24.964 (Topics in phonology) meets Wed 12-3 this semester, in 32-D831.
The topic is: Mechanisms of morpho(phono)logical change
Description: The early days of generative phonology saw a flurry of work applying the tools of the new theory to the problem of characterizing language change (e.g., Kiparsky 1965, King 1969). More recent phonological and morphological frameworks have brought with them a range of new mechanisms and perspectives on why and how morphological and phonological systems might change, but on the whole, there has less of a concerted effort to link synchronic and diachronic analysis.
The purpose of this seminar is to explore the mechanisms that recent grammatical theories offer for explaining morphological and morphophonological change. We will review the contributions of early generative phonology to the study of language change, and then consider how more recent developments may change the predictions about likely changes. Along the way, of course, we will also need to consider the contribution of extra-grammatical factors, and the interplay of competence, performance, and learning in shaping morphological change.
Topics will include: (subject to substantial revision, according to needs or interests of participants)
- Overregularization (lexical simplification); Grammar simplification
- Phonological markedness, morphological markedness
- Paradigm uniformity constraints
- Implicational relations between forms
- Informativeness and lexical distinctness; Antihomophony, morphological distinctness