| Abstract: | This thesis is that the particular properties of phonological features and their combinatorial asymmetries emerge through language acquisition and sound change thanks to the way non-cognitive factors such as acoustic physics and vocal tract physiology interact with general cognitive abilities that may also be relevant to non-linguistic learning activities. Stipulating either features or their co-occurrence patterns as part of innate human linguistic knowledge is therefore redundant. Major implications for theories of grammar design and sound change are explored with a focus on how speakers develop features, how grammars manipulate features during production, and how historical linguists can use inferences about the features of prehistoric languages as a guide in reconstruction. |
