This book describes Optimality Theory from the top down, explaining and exploring the central premises of OT and the results that follow from them. Examples are drawn from phonology, morphology, and syntax, but the emphasis throughout is on the theory rather than the examples, on understanding what is special about OT and on equipping readers to apply it, extend it, and critique it in their own areas of interest. The book's coverage extends to work on first- and second-language acquisition, phonetics and functional phonology, computational linguistics, historical linguistics, and sociolinguistics. Chapters conclude with extensive suggestions for further reading, classified by topic, and are supplemented by a massive bibliography (over 800 items).
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Editorial Reviews
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'The most attractive virtue of this book is that it is designed to be user-friendly ... I believe that this book makes a considerable contribution to the field ... we would like to welcome this book as a textbook or an adjunct to another textbook or a reference.' Studies in English Literature
'Overall, McCarthy's Thematic Guide to OT is an excellent research survey that I highly recommend to schoalrs and graduate students interested in phonology and in linguistic science in general ... McCarthy's Guide, thus, should be considered a remarkable attempt to offer a global perspective on Optimality Theory as a model of Universal Grammar.' Canadian Journal of Linguistics
'Overall, McCarthy's Thematic Guide to OT is an excellent research survey that I highly recommend to schoalrs and graduate students interested in phonology and in linguistic science in general ... McCarthy's Guide, thus, should be considered a remarkable attempt to offer a global perspective on Optimality Theory as a model of Universal Grammar.' Canadian Journal of Linguistics
Book Description
This book describes Optimality Theory from the top down, explaining and exploring the central premises of OT and the results of their praxis. Examples are drawn from phonology, morphology, and syntax, but the emphasis throughout is on the theory rather than the examples, on understanding what is special about OT and on equipping readers to apply it, extend it, and critique it in their own areas of interest. The book's coverage extends to work on first- and second-language acquisition, phonetics and functional phonology, computational linguistics, historical linguistics, and sociolinguistics. Chapters conclude with extensive suggestions for further reading, classified by topic, and are supplemented by a massive bibliography (over 800 items).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
excellent,
This review is from: A Thematic Guide to Optimality Theory (Research Surveys in Linguistics) (Paperback)
About me: I'm in molecular biology. I read this book because I was interested in if and how "Optimality Theory" manages to capture and explain the phenomena of structural complexity and structural diversity in language. I can only review the book from my "outsider" position.
I think Optimality Theory in its simplicity and brilliance rivals the Theory of Evolution. It will not become as widely popular, because its formulation is more complex, but its impact in linguistics will equal the impact of evolutionary theory in biology. (Actually I think OT is more interesting than TToE, because it explains the underlying structure and emerging laws rather than limiting itself to describe what happens on the surface.) I think John McCarthy does a very good job in explaining its basic principles. The examples are (necessarily) taken from phonology and sometimes syntax. I didn't understand all of them in great detail (as I said I'm not a linguist), but I understood all the principles, which was all I wanted. I recommend this book to people who are interested in linguistics, or in complexity in general. (Obviously I'm in no position to assess for example whether it would be a good study guide for students of linguistics.)
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tought stuff,
By
This review is from: A Thematic Guide to Optimality Theory (Research Surveys in Linguistics) (Paperback)
This material assumes a lot of previous knowledge in the field. It is really difficult to grasp reading cover to cover. However, once you get the hang of it, McCarthy does a great job of demonstrating the theory at work.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
]This chapter introduces the central premises of Optimality Theory. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
unfaithful mappings, harmonic ascent, most harmonic member, harmonic serialism, constraint demotion, comparative tableau, permuted ranking, valid ranking argument, markedness constraints, harmonic bounding, faithfulness constraints, factorial typology, constraint violability, ranking permutation, actual output form, allomorph choice, positional faithfulness constraint, serial derivation, onsetless syllables, harmonic alignment, opaque interactions, lexicon optimization, cyclic evaluation, rightward spreading, faithful candidate Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Natural Phonology, Axininca Campa, Duplication Problem, Harmony Theory, Timugon Murut, Evaluation Metric, Harmonic Grammar, Southern Paiute, Agent Patient, Alan Prince, Dispersion Theory, Paul Smolensky, Domination Lemma, Elsewhere Condition, Harmonic Phonology, Results of Optimality Theory, Declarative Phonology, Paul de Lacy, Obligatory Contour Principle New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
]This chapter introduces the central premises of Optimality Theory. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
unfaithful mappings, harmonic ascent, most harmonic member, harmonic serialism, constraint demotion, comparative tableau, permuted ranking, valid ranking argument, markedness constraints, harmonic bounding, faithfulness constraints, factorial typology, constraint violability, ranking permutation, actual output form, allomorph choice, positional faithfulness constraint, serial derivation, onsetless syllables, harmonic alignment, opaque interactions, lexicon optimization, cyclic evaluation, rightward spreading, faithful candidate Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Natural Phonology, Axininca Campa, Duplication Problem, Harmony Theory, Timugon Murut, Evaluation Metric, Harmonic Grammar, Southern Paiute, Agent Patient, Alan Prince, Dispersion Theory, Paul Smolensky, Domination Lemma, Elsewhere Condition, Harmonic Phonology, Results of Optimality Theory, Declarative Phonology, Paul de Lacy, Obligatory Contour Principle New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 49
books:
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21
books
cite this book:
See all 21 books citing this book
- Optimality Theory (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics) by Rene Kager on 9 pages
- Optimality Theory: Phonology, Syntax, and Acquisition (Oxford Linguistics) by Joost Dekkers on 8 pages
- The Minimalist Program (Current Studies in Linguistics) by Noam Chomsky on page 12, and Back Matter
- Current Approaches to Phonological Theory by Daniel A. Dinnsen in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Sound Pattern of English by Noam Chomsky on page 46, and Back Matter
See all 49 books this book cites
- Argument Realization (Research Surveys in Linguistics) by Beth Levin in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Perspectives on Aspect (Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics) by Henk J. Verkuyl in Back Matter
- Standardvariation: Wie Viel Variation Vertrdgt Die Deutsche Sprache? (Jahrbuch des Instituts fur deutsche Sprache) (German Edition) by Ludwig M. Eichinger on page 141
- Rhythmic Grammar: The Influence of Rhythm on Grammatical Variation and Change in English (Topics in English Linguistics) by Julia Schlüter in Back Matter
- Language Universals: With Special Reference to Feature Hierarchies by Joseph H. Greenberg in Front Matter
See all 21 books citing this book
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