The Minimality Condition in phonology

1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monik Charette
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
The Other ◽  
Minimality Condition ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Phonological Form ◽  
Principles And Parameters

With a few honourable exceptions, phonologists have, until recently, generally assumed the phonological component to be organized along completely different lines from the other components of the grammar. Phonological phenomena were mainly viewed as accidental, language specific, and unprincipled. Whereas some theoretical parallels between syntax and phonology have been drawn (cf. the role of the cycle in both domains and the extensive literature on ordering), there have been few attempts to see if principles of Universal Grammar could be found in phonology as well as in syntax and semantics. Increasingly, however, phonology is now being regarded as a system of principles along with parameters defining the class of human phonological Systems. In such a framework there are no rules of the sort: A → B/C→D. Phonological phenomena result from principles and parameters governing phonological representations and structures present in a particular language. Along these lines, recent work in phonology has suggested that Phonological Form (PF), like the other components of the grammar, is subject to certain fundamental principles. For example, it was proposed by Andersen and Jones in the early 1970s (and pursued by Ewen, Durand and others) that the relations of dependency that determine how syntactic constituents are organized, also determine how segments are grouped together in a given structure. For their part Lowenstamm & Kaye (1982) proposed that a theory of government could account for certain phonological processes such as vowel shortening in closed syllables. Stephen Anderson (1982) and Levin (1985) have proposed that X-bar principles govern the representation of syllables. Specifically, they have proposed that the Rhyme and the syllable as a whole are projections of the syllabic head, the Nucleus.

April McMahon (2000). Change, chance, and optimality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. x+201.

Phonology ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kirchner
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
General Constraints ◽  
Formal Rules

It is generally acknowledged, by both its proponents and detractors, that Optimality Theory has provoked a reexamination, in recent years, of the role of functional considerations, and their typological reflexes, in phonological theory. April McMahon's Change, chance, and optimality attempts an in-depth examination of this issue, particularly from the perspective of the relation between synchrony and diachrony in linguistic theory. The issue, and OT's general stance towards it, are summarised by Prince & Smolensky (1993: 198):One might feel compelled to view a grammar as a more-or-less arbitrary assortment of formal rules, where the principles that the rules subserve (the ‘laws’) are placed entirely outside the grammar, beyond the purview of formal or theoretical analysis, inert but admired. It is not unheard of to conduct phonology in this fashion. We urge a reassessment of this essentially formalist position. If phonology is separated from the principles of well-formedness (the ‘laws’) that drive it, the resulting loss of constraint and theoretical depth will mark as major defeat for the enterprise. The danger, therefore, lies in the other direction: clinging to a conception of Universal Grammar as little more than a loose organizing framework for grammars. A much stronger stance, in accord with the thrust of recent work, is available. When the scalar and the gradient are recognized and brought within the purview of theory, Universal Grammar can supply the very substance from which grammars are built: a set of highly general constraints which, through ranking, interact to produce the elaborate particularity of individual languages.

Automatic Subjects

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Floyd
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Global Expansion ◽  
Autonomist Marxism ◽  
Fictitious Capital ◽  
Critical Scrutiny ◽  
The One ◽  
Reproductive Processes

Critical analysis of the biotechnological reproduction of biological life increasingly emphasises the role of value-producing labour in biotechnologically reproductive processes, while also arguing that Marx’s use of the terms ‘labour’ and ‘value’ is inadequate to the critical scrutiny of these processes. Focusing especially on the reformulation of the value-labour relation in recent work in this area by Melinda Cooper and Catherine Waldby, this paper both critiques this reformulation and questions the explanatory efficacy of the category ‘labour’ in this context. Emphasising the contemporary global expansion of capital relative to value-producing labour – specifically, the expansion of fictitious capital and debt on the one hand, and of global surplus populations on the other – it argues that this reformulation misrepresents the mediated capacities of capital as the immediate capacities of labour. This reformulation, moreover, is indicative of broader tendencies in the contemporary theorisation of labour, tendencies exemplified by autonomist Marxism.

scholarly journals From the accidental to articulated smart city: The creation and work of ‘Smart Dublin’

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Coletta ◽  
Liam Heaphy ◽  
Rob Kitchin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
The Other ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

While there is a relatively extensive literature concerning the nature of smart cities in general, the roles of corporate actors in their production, and the development and deployment of specific smart city technologies, to date there have been relatively few studies that have examined the situated practices as to how the smart city as a whole unfolds in specific places. In this paper, we chart the smart city ecosystem in Dublin, Ireland, and examine how the four city authorities have actively collaborated to progressively frame and mobilise an articulated vision of Dublin as a smart city. In particular, we focus on the work of ‘Smart Dublin’, a shared unit established to coordinate, manage and promote Dublin’s smart city initiatives. We argue that Smart Dublin has on the one hand sought to corral smart city initiatives within a common framework, and on the other has acted to boost the city-region’s smart city activities, especially with respect to economic development. Our analysis highlights the value of undertaking a holistic mapping of a smart city in formation, and the role of political and administrative geographies and specialist smart city units in shaping that formation.

scholarly journals Effects of Animacy in Grammar and Cognition: Introduction to Special Issue

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 260-267
Author(s):  
Virve-Anneli Vihman ◽  
Diane Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Grammatical Structures

AbstractMost, if not all, languages exhibit “animacy effects”: grammatical structures interact with the relative animacy of noun referents, as represented on various versions of animacy scales, with human discourse participants at one end and inanimate objects at the other. Cross-linguistic evidence attests to a range of linguistic phenomena conditioned by animacy, with complex effects requiring (a) subtler distinctions than a binary contrast [± animate] and (b) more sophisticated analyses than mapping higher animacy to higher grammatical role.This paper introduces the Special Issue, “Effects of Animacy in Grammar and Cognition”, in which the linguistic interest in grammatical effects of animacy is aligned with broader questions concerning animacy in cognition, including the origins of animacy in language, the biases underlying how we attend to animacy distinctions and how animacy affects discourse. Recent work in cognitive science and adjacent fields has contributed to the understanding of the role of animacy across linguistic domains. Yet, despite the consensus that sensitivity to animacy is a property central to human cognition, there is no agreement on how to incorporate animacy within linguistic theories. This SI focusses on the cognitive construal of animacy, aiming to extend our understanding of its role in grammar(s) and theory.

scholarly journals Perception of Sibilants by Preschool Children With Overt and Covert Sound Contrasts

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 3763-3770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Roepke ◽  
Françoise Brosseau-Lapré
Keyword(s):  
Speech Sound ◽  
General Linear Model ◽  
The Other ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Speech Sound Disorder ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Preschool Aged Children

Purpose This study explores the role of overt and covert contrasts in speech perception by children with speech sound disorder (SSD). Method Three groups of preschool-aged children (typically developing speech and language [TD], SSD with /s/~/ʃ/ contrast [SSD-contrast], and SSD with /s/~/ʃ/ collapse [SSD-collapse]) completed an identification task targeting /s/~/ʃ/ minimal pairs. The stimuli were produced by 3 sets of talkers: children with TD, children with SSD, and the participant himself/herself. We conducted a univariate general linear model to investigate differences in perception of tokens produced by different speakers and differences in perception between the groups of listeners. Results The TD and SSD-contrast groups performed similarly when perceiving tokens produced by themselves or other children. The SSD-collapse group perceived all speakers more poorly than the other 2 groups of children, performing at chance for perception of their own speech. Children who produced a covert contrast did not perceive their own speech more accurately than children who produced no identifiable acoustic contrast. Conclusion Preschool-aged children have not yet developed adultlike phonological representations. Collapsing phoneme production, even with a covert contrast, may indicate poor perception of the collapsed phonemes.

The Role of Phonology in Reading Comprehension: Implications of the Effects of Homophones on Processing Sentences with Referentially Dependent Categories

1992 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria S. Waters ◽  
David Caplan ◽  
Carol Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
The Other ◽  
Phonological Information ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Sentence Condition ◽  
First Pass ◽  
Cold Blood ◽  
The Subject ◽  
In Cold Blood

Two experiments investigated whether phonological representations are activated in the processing of anaphors in reading, and if they are, whether they play a role in the initial (first-pass) processing of the sentence or in review (second-pass) processes. Subjects made sentence acceptability judgements for sentences that contained either verb-gaps or indefinite and personal pronouns (overt anaphors). All sentences contained homophones. Half of the semantically unacceptable sentences were phonologically plausible if the homophones were inserted in the gap (e.g. The children sleighed in the winter, and the murderer in cold blood) or used as the referent of the pronoun (e.g. There is a sale on at the store and I have one at the boat). The other half of the semantically unacceptable sentences were phonologically implausible. In both experiments, half of the subjects saw the sentences under normal viewing conditions (whole sentence condition); for the other half of the subjects the words of each sentence were presented sequentially in the centre of the video screen at the rate of 250 msec/word (RSVP condition). A large proportion of the phonologically implausible sentences in the first experiment contained phrases in the second clause which resulted in semantic “oddities” (e.g. The children sleighed in the winter, and the murderer in the jar); the sentences in Experiment 2 did not contain such oddities. In Experiment 1 subjects made more errors on the phonologically plausible than implausible unacceptable sentences with both verb-gaps and pronouns in the whole sentence but not in the RSVP condition. There was no effect of phonological plausibility in Experiment 2. As the effect of phonological plausibility was only seen in the whole sentence condition, and only when the sentences contained semantic oddities, these data suggest that phonological information was not used in the first-pass analysis of the sentence, but rather when the subject re-read the sentence to find the referent.

scholarly journals The role of rural areas in the preservation of health

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-166
Author(s):  
Norbert Novák ◽  
Péter Miklós Kőmíves ◽  
Mónika Harangi-Rákos ◽  
Károly Pető
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Dietary Habits ◽  
The Other ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Ecological Functions ◽  
Literature Overview ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Population

AbstractThe role of rural areas partly changed in the last decades. The countryside is still functioning as the main food producer of the world and this role became much more important because of the global population growth and because of the change in dietary habits. But other rural functions appeared just like recreation, health preservation, and on the other hand the different ecological functions' importance increased. The population living in the countryside is continuously decreasing as more and more people try to move into urban areas. One of the main aims of this article is to give a brief literature overview on the services needed in the rural areas in order to stop migration from the countryside to the cities. Based on extensive literature review the article summarizes the changing functions of the countryside and tries to list those developments which are needed to preserve rural population.

Three theses concerning phonological representations

1974 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Anderson ◽  
Charles Jones
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
The Other ◽  
Structural Units ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The One

I. Some recent work in phonology/phonetics has tended to reaffirm the relevance of larger-than-segment (non-syntactico-morphological) structural units like the syllable: that is, that phonological representations are per se more highly structured than has generally been supposed in the immediate past. On the one hand, it has been argued that various ‘prosodic’ phenomena have as their domain non-arbitrary groupings of segments, including in particular groupings of ‘syllable size’ (e.g. Cheng, 1966; Lehiste, 1970), and that ‘morpheme structure conditions’ and redundancy conditions in general are most naturally interpreted as in large part constraints on syllable structure (cf., e.g., O'Connor & Trim, 1953; Fudge, 1969; Sampson, 1970; and the works they refer to). There have, on the other hand, been a number of studies particularly of co-articulation and of malfunctioning in production (stuttering, spoonerisms, etc.) whose import seems to be that ‘the unit of articulatory programming is larger in size than the segment, and makes it difficult to believe that articulation consists merely in the concatenation of phonemes’ (Kim, 1971: 60) - cf. the work surveyed by Kim and by Fromkin (1968).

Two textbook representations of second language acquisition and Universal Grammar: ‘access’ and ‘constraint’

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-376
Author(s):  
Margaret Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
The Other ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Two textbooks written by Lydia White, one published in 1989 and the other in 2003, introduce generative research on second language acquisition and evaluate existing proposals about the role of Universal Grammar. Comparison of the two texts provides an opportunity to examine some of the conventions the field uses in representing itself to a novice readership. It also brings to light certain aspects of the field’s development during a 14- year interval. A point of particular interest is that this interval spans a shift in the language commonly used to pose questions about the relationship of Universal Grammar to second language acquisition, from the metaphor of ‘access’ to the metaphor of ‘constraint’.

Testimonial Current Affairs: The Australian Story Approach to Celebrity

2006 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-40
Author(s):  
Frances Bonner
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Interest ◽  
Current Affairs

Australian Story has developed a distinctive approach to both current affairs and the presentation of stories about celebrities. It has been subject to criticism for both of these, but the article argues that this is misguided, drawing on recent work on celebrity and particularly on John Langer's analysis of the ‘other news’ to point out how pervasive ‘human interest’ style stories are throughout news bulletins and conventional current affairs, and noting how many of these concern celebrities. Calling on a large number of episodes, it demonstrates that the program is capable of acting to set news agendas and of continuing existing news coverage — both prime duties of current affairs programs — and that it uses its celebrity coverage in particular to perform these functions. It also identifies the role of the testimonial as central to what is special about the Australian Story approach.

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