Harmonic Phonology

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ABSTRACT This project concerns the development of the theory of harmonic phonology, and proposes a mathematical implementation based loosely on connectionist principles for the implementation of certain rules in the system. The goal of harmonic phonology is to elaborate an account of phonological systems in which a central role is given to the generalization that phonological rules consistently serve to increase the conformity of phonological representations to general well-formedness conditions, or phonotactics. The investigator will study a range of languages throughout the world, and show that their phonological processes consistently serve to increase the well-formedness of their representations on one of three distinct phonological levels. Such a view is compatible with a view of phonology as a system seeking maximal constraint-satisfaction, a view that allows for computational implementation in ways that have not been attempted before.