Constraints in Phonological Acquisition

A 2004 overview of linguistic research into acquisition of phonology, focusing on constraints in phonological acquisition.

René Kager (Edited by), Joe Pater (Edited by), Wim Zonneveld (Edited by)

9780521108645, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 April 2009

428 pages, 105 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.62 kg

'… the volume has already achieved considerable success … this volume is a must for anyone working in the area of phonological acquisition or optimality theory … the volume would also make an excellent textbook for a graduate course …' Journal of Phonology

This outstanding 2004 volume presents an overview of linguistic research into the acquisition of phonology. Bringing together well-known researchers in the field, it focuses on constraints in phonological acquisition (as opposed to rules), and offers concrete examples of the formalization of phonological development in terms of constraint ranking. The first two chapters situate the research in its broader context, with an introduction by the editors providing a brief general tutorial on Optimality Theory. Chapter two serves to highlight the history of constraints in studies of phonological development, which predates their current ascent to prominence in phonological theory. The remaining chapters address a number of partially overlapping themes: the study of child production data in terms of constraints, learnability issues, perceptual development and its relation to the development of production, and second-language acquisition.

List of contributors
Preface
1. Introduction René Kager, Joe Pater and Wim Zonneveld
2. Saving the baby: making sure that old data survive new theories Lise Menn
3. Markedness and faithfulness constraints in child phonology Amalia Gnanadesikan
4. Input elaboration, head faithfulness and evidence for representation in the acquisition of left-edge clusters in West Germanic Heather Goad and Yvan Rose
5. Phonological acquisition in Optimality Theory: the early stages Bruce Hayes
6. Syllable types in cross-linguistic and developmental grammars Clara C. Levelt and Ruben van de Vijver
7. Bridging the gap between receptive and productive development with minimally violable constraints Joe Pater
8. Learning phonotactic distributions Alan Prince and Bruce Tesar
9. Emergence of Universal Grammar in foreign word adaptions Shigeko Shinohara
10. The initial and final states: theoretical implications and experimental explorations of Richness of the Base Paul Smolensky, Lisa Davidson and Peter Jusczyk
11. Child word stress competence: an experimental approach Wim Zonneveld and Dominique Nouveau.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]