Partial Blocking, Associative Learning, and the Principle of Weak Optimality

The Bi–OT explanation is based on the principle of weak optimality, a generalisation of a rule known as Horn’s division of pragmatic labour [10, p. 22]: Marked forms typically get a marked interpretation, and unmarked forms an unmarked interpretation. Kill is the less marked form, and if we assume that speakers prefer less marked forms over marked forms, then kill is the optimal way to denote a killing event. As direct killing is the normal and expected way of killing, the hearer should have a preference for interpreting the speaker’s utterance as referring to a direct killing. We can see that kill and direct killing build an optimal form–meaning pair from both perspectives. In addition we can see that the marked form tends to denote the less expected meaning, i.e. cause to die tends to denote an indirect killing. In general, if F1 and F2 are forms and M1 and M2 are meanings where F1 is preferred over F2 and M1 over M2, then F1 tends to denote M1 and F2 to tends denote M2: