Evaluation , Implementation , and Extension of Primitive Optimality Theory

of the Thesis Evaluation, Implementation, and Extension of Primitive Optimality Theory by Daniel Matthew Albro Master of Arts in Linguistics University of California, Los Angeles, 1997 Professor Edward P. Stabler, Chair Eisner's (1997a) Primitive Optimality Theory is a simple formal model of a subset of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993). The work presented here implements this model and extends it. The implementation is used to evaluate the Primitive Optimality Theory model, and is in itself a useful tool for linguistic analysis. The model is evaluated in terms of its success or failure as an attempt to formulate a cognitively plausible, computationally tractable, and mathematically formal model of the Optimality Theoretic framework of phonological theory. As part of this evaluation, a comprehensive, implemented analysis is given for the harmony and disharmony phenomena of Turkish. In addition to an evaluation of the Primitive Optimality Theory model, concrete proposals are suggested for possible extensions to the model, and for improved models that, unlike Primitive Optimality Theory, can model non-concatenative morphology, Paradigm Uniformity, and reduplication. ix CHAPTER