A radically emergentist approach to phonological features: implications for grammars
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7557/12.3253Keywords:
phonology, features, learningAbstract
Phonological features are often assumed to be innate (Chomsky & Halle 1968) or learned as a prerequisite for learning grammar (Dresher 2013). In this paper, I show an alternative approach: features are learned in parallel with grammar. This allows for addressing an interesting question: is it really optimal that the phonological grammar only use phonological features to refer to segmental material (Chomsky & Halle 1968), or could it be more advantageous for the grammar to refer to segmental material on more than one level of representation? The learner considered here finds that it is only optimal for the grammar to use phonological features to refer to multiple segments in the same pattern (e.g., the class of nasals), but when a pattern refers to a single segment, it may be at least equally good for the grammar to refer to this single segment as a bare segment label (for instance, [m] instead of [labial, nasal]). In this way, the grammar uses different kinds of representational units (features and non-features) for the same sound – which mimics models with multiple layers of representation (such as Goldrick 2001, Boersma 2007).Downloads
Published
2015-01-21
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).