Syntax Prosody in Optimality Theory (SPOT) app tutorial

Jennifer Bellik,Nick Kalivoda

doi:10.3765/plsa.v6i1.4962

Abstract

SPOT (Syntax Prosody in Optimality Theory app; http://spot.sites.ucsc.edu) automates candidate generation and evaluation for work on the syntax-prosody interface. SPOT is intended to facilitate the creation and comparison of multiple versions of an analysis, in service of refining constraint definitions and theory development. The codebase is available at https://github.com/syntax-prosody-ot. This paper briefly explains the motivation for the SPOT app, then walks through the process of creating an analysis in SPOT. We show how to create input syntactic trees, either manually or automatically; how to select a constraint set; and how to generate tableaux with candidates, constraints, and violation counts. Finally, we show how to use the output of SPOT to calculate rankings and typologies using an OT application.

Highlights

In order to create a valid analysis in Optimality Theory (OT), we must formally define the OT system that we are studying (Alber et al 2016, Prince 2016, Prince 2017)
Prosodic trees consisting of prosodic words (ω), phonological phrases (φ), and intonational phrases (ι)
The trees in (2) form a support for this system, meaning that as long as those three inputs are included in the calculation of the typology, it will contain the exact same languages as it would with the inclusion of all or some additional trees drawn from the set in (1)

Summary

Introduction

In order to create a valid analysis in Optimality Theory (OT), we must formally define the OT system that we are studying (Alber et al 2016, Prince 2016, Prince 2017). This exponential function grows relatively slowly, such that six terminals can be parsed into 32 strictly layered trees—a candidate set that would be tedious, but possible, to generate and evaluate by hand. The orthographic representation of the bracketing structure imposes a linear order on the leaves As it turns out, the trees in (2) form a support for this system, meaning that as long as those three inputs are included in the calculation of the typology, it will contain the exact same languages as it would with the inclusion of all or some additional trees drawn from the set in (1).

SPOT tree view Tranditional view

Conclusion