Phasal Syntax = Cyclic Phonology?

The Syntax - Phonology Interface *

The topic of the syntax-phonology interface is broad, encompassing different submodules of grammar and interactions of these. This chapter addresses one fundamental aspect of the syntax-phonology interface in detail: the relation between syntactic constituency and the prosodic constituent domains for sentence-level phonological and phonetic phenomena. Two further core aspects, which rely on an ...

Language evolution: syntax before phonology?

Phonology and syntax represent two layers of sound combination central to language's expressive power. Comparative animal studies represent one approach to understand the origins of these combinatorial layers. Traditionally, phonology, where meaningless sounds form words, has been considered a simpler combination than syntax, and thus should be more common in animals. A linguistically informed ...

Optimality theory: Phonology, syntax, and acquisition

Optimality Theory (OT) shifts the focus of linguistic discovery from rules and derivations to constraints and rankings. It is a theory that has been most widely accepted in the realm of phonology, but has implications for all areas of linguistics. There are many linguists who accept OT while there are others who doubt its efficacy, especially with regard to providing a substantive theory of gra...

The Phonology-Syntax Interface in North Kyungsang Korean

A statistical method for quantifying songbird phonology and syntax.

Songbirds are the preeminent animal model for understanding how the brain encodes and produces learned vocalizations. Here, we report a new statistical method, the Kullback-Leibler (K-L) distance, for analyzing vocal change over time. First, we use a computerized recording system to capture all song syllables produced by birds each day. Sound Analysis Pro software [Tchernichovski O, Nottebohm F...