THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE ENGLISH LEXICON



Jonathan B. Alcantara, Ph.D.

Cornell University 1998





This study provides an analysis of stress assignment and vowel alter-
 nation in the Latinate vocabulary of English, using the mechanisms of 
 Optimality Theory to express the entire phonology, including lexical 
 information, through the medium of the constraint hierarchy.
 

Generative solutions depend crucially upon the underlying lexical 
 forms which feed the grammar. A computational study of the English 
 lexicon has been undertaken, identifying the distribution of stress, 
 syllable weight and vowel length throughout the English lexicon. Forms 
 have been classified on morphological and prosodic grounds, and com-
 parative pattern frequencies have been calculated. This reveals a 
 series of majority and minority patterns, each with significant dis-
 tributions, rather than a large set of regular forms with a residue of 
 exceptions. 



The majority patterns are enforced by prosodic constraints, while the
 minority stress patterns can also be accounted for, without recourse 
 to unstructured exception marking, by proposing additional structure 
 for their underlying forms. Such structure is restricted to constitu-
 ents already found in the grammar. The distribution of vowel quantity 
 in the data suggests that long vowels seen in alternating forms should 
 be understood as resulting from a morphologically conditioned vowel
 lengthening. Reassessing these forms as underlyingly short accounts 
 for both vowel alternation and certain otherwise inexplicable stress
 retractions. Previously exceptional forms, which failed to "shorten", 
 are hence understandable as underlyingly long. Stress in morphologic-
 ally complex forms is treated via subcategorization constraints, and 
 all stress and vowel alternation patterns are accounted for with a 
 single constraint hierarchy. 



To account for the now small residue of exceptional forms, such as 
 suppletive stems or irregular allomorphs, a new conception of the lex-
 icon within OT is proposed. Morpheme selection is understood to be 
 governed by lexical selection constraints. While "regular" forms re-
 sult from the interaction of generally applicable constraints, excep-
 tions are enforced by high-ranking specific constraints, which take 
 complex structures as arguments. The contrast between general and 
 specific constraints can be used to explain competing trends within 
 the lexicon, such as type vs. token frequency. This proposal moves the 
 entire grammar into the realm of the constraint hierarchy, and allows 
 for a principled evaluation metric. 



The author welcomes feedback at jba@nuance.com