| ROA: | 170 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Formal and Empirical Arguments Concerning Phonological Acquisition |
| Authors: | Mark Hale, Charles Reiss |
| Comment: | |
| Length: | |
| Abstract: | This paper draws on the generative literature in phonological acquisition, as well as on the work of phoneticians and psycholinguistics, in an attempt to propose a unified view of the acquisition of phonological competence. We start with an examination of the Optimality Theoretic (OT) account of the well- known comprehension/production dilemma in child language given by Smolensky (1996ab). We will argue that S's model encounters two related serious difficulties - the first concerning his proposed parsing algorithm and the second concerning the issue of the learnability of underlying forms. We offer alternative parsing algorithms and examine their implications for learnability and the initial ranking of OT constraints. We also propose, based on evidence from a variety of sources, that the resolution of the comprehension/production dilemma lies not in phonological domain (linguistic competence), but rather in the domain of implementation of linguistic knowledge (performance). With a revision of certain aspects of the OT model for children's phonologies and of learnability theory in phonology, the paper attempts to contribute both to research on OT and to the study of phonological acquisition generally. This paper replaces ROA 132-0496 and 104-0000. The easiest format to read and print online is the .pdf file. A free Acrobat Reader 3.0 is available at www.adobe.com. References Smolensky, Paul. 1996a. On the comprehension/production dilemma in child language. LI 27. Smolensky, Paul. 1996b. The Richness of the Base. ROA. |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
| Area/Keywords: | |
| Article: | Version 1 |