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Linking speech errors and phonological grammars: Insights from Harmonic Grammar networks.
Matthew Goldrick1, Robert Daland
1Department of Linguistics, Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University.
Phonology
|January 5, 2010
Summary
Speech errors are influenced by phonological markedness, with a tendency to produce well-formed structures. This study shows that a Harmonic Grammar (HG) model with stochastic disruption explains this markedness asymmetry in speech production.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Psycholinguistics
- Computational Linguistics
Background:
- Phonological grammars distinguish between well-formed (unmarked) and ill-formed (marked) structures.
- Previous research indicates that phonological markedness affects speech error patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of markedness on speech error probabilities.
- To model speech error patterns using Harmonic Grammar (HG).
Main Methods:
- Reviewing evidence on markedness and speech errors.
- Applying stochastic disruption to computational mechanisms of Harmonic Grammar (HG).
- Developing methods to link HG proposals to speech error distributions.
Main Results:
- Speech errors exhibit a markedness asymmetry, favoring the production of unmarked structures.
- The proposed HG model successfully accounts for the observed markedness asymmetry.
- Methods were developed and illustrated using English initial consonant errors.
Conclusions:
- Stochastic disruption in Harmonic Grammar provides a viable computational account for markedness effects in speech errors.
- The model explains the general tendency for speech errors to result in unmarked phonological outcomes.
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