Optimality theory optimality theory to reflect standard usage, this page should be located at optimality theory with both words capitalized rather than optimality theory. Rene kager teaches linguistics at utrecht university, the. A readable introduction to optimality theory phonology. I used this a few years back in a graduate level phonology course. Mccarthy university of massachusetts amherst abstract. Optimality theory by rene kager cambridge university press. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Mccarthy points out that some of the most significant work on ot is available for free on the rutgers optimality archive. Candidate d, however is harmonically bounded by a, and by c. Variants of optimality theory with connectionistlike weighted constraints continue to be pursued in more recent work pater.
Ren6 kager s textbook is one of the first to cover optimality theory ot, a declarative grammar framework that swiftly took over phonology after it was introduced by prince, smolensky, and mccarthy in 1993. Optimality theory ot is a linguistic model originally proposed by the linguists alan prince and paul smolensky in 1993. Jan 01, 2004 between 1993 and 2004, prince and smolenskys optimality theory was by far the most widely circulated manuscript among phonologists. 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. Introduction1 a challenge to any theory of phonology is to reconcile two types of interaction. Contrast in phonology theory, perception and acquisition avery, peter. Optimality theory also has roots in neural network research. Download pdf optimalitytheory free online new books. Optimalitytheory download optimalitytheory ebook pdf or read online books in pdf, epub, and mobi format. Building on tesar 20, these conditions are derived in two steps. As some editors pointed out in that discussion, optimality theory is typically written with both words capitalized in the.
The central idea of optimality theory ot is that surface forms of language reflect. Building on tesar, these conditions are derived in two steps. Optimality theory presented by ashour abdulaziz, eric dodson, jessica hanson, and teresa li overview introduction how to interpret ot historical development theory application pros and cons optimality theory central idea. This is a preprint version of an article to appear in. Ot differs from other approaches to phonological analysis, such as autosegmental phonology and linear phonology spe, which typically use rules rather. 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. Constraint violability in ot theorizing is critiqued as arising from a. Surface forms of language reflect resolutions of conflicts between competing demands or constraints. 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. Optimality theory constraint interaction in generative grammar first circulated.
A surface form is optimal if it incurs the least serious violations of a set of constraints, taking into account their hierarchical ranking. It also addresses some frequently asked questions about this theory and offers suggestions. Kagers explanations are clear, and he does a god job walking you through the various topics. Archangeli 1997, tesar, grimshaw, and prince 1999, kager 1999. Ot reclaims traditional grammars ability to express surface generalizations. Kager 1999 gives an entrylevel introduction to ot, mccarthy 2001 surveys. This book presents an introduction to optimality theory, a grammatical framework of recent origin prince and smolensky 1993, mccarthy and prince 1993a, b. Many criticisms of ot are, according to its proponents, based on fundamental misunderstanding of how it works. Some basic issues optimality theory ot has originally been developed for dealing with phonological problems, abandoning the assumption that grammatical constraints are inviolable. Optimality theory is a general theory of grammar, rather than one of phono logy.
Mit press prince and smolensky 1993 introduced optimality theory ot as aframework for linguistic analysis. Optimality theory an introduction publish your master. Bradley, uc davis november 5, 20 abstract this article surveys research in spanish phonology from the perspective of optimality theory, a formal linguistic framework based on ranked and violable constraints. Optimality theory jhu computer science johns hopkins university. For each chapter, mccarthy adds brief introductory notes and a list of study and. Mar 03, 2012 optimality theory in linguistics by kie zuraw 1. Constraint interaction in generative grammar compiles the most important readings about optimality theory in phonology from some of the most prominent researchers. For each chapter, mccarthy adds brief introductory notes and a list of study and research questions. First, idempotency is shown to follow from a general formal condition on the faithfulness constraints.
This is a preprint version of an article to appear in language and linguistics compass optimality theory and spanish phonology travis g. However, ot radically differs from earlier generative models in various ways. The fundamental idea behind ot is that surface forms of language. Optimality theory from a cognitive science perspective.
Optimality theory has transformed the field of linguistics more than almost any other development of the past halfcentury, and prince and smolensky started it all. Optimality theory cambridge textbooks in linguistics. Cambridge core phonetics and phonology optimality theory by rene kager. Therefore, d cannot be the optimal candidate under any ranking of just these three constraints, though it could be optimal with a larger constraint set. This is an introduction to optimality theory, whose central idea i. Pullum university of california, santa cruz we develop an extensible description logic for stating the content of optimalitytheoretic constraints in phonology, and specify a class of structures for interpreting it. The outcomes represent the best candidates the ones incurring the least serious violations. Rene kagers textbook is one of the first to cover optimality theory ot, a declarative. If a hypothesized gen is not free enough, then some inputs might have only.
The original reference for ot is prince and smolensky 1993. Mccarthy, university of massachusetts, amherst ot does not need to. Optimality theory is a general model of how grammars are structured. Optimality theory is grammar about rules or constraints. Kagers book provides a comprehensive overview of ot theory and practice. Fortunately, it is now available for a larger audience in this text edition. This is an introduction to optimality theory, whose central idea is that surface forms of language reflect resolutions of conflicts between competing constraints. Download pdf optimalitytheory free online new books in. Prince and smolensky 1993 introduced optimality theory ot as a.
Optimality theory in phonology is a textbook for an advancedlevel phonology course that contains excerpts from 33 important articles and manuscripts on optimality theory ot. Kager s explanations are clear, and he does a god job walking you through the various topics. Optimality theory cambridge textbooks in linguistics rene. Idempotency in optimality theory 1 journal of linguistics. Optimality theory is a development of generative grammar, a theory sharing its focus on formal description and quest for universal principles, on the basis of empirical research of linguistic typology and first language acquisition. Optimality theory models grammar with ranked, violable, competing constraints. Having only done rule based phonology, i didnt find optimality theory to be at all intuitive at first.
This article surveys the motivations for ot, its core principles, and the basics of analysis. A proposal for the treatment of noun incorporation and similar phenomena. Derivational residue in phonological optimality theory ben hermans, marc van oostendorp. This paper establishes tight sufficient conditions for idempotency in classical optimality theory.
An idempotent phonological grammar maps phonotactically licit forms faithfully to themselves. Therefore this book is not limited in its empirical scope to phonological phenomena, but it also contains chapters on the leamability of ot granunars chapter 7 and extensions to syntax chapter 8. In linguistics, optimality theory frequently abbreviated ot. Ren6 kagers textbook is one of the first to cover optimality theory ot, a declarative. Optimalitytheory download optimalitytheory ebook pdf or read online books in pdf. Optimality theory has drawn a good deal of criticism, most of which is directed at its application to phonology rather than syntax or other fields. Ot reclaims traditional grammars ability to express surface generalizations syl. Rene kager s textbook is one of the rst to cover optimality theory ot, a declarative grammar framework that swiftly took over phonology afterit was introduced by prince, smolensky, and mccarthy in 1993.
Rene kagers textbook is one of the first to cover optimality theory ot, a declarative grammar framework that swiftly took over phonology after it was introduced by prince, smolensky, and mccarthy in 1993. Pdf abstract optimality theory was introduced in the early 1990s as an alternative model of the. Click download or read online button to optimalitytheory book pdf for free now. The theory was later expanded by prince and john mccarthy in 2001 optimality theory is usually considered a. Exceptionality in ot and final consonants in french. Karttunen, rene kager, paul kiparsky, mike kenstowicz, ellis visch, andras kornai, akin. Model theory and the content of ot constraints christopher potts geo. It arose in part as an alternative to the connectionist theory of harmonic grammar, developed in 1990 by geraldine legendre, yoshiro miyata and paul smolensky. Optimality theory kager free ebook download as pdf file. Optimality theory cambridge textbooks in linguistics rene kager download bok. Anttila showed how this prediction is borne out in certain cases of free variation in finnish.
About this document this article is a draft of my chapter on markedness and faithfulness constraints in the blackwells companion to phonology chapter 74. Jan 17, 2017 optimality theory ot is a wideemployed theoretical framework used in contemporary linguistics. Optimality theory rene kager utrecht university cambridge. Rene kager, optimality theory cambridge textbooks in linguistics publisher. Optimality theory by rene kager, 1999 online research. Optimality theory cambridge textbooks in linguistics series by rene kager. Roa, which was created by alan prince in 1993, is an electronic depository of work in, on, or about ot.
Rene kagers textbook is one of the rst to cover optimality theory ot, a declarative grammar framework that swiftly took over phonology afterit was introduced by prince, smolensky, and mccarthy in 1993. Pdf cambridge textbooks in linguistics optimality theory. Optimality theory cambridge textbooks in linguistics 9780521589802. 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 subfields of. Optimality theory presented by ashour abdulaziz, eric dodson, jessica hanson, and teresa li. Manuscript, rutgers university and university of colorado at boulder. Optimality theory from a cognitive science perspective optimality theory from a cognitive science perspective reiss, charles 20000101 00.
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