From variable to optimal grammar: evidence from language acquisition and language change

Abstract

Ever since the advent of generative theory, there has been a dispute in linguistics between formalist and functionalist approaches. At stake in this controversy is the autonomy thesis: i.e. the claim that linguistic knowledge is independent from, and irreducible to, the facts of language use. Under the autonomist view, language is both arbitrary and self-contained. Currently, the radically autonomous vision of syntax that is being pursued in Chomskyan circles has lent new urgency to the question whether phonology and syntax can in fact possess autonomy to the same degree. This problem has a long history (e.g. Anderson 1981), but it has lately received new and radical answers, notably through the Representational Hypothesis advanced by Burton-Roberts (2000) and Carr (2000): in the Representational Hypothesis, the language faculty is assumed to be radically autonomous, whereas phonology is functionally based and stands outside UG. This dissertation is concerned with the intermediate grammars and the variability that emerge in the course of linguistic change. It is based on evidence from the acquisition of Hebrew phonology and morphology, and a case study of a historical change affecting the grammar of Modern Hebrew. I propose a unified formal model for intermediate grammars in both language acquisition and (historical) language change, from a synchronic point of view, using the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993). The topics discussed in this work are based on two different studies: (i) the acquisition path of Hebrew prosodic structure; and (ii) the variation involved in stop-fricative alternation in Modern Hebrew, as a result of historical changes. For both topics I suggest an Optimality Theoretic account of the phenomena, their cause, and their consequences. The study of language acquisition is based on two interrelated acquisition paths: (a) of prosodic structure of words out of morphological context; and (b) of prosodic structure within paradigms with regular morphophonological alternation, where the acquisition of Hebrew verb inflectional paradigms are examined. The acquisition path of words out of morphological context shows a pattern of gradual increase in prosodic structure (e.g. the number of syllables), involving a gradual increase in prosodic contrasts (e.g. diverse stress patterns), up until the child’s production is phonologically identical to the target forms. The increase in structure and contrast indicates a gradual transition from unmarked structures with input-output disparities (indicating phonological dominance) to marked structures, lacking input-output disparities (indicating lexical dominance). In the acquisition path of alternating paradigms, not only the child-adult relations are examined, but also the relation between words, where the target language itself exhibits input-output disparities, namely words drawn from alternating paradigms. This acquisition path provides evidence for the child’s restructuring of a lexical representation, as well as evidence for the…