Some recent developments in phonology

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Some recent developments in phonology

Jean-Philippe Watbled

To cite this version:

Jean-Philippe Watbled. Some recent developments in phonology. Quinquereme, new studies in modern

languages, University of Bath, 1980, 3 (2), pp.231-233. �hal-03157664�

SOME NXCEI{T DETELOPMEtrTS TIT PHONOIOGT

by J.-P. WATBr,rn

University of Bath

pSycHoLoGrCAt RE+IjTy IN pHoNoLOGï:_

.A TrüoRETrcAt sTrrDy. (camrriage

3li$:ff.:ï:iîSïL1": ^{25: i -'} ;;;.'r,i1..1_ô",iï*Ëi' _and

Loncron,

trg.7l.. ^{srtv Press, a979. xvi + zg5} w: ï'zl ^zzz:.,+ 6.

GEIIE'RATI]fE pIiONOLOGI_:

DESCBIFTION AND THEOBY. By M. Kenstowicz _and.

S ,fi;ii;âi: Iiî.ü;a-;i".,'a""u.*," p"u"", tîtg_...xiv + r+:e pp.

- ^{Linelr's wor|} ::I::lil, ^{r5rs3gd5s the reeder that} the psycho_

logical _{aspects or pr,onoioË} li.rrË"u. ."":1!;;i, JoË"rn.a internal, purely structural substantive _{eyidenee màthods} i" nu""""r;;-;" ;;.-;;;;"ger linguistic","rrrrot sufficient;_ _{external, be an}

autonomous d'iseipline ,t ii-i"îË'bl con"iderecr plausible _ancl of value for cognitive psycho10ry' -Moiuoru",

=one ki.rd of isornorphism

::;ff::aïE,rmar ^and speaker"î irrt"ir"rized knorrlecrse (conpetenee) is ' _{The author} raises _{serious doubts_} concerning the validity of vord-1evet _phonology in chomskyïî;

""|::i*ryii,""y,"t,"o.,i"",,.i],";"ï,;;:ffi,.

critieism generally-foeuses

"""ifri"-."pect of ^SpE phonolog,r).1 _For

ii3ili;-itij::tï, ai"eus"ioi--o.,'îi"'r,oper _cregree

or abstractness in as real ro:,r,s,nà-i:i ;3,il:i: if:îlî:ig ::ïl;:**liîI;,iiïi:'"

point rhich is harctly q"""tior"iiJi. ^* o".o"ding to him, covert

linguistic competenee i" .""uu"iriÉ't,

through viorations or rules ; ;;;-ilr;:rij.;:ïi"EîTiil; :;ff;::.*

language-variation, ,o.n" .i".1. i"iiài,-cloes not à-r-tu"-ir,. faet _that ve krov very 1ittlË about ;il';;;;physiological _{uasis or}

speech).

2le

Bcoent DeveJopnents in Phonolory 257

Linelf aclvocates a certain'clegree of red.unclancy, of ind.eter- rninacy, and non-irnique solutions (vhich distinguishes his approach

I'rom Vennemannts neo-empiricisrn12 and in that sense the 1abel

'r:oncrete phonologyt can be mislead"ing). He considers that solutions which seem to involve more fomal complexity ancl reclunilancy often prove psychologically valitl (cf. the nov famous example of the passive in Maori (p. BZ)). Unlike Stanclarcl Generative Phonology, he

di.stingui.shes tvo types of operations: rconstructionf _ancl

rc.xccut:ionr; doing so, he recognizes the necessity of a typology of rrrlt'r; (Clrapter 10). ^Some marginal, non-productive alternations often rricrl nl: eviclence in favour of a highly abstract analysis are dealt wit.lr in the morphological component, or considerecl as suppletions, ,rr invol-ve via-rules (e.g. tjoin/junctionr in English). There are l.wo t..ypes of rules of execution: perceptual reclundancy rules, vhich pr:r'I'orm the function of filling in preclictable features, ^and

rrrl,ic:u.Latory recluction ru1es, often occurring in rapid speectr (inci- tlcrrl.alJy, the 1evel of carefrrl speech is central to Linellts vork (t:trtpUer 3)). The ruJ.es of construction consist of morphological olrt.rations (vhere causal- phonetic relation need not be involved) and lrhon<>t actic constraints ^(anii tspeakersr juclpgnents of phonologieal ('()r'rectness are built upon surface phonotacticst). Line1l argues

rLrongly against unique underlyi.ng representations of ^morphemeso

which l-ead. to abstract solutions. Instead, he suggests that the inputs of morphological operations are real worcl-forms (Chapters

⁾⁺

and 7) ^ancl not abstract unclerlying forms: this is one of the most d.ebatable suggestions in the book. Base-forms vould be uninflected or semantically unmarked. forms. Minor alternations are accounted

for by morphophonological marking (alternation _features

- pp. 85-

86). 0f course, such a framevork incluces many bi-directional rules, but these iluplications are limitecl to opaque ruLes. This kind of analysis is eontroversial from the point of viev of Transfonnational Cenerative Phonology, as bi-tlirectionality is contrary to the

principle of formal sinplicity ^(hovever, ve should note that in the

r:arly stages of the acquisition of (flexional) languages, children olten use uninflecteil forrns).

Linellrs theory tencls to suggest that derivational morphology necessitates a separate treatment: in fact, the cl.istinction betveen

inflection and clerivation is fairly tratlitional, ancl seems to ^be

confirmed by d.iachronie as vell as psycholinguistie evidenee; vovel- shi.ft rules in English are certainly not a part of the early

acquisition of phonology.

³

fn his typotory of rules ^(Chapter 1O), the author does not

exclude extrinsic ordering and some kinct of ^globa1 cond.itions from

rnorphophonemic operations. ^He characterizes a rule as automatic only

so long as i.t is surface-true (ttransparentr), a constraint vhieh is

akin to Hooperrs rTrue Generalization Contlitiont,a 0n the other

hanil, the rul-es of reonstructionr _are non-graclua1 processes, vith

absolute effect, and they never introcluce nev sep.ent-types.

2ra

Of course, ve have a,spects of a _{book vhich} step in tfre aevefopment

T:_1. ?Or. only to sumuarize

::YU, ^certainly be regarded

ol post_SpE phonology.

ü.-p. f,atbl.ed

the naJor

as an important

The 1abel ^rconcrete _phonoloa

Kisseberth'" guo";Ji;:=rff::ï:Y' ^is irrelevant to Kenstoviez

_&

estabrished-tffi _{_îhi:h} ;;i;;;;;"a _{nov rimolv}

+b"lf!!g_ conditrons _on the .or- o;"-1.f1:no1?sv st"oner; opn."l'."

:::l=' ^although it must b; ;;;ili ^{rures and ,nderlvr'-}

irnprovement ü'" ilnTï :.l',:îfl ^nff * z:_d^:

l3;--it ï;;:J :if

" Tr;:::i..-

authors refuse comparison vith sPE

general covert ^*oy_?. pîio"i-ià*.àr" pnonÔlogy' rven _{tirougir irrÀ} thev _none an. ,11'EFF * ;;;ï eonstraint _{and assume} that _the

,.uy: _ïndeed, ;;:: ^1d*it .nàr"in"'iil3iiiilrii"ïi§"ïi.l;;i"lx;

"r"t.""t ^ià;; ; #:f, î"f "::;lf. "::":Il"d _^"iy, ^{ir," "i,.} ju

", ^o,

3#":]f,-k"33urlî,H"i'"tr,"i-àJ";;, ^{on" or the} maior issues in modern

(disguised)

"urr.'*

their ;;l;;;"i: ^{a vhoLe chapter (ci'tptet} 6î]*-"'

k§. ï:;r"; ii îï rii it;* ^{H:,ï :r"} ïïi:Ï i"hËff #îii;

ü

î# " ïu ".

piionor o*:y I

-

i" -;i

L l.. ⁱ "rv ^. " ".îi ï;idtiË:ii.lll.il;,iJ; H:.=:f["

roop".;1" irii"'i*n" ^{critical (comn}

any

_

i

d

ea oi- J-"Ë.u,u""r i,"iiJ" _à;;âi. iif i _;. 3.i3;i:; :H, ïffi ^{;:*:ï;; ;}

r.i'ai,""*"ï.'";:;ïT,;:.':::ffHluu "', "Éi "r,

-ir,"î

"àî=ia", to ^{be a}

?heir _book

_c

central

""ti.i'oi"n be defined as a pedagogical introd.uction to the a grammaticaL mod-I*u.and to the pJ

the psyeho1osi""1.f ^._ .1, i"i."""îti*'""u ^{occupied b.v phonology} vitr.in

ev_i

den

c

e

r

"

r i

p

=

I ""il

i

a

rrv". i' _À.;::'5ri ;:t ffi ,J""" l'i, 5ï1". iî ràrï'iÏ

1""g,1ug"-"i,;;;; ;;u"ii"l3iiji;. "ïl.tlt.I, p"àa.,"tiïi.i _{rn roans,}

qualities or ine

"..;;;;"i;,I;""Li.:nould stress the ieoasogical

l: ^.l: r.*i,,""=rl;l;,:1"#,ï;r::ï.rl "".";;i;;; i"''.il. student _or

ii:#Hr:l"ril53'll "i,,-i[J ;;=ii','' ^{or its densitv'} rt not oniv the methodoroei..rhi_luclt ;; il;: ffï'::"f::,;l;',teaches ^him

§:::lr,fi.ïl#ï::!li= :1"îiî:;:. li:"";;';;; -"iiil'i"Ë'lf '"'

ehapter)

".ra u**,rlld, ^and an.-rr-"iJ"l-y gradual' _{Eaeh point is} :.1,:"! ^ue ra:niriait::..'"i;ir"#;#Ï'":i'ïÏffi*iStrllà"r'ïS.:i .""n

3;,iiËffirff * ifu _sJ;r;#iï, ^{ï:]i Ïf;" ffi;} ii:;"r:ff ï:,.

varrety. ^ÿ ' "!r.ÿ ^,1rt1 to grasp the notion of fing:u1"iiJ,-

_ ^{The term} rintr

Ï:"Ui*Sift ,::{::ili:ïi,,s;;', ^{i'. *:.1,1 ".'. the aut hors' ai,, rni ght}

nenstoviez .rra r:.""Ilided or inturtiorrn-'nk that eomplex theor;tic;i

vi t h in,;", ;;;:;i:*.;#f :f iïL:liT*i: ïIT;i+#l; ^.l:, i;;,

Ilooonl, Dovolopmonte in PhonoJ-ogy

rrrrrlt.r' ly

i

n54 representations, rule interaction, extra-grammatical or l,.x ir'rr. I irrf'ormation, morpheme-s'r.ructure constraints, etc, ) r5 brt i., ir rlil'l't:rcnt 1ight, and rith more emphasis on notational or ^purel-y

lrlrorrr.l,ir: problems. If ve had to d.efine the authorsr view of

l)lr()rt()logy in a fev vorcls, ve woulcl say that they are in favour of a l,lrorrology highly integratecl into the general grarmratical. moclel-.

(Alt.trough the book is very stimulating, the entire d-iscussion on rr,lxrt,r'actness suffers

- irt esy opinion

- ^{fy6rn a} lack of interest in l,hc tlpology of ru1es.

)

These tvo books therefore represent tr.ro raclically clifferent approaches to phonology: a more tconcreter _approach (Linell), which

essentially elaims that redundancy is preferable to formal simplicity

ancl that a psyehologieally valid theory cannot consider ^morphemes as

phonologieal invariants; and a more telassicalr approach (Kenstowicz

& Kisseberth), vhieh is fairly abstract ancl anti-empirieist, ^and

aclvocates unique underlying representations, even in cases of minor alternations.

Fortrxrately, the clebate is not 1ikely to be closecl in the near future.

2rg

N. Chorisky & M. Ha11e,

ete., Harper and Roi^r,

The Sound Pattern of English

rs6El:--

T. Vennemann, rPhonological concreteness in Natural Generative Gra.mmart, in R. ^Shuy & Ch. J. Bai.ley (eds), Tovarcls Tomorrolrrs

Linguistics (Washington D.C., Georgetornr University Press, 1971+), pp. 202*1ÿ.

Cf. ^Breyne Arlene Moskovitz, ^tOn the status of vowel shift in Englishr, in T. E. Moore (ed), Cognitiÿe qsvelopnnent _anal the

Acàuisition of ^Language (tt.* io ),

pp. 223-60.

J. B. Hooper, An Tntroduction to Natural Generative ^Phono]-qgX

(NerrYork.t".@

M. Kenstovicz & C. Kisseberth, Topics in Phonologieal Theory (Nev York etc., Acaclemic Press ,-fFlü

(lÏev York

,

?

iI.

5.

1.