<OT> New Posting: ROA-791

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 791-1205

The role of phonetic knowledge in phonological patterning: Corpus and survey evidence from Tagalog

Kie Zuraw <kie at ucla.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=791


Abstract:
A current controversy in phonological theory concerns the
explanation of cross-linguistic phonological tendencies.
Since Chomsky & Halle 1968, it has generally been assumed
that such tendencies are to be explained by mental bias
on the part of learners and/or speakers: a pattern is common
because it is favored by learners/speakers. But work by
Blevins and colleagues in Evolutionary Phonology has argued
that many cross-linguistic tendencies can be explained without
positing such bias. This means that cross-linguistic tendencies
cannot be unproblematically used as evidence about the mental
machinery that humans bring to the task of learning and
using language.


In response, many researchers have begun looking at different
types of data, such as processing, learnability of artificial
languages, and literary invention. This paper presents another
type of data: extension of native-language phonology to
words with novel phonological structure, in this case infixation
in Tagalog into loanwords with novel initial consonant clusters.
The data come from a written corpus of Tagalog and from
a survey. Tagalog speakers' treatment of these clusters
parallels cross-linguistic findings of cluster splittability
by Fleischhacker. The paper argues that explaining the data
requires attributing to Tagalog speakers phonetic knowledge
and a bias about how to apply that knowledge.

Comments: 
Keywords: Tagalog, infixation, substantive bias, similarity, corpus, survey data
Areas: Phonology
Type: Manuscript

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=791