Parsing syllables: modeling OT computationally

Directional Footing, Degeneracy, and Alignment

This paper argues from an Optimality Theory (OT; Prince & Smolensky 1991, 1993; McCarthy & Prince 1993a,b, 1994) perspective that no one-to-one correspondence exists between directional footing effects and individual constraints. Rather, the requirements of a single prosodic alignment constraint may result either in left-to-right or right-to-left footing, depending on its position in a constrai...

Advantages of Constituency: Computational Perspectives on Samoan Word Prosody

In this paper, we computationally implement and compare grammars of Samoan stress patterns that refer to feet and that refer only to syllables in Karttunen’s finite state formalization of Optimality Theory, and in grammars that directly state restrictions on surface stress patterns. The grammars are defined and compared in the highlevel language of xfst to engage closely with specific linguisti...

Syllable parsing in English and French

0. Overview In this paper I argue that Optimality Theory provides for an explanatory model of syllabic parsing in English and French. The argument is based on psycholinguistic facts that have been mysterious up to now. This argument is further buttressed by the computational implementation developed here. This model is important for several reasons. First, it provides a demonstration of how OT ...

Optimality Theory: Universal Grammar, Learning and Parsing Algorithms, and Connectionist Foundations (Abstract)

We present a recently proposed theory of grammar, Optimality Theory (OT; Prince & Smolensky 1991, 1993). The principles of OT derive in large part from the high-level principles governing computation in connectionist networks. The talk proceeds as follows: (1) we summarize OT and its applications to UG. The we present (2) learning and (3) parsing algorithms for OT. Finally, (4) we show how cruc...

Generation and Parsing in Optimality Theoretic Syntax Issues in the Formalization of Ot-lfg