Optimality Theory (OT) Prepared and presented by: Abdullah Bosaad & Liú Chàng Spring 2011

- OT started around 1990 when Alan Prince and Paul Smolensky wrote a book-length manuscript called Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar, which had a terrific impact on the field of linguistics. - According to McCarthy, OT is considered one of the top three developments in the history of generative grammar. (2008)

- OT shows how certain constraints interact with each other, and how this interaction leads to the best well-formed candidate. -In OT, the higher-priority constraint dominates the lower-priority constraint. - OT is inherently comparative; no output candidate is good or bad by itself. Its only good or bad in relation to other candidates from the same input.

- Language X has the following two constraints with higher-priority to (a), and lower-priority to (b): a) only clusters that consist of two consonants are allowed b) no final vowel is allowed. Which one of the following outputs candidates could be the winner? 1) [klasta], [klastus] 2) [mgtesk], [mtesku]

1) The constraints themselves are universal 2) All constraints are present in the grammar of all languages (phonology and syntax). However, constraints ranking is the only systematic difference among languages.

In OT, constraints are divided into two kinds: a) Faithfulness Constraints: impose the exact preservation of the input in the output (i.e. prohibit differences between input and output). Ex. Dep = output depends on input b) Markedness constraints: impose conditions on the well- formedness of the output. Ex. *C unsyll = no unsyllabified cons/ no consonant stays by itself in a syllable

1) GEN (Generator): provides the list of possible outputs candidates for a given input: /input/ GEN {list of outputs} 2) CON (Constraints) 3) EVAL (Evaluator): its job is to find the optimal candidate: /input/ GEN {list of outputs} CON EVAL [the optimal output]

- An objection to optimality theory is the claim that it is not technically a theory, in that it does not make falsifiable predictions. The source of this issue is terminology; the term "theory. - Optimality theory is also criticized as being an impossible model of speech production/perception: computing and comparing an infinite number of possible candidates would take an infinitely long time to process.

It is impossible to make a direct ranking argument when constraints are in a stringency relation or general-specific relation (when every violation of CONST2 is also a violation of CONST1, but not vise versa) EX. a. IDENT ([voice]) assign one violation mark for every output segment that differs from its input correspondent in the feature [voice]. b. IDENT onset ([voice]) assign one violation mark for every output segment in syllable onset position that differs from its input correspondent in the feature [voice].

- What happens when two outputs tie on all the constraints that have been considered so far? CONST3CONST2CONST1 **cand1 **cand2 CONST4CONST3CONST2CONST1 **cand1 ***cand2