Optimality theory was introduced in the 1990s by linguists alan prince and paul smolensky optimality theory. Cycles, nonderivedenvironment blocking, and correspondence luigi burzio gradient wellformedness in optimality theory bruce p. 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. Clinical application of optimality theory 243 optimality theory is different from the majority of linguistic frameworks in that it does not appeal to rules or processes to explain such patterns in grammar. Optimality theory is a general model of how grammars are structured.
The first addresses recurring issues in phonological and linguistic analysis and sketches how optimality theory might account for these. Optimality theory in linguistics is the theory that surface forms of language reflect resolutions of conflicts between competing constraints. Optimality theory in phonological acquisition journal of. Learnability in optimality theory 231 boundaries of syllables s. Morphologically governed accent in optimality theory outstanding dissertations in linguistics, new york. Compiles the most important readings about optimality theory in phonology from some of the most prominent researchers. For example, you could start with karttunens paper the proper treatment of optimality in computational linguistics in the proceedings of fsmnlp98. 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.
Constraints are the two approaches equivalent or are they fundamentally different. A new approach to anderson and brownes generalization. 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. Optimality theory in phonology california institute of. Hayes stem stress and peak correspondence in dutch rene kager faithfulness and prosodic circumscription john j. The article gives a brief summary of work dealing with morphosyntactic phenomena in ot, and also addresses more general problems. Alan prince is professor of linguistics and a member of the cognitive science center at rutgers university and is, along with paul smolensky, one of the founders of optimality theory.
Optimality theory ot is a linguistic model originally proposed by the linguists alan prince and paul smolensky in 1993. His widely cited but unpublished manuscript prosodic morphology i. Optimality theory is usually considered a development of generative grammar, which shares its focus on the investigation of universal principles, linguistic typology and language acquisition. In this chapter the general ideas of the optimalitytheoretic approach in linguistics will be presented. Comparing frameworks, utrecht institute of linguistics ots. Optimality theory in the analysis of four kinds of complex phenomenon. Here are some of the basic premises of the theory as i construe it. Optimality theory a framework in theoretical linguistics, used to. Using learnability as a filter on factorial typology. A very short introduction to optimality theory, a linguistic framework that attempts to account for the grammar of human languages. Given the architecture of generative phonology, which distinguishes between underlying lexical forms and surface forms, and given the.
Jan 17, 2017 optimality theory ot is a wideemployed theoretical framework used in contemporary linguistics. First, idempotency is shown to follow from a general formal condition on the faithfulness constraints. The linguistics main office will be operating online through april 24. Constraint interaction and satisfaction with alan prince, 1993 has been an important factor in the dissemination of optimality theory. Optimality theory and language change studies in natural. The ranking, but not the constraints, differs from language to language. This paper establishes tight sufficient conditions for idempotency in classical optimality theory. Optimality theory in phonological acquisition jhu computer. An idempotent phonological grammar maps phonotactically licit forms faithfully to themselves. Three important constraint families are explored faithfulness, alignment, and. Optimality theory optimality theory prince and smolensky 1993 ot is a theory of constraint interaction. He has published in journals such as linguistic inquiry, science, cognition, and critical inquiry paul smolensky is professor of cognitive science at johns hopkins university.
Optimality theory ot has been developed since the early nineties, by alan. This chapter presents an overview of optimality theory ot as applied to phonology. Optimality theoretic representation of stress in cairene arabic. Optimality theoretic representation of stress in cairene. This article provides an introduction to the model for the nonlinguist.
Optimalitytheoretic syntax gereon muller universitat leipzig. Optimality theory and ethical decision making1 steve and monica parker sil, papua new guinea branch peter and the other apostles replied. Adding simple markedness, faithfulness, and alignment constraints allows the simplification of the overall theory, eliminating some principles that can now be derived and simplifying the formulation of others. The data show an interesting double repair of the coda s taking place at word edges. This tutorial presents an introduction to the contemporary linguistic framework known as optimality theory ot. This book is the final version of the widelycirculated 1993 technical report that introduces a conception of grammar in which wellformedness is defined as optimality with respect to a ranked set of universal constraints. Derivational residue in phonological optimality theory ben hermans, marc van oostendorp. What is the universal set of constraints in optimality theory. Optimality theory constraint interaction in generative grammar first circulated. Pdf an introduction to optimality theory in syntax researchgate. The remaining sections of the chapter each focus on one major aspect of the theory aside from. In optimality theory ot an adult phonology consists of a set of ranked constraints.
Mccarthy university of massachusetts amherst abstract. Otsoft is a windows program meant to facilitate analysis in optimality theory and related frameworks by using algorithms to do tasks that are too large or complex to be done reliably by hand. Optimality theory and african language phonology cascadilla. Pdf optimality theory as a model for the historiography. Its main argument is that there have been two lines of work on optimality theory. He is also the author of formal problems in semitic phonology and morphology 1985 and a thematic. Optimality theory software department of linguistics. But, with the advent of generative linguistics in the second half of the twentieth century, and particularly with the rise of optimality theory ot. If youre looking for a free download links of optimality theory and language change studies in natural language and linguistic theory pdf, epub, docx and torrent then this site is not for you.
As some editors pointed out in that discussion, optimality theory is typically written with both words capitalized in the. Pdf optimality theory as a model for the historiography of. Optimality theory in phonology alan prince and paul smolensky 1. Language acquisition in optimality theory request pdf. Final version of the widely circulated 1993 technical report that was the seminal work in optimality theory, never before available in book format. The original reference for ot is prince and smolensky 1993. Given the architecture of generative phonology, which distinguishes between underlying lexical forms and. There are far too many candidates, and no consensus at all on what there is to be constrained, how it is to be constrained, and what to do about exceptions and counterexamples. 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. Cantonese loan word phonology and optimality theory. Traditional models of grammar rely on complementary, unbreakable. Building on tesar, these conditions are derived in two steps. Case, agreement, object shift, and economy of structure and movement.
In this weeks episode, we take a look at optimality theory. The basic formal element of the theory is the constraint. Optimality theory as a model for the historiography of linguistics. In linguistic s, optimality th eory frequently abbreviated ot. Linguistic and cognitive explanation in optimality theory bruce tesar jane grimshaw alan prince generative linguistics aims to provide an analysis of the grammarforming capacity that individuals bring to the task of learning their native language chomsky 1965, 1981, 1991, 1995. Optimality theory confronts these issues directly, designing its basic architecture to deal with them. Oct 04, 2012 a very short introduction to optimality theory, a linguistic framework that attempts to account for the grammar of human languages. Three important constraint families are explored faithfulness, alignment, and markedness. 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. Bradley university of california, davis abstract this article surveys research in spanish phonology from the perspective of optimality theory, a formal linguistic framework based on ranked and violable constraints. Pdf optimality theory and computational linguistics.
Optimality theory ot took centre stage in theoretical linguistics during the 1990s. Theory, in which markedness has no substantive status in the grammar, but functions as an external system of annotations on parameter values, evaluating a grammars complexity. Some of the basic motivations behind ot are to create a model for language analysis that is fairly generalizable and accounts for aspects of universal grammar mccarthy, 2007. Please contact staff and advisors who are available monday through friday 8 am to 5 pm. First, phonological grammar is not arranged in the manner of chomsky and halle 1968. Selected proceedings of the 38th annual conference on african linguistics, ed. Contrast in phonology theory, perception and acquisition avery, peter. It also addresses some frequently asked questions about this theory and offers suggestions. In linguistics, optimality theory frequently abbreviated ot.
August, 2002 alan prince paul smolensky department of linguistics department of cognitive science rutgers cognitive science center the johns hopkins university. Optimality theory department of linguistics university. Optimality theory was introduced in the early 1990s as an alternative model of the organization of natural human language sound systems. Compiles the most important readings about optimality theory in phonology from some of the most. Prince and smolensky 1993 introduced optimality theory ot as a framework for linguistic analysis. 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.
Nov 30, 2016 in this weeks episode, we take a look at optimality theory. Optimality theory, in common with much recent work, shifts the burden from the theory of. Optimality theory the novel approach to linguistic theorizing known as optimality theory prince and smolensky 1993 appears to offer the prospect of a major change in this situation. Ot differs from other approaches to phonological analysis, such as autosegmental phonology and linear phonology spe, which typically use rules rather. The universal set of constraints is on a par with the choir invisible. The initial v and final c of the input are not parsed into syllable structure, as notated by the angle brackets kl. The main idea is that grammars impose a set of restrictions on what are valid surface forms. Optimality theory optimality theory to reflect standard usage, this page should be located at optimality theory with both words capitalized rather than optimality theory. This paper examines opaque examples of phraselevel phonology taken from chilean spanish under the framework of stratal optimality theory ot rubach 1997.
Within these broad goals, optimality theory ot develops in the context of. Progressive place assimilation in optimality theory. Optimality theory and morphology wiley online library. Otsoft optimality theory software department of linguistics. The fundamental idea behind ot is that surface forms of language.
The rise of optimality theory ot shifted attention from theories of. Optimality theory ot is a linguistic theory that provides a means of analyzing language in terms of ranked constraints instead of rule ordering. Optimality theory ot was developed and first applied to phonology by prince and smolensky 1993, and quickly attracted many researchers in phonology, but also in morphology and syntax, and, lately, also in semantics and pragmatics. Linguistic and cognitive explanation in optimality theory. Optimality theory in morphology and syntax dieter wunderlich berlin nov. The basic principles of optimality theory are introduced and explained gen, con, and eval. Optimality theory and the generative complexity of. Historically, optimality theory develo ped out of a theory called harmonic grammar legendre et al. One line was taking ot seriously as a theory on language variation, computation and learnability, and finding restrictions on it. Constraint interaction in generative grammar compiles the most important readings about optimality theory in phonology from some of the most. Optimality theory is grammar about rules or constraints. Ot is often called a connectionist theory of language, because it has its roots in neural network research, though the relationship is now largely of. This paper describes the history of optimality theory as a theory of phonology between 1993.
These segments exemplify underparsing and are not phonetically realized, so b is pronounced simply as. Mccarthy is professor of linguistics at the university of massachusetts, amherst. This article surveys the motivations for ot, its core principles, and the basics of analysis. Proceedings of the stockholm workshop on variation within optimality theory, 25 36. International workshop on finitestate methods in natural language processing, june 29july 1, 1998, pages 112, bilkent university, ankara, turkey.
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