优选论制约条件体系的全应效用和局部效用——从天津话的连读变调看OT语法的预测力

Global and Local Effects of the OT Constraints——Predictability of OT in the Case of Tianjin Tone Sandhi

作为对生成语法的发展,优选论延续了对形式的描写及对普遍规则的探究,同时也摆脱了生成语法无法摆脱的局限性。指出:这种实证上的差异完全可以通过优选论制约条件的分合来加以解释和说明。从这一点上看,优选论既可以界定语言的总体类别,也可以说明语言内的变异情况,因而具有诸多以往音系学理论无法比拟的优势。

Being a devlopment of Generative Grammar, OT inherits its ancestor＇ s focus on formal description and quest for universal principles;at the same time, it also avoids its ancestor＇ s inevitable defects. The advantages of OT over the rule-based generative models lie not only in the more reasonable interpretation of universality offered by it but also in the fact that it can predict a set of functional related changes. The analysis of the data on Tianjin tone sandhi provided by previous studies reveals that the difference in tone sandhi can be well accounted by the merging and splitting of constraints. OT can not only delimit the typology of language, but can also explain the internal variations of language.