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Abstract:
This paper presents experimental evidence (1) that speakers of
English know the phonotactics of English, (2) that they apply
that knowledge in analyzing speech input, and (3) that
phonotactic knowledge takes the form of constraints stated in
terms of phonological categories. We replicate a result
originally due to Massaro and Cohen (1983) in a way which
challenges both McClelland and Elman's (1986) TRACE model of
phonotactics as an emergent phenomenon of lexical statistics, and
derivational, rule-based theories of phonotactics (Chomsky and
Halle 1968). The weight of the evidence is shown to favor
constraint-based theories such as Optimality Theory (Prince and
Smolensky 1993).
In every language, some sequences of sounds are illegal.
English, for instance, bans stressed lax vowels word-finally --
[bI] can't be an English word. Linguists traditionally attribute
this to knowledge of language-particular phonotactic rules or
constraints. More recently, some psychologists have suggested
instead that phonotactics is a side effect of the lexicon, caused
by the frequency of some sequences and the rarity of others.
The issue is tested here by comparing effects of phonotactic
versus nonphonotactic lexical frequency differences on phonetic
category boundaries. Stimuli are disyllabic nonwords ending in a
stressed syllable whose vowel is ambiguous. One continuum is
[gri] (very common in that position) to [grI] (illegal); another
is [kri] (legal but very rare) to [krI] (illegal). Controls, with
both endpoints legal, are [grich]-[grIch] and [krich-krIch]. The
[I] endpoint's illegality moves the i-I boundary towards [I]
compared with the controls. The constraint theory predicts equal
shifts for the [gr] and [kr] continuua; the statistical theory
says it will be much larger for the frequent [gr]. Results from
14 Ss show equally large shifts in both conditions.
Finally, it is argued that a theory of phonological knowledge
as derivational rules relating underlying and surface structures
fails to predict the Massaro-Cohen effect, while the results
follow naturally from a theory which represents phonotactics
directly as constraints on surface structures. [Work supported by
NIH.]
Massaro, D., and Cohen, M. (1983) Phonological context in speech
perception.
Perception and Psychophysics
34(4): 338-348.
McClelland, J. L., and Rumelhart, D. E. (1986) Interactive
processes in speech recognition: The TRACE model. In: D. E.
Rumelhart and J. L. McClelland (eds.),
Parallel Distributed Processing.
Cambridge: MIT press.
Prince, A., and Smolensky, P. (1993) Optimality Theory:
Constraint interaction in generative grammar. MS, Rutgers
University.
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