in Linguistics (1993), Language Change (1994) and Language: The Basics (1995). page_i Page ii This page intentionally left blank. page_ii Page iii A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology R.L.Trask London and New York 1 of 246 10/04/2010 11:56 cover file:///D:/Documents%20and%20Settings/superstar/Mes%20document... page_iii Page iv First published 1996 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
    [Show full text]
  • ROA-850 — October 2006 — Comments Welcome Baković — a Revised Typology of Opaque Generalizations
    A revised typology of opaque generalizations* Eric Baković UC San Diego Abstract This paper is about opaque interactions between phonological processes in the two senses defined by Ki- parsky (1971, 1973) and discussed in much recent work on the topic, most notably McCarthy (1999): un- derapplication opacity, whereby a process appears to have failed to apply in expected contexts on the sur- face, and overapplication opacity, whereby a process appears to have applied in unexpected contexts on the surface. Specifically, I demonstrate that there are three distinct types of overapplication opacity in ad- dition to the only case discussed and properly categorized as such in the literature, counterbleeding. The analysis of each type of opacity in terms of rule-based serialism and in terms of Optimality Theory is dis- cussed, emphasizing the strengths and weaknesses of the two frameworks in each case. Table of contents 1 Obscured generalizations and the theory of opacity.............................................................................1 2 Underapplication / counterfeeding..........................................................................................................4 3 Counterbleeding ........................................................................................................................................6 4 Self-destructive feeding.............................................................................................................................9 5 Nongratuitous feeding.............................................................................................................................12
    [Show full text]
  • Opacity and Transparency in Phonological Change
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations Fall 2010 Opacity and Transparency in Phonological Change Jonathan Gress-Wright University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Comparative and Historical Linguistics Commons, and the Phonetics and Phonology Commons Recommended Citation Gress-Wright, Jonathan, "Opacity and Transparency in Phonological Change" (2010). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 266. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/266 OpenAccess abstract differs slightly from text in dissertation. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/266 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Opacity and Transparency in Phonological Change Abstract Modern High German final obstruent devoicing is usually thought to descend from Middle German devoicing without any chronological break, despite the fact that the graphic representation of final devoicing ceased in the Early Modern period. However, an alternative account holds that the spelling change reflects the actual loss of the devoicing rule, and that therefore the modern rule has an independent origin. In particular, apocope of final schwa has been suggested as the cause of the loss of devoicing in Early Modern German. According to this theory, loss of devoicing occurred because schwa apocope rendered the devoicing rule opaque, and hence hard to learn. If true, we expect to see some evidence for opaque devoicing during the period that apocope was in progress. In accordance with this prediction, we found a statistically significant correlation between apocope and absence of final devoicing in a number of German texts of the 14th and 15th centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • “Regularities” and “Irregularities” in Chinese Historical Phonology
    “Regularities” and “irregularities” in Chinese historical phonology Tianrang (Quain) Bu Honors Thesis Department of Anthropology Oberlin College April 2018 Advisor: Jason Haugen 1 ABSTRACT With a combination of methodologies from Western and Chinese traditional historical linguistics, this thesis is an attempt to survey and synthetically analyze the major sound changes in Chinese phonological history. It addresses two hypotheses – the Neogrammarian regularity hypothesis and the unidirectionality hypothesis – and tries to question their validity and applicability. Drawing from fourteen types of “regular” and “irregular” processes, the thesis argues that the origins and impetuses of sound change is far from just phonetic environment (“regular” changes) and lexical diffusion (“irregular” changes), and that sound change is not unidirectional because of the existence and significance of fortifying and bi/multidirectional changes. The thesis also examines the sociopolitical aspect of sound change through the discussion of language changes resulting from social, geographical and historical factors, suggesting that the study of sound change should be more interdisciplinary and miscellaneous in order to explain the phenomena more thoroughly and reach a better understanding of how human languages function both synchronically and diachronically. KEY WORDS: Chinese, historical, phonology, sound change 2 Table of contents List of abbreviations and keys…………………………………………………… 5 Index of tables and figures………………………………………………………. 8 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………… 10 2. Backgrounds………………………………………………………………….. 14 2.1. Overview of historical linguistics……………………………………………... 14 2.1.1. A brief history of historical linguistics………………………………………… 14 2.1.2. Neogrammarian regularity hypothesis and the comparative method………….. 16 2.1.3. Unidirectionality hypothesis and its application in phonology…………........... 19 2.2. Overview of historical Chinese phonology……………………………………. 21 2.2.1.
    [Show full text]
  • Rule Ordering
    Bibliographic Details The Blackwell Companion to Phonology Edited by: Marc van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth Hume and Keren Rice eISBN:74. Rule 9781405184236 Ordering JoanPrintJoan publicationMascaróMascaró date: 2011 Sections 1 The bases of rule ordering 2 Total strict order and other ordering relations 3 Cyclic ordering 4 Rule interaction, ordering, and applicability: Feeding and bleeding 5 Serial and parallel approaches 6 Conclusion Notes REFERENCES 1 The bases of rule ordering The distributional properties of sound in natural languages are explained by appeal to a level of underlying structure in addition to the level of observed phonetic or surface representation (CHAPTER 11: UNDERLYING REPRESENTATIONS), and to a function that maps underlying representations into surface representations. This function has been conceived since the beginning of generative grammar as an ordered set of rules. In this chapter I will first introduce the main properties of rule ordering and the arguments for ordering rules (§1), and I will review various proposals to modify rule ordering in early generative phonology (§2), including cyclic ordering (§3). In §4 I discuss feeding, bleeding, and similar interactions in more detail, §5 discusses serial ordering and parallel approaches, and §6 draws some conclusions. A rule expresses a significant generalization about the sound structure of a given natural language. The rules of generative phonology, as formalized in Chomsky and Halle (1968; SPE) and subsequent work, were formalized adaptations of descriptive statements about phonology of earlier frameworks, even though their function was not the same. Both the relationship of generative rules to statements of descriptive grammars and the reasons for imposing ordering on them can be gathered from the following example, taken from Halle (1962: 57–58).
    [Show full text]
  • Opacity and Ordering∗
    Opacity and ordering∗ Eric Baković UC San Diego To appear in The Handbook of Phonological Theory, J. Goldsmith, A. Yu, and J. Riggle (eds.) 1 Introduction Few notions in phonological theory have received as much attention in the literature as opacity. In the almost 40 years since Kiparsky (1971, 1973a) offered the definition given in (1), the bulk of the attention paid to opacity has been relatively recent and has been fueled by the field’s massive (but incomplete) shift from the rule-based serialism framework of The Sound Pattern of English (Chomsky & Halle 1968) to the constraint-based parallelism framework of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993). (1) Opacity (Kiparsky 1973a: 79) A phonological rule P of the form A −→ B/C D is opaque if there are surface structures with either of the following characteristics: a. instances of A in the environment C D. b. instances of B derived by P that occur in environments other than C D. According to (1), the opacity of a (hypothesized) rule P can be formally diagnosed by comparing the set of (predicted) surface representations with the generalization expressed by P:tosaythatP is opaque is to say that the applicability or application of P is (somehow) obscured on the surface. Kiparsky’s substantive claim was that an opaque rule P is difficult to learn, either (1a) because there are surface counterexamples to P’s applicability, or (1b) because there are surface contexts in which P’s application is not motivated. Kiparsky’s support for this substantive learnability claim was a set of examples of lan- guage change in which previously opaque rules become transparent.
    [Show full text]
  • Stratal OT: a Synopsis and Faqs
    Stratal OT: A synopsis and FAQs Paul Kiparsky Stanford University 1 Parallel, Transderivational, and Stratal OT 1.1 Theoretical choices By modeling phonology as a system of ranked violable constraints, Optimality Theory (OT) succeeded in bringing substantive universals and typological gener- alizations to bear on the analysis of individual phonological systems, and uncov- ered important generalizations that escaped classical generative phonology, such as top-down effects and the emergence of the unmarked, to name just two (Prince and Smolensky 1993, 2004). Another fundamental principle of classic OT, that all constraints are evaluated in parallel on output representations, initially contributed much to the theory’s conceptual appeal, but it soon became clear that the price for maintaining it is prohibitive. In order to account for phonology/phonology and phonology/morphology interactions under parallelism, numerous new computa- tionally and learning-theoretically intractable constrainttypeshad to be devised— Output-Output constraints, Paradigm Uniformity constraints, Base-Reduplication constraints, Sympathy constraints, Precedence constraints, among others. They vastly expanded the factorial typology and, separately or in any combination, failed to do the empirical job they were intended for. Stratal OT returns to a pristine version of OT which countenances only marked- ness and faithfulness constraints. Instead of exploding the constraint typology, it deals with phonology/phonology and phonology/morphology interactions by or- ganizing the grammar into strata (levels) analogous to those posited in Lexical Phonology and Morphology (LPM). Each stratum is a classic “pure” parallel OT 1 system, but the strata interface serially. Since the constraints at each stratum are limited to the well-understood markedness and faithfulness families of constraints regimented by Correspondence Theory, Stratal OT retains the major results of OT about factorial typology, and is formally clean like classical OT.
    [Show full text]