Theory Of Generative Phonology Research Articles

Nazarin Tsarin Sauti a Hausar Yamma

Dialectology is an area of linguistics that is concerned with the studies of similarities and differences in speech forms of a particular language. Dialectologists are more interested in studying the relationship existing in speech forms of a language instead of their differences, thus, the relationship is what assists greatly in maintaining mutual intelligibility among the speakers of the same language. Scholars of Hausa dialectology have classified Hausa regional dialects into two major divisions of Eastern and Western Hausa dialects. The divisions were based on the geographical locations and common linguistic features of the dialects that constituted each of the major groups. A regional dialect can be distinguished with another in a particular language at different levels of linguistic studies that include; phonetics, phonology, morphology syntax and the lexicon. This paper is concerned with the phonological variation of Western Hausa dialects. The aim of this paper among other things is to bring to the limelight some neglected Hausa Western dialects that were merged or not included in the earlier division of Hausa dialects classification. The paper attempts to some extent, to study the linguistic features of the Western Hausa dialects as at the present time. The Western Hausa dialects that were brought to the limelight in this paper are: Zamfarci, Kabanci, Arauci, Gobirci, and Adaranci Western dialects of Hausa. The paper has studied the common phonological features of these dialects that shared a regional boundary in the western part of Hausa land which was earlier considered as a single Hausa dialect of Sakkwatanci. A research survey was conducted among a number of speakers in different regions of these dialects through a questionnaire and recorded interviews to establish the existence of the dialects as well as their common features and differences that make them dialects of one language. The research was also guided by a theory of Generative Phonology and Dialectology in Generative Grammar. Findings of the research discovered that the western dialects have common phonological features and share boundaries with each other despite the fact that they have some idiosyncratic features that distinguish them as separate dialects.

Syllable Structure and Nasalization Change in Makassar Language

The research discussed two points of phonological process related to changes in the syllable structure and nasalization in Makassar language. The data were analyzed by distributional and identity methods using a direct sorting technique. The affixes that form the verb of Makassar language were sorted by the type of prefix. Researchers also used the direct sorting form of phonetic articulation. The steps of analyzing data used Sudaryanto’s theory. The affixes that discussed in the research were /ak-/ and /an-/. The phonological process was described by using the theory of generative phonology of Schane. The result shows the types of sound and syllabic changing. They are; (a) sound changing of [ak-] becomes [ʔ] named glottalization; (b) sounds changing of [ak-] becomes nasalization; (c) gemination of [ak-] and [an-]; (d) sound changing of / an-/ becomes [aŋ-]; (e) sound release and insertion of prefix /an-/; (f) sound change and nasalization. The distinctive feature is used to explain the rules of the phonological process.

Sistem Perubahan Struktur Silabel dan Netralisasi Vokal dalam Bahasa Sasak Dialek Bayan (System Of Syllable Structure Change And Vocal Neutralization In Sasak Dialect Of Bayan Language)

The purpose of this study was to find out the various phonological processes in the affixation process in the formation of verbs in the Bayan dialect Sasak language. The method of data analysis with the Agih method and equivalent. Agih method with the technique of sorting out elements directly. The researcher sorted out the affixes forming verbs and Bayan dialect of Sasak verbs. Then, the researcher used the matching method with the direct element sorting technique whose elemental breaker was in the form of an articular phonetic fragment. After that, the researcher describes the phonological processes that occur according to their type with Schane's generative phonological theory (1992). The result of this study shows that the influence of sound around the environment can make the other sounds appear that have the closest characteristics. This led to the phonological process in the form of changes in the structure of the syllable and vocal neutrality. First, In the verb word morphophonemic process with the affixation of the prefix /bə-/ indicating the phonological process in the form of changes in the syllable structure in the form of consonant sound insertion [r], and [l]. Second, In the verb word morphophonemic process with affixation / -aŋ / showing the phonological process in the form of a change in syllable structure in the form of semi vowel sound insertion [w], and [y]. Third, A case of neutralization occurs when the sound [ə] is pronounced to sound [a], if the sound [ə] at the end position meets the vowel [a]. The distinguishing or distinctive feature that is neutralized is the characteristic [+ tense] of the sound [ə] to [-tense] or [+ lax]. [-Tense] or [+ lax] are the effects of vowels [a].Keywords: verbs, Bayan dialect Sasak language, changes in silabel structure of sound, and  sound neutralization

Positional factors in syllabification

AbstractFrom the perspective of standard generative phonological theory, syllable structure is not recorded in the lexicon but it is obtained by means of a syllabification algorithm based on a series of principles. In a given language, the algorithm should parse obstruent+liquid clusters as tautosyllabic both in word-initial and word-internal positions. The tautosyllabic parse as a branching onset complies with all principles on which the syllable-building algorithm is based. In standard theory, if branching onsets of obstruent+liquid are allowed in a language and documented in word-initial position, tautosyllabic parse is predicted to hold also word-internally. Likewise, Kaye’s (1992) Uniformity Principle makes the same prediction, since it states that sequences of contiguous positions that are in a governing relation and contain the same phonological material have the same constituent structure. The present paper draws attention to empirical data showing obstruent+liquid clusters being parsed tautosyllabically in word-initial position and heterosyllabically in word-internal position in the same language. An account is proposed to explain the data discussed, claiming that positional factors may also be relevant in determining syllabification.

Proses Fonologis pada Prefiks /me-/ dalam Bahasa Indonesia

The purpose of this article is to describe the phonological process in the prefix /me-/ in Indonesian especially on the morphophonemic aspects. Morphonemic can be interpreted as a new word formation process. This process must be seen from the point of view of phonology and morphology. Phonological aspects play an important role in the morphophonic process where distinctive features are used to present the results. This paper used transformational generative phonological theory. The method used a qualitative descriptive approach. The results of the analysis show that the phonological process that occurs in morphophonemic prefixes / me- / in Indonesian is the addition of consonants and also assimilation of consonant-vowels Keywords: prefix /me-/, morphophonemic, distinctive features

Variasi Pelafalan Bunyi Afrikat Bahasa Jepang oleh Penutur Berlatar Belakang Bahasa Bali

This study aims to analyze Japanese affricates sound variation pronunced by Japanese speaking of Balinese. Variation of pronunciation were analyzed by using theory of generative phonology with accoustic phonetic. Kind of affricates sound variation by Japanese speaker of Balinese are alveolar affricates [ts] and [dz]. Voiceless alveolar affricates [ts] is variated in three varians, such as voiceless alveolar fricative [s] and voiceless palatal affricates [ç], and voiceless alveolar affricates [ts] i.e. words tsuki ‘moon’, atsui ‘hot’, dan matsu ‘wait’. Voiced alveolar affricate [dz] is variated in three varians, such as voiceless alveolar fricative [s] and voiced palatal-alveolar affricate [?], and voiced alveolar fricative [z] i.e. words zannen ‘a pity, zenzen ‘nothing at all’, douzo ‘please’.This variation are caused by the characteristic changed in place of articulation and manner of articulation by Japanese speaker of Balinese. Manner of articulation of alveolar affricate [ts, dz] was approached by fricative manner [s] of articulation in Balinese. Place of alveolar affricate articulation changing to palatal [ç] and alveopalatal [?] approached to sound in Balinese. The variation on alveolar fricative level is reached by basic learner, affricate level is reached by intermediate learner, and advanced learner pronounced approximately similar with the native speaker has

ADAPTASI KOSAKATA BAHASA BALI DALAM BAHASA MELAYU LOLOAN BALI

AbstractThis study aims to describe processes and domains of vocabulary borrowing, wordcategories, and phonological dynamics in the Loloan Malay language in Bali. The datawere collected through participant observations and were analyzed using the generativephonological theory. The results of the study are as follows. First, the Loloan Malaylanguage borrows Balinese vocabulary through two processes, namely adoption andadaptation. Second, the borrowing of Balinese vocabulary in terms of seven universalcultural elements covers the domains of livelihood system, technology, knowledge system,organization, and arts. Third, the borrowing of Balinese vocabulary in terms of wordcategories occurs in: (a) nouns, pronouns, and numerals; (b) verbs; and (c) adjectives.Fourth, the borrowing of Balinese vocabulary results in the phonological dynamics inthe Loloan Malay language.Keywords: borrowing domains

Linking Speech Errors and Generative Phonological Theory

AbstractSpeech errors are a critical source of data on the tacit knowledge that underlies our creative use of language. Studies of errors in spontaneous speech, in experimental paradigms such as tongue twisters, and those produced by aphasic individuals reveal the influence of linguistic principles on the production of speech. Linguistic representations from distinctive features and gestures to prosodic structure shape speech error distributions. Speech errors respect allophonic and allomorphic relationships between linguistic forms. Phonological well‐formedness – as measured by cross‐linguistic markedness and within‐language frequency – influences which structures are (mis)produced in errors. Recent advances in constraint‐based generative phonological theories (Optimality Theory, Harmonic Grammar, and Maximum Entropy Grammars) may provide insight into these patterns. Formal models of variation and computational models of constraint satisfaction may provide the means to quantitatively link phonological principles and speech error distributions.

Abstractness and Motivation in Phonological Theory

Abstract In this piece I adopt the standard textbook definition of abstractness in generative phonological theory, “the degree to which a UR [= underlying representation] of a morpheme may deviate from its associated PRs [= phonetic representations]” (Kenstowicz & Kisseberth 1979, p.179). I also adopt the perspective that a phonological analysis, independently of its degree of abstractness, is (only) as adequate as the motivation and evidence that can be produced in favor of it and against substantive alternatives. This is the focus of my remarks in this piece, featuring a thorough critique of the motivation and evidence for the abstract geminate rhotic representation of the intervocalic trill in Spanish (Harris 1969, 1983, 2001, 2002).

A Course in Phonology (review)

Reviewed by: A course in phonology by Iggy Roca, Wyn Johnson Jeffrey Steele A course in phonology. By Iggy Roca and Wyn Johnson. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. Pp. xxi, 725. Written in a clear and engaging style, Iggy Roca and Wyn Johnson’s book presents the essentials of nonlinear phonology, including an introduction to Optimality Theory. While examples are taken from English for the most part, some phenomena are exemplified with data from other languages (e.g. Turkish vowel harmony, Japanese pitch accent). The book is organized into three principal sections. Part 1, ‘Phonetics and phonology’, consists of a general introduction to articulatory phonetics and segmental phonology. Chs. 1–4 deal with the articulatory description of consonants. Using assimilation as a starting point, these chapters present the concepts of rules, derivations, distinctive features, natural classes, and autosegmental representation. In Chs. 5–7, R&J shift their focus to vowels. Beginning with a discussion of the vowel space, the learner is shown how the same types of distinctive features and autosegmental representations used for consonants can be applied to vowels. An examination of English vowels and dialectal variation constitutes the core of Ch. 7. Part 1 concludes with an introduction to the timing tier, including its role in the representation of complex segments and its potential as a mechanism for explaining the Great Vowel Shift. The discussion of the timing tier provides a good segue to Part 2, which examines suprasegmental phonology. Chs. 9 and 10 investigate syllable theory; the [End Page 589] concepts of sonority and constituency are presented and illustrated with examples from English. Cross-linguistic syllable typology is also discussed. Chs. 11 and 12 examine metrical phonology using grid theory. Ch. 13 integrates material encountered in the four preceding chapters through a discussion of syllable weight and its role in stress systems. Ch. 14 concludes Part 2 with an investigation of tonal phonology. Intonation, tonal and pitch accent languages, and the concepts of autosegmental association and floating tones are examined. Part 3, ‘Advanced theory’, investigates other topics in nonlinear phonology. Ch. 15 focuses on cyclic vs. noncyclic rules, primarily through a discussion of metrical grid construction in English. Ch. 16 investigates the concept of domain and its role in rule application; lexical phonology is introduced. In Ch. 17, R&J further investigate the lexicon through a discussion of lexical representation, markedness, and underspecification theory. Whereas Ch. 18 provides more study of rules and derivation, Ch. 19 introduces the concept of constraints and constraint interaction in Optimality Theory. Ch. 20 concludes with a summary. This book has many strengths. First, it presents the core of generative phonological theory using readily accessible examples. Second, it is clear and well-organized: The chapters follow logically, and summaries and margin notes highlight important concepts. Finally, much effort is made to guide the novice phonologist through the processes of hypothesis construction and evaluation. The book also has some weaknesses. In general, there is a lack of examples drawn from languages other than English. Second, some of the problem sets could be better constructed. Third, the chapter on Optimality Theory could be better integrated into the book as a whole. Finally, the ‘interactive’ grey boxes, intended to facilitate the reader’s understanding, are excessive in number and interrupt the flow of the text. However, all in all, this is indeed a very sound textbook. Jeffrey Steele McGill University Copyright © 2002 Linguistic Society of America

Transparency in Hungarian vowel harmony

Phonologists have known for some time that the so-called ‘standard’ theory of generative phonology is not adequate for the analysis of vowel harmony. Ringen (1975, 1977, 1980) suggests that some of the problems can be solved by abandoning the assumption that phonological representations are fully specified. Clements (1977b, 1980) suggests that vowel harmony should be analysed autosegmentally. Underspecification theory, developed in the recent work of Kiparsky, Archangeli and Pulleyblank, incorporates both of these proposals. This paper considers how Hungarian can be analysed within this theory. It is shown that by adopting Goldsmith's (1985) proposal that vowel harmony in Hungarian involves the spreading of the feature [−back], the transparent (neutral) vowels in Hungarian are derived because the redundancy rule assigning [−back] to these vowels, although available, does not apply early in the derivation because its structural description is not met.

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE ON SPEAKERS‘ MORPHEMIC ANALYSIS OF NOUN DECLENSIONS

AbstractThere is a type of analogical change called ending transfer, the analogical extension of an ending from one noun declension to another within a language. There are two types of ending transfer: one is the transfer of a case ending only, the other is the transfer of an apparent stem formative along with the case ending. Evidence of various kinds suggests that both types are actually transfers of case endings only. Thus, ending transfer evidence reveals whether or not speakers have posited a stem formative morpheme in certain declensions. Inferences can be drawn from this information about what kinds of language data determine speakers' morphological analyses. The findings are that speakers are influenced by declension‐internal data only, namely, the degree to which phonetic material following the root recurs in the case/number forms of the declension, and the number of alternants a hypothetical stem formative has within the declension. Declension external data such as case endings from other declensions and facts about word formation play no role. These findings provide additional support for a hypothesis drawn from other research that one factor influencing morpheme abstraction is recurrence of phonetic material in similar words, whether or not such material has a clearly assignable meaning.In this paper, some evidence will be presented from language change data on how speakers abstract and segment stem formatives and case endings in noun declensions, and on what aspects of language data such analyses are based. This study is intended both to contribute to our knowledge about psychologically real morphological analyses of inflected nouns, and to furnish evidence that is useful in developing a theory of psychologically real morphology.The first section consists of a presentation of the possibilities which speakers theoretically have for segmenting noun declensions into morphemes. The following section is a set of arguments that a certain type of analogical change which I call ending transfer provides evidence on how speakers have segmented inflected forms of nouns. The final two sections of this paper present conclusions about what aspects of language data contribute to speakers' morphological analyses of noun declensions, and relate these conclusions to other research on morphology, to the theory of generative phonology, and to a new theory of morphology.

Nordic Umlaut and Breaking Thirty Years of Research (1951–1980)

The article contains a critical survey of Nordic umlaut research during the last thirty years. An attempt is made to evaluate the various contributions to this research which have been based, alternately, on structural generative phonological theory; in contrast to the earlier heavily datae-based research, recent work in this field has indeed been more exclusively theory- oriented. that the results of these ene deavors have on the whole not been commensurate with the effort; in spite of the evident optimism which, at certain times at any rate, has dominated this research, it apperars indeed that some of the traditional or classical problems of Nordic umlaut research tend to persist, or continually toreappear, in one guise or another, and thus to continue to defy a convincing solution.

Will the real revised standard theory please stand up?

A revision of the Standard Theory of generative phonology to express phonologically the unity of the word instead of the unity of the morpheme will have a two-fold benefit: it will resolve an internal conflict in the theory of generative grammar, and it will allow generative phonology to predict phonological identification—something it cannot do in its unrevised form.

On the relationship between phonology and psychology

Abstract The theory of generative phonology and its offshoots claim psychological reality, yet most phonological research is not psychological. Most phonologists are still behaving like non‐mentalist describers of language data. Many of them mistakenly regard language data as providing valid psychological evidence, and confuse the psychological hypothesis of maximally general grammars with parsimonious description of language data. Even psychologically‐oriented phonologists primarily produce analyses of, and arguments about, phonological not psychological data. They make many assumptions about internalized gammars which they fail to state as explicit hypotheses and test empirically against valid psychological data.

An introduction to natural generative phonology By Joan B. Hooper (review)

REVIEWS667 Kuno, SusuMU. 1972. Pronominalization, reflexivization and direct discourse. LI 3.16195 . ------. 1974. Super Equi-NP Deletion is a pseudo-transformation. Papers from the 5th Annual Meeting, North Eastern Linguistic Society, 29-44. ??e, Norman H., et al. 1975. Statistical package for the social sciences. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Thomason, Richmond. 1976. Some methodological remarks on semantics. University of Pittsburgh, mimeo. [Received 29 June 1977.] An introduction to natural generative phonology. By Joan B. Hooper. New York: Academic Press, 1976. Pp. xviii, 254. $18.50. Reviewed by John T. Jensen, University of Ottawa This book presents a thoroughgoing challenge to the standard theory of generative phonology, which Hooper refers to as transformational generative phonology (TGP), in the tradition of Chomsky & Halle 1968. As such it merits the careful attention of phonologists of all persuasions. It represents a thorough revision of a 1973 dissertation, written under the direction of Theo Vennemann, who may be considered the originator of natural generative phonology (NGP). Vennemann 1971, 1972, 1974a,b are some of his articles on the subject, reversing his own earlier abstract position (1968, 1970). The work under review is the first full-length treatment of NGP. Hooper has tightened and refined some of the arguments, weakened some of the more radical claims (she has dropped the strong naturalness condition), and improved the organization of her earlier work.1 The book is divided into two parts. Parti, 'Concreteness in morphophonology', comprises the bulk of the work and consists of eight chapters. Part II, 'Natural phonological structure', containing Chapters 9-13, discusses phonotactic constraints in the light of a theory of phonology which includes the syllable. 1. Part I is devoted to the abstractness problem and to a point-by-point comparison of TGP with NGP with respect to questions of rule order, cyclic application of rules, and underlying representations. As Hooper notes, the underlying forms of morphemes in TGP are not entirely abstract, but 'have intrinsic phonetic content', and are related to phonetic forms 'in a non-arbitrary way' (4; cf. Postal's 1968 naturalness condition). However, this requirement still allows rather abstract analyses. Citing data from Spanish, she criticizes in particular the derivation of [léce] 'milk' from /lakte/ in Harris 1969, on the grounds that the rules required are not productive for Spanish speakers. Various attempts have been made to constrain TGP, in particular Kiparsky's 1968 alternation condition; but such conditions are insufficient to rule out analyses like Harris", because of the existence of alternations like [léce] ~ [laktár] 'to lactate'. Hooper concludes that all attempts to build constraints such as the alternation condition into TGP are futile efforts to plug the leaks in a sinkingboat, and decides that a new theory is needed, based on the premise that 'it is theoretically interesting to formulate the strongest possible constraints on the theory and 1 My sincerest thanks go to Douglas C. Walker for many hours of insightful discussion of the issues raised here, and for critical comments on earlier drafts of this review. 668LANGUAGE, VOLUME 54, NUMBER 3 (1978) then to investigate the consequences of these constraints' (5). I will investigate the consequences of her constraints in the course of this review. One of them is 'to allow only a small subset of the grammars allowed by the unconstrained theory' (xi). However, her characterization of TGP as ' unconstrained ' seems incorrect. Implicit in TGP is at least the fundamental constraint that each morpheme has a unique underlying form (except in cases of suppletion). Hooper rejects this constraint , as we shall see, replacing it with quite different constraints. In this respect NGP, which she offers as a replacement for TGP, allows an entirely different set of grammars than TGP, and the two sets may not even intersect. 1.1. Hooper's great bugbear is abstractness, and her attack is frontal. Anything which even remotely smacks of abstractness must go. Accordingly, in pursuit of the 'strongest possible constraints' on generative phonological theory, she brings out two constraints on rules: the true generalization condition (TGC) to relate rules to phonetic forms, and the no ordering condition (NOC) to define the relations between rules. It is a pity that Hooper offers no formal...

In Support of extrinsic ordering

1. Most versions of generative phonological theory contain a provision for restricting the ordering of rules in the grammar of individual languages.1 The use of language particular, or extrinsic, ordering statements has recently been challenged by Koutsoudas, Sanders & Noll (1974). These authors propose an alternative theory whose principal claim is that the ordering of rules follows from universal principles. Within this theory, which we may term the Unordered Rules Theory, a derivation proceeds as follows:(i) (a) A representational string is checked against the structural descriptions of all the rules. If only one rule is applicable, then that rule is applied (optionally, in case the rule is optional); if two or more rules are applicable, then universal principles, such as (6) below, may enforce the applicational precedence of one rule over another rule; if the conditions of the universal sequencing principles are not satisfied, then the rules are applied simultaneously.

On the unreality of some phonological rules

The results of a number of experiments reported in the literature suggest that some supposedly productive rules lack psychological reality. The implication of these results for the theory of generative phonology is sometimes ignored on the grounds that these results reflect speakers' ‘performance’ rather than ‘competence’. Given this type of objection, it is necessary to conduct further studies to ascertain whether speakers have knowledge of rules as part of their ‘competence’. A case study of a bi-dialectal speaker of Coastal and Inland Taiwanese reveals that, instead of producing surface tonal alternants in accordance with putative underlying tones and a set of bi-dialectal tone sandhi rules, the subject seems to rely on lexical listing for the pronunciation of tonal alternants. The lack of a phonological process on the part of the subject can not be explained as due to failure in ‘performance’ because the behaviour of the subject is observed in her normal speech situation rather than in a psycholinguistic test. Since Taiwanese tone sandhi rules are supposedly fully productive, the conclusion of this study is that these tone sandhi rules are unreal. Moreover, because these unreal tone sandhi rules are by no means special or abnormal but rather represent phonological rules in general, we conclude that the theory of generative phonology has questionable psychological reality.

The Role of Surface Phonetic Constraints in Generative Phonology

Although morpheme-structure conditions state generalizations about the distribution of morphophonemes of a language, there is no mechanism in the current theory of generative phonology that directly captures generalizations about phonetic patterns. This paper discusses the need for explicitly formulated surface phonetic constraints (SPC's) that state distributional constraints of segments and features at the phonetic level. On the one hand, SPC's are explicit statements about surface phonotactics and redundancies; on the other hand, they function as phonetic structure well-formedness conditions in sentence generation. SPC's will have direct relevance to discussions of the psychological reality of internalized phonological structure, rule conspiracy, lexical borrowing, and phonological change.