<OT> New Posting: ROA-1015

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 1015-0209

UseListedError: a grammatical account of lexical exceptions in phonological acquisition

Anne-Michelle Tessier <amtessier at ualberta.ca>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=1015


Abstract:
This paper presents an analysis of lexical exceptions in
phonological acquisition – i.e. words that do not conform
to a child’s currently-stable phonology – within an error-driven
OT learning framework (Tesar and Smolensky 2000; Prince
and Tesar 2004; Hayes 2004.) Two kinds of developmental
lexical exceptions are discussed: 'fossilized' words that
retain old pronunciations after the grammar has otherwise
moved forward, and 'precocious' words that are pronounced
more accurately than the rest of the grammar’s outputs.


The heart of the learning algorithm assumed here (see especially
Tessier 2009) lies in its stored errors, which drive the
learner to build each new grammar. Such a learner has two
methods of producing words: using the current grammar to
choose an optimal output among all the available options,
or simply reproducing a stored error form, previously deemed
optimal by an earlier grammar. The OT constraint proposed
here to choose between these two methods is USELISTEDERROR
(inspired by a different proposal in Zuraw 2000), which
prefers the lazy option of reproducing stored errors.


The paper first walks through two examples to show how this
error-rich learner, combined with the UseListed constraint,
can derive both fossilized and precocious forms, and then
discusses many of the outstanding questions on the topic.

Comments: To appear in NELS39 Proceedings
Keywords: phonological acquisition, lexical exceptions, learning algorithms, developmental stages
Areas: Phonology,Language Acquisition
Type: Conference Proceedings Chapter

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=1015