Phonology

Optimization and quantization in gradient symbol systems: A framework for integrating the continuous and the discrete in cognition

by Matt Goldrick

Smolensky, P., Goldrick, M., & Mathis, D. (in press). Optimization and quantization in gradient symbol systems: A framework for integrating the continuous and the discrete in cognition. Cognitive Science.

Mental representations have continuous as well as discrete, combinatorial properties. For example, while... more
Mental representations have continuous as well as discrete, combinatorial properties. For example, while predominantly discrete, phonological representations also vary continuously; this is reflected by gradient effects in instrumental studies of speech production. Can an integrated theoretical framework address both aspects of structure? The framework we introduce here, Gradient Symbol Processing, characterizes the emergence of grammatical macrostructure from the Parallel Distributed Processing microstructure (McClelland & Rumelhart, 1986) of language processing. The mental representations that emerge, Distributed Symbol Systems, have both combinatorial and gradient structure. They are processed through Subsymbolic Optimization-Quantization, in which an optimization pro­cess favoring representations that satisfy well-formedness constraints operates in parallel with a distributed quantization process favoring discrete symbolic structures. We apply a particular instantiation of this framework, λ-Diffusion Theory, to phonological production. Simulations of the resulting model suggest that Gradient Symbol Processing offers a way to unify accounts of grammatical competence with both discrete and continuous patterns in language performance.

Kapatsinski, Vsevolod, & David B. Pisoni. 2008. The role of phonetic detail in associating phonological units. Poster presented at Laboratory Phonology 11.

by Vsevolod Kapatsinski

Kapatsinski, Vsevolod. 2012. When and why we (fail to) extend morphophonological alternations: Towards a usage-based Harmonic Grammar. Ms. U of Oregon.

by Vsevolod Kapatsinski

Kapatsinski, Vsevolod. 2012. Minding gaps or seeking bumps in learning phonotactics? Poster presented at LSA Annual Meeting.

by Vsevolod Kapatsinski

Kapatsinski, Vsevolod. 2011. Modularity in the channel: The link between separability of features and learnability of dependencies between them. Proceedings of ICPhS XVII.

by Vsevolod Kapatsinski

Kapatsinski, Vsevolod. 2009. The architecture of grammar in artificial grammar learning: Formal biases in the acquisition of morphophonology and the nature of the learning task. Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana University.

by Vsevolod Kapatsinski

'Tough Guys Don't Use Diphthongs': Diphthong Repair Strategies in Three Japanese Dialects

by Monique Murphy

Different dialects of Japanese have varying levels of tolerance when it comes to diphthong surfacing. Standard... more Different dialects of Japanese have varying levels of tolerance when it comes to diphthong surfacing. Standard Japanese allows almost all diphthongs to surface faithfully, while Kagoshima Dialect and a masculine dialect dubbed Tokyo 'Tough Guy' Dialect, do not allow diphthongs on the surface. Kagoshima Dialect allows only short monophthongal vowels, while Tokyo 'Tough Guy' Dialect allows long monophthongal vowels (displaying compensatory lengthening) in the place of a diphthong. This paper proposes an optimality theoretic analysis to account for the three strategies used by these dialects to resolve the marked construction that is the diphthong.

The Influence of Social Context on Phonological Production in French as a Second Language

by Monique Murphy

Learning unattested languages

by Sara Finley

Cogsci 2012 paper.

This paper demonstrates the role of morphological alternations in learning novel phonotactic patterns. In an... more This paper demonstrates the role of morphological alternations in learning novel phonotactic patterns. In an artificial grammar learning task, adult learners were exposed to a phonotactic pattern in which the first and last consonant agreed in voicing. Long-distance phonotactics encoded as strictly piecewise languages suggest that first-last phonotactic patterns should be unattested in natural language. However, recent theories of morphologically induced phonological patterns predict that long-distance agreement between the first and last consonant of a word can occur when the agreement is induced as a morphological alternation. The results of two experiments support the prediction that first-last harmony patterns are more easily learned when morphological cues to the pattern are present. Participants only learned the first-last pattern when presented as a morphological alternation.

Phonological and semantic priming: Evidence for task-independent effects

by Guy Tiberghien

Neuman 2009. L'influence de l'écriture sur la langue (Ph.D. dissertation, Sorbonne Nouvelle)

by Yishai Neuman

Ph.D. in linguistics obtained from the Sorbonne Nouvelle University (Paris III) in December 2009.

The study of writing and language as semiotic codes in contact should have logically followed from the Saussurian... more The study of writing and language as semiotic codes in contact should have logically followed from the Saussurian statement: "Language and writing are two distinct systems of
signs". On the same theoretical basis as that of contact linguistics, the contact between language and writing might be conducive to mutual semiotic transfer. The acquisition of writing induces a radical cognitive change and the emergence of writing within a linguistic community modifies its organisation. The greater physical force of the visual stimulus as against aural stimulus and the high prestige gained by the mastery of writing are the cognitive and social factors that favour semiotic transfer from writing to language.
With regard to lexicon, a writing tradition accompanied by an orthoepy (rules of reading aloud) provides the language with words from afar in place and in time, like learned words from classical tongues and graphic loanwords between languages whose linguistic communities are not in direct contact. Graphemic words with no linguistic provenance are also vernacularised, like the lexicalisation of abbreviations. The vernacularisation of written elements enriches language. A particularly extreme case of vernacularised written sources is
that of the emergence of spoken Modern Hebrew – literary non vernacular Hebrew of early 20th century being its main source.
On the phonological level, orthoepy may modify phonology, as can be shown by the emergence of consonantal clusters in French and of /θ/ in author in English. On the semantic level, writing may be the source of the reorganisation of the signifiés based on spelling; numerous figures of speech are inspired by the attributes of writing.

Keywords:
Writing, orthoepy, semiotic transfer, lexical enrichment, morphophonology, linguistic change

http://www.sudoc.fr/147369126

Vowel Innovation in Arabic: Inductive Grounding and Pattern Symmetry

by Kimary Shahin

Promotion of secondary place in St’át’imcets

by Kimary Shahin

In D. Beck (ed.), A Festschrift for Thomas M. Hess on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday, 177-192. Bellingham: Whatcom Museum Publications.

A phonetic study of guttural laryngeals in Palestinian Arabic using laryngoscopic and acoustic analysis

by Kimary Shahin

Acoustic testing for phonologization

by Kimary Shahin

The puzzle-puddle-pickle problem and the Duke-of-York gambit in acquisition

by Kathleen O'Connor

Co-authored with D. A. Dinnsen and J. A. Gierut

Implicationally related error patterns and the selection of treatment targets

by Kathleen O'Connor

Co-authored with D. A. Dinnsen

Precursors to onset clusters in acquisition

by Kathleen O'Connor

Co-authored with J. A. Gierut

Typological predictions in developmental phonology

by Kathleen O'Connor

Co-authored with D. A. Dinnsen

On the role of sympathy in acquisition

by Kathleen O'Connor

Co-authored with D. A. Dinnsen, L. W. McGarrity and K. A. B. Swanson