<OT> New Posting: ROA-1061

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 1061-1209

Phonological chain shifts during acquisition: Evidence for lexicon optimization

Marc Ettlinger <marc at northwestern.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=1061


Abstract:
The phonological chain shifts exhibited by children during
language development are challenging for theories of phonology
because they reflect an opacity – a generalization that
is not surface true. Based on diary studies of the phonological
development of several children, I propose an account for
chain shifts of this sort by suggesting that they reflect
multiple stages of lexicon optimization (Prince & Smolensky
1993/2004).
This is similar to the 'inertia' effects demonstrated in
Menn (1971) where older words are resistant to recent changes
in phonological capabilities. Evidence for inertia in the
present cases of opacity is provided by comparing the frequency
and age of words reflecting one of the two relevant generalizatio
ns that are in an opaque relationship. I show that there
is no point at which both generalizations are active and
so any apparent opacity is not synchronic in nature. Using
lexicon optimization to formalize this  challenges the notion
of using adult phonological representations as the underlying
representations for children. Indeed, production data suggests
that children go through multiple stages of lexicon optimization
prior to reaching the final adult grammar.

Comments: In NELS 38 Vol. 1, Ed. A Schardl, et al., pp. 259-269
Keywords: acquisition, opacity, chain shifts, lexicon optimization, underlying representation
Areas: Language Acquisition,Phonology
Type: Conference Proceedings Chapter

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=1061