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Hierarchical Inference in Sound Change: Words, Sounds, and Frequency of Use.

Vsevolod Kapatsinski¹

¹Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States.

Frontiers in Psychology

|August 30, 2021

Summary

Hierarchical inference in language learning resolves debates on sound change units. This approach allows credit distribution across various linguistic levels, predicting stable variation and a U-shaped frequency effect in sound change.

Keywords:

frequency effects hierarchical inference lexical diffusion sound change usage-based phonology

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Area of Science:

Linguistics
Cognitive Science
Phonetics

Background:

The unit of sound change has been a long-standing debate in linguistics.
Previous models struggled to account for sound change affecting different linguistic units simultaneously.

Purpose of the Study:

To examine the role of hierarchical inference in understanding sound change.
To propose a novel framework that resolves the debate on the unit of sound change.
To generate new predictions regarding the emergence of stable variation and frequency effects.

Main Methods:

Modeling language acquisition through hierarchical inference.
Distributing credit for pronunciation across phones, triphones, morphemes, words, and larger constructions.
Analyzing the implications of hierarchical inference for sound change dynamics.

Main Results:

Hierarchical inference resolves the unit of sound change debate by allowing credit distribution across multiple linguistic levels.
This framework predicts the emergence of stable linguistic variation.
It also predicts a counterintuitive U-shaped frequency effect in advanced, articulatorily-motivated sound change.

Conclusions:

Hierarchical inference provides a unified account for sound change across different linguistic units.
The model generates novel, testable predictions for linguistic variation and frequency effects.
Future research should explore how learners generalize to novel words in sound change contexts.