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Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics

 

Phonological Theory

Phonological Theory


Convenor: Prof Bert Vaux

This seminar introduces students to the leading phonological theory of the past 20 years, Optimality Theory. We identify and evaluate predictive differences between it and the rule-based approaches that dominated until 1993, focusing on topics such as opacity, optionality, underlying representations, and acquisition. Emphasis will be placed on familiarizing students with the dominant theoretical perspectives of the past 50 years and enabling them to identify formal and empirical challenges from a wide range of human languages.