scholarly journals Computationally, tone is different

Phonology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Jardine
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Segmental Phonology ◽  
Crucial Information ◽  
The Asymmetry

This paper establishes that unbounded circumambient processes, phonological processes for which crucial information in the environment may appear unboundedly far away on both sides of a target, are common in tonal phonology, but rare in segmental phonology. It then argues that this typological asymmetry is best characterised by positing that tone is more computationally complex than segmental phonology. The evidence for the asymmetry is based around attestations of unbounded tonal plateauing, but it is also shown how the ‘sour-grapes’ harmony pathology is unbounded circumambient. The paper argues that such processes are not weakly deterministic, which contrasts with previous typological work on segmental phonology. Positing that weak determinism bounds segmental phonology but not tonal phonology thus captures the typological asymmetry. It is also discussed why this explanation is superior to any offered by Optimality Theory.

Computation also matters: a response to Pater (2018)

Phonology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Jardine
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Expressive Power ◽  
Global Optimisation ◽  
Empirical Observation ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Segmental Phonology ◽  
Computational Properties

This article responds to Pater (2018) by arguing for a view of phonology that captures the computational properties of phonological processes. Jardine's (2016) statement that tone is formally more complex than segmental phonology is not a claim, as Pater characterises it, but an empirical observation. This article outlines how phonological theories can incorporate such observations, and integrate them with considerations of phonological substance. The conclusion is that, while computational characterisations are not necessarily alternatives to Optimality Theory, it is extremely diffcult to capture the computational nature of phonological processes in Optimality Theory, due to the expressive power of global optimisation.

scholarly journals Interrogating the Egypto-Sudanic Arabic Connection

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Leddy-Cecere
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Verbal Inflection ◽  
Segmental Phonology ◽  
Language Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
Dialect Classification ◽  
Arabic Speaking

The Arabic dialectology literature repeatedly asserts the existence of a macro-level classificatory relationship binding the Arabic speech varieties of the combined Egypto-Sudanic area. This proposal, though oft-encountered, has not previously been formulated in reference to extensive linguistic criteria, but is instead framed primarily on the nonlinguistic premise of historical demographic and genealogical relationships joining the Arabic-speaking communities of the region. The present contribution provides a linguistically based evaluation of this proposed dialectal grouping, to assess whether the postulated dialectal unity is meaningfully borne out by available language data. Isoglosses from the domains of segmental phonology, phonological processes, pronominal morphology, verbal inflection, and syntax are analyzed across six dialects representing Arabic speech in the region. These are shown to offer minimal support for a unified Egypto-Sudanic dialect classification, but instead to indicate a significant north–south differentiation within the sample—a finding further qualified via application of the novel method of Historical Glottometry developed by François and Kalyan. The investigation concludes with reflection on the implications of these results on the understandings of the correspondence between linguistic and human genealogical relationships in the history of Arabic and in dialectological practice more broadly.

Segmental Phonology in Optimality Theory (review)

Language ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 811-812
Author(s):  
Andrew Nevins
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Segmental Phonology ◽  
Theory Review

scholarly journals Complex Inferential Processes Are Needed for Implicature Comprehension, but Not for Implicature Production

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Mognon ◽  
Simone A. Sprenger ◽  
Sanne J. M. Kuijper ◽  
Petra Hendriks
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Scalar Implicature ◽  
Scalar Implicatures ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Apply Theory ◽  
Bidirectional Optimality Theory ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
Variable Performance

Upon hearing “Some of Michelangelo’s sculptures are in Rome,” adults can easily generate a scalar implicature and infer that the intended meaning of the utterance corresponds to “Some but not all Michelangelo’s sculptures are in Rome.” Comprehension experiments show that preschoolers struggle with this kind of inference until at least 5 years of age. Surprisingly, the few studies having investigated children’s production of scalar expressions like some and all suggest that production is adult-like already in their third year of life. Thus, children’s production of implicatures seems to develop at least 2 years before their comprehension of implicatures. In this paper, we present a novel account of scalar implicature generation in the framework of Bidirectional Optimality Theory: the Asymmetry Account. We show that the production–comprehension asymmetry is predicted to emerge because the comprehension of some requires the hearer to consider the speaker’s perspective, but the production of some does not require the speaker to consider the hearer’s perspective. Hence, children’s comprehension of scalar expressions, but not their production of scalar expressions, is predicted to be related to their theory of mind development. Not possessing fully developed theory of mind abilities yet, children thus have difficulty in comprehending scalar expressions such as some in an adult-like way. Our account also explains why variable performance is found in experimental studies testing children’s ability to generate scalar implicatures; moreover, it describes the differences between children’s and adults’ implicature generation in terms of their ability to recursively apply theory of mind; finally, it sheds new light on the question why the interpretation of numerals does not require implicature generation.

scholarly journals An Optimality Analysis of the Phonological Processes in the Speech of Autistic Algerian Children: A Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 197
Author(s):  
Meymouna Bourzeg
Keyword(s):  
Autistic Child ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Picture Naming ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Autistic Children ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Naming Test ◽  
Faithfulness Constraint

The current paper scrutinizes the phonological processes used by an autistic child, in Standard Arabic, via the use of a constraint-based framework of optimality theory. The data of the present study were collected through a picture-naming test. To ensure that the pictures are representative of all standard Arabic phonemes, the researcher designed a test containing 84 pictures representing three intra-word positions (initial, medial, and final). The results reveal that the autistic child grammar is characterized, mainly, with seven phonological processes: sibilant dentalization, de-emphasization, gliding, stopping, nasality spreading, final consonant deletion, and fronting. Autistic children's phonological system is stigmatized by unmarked forms. In terms of optimality theory, treating the phonological problems of autistic children requires demoting the highly ranked unmarked constraints and promoting the lowest-ranked faithfulness constraint.

The phonological and grammatical status of Murui ‘word’

2020 ◽  
pp. 121-146
Author(s):  
Katarzyna I. Wojtylak
Keyword(s):  
Vowel Length ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Phonological Word ◽  
Segmental Phonology ◽  
Word Boundaries ◽  
Nominal Compounds ◽  
Fixed Order ◽  
Morphological Processes ◽  
Key Indicators

Different sorts of phonological and grammatical criteria can be used to identify wordhood in Murui, a Witotoan language from Northwest Amazonia. A phonological word is determined on entirely phonological principles. Its key indicators include prosody (stress) and segmental phonology (vowel length). A phonological word is further produced by applying relevant phonological processes within it and not across its word boundaries. The further criterion is moraicity which requires that the minimal phonological word contains at least two moras. A grammatical word, determined entirely on grammatical principles, consists of one lexical root to which morphological processes (affixation, cliticization, and reduplication) are applied. The components of a grammatical word are cohesive and occur in a relatively fixed order. Although Murui grammatical and phonological words mostly coincide, the ‘mismatches’ include nominal compounds (that is, one phonological word consisting of two grammatical words), verbal root reduplication (one grammatical but two phonological words), and clitics.

scholarly journals The Morphological Nativization of French Loanwords in the Djelfa Dialect with Special Reference to some Phonological Processes Targeting it within OT

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khedidja Slimani
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Morphological Adaptation ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Source Language ◽  
French Words ◽  
Phonological System

AbstractAlgerian Arabic, in general, and the Djelfa dialect, in particular, are receptive to French words. But such borrowing is not unsystematic as they are adapted in a way compatible with the morphological and phonological system of the recipient dialect as well as preserving as much information as possible from the source language. This paper focuses on the morphological nativization of French loanwords in the Djelfa dialect with special reference to some phonological processes, viz., epenthesis, assimilation and devocalization that are used to rehabilitate the illicit syllable structures resulting from such morphological adaptation within Optimality Theory.

scholarly journals The Quranic Conditionally Pharyngealized Sounds: An Optimality Theory Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Abdullah Almousa ◽  
Faisal M. Al-Mohanna
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Underlying Representation ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Theory Framework

This paper investigates the Qur’ānic conditionally pharyngealized sounds which are /rʕ/, /l/, and /a:/. The Qur’ānic /rʕ/ sound undergoes a depharyngealization process. The Qur’ānic /l/ sound in the word Allah, on the other hand, exhibits pharyngealization, as does the Qur’ānic /a:/ sound. Hence, the study aims to provide a thorough examination of these phonological processes within the Optimality Theory framework. The study also attempts to answer the following questions: (1) What constraints are considered to account for the pharyngealization of the Qur’ānic sounds /l/ and /a:/ and the depharyngealization of the Qur’ānic sound /rʕ/ in the Holy Qur’ān? and (2) How does the grammar rank these constraints to achieve the pharyngealization of the Qur’ānic sounds /l/ and /a:/ and the depharyngealization of the Qur’ānic sound /rʕ/ in the Holy Qur’ān? Both questions have been fully addressed. In addition, this study has proven that the pharyngealized /rʕ/ is the underlying representation of the Qur’ānic alveolar trill sound. This was achieved by demonstrating [rʕ] and [r] allophones environments. Also, the study has shown that the pharyngealized [lʕ] and the non-pharyngealized [l] in the word Allah are comparable to the dark /l/ in English. The Qur’anic /a:/ acquires the [RTR] feature from the preceding pharyngealized sound where it spreads its [RTR] feature rightward to the /a:/. The study concludes that the constraint-based analysis could provide a plausible accounted for examining these phonological processes in the Holy Qur’ān.

scholarly journals independence of phonology and morphology: the Celtic mutations

2003 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 47-86
Author(s):  
Antony D. Green
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Celtic Languages ◽  
Consonant Mutations

One of the most important insights of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993) is that phonological processes can be reduced to the interaction between faithfulness and universal markedness principles. In the most constrained version of the theory, all phonological processes should be thus reducible. This hypothesis is tested by alternations that appear to be phonological but in which universal markedness principles appear to play no role. If we are to pursue the claim that all phonological processes depend on the interaction of faithfulness and markedness, then processes that are not dependent on markedness must lie outside phonology. In this paper I will examine a group of such processes, the initial consonant mutations of the Celtic languages, and argue that they belong entirely to the morphology of the languages, not the phonology.  

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