论优选论的功能主义倾向

On the functionalist tendency in OT

优选论的近期研究呈现功能主义倾向,其主要表现就是把标记类制约条件和忠实类制约条件建立在语音的生理、物理、感知和功能原则基础之上。对于形式理论来说,制约条件的功能化带来一系列严重的理论后果:音系语法不再是语言知识而是行为知识;音系失去语法本体地位;制约条件源于开放的物质世界,因此在数量上是无限的;制约条件具有经验基础,因此不必是先天的。导致这些理论后果的根本原因是优选论缺少符合形式理论要求的语法构建原则。

One of the latest developments in OT displays a conspicuous functionalist tendency towards constructing constraints of both markedness and faithfulness on the basis of functional principles, manifesting itself in various versions in seeking for phonological explanations on the phy￣siological, acoustic and perceptual grounds. This move brings about some theoretical consequences: (1) the functionalized constraints undermine the ontology of phonology as part of formal grammar and render it part of the knowledge of behavior; (2) as constraints come from an open world of physics, the constraint set is potentially non-finite; and (3) experience-based constraints create a number of problems for phonological acquisition. Such a functionalist ten￣dency is shown to be originated from the deviation from the principles for grammar construction well-established in classical generative phonology.