Speaker: Eyal Marco (MIT), Roni Katzir (Tel-Aviv University), Ezer Rasin (Tel-Aviv University)
Title: The complementary-distribution challenge for phonological learning: The case of [h] and [?] in English
Time: , 12:30pm – 2pm
Location: 32-D461
Abstract: The distribution of [h] and [?] in English poses a well-known challenge for the structuralist assumption that segments in complementary distribution are allophones of the same phoneme. In this study, we show that this distribution also poses a challenge within generative linguistics, a challenge of explanatory adequacy. The challenge is to explain why the English-learning child does not acquire a grammar in which [h] and [?] are derived from the same underlying representation. The generative literature has not identified this as a problem, largely because of the assumption that [h] and [?] are too phonetically dissimilar to participate in an alternation. However, we argue that phonetic accounts do not eliminate the challenge. We discuss simplicity-based theories of learning and show that under naive representational assumptions, simplicity-based learners prefer to derive [?] from an underlying /h/, rather than a longer sequence of /ng/ (or an underlying /?/), and therefore make wrong predictions about English speakers’ knowledge. The same learners, however, make correct predictions when combined with a representational framework that assumes underspecification and lexical redundancy rules. We therefore conclude that the acquisition problem can be addressed using simplicity-based learning, and that the complementary distribution of [h] and [?] provides an argument for underspecification and lexical redundancy rules.