Ling 614

Theory of Phonology

Fall 2009

Aim of the course: To examine a number of current issues in phonology that are of interest to phonologists across the functionalist-formalist continuum.

PRELIMINARY list of topics and readings:

1. Some recent frameworks:

9/30 Intro to the Course, OT

Background reading: Kager, R. 1999. Optimality Theory. Ch.1-2 (pp.1-48, 52-88).

10/7 Usage-based Approaches, Demos of Software:

Bybee, J. 2001. Phonology and language use. Pp. 1-34. CUP.

Albright, A., & B. Hayes. 2003. Rules vs. analogy in English past tenses: A computational/experimental study. Cognition 90, 119–161.

2. The nature of phonological generalizations: Generalization types, Stages

10/14

Bybee, J. 2001. Phonology and language use. Pp.126-129. CUP.

Pierrehumbert, J. B. 2006. The statistical basis of an unnatural alternation. Laboratory Phonology 8, 81-107.

Kapatsinski, V. In press. Velar palatalization in Russian and artificial grammar: Constraints on models of morphophonology. Laboratory Phonology 11.

OR

Kapatsinski, V. Submitted. Grammatical generalization across lexicons, presentation conditions, and testing modalities. Language

3. Emergence of phonological representations

10/21

Coleman, J. 2002. Phonetic representations in the mental lexicon. In J. Durand & B. Laks, eds. Phonetics, phonology, and cognition, 96-130. OUP.

Goldinger, S. D., & T. Azuma. 2003. Puzzle-solving science: The quixotic quest for units in speech perception. Journal of Phonetics, 31, 305-20.

Mielke, J. 2008. The emergence of distinctive features. Ch.6-7. OUP.

Project proposal presentations

4. Phonological units I: Phonemes

10/28

Maye, J., J. F. Werker, & L. Gerken. 2002. Infant sensitivity to distributional information can affect phonetic discrimination. Cognition, 82, B101–11. S.P.1

McMurray, B., M. Tanenhaus, & R. Aslin. 2002. Gradient effects of within-category phonetic variation on lexical access. Cognition, 86, B33-B42. S.P.2

Labov, W., M. Karen, & C. Miller. 1991. Near-mergers and the suspension of phonemic constrast. Language Variation & Change, 3, 33-74. S.P.3

Dupoux, E., K. Kakehi, Y. Hirose, C. Pallier, & J. Mehler. 1999. Epenthetic vowels in Japanese: A perceptual illusion? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 25, 1568-78. S.P.4

OR

Darcy, I., F. Ramus, A. Christophe, K. Kinzler, & E. Dupoux. 2009. Phonological knowledge in compensation for native and non-native assimilation. In F. Kügler, C. Féry and R. van de Vijver (eds.), Variation and Gradience in Phonetics and Phonology, 265-310. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. S.P.5

5. Phonological units II: Syllables and subsyllabic constituents

11/4

Lee, Y., & M. Goldrick. 2008. The emergence of sub-syllabic representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 155–68.

OR

Kapatsinski, V. 2009. Testing theories of linguistic constituency with configural learning: The case of the English syllable. Language, 85, 248-77.

Segui, J., & L. Ferrand. 2002. The role of the syllable in speech perception and production. In J. Durand & B. Laks, eds. Phonetics, phonology, and cognition, 151-67. OUP.

Redford, M. A., & P. Randall. 2005. The role of juncture cues and phonological knowledge in English syllabification judgments. Journal of Phonetics, 33, 27-46. S.P.6

6. Phonological units IV: Gestures, Articulatory Phonology

11/11

Browman, C. P., & L. Goldstein. 1992. Articulatory Phonology: An overview. Phonetica, 49, 155-80.

Byrd, D. 2003. Frontiers and challenges in Articulatory Phonology. ICPhS 15.

Goldstein, L., Pouplier, M., Chen, L., Saltzman, E. & Byrd, D. 2007. Dynamic action units slip in speech production errors. Cognition, 103, 386-412. S.P.7

Redford, M. A. 2003. Cognitive template for a phonetic correlate of syllable structure. ICPhS 15, 2261-64. S.P.7

7. Frequency and variation

11/18

Usage-based phonology

Bybee, J. 2002. Word frequency and context of use in the lexical diffusion of phonetically conditioned sound change. Language Variation and Change, 14, 261-290.

OR

Pierrehumbert, J. B. 2001. Exemplar dynamics: Word frequency, lenition, and contrast. In J. Bybee & P. Hopper, eds. Frequency and the emergence of linguistic structure, 137-58. John Benjamins.

H&H:

Lindblom, B. 1990. Explaining phonetic variation: A sketch of the H&H theory. In Hardcastle, W., & Marchal, A. (eds). Speech Production and Speech Modeling. pp. 403-439. Kluwer.

Fowler, C. 1988. Differential shortening of repeated content words produced in various communicative contexts. Language and Speech, 28, 47–56. S.P.8

OR

Gahl, S. 2008. Time and thyme are not homophones: The effect of lemma frequency on word durations in spontaneous speech. Language, 84, 474-96. S.P.9

OT:

Coetzee, A. W., & J. Pater. 2008. The place of variation in phonological theory. ROA 946.

8. Absolute ungrammaticality; The issue of grounding

11/25

Kager, R. 1999. Optimality Theory. Pp.401-403. CUP.

Albright, A. 2003. A quantitative study of Spanish paradigm gaps. In G. Garding and M. Tsujimura, eds. WCCFL 22, 1-14. Cascadilla Press. S.P.10

Sims, A. 2009. Why paradigmatic gaps are, and aren’t, the result of competing morphological patterns. CLS 43.

OR

Daland, R., A. D. Sims, & J. Pierrehumbert. 2007. Much ado about nothing: A social network model of Russian paradigmatic gaps. ACL 45, 936-43. S.P.10

Lindblom, B., S. Guion, S. Hura, S. Moon, & R. Willerman. 1995. Is sound change adaptive? Rivista di Linguistica 7, 5-37.

OR

Blevins, J. 2006. A theoretical synopsis of Evolutionary Phonology. Theoretical Linguistics, 32, 117-166.

Hale, M. & C. Reiss. 2000. Substance abuse and disfunctionalism: Current trends in phonology. Linguistic Inquiry, 31, 157–169.

12/2 Empirical studies of grounding

Liljencrants, J. & B. Lindblom. 1972. Numerical simulation of vowel quality systems: The role of perceptual contrast. Language, 48, 839-862. S.P.11

Guion, S. 1998. The role of perception in the sound change of velar palatalization. Phonetica, 55, 18-53. S.P.12

Steriade, D. 2001. Directional asymmetries in place assimilation: A perceptual account. In E. Hume, & K. Johnson, eds. Perception in phonology. Academic Press. S.P.13

OR

Berent, I., D. Steriade, T. Lennertz, & V. Vaknin. 2007. What we know about what we have never heard: Evidence from perceptual illusions. Cognition, 104, 591–630. S.P.14

Schane, S., B. Tranel, & H. Lane. 1974/75. On the psychological reality of a natural rule of syllable structure. Cognition, 3/4, 351-8. S.P.15

Assignments and Grading:

25% Discussion questions (at least 3 questions per article)

25% Leading discussions

15% Participating in discussions when not leading

35% Final project

The final project can be an experimental proposal (with at least some pilot data), a corpus study, a computational model, or an analysis of some phonological data that has implications for one of the theoretical issues discussed in class.

Present in class: 10:15 Tuesday, December 8