Since the creation of Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004, McCarthy and Prince 1993b/2001), it has been widely applied in various linguistic subdisciplines. OT was initially designed for phonology. Kager (1999:16) illustrates the fundamental assumptions of conventional OT with an example from Dutch (1). The symbol ‘-’ indicates a morpheme boundary and ‘.’ indicates a syllable...

This paper introduces primitive Optimality Theory (OTP), a linguistically motivated formalization of OT. OTP specifies the class of autosegmental representations, the universal generator Gen, and the two simple families of permissible constraints. In contrast to less restricted theories using Generalized Alignment, OTP's optimal surface forms can be generated with finite-state methods adapted f...

A central claim of Optimality Theory is that grammars may differ only in how conflicts among universal well-formedness constraints are resolved: a grammar is precisely a means of resolving such conflicts via a strict priority ranking of constraints. It is shown here how this theory of Universal Grammar yields a highly general Constraint Demotion principle for grammar learning. The resulting lea...

Can concepts from the theory of neural computation contribute to formal theories of the mind? Recent research has explored the implications of one principle of neural computation, optimization, for the theory of grammar. Optimization over symbolic linguistic structures provides the core of a new grammatical architecture, optimality theory. The proposition that grammaticality equals optimality s...

The approximate solution of optimization and optimal control problems for systems governed by linear, elliptic partial differential equations is considered. Such problems are most often solved using methods based on applying the Lagrange multiplier rule to obtain an optimality system consisting of the state system, an adjoint-state system, and optimality conditions. Galerkin methods applied to ...

In this article we develop a musical parser which is based on Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s Generative Theory of Tonal Music (1983). Their preference rules are adapted to incorporate recent insights from linguistic theory, in particular from Optimality Theory. Crucially, Optimality Theory provides us with a conflict resolution mechanism which allows us to determine unambiguously which rule is to be ...

Since the publication of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, 1993), research on phonological acquisition has been exploring the explicative potential of constraint theories. This study is equally based on Optimality Theory. It attempts to analyze the acquisition of CVVC syllable structure by Brazilian Portuguese children and addresses the question of the use of Local Conjunction (Smolensky, ...