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Morphological Conditioning in Phonologically Transparent Processes: Evidence from the Evolution of Vowel Reduction in Vinzelles Occitan1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Yves-Charles Morin*
Affiliation:
Université de Montréal

Extract

Does phonological conditioning have a privileged status in allomorphic alternations? Most synchronic descriptions appear to assume that if simple phonological conditions can account for some alternation, they automatically constitute the relevant factors chosen by speakers in their internalized grammars (but cf. Hooper 1976:87 or Klausenburger 1979:29–36 for divergent views). Intuitive notions of simplicity cannot provide a solution because simplicity is actually an empirical issue (cf. Chomsky 1965:37–47). The answer can only come from the analysis of external evidence, i.e., errors, language acquisition, historical changes, etc.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1988

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Footnotes

1

I would like to thank my mentor Rajendra Singh for encouraging me to write this paper, and for the help provided in countless discussions. He is of course not responsible for any errors, mistakes and distortions which may still appear here.

References

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