Session Natural Phonology:

Natural Phonology: Universal Principles for the Study of Language

Type: special
Chair: Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk
Date: Tuesday - August 07, 2007
Time: 16:00
Room: 6 (Black)

 

Natural Phonology-1 NATURAL PHONOLOGY: UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE
Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, Adam Mickiewicz University
Paper File
  Ever since Jakobson (or, shall we say, Plato?) linguists have been searching for universals. Their views on the role of universals in language and linguistics have varied widely, though. In this session we want to concentrate on the question of the existence of universal principles for the study of language. Natural Phonology has always advocated the holistic view on language, both in the sense of analyzing language structures as well as in the sense of seeing language as part of the universe. The latter means that the same principles of explanation apply to language and to other aspects of life, and thus they are derivable from the most general laws of human interaction with nature. In Natural Phonology the principles are cognitive, phonetic, psychological, sociological, etc. They lead to the establishment of linguistic preferences which guide the explanation of language-specific structures.
Natural Phonology-2 PHONOLOGY, NATURALNESS AND UNIVERSALS
Ian Maddieson, University of California, Berkeley and University of New Mexico
Paper File
  This paper briefly surveys several conceptions of naturalness in phonology, touching primarily on typological frequency and the notion of 'phonetic motivation'. It is argued that typological frequency is not a reliable indicator of what is 'phonetically motivated' as relative frequency patterns are the outcomes of more complex interactions including non-phonetic factors. Phonetic motivations are diverse and include random variations, not only deterministic results, as is often desired. Models that view phonological patterns as emerging from complex interactions of a variety of natural factors are the most satisfying.
Natural Phonology-3 FORMAL IS NATURAL: TOWARD AN ECOLOGICAL PHONOLOGY
Dafydd Gibbon, University of Bielefeld
Paper File
  Naturalism in linguistics has a history of opposition: to abstractness, to generative linguistics, to formalist approaches. The present approach concentrates on a key feature of Natural Linguistics and Natural Phonology in particular, namely the empirical centrality of external evidence. A step further than traditional naturalism is taken, in replacing the Viennese schools of philosophy of science, specifically Logical Empiricism and Critical Rationalism, which typically underlie the metatheory of Natural Phonology, by an ecological view that science is evaluated - intellectually and by the taxpayer - in terms of its operational functionality in personal, social, political and economic environments. The ecological perspective on science is related to applications of linguistics in speech technology.
Natural Phonology-4 PHONETIC DIMENSIONS OF SEGMENTAL STRENGTH
Grzegorz Dogil, University of Stuttgart
Paper File
  Natural Phonology (NatPhon) has been the first explanatory model of sound structure which assigned the central role to functional phonetic principles such as articulatory effort and perceptual distinctiveness. These conflicting principles have been operationalised in a procedural model consisting of weakening processes (minimizing articulatory effort) and strengthening processes (maximizing perceptual distintiveness). Whereas the weakening processes have been mostly categorical in nature, the formalization of the phonological strengthening has been a parenial problem for the procedural models of phonology. In this contribution I will argue that all dimensions of segmental strengthening are controlled by phonetics, and that articulatory, acoustic and auditory constraints on speech should be carefully studied to provide a detailed account of strengthening.
Natural Phonology-5 WHERE IS THE NATURAL PHONOLOGY PHONEME IN 2007?
Geoffrey S. Nathan, Wayne State University
Paper File
  This paper reviews the status of the phoneme, the basic linguistic unit of phonology as it is understood within Natural Phonology, and the ways in which it contrasts with current mainstream theories – particularly most versions of Generative Phonology on the one hand, and various usage-based view on the other. It concludes by pointing out a number of aspects of phonological acquisition, storage and processing which indicate that there is still a role for the traditional Baudouin/Sapir/Stampe-Donegan view of fully-specified acoustic/articulatory idealized targets.
Natural Phonology-6 CLARIFICATIONS ABOUT NATURAL PHONOLOGY
Anna Bogacka, Adam Mickiewicz University
Paper File
  This contribution argues that crucial as formalism is in computational linguistics and speech technology, Natural Phonology, with less rigid and less formalized claims, has important applications in the areas where language and not totally predictable human factors are involved. The paper discusses approaches to autonomy in language, explanation in Natural Phonology and applications of Natural Phonology.
Natural Phonology-7 Comparing and Contrasting Natural Phonology with the Theory of Phonology as Human Behavior
Yishai Tobin, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Paper File
  This paper compares and contrasts the theories of Natural Phonology and Phonology as Human Behavior in general and shows how each theory views the notion of language universals in particular. The concepts of combinatory phonology, phonotactics, and diachronic, developmental, clinical and evolutionary phonology will be discussed as measures of defining and determining the concept of language universals. The author maintains that biological, physiological, cognitive, psychological, sociological and other universals of human behavior are merely reflected in language rather than being specific "language universals" per se.

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