<OT> New Posting: ROA-1043

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 1043-0809

Acquisition and Opacity

Olga Tihonova <olga.tixonova at gmail.com>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=1043


Abstract:
This thesis focuses on the most recent OT-based theory of
opacity called Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains (OT-CC,
see McCarthy 2007). To date very little attention has been
dedicated to the problem of acquisition of OT-CC grammars
and to the treatment of spontaneous opacity effects in the
light of OT-CC. In this thesis we demonstrate that OT-CC
grammars can be effectively learned by the BCD algorithm
(Prince & Tesar 2004). Also, on the basis of evidence from
obligatorily counterbleeding processes, NDEBs and non-target-like
opacity effects, we propose to make certain changes to the
status of Precedence constraints with the view to increase
the descriptive adequacy of OT-CC. We show that our proposed
adjustments allow OT-CC to account for emergence and subsequent
loss of spontaneous opacity effects, as well as for the
phenomenon of U-shaped learning and cross-subject variation
in early production data.

Comments: 
Keywords: opacity, acquisition, OT-CC, OT, EDCD
Areas: Phonology
Type: Masters Dissertation

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=1043