Bidirectional Optimality Theory

Bidirectional Optimality Theory
Author: Anton Benz
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2011
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027255636

Bidirectional Optimality Theory (BiOT) emerged at the turn of the millennium as a fusion of Radical Pragmatics and Optimality Theoretic Semantics. It stirred a wealth of new research in the pragmatics-semantics interface and heavily influenced e.g. the development of evolutionary and game theoretic approaches. Optimality Theory holds that linguistic output can be understood as the optimized products of ranked constraints. At the centre of BiOT is the insight that this optimisation has to take place both in production and interpretation, and that the production-interpretation cycle has to lead back to the original input. BiOT is now generally interpreted as a description of diachronically stable and cognitively optimal form–meaning pairs. It found applications beyond the semantics-pragmatics interface in language acquisition, historical linguistics, phonology, syntax, and typology. This book provides a state of the art overview of these developments. It collects nine chapters by leading scientists in the field.

Optimality-theoretic Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics

Optimality-theoretic Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics
Author: Géraldine Legendre
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2016
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0198757115

This book investigates the morphosyntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of language, and the interactions between them, from the perspective of Optimality Theory. It integrates optimization processes into the formal and functional study of grammar, interpreting optimization as the result of conflicting, violable ranked constraints. Unlike previous work on the topic, this book also takes into account the question of directionality of grammar. A model of grammar in which optimization processes interact bidirectionally allows both language generation-the process of selecting the optimal form of a given meaning-and language interpretation-the process of optimal interpretation of a given form-to be taken into account. Chapters in this volume explore the consequences of both symmetric (unidirectional) and asymmetric (bidirectional) versions of Optimality Theory, investigating the syntax-semantics interface, first language acquisition, and sequential bilingual grammars. The volume presents cutting edge research in Optimality-Theoretic syntax and semantics, as well as demonstrating how optimization processes as modelled in this formalism serve as a viable approach for linguists and scholars in related fields.

Optimality Theory and Pragmatics

Optimality Theory and Pragmatics
Author: Reinhard Blutner
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2003-12-19
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0230501400

Ten leading scholars provide exacting research results and a reliable and accessible introduction to the new field of optimality theoretic pragmatics. The book includes a general introduction that overviews the foundations of this new research paradigm. The book is intended to satisfy the needs of students and professional researchers interested in pragmatics and optimality theory, and will be of particular interest to those exploring the interfaces of formal pragmatics with grammar, semantics, philosophy of language, information theory and cognitive psychology.

Optimality-Theoretic Syntax

Optimality-Theoretic Syntax
Author: Geraldine Legendre
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2001-06-22
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780262263504

Recent work in theoretical syntax has revealed the strong explanatory power of the notions of economy, competition, and optimization. Building grammars entirely upon these elements, Optimality Theory syntax provides a theory of universal grammar with a formally precise and strongly restricted theory of universal typology: cross-linguistic variation arises exclusively from the conflict among universal principles.Beginning with a general introduction to Optimality Theory syntax, this volume provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art, as represented by the work of the leading developers of the theory. The broad range of topics treated includes morphosyntax (case, inflection, voice, and cliticization), the syntax of reference (control, anaphora, and pronominalization), the gammar of clauses (complementizers and their absence), and grammatical and discourse effects in word order. Among the theoretical themes running throughout are the interplay between faithfulness and markedness, and various questions of typology and of inventory. Contributors Peter Ackema, Judith Aissen, Eric Bakovic, Joan Bresnan, Hye-Won Choi, João Costa, Jane Grimshaw, Edward Keer, Géraldine Legendre, Gereon Müller, Ad Neeleman, Vieri Samek-Lodovici, Peter Sells, Margaret Speas, Sten Vikner, Colin Wilson, Ellen Woolford

Optimality Theory

Optimality Theory
Author: Diana Archangeli
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1997-07-07
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780631202264

This volume provides the first general introduction to optimality theory -- arguably the d linguistic theory of the 1990s. The book leads the reader to an understanding of optimality theory via the exploration and resolution of specific problems in phonology, morphology, and syntax, but presumes virtually no background knowledge in linguistics.

Visual Prosody

Visual Prosody
Author: Martin Evertz
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2018-06-25
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110583445

According to well-established views, language has several subsystems where each subsystem (e.g. syntax, morphology, phonology) operates on the basis of hierarchically organised units. When it comes to the graphematic structure of words, however, the received view appears to be that linear structure is all that matters. Contrary to this view, a sub-field of writing systems research emerges that can be called non-linear or supra-segmental graphematics. Drawing on parallels with supra-segmental phonology, supra-segmental graphematics claims the existence and relevance of cross-linguistically available building blocks, such as the syllable and the foot, in alphabetical writing systems, such as the writing systems of German and English. This book explores the graphematic hierarchy with a special focus on the unit foot. Structural, experimental and databased evidence is presented in favour of this approach. In addition, analyses within the optimality theory framework are offered. This work shows that the supra-segmental graphematic approaches are superior to linear ones with respect to explanatory strength and even preciseness of the description. It is thus interesting for academics concerned with writing systems and orthography teaching.

Case, Valency and Transitivity

Case, Valency and Transitivity
Author: Leonid Kulikov
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2006-11-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027293112

The three concepts of case, valency and transitivity belong to the most discussed topics of modern linguistics. On the one hand, they are crucially connected with morphological aspects of the clause, including case marking, person agreement and voice. On the other hand, they are related to several semantic issues such as the meaning of case, semantico-syntactic verbal classes, and the semantic correlates of transitivity. The volume unifies papers written within different theoretical frameworks and representing variegated approaches (Optimality Theory, Government and Binding, various versions of the Functional approach, Cross-linguistic and Typological analyses), containing both numerous new findings in individual languages and valuable observations and generalizations related to case, valency and transitivity.

Optimal Communication

Optimal Communication
Author: Reinhard Blutner
Publisher: Center for the Study of Language and Information Publica Tion
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2006
Genre: Grammar, Comparative and general
ISBN:

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Expression and Interpretation of Negation

Expression and Interpretation of Negation
Author: Henriëtte de Swart
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2010-05-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9048131634

This study in cross-linguistic semantics deploys the framework of bi-directional Optimality Theory to develop a typology of the relationship between syntax and semantics in negation markers and negation indefinites.

Crosslinguistic Research in Syntax and Semantics

Crosslinguistic Research in Syntax and Semantics
Author: Raffaella Zanuttini
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2006-05-19
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781589013056

Presenting cutting-edge research in syntax and semantics, this important volume furthers theoretical claims in generative linguistics and represents a significant addition to present scholarship in the field. Leading scholars present crosslinguistic studies dealing with clausal architecture, negation, and tense and aspect, and the issue of whether a statistical model can by itself capture the richness of human linguistic abilities. Taken together, these contributions elegantly show how theoretical tools can propel our understanding of language beyond pretheoretical descriptions, especially when combined with the insight and skills of linguists who can analyze difficult and complex data. Crosslinguistic Research in Syntax and Semantics covers a range of topics currently at the center of lively debate in the linguistic literature, such as the structure of the left periphery of the clause, the proper treatment of negative polarity items, and the role of statistical learning in building a model of linguistic competence. The ten original contributions offer an excellent balance of novel empirical description and theoretical analysis, applied to a wide range of languages, including Dutch, German, Irish English, Italian, Malagasy, Malay, and a number of medieval Romance languages. Scholars and students of semantics, syntax, and linguistic theory will find it to be a valuable resource for ongoing scholarship and advanced study.