Do Phonological Representations Specify Variables? Evidence from the Obligatory Contour Principle

Iris Berent, Daniel L. Everett, Joseph Shimron

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Mental variables are central to symbolic accounts of cognition. Conversely, according to the pattern associator hypothesis, variables are obsolete. We examine the representation of variables by investigating the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP, McCarthy, 1986) in Hebrew. The OCP constrains gemination in Hebrew roots. Gemination is well formed at the root's end (e.g., SMM), but not in its beginning (e.g., SSM). Roots and geminates, however, are variables; hence, according to the pattern associator view, the OCP is unrepresentable. Three experiments demonstrate that speakers are sensitive to the presence of root gemination and constrain its location. In forming words from novel biconsonantal roots, speakers prefer to reduplicate the root's final over its initial radical, and they rate such outputs as more acceptable. The avoidance or rejection of root-initial gemination is independent of its position in the word and is inexplicable by the statistical frequency of root tokens. Our results suggest that linguistic representations specify variables. Speakers' competence, however, is governed by violable constraints.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1-60
    Number of pages60
    JournalCognitive Psychology
    Volume42
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Feb 2001

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    Mental variables are central to symbolic accounts of cognition. Conversely, according to the pattern associator hypothesis, variables are obsolete. We examine the representation of variables by investigating the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP, McCarthy, 1986) in Hebrew. The OCP constrains gemination in Hebrew roots. Gemination is well formed at the root’s end (e.g., SMM), but not in its beginning (e.g., SSM). Roots and geminates, however, are variables; hence, according to the pattern associator view, the OCP is unrepresentable. Three experiments demonstrate that speakers are sensitive to the presence of root gemination and constrain its location. In forming words from novel biconsonantal roots, speakers prefer to reduplicate the root’s final over its initial radical, and they rate such outputs as more acceptable. The avoidance or rejection of root-initial gemination is independent of its position in the word and is inexplicable by the statistical frequency of root tokens. Our results suggest that linguistic representations specify variables. Speakers’ competence, however, is governed by violable constraints. ª 2000 Academic Press This research was supported by the National Institute of Health’s NRSA (F 32 DC 000186-02) and FIRST awards (1R29 DC03277-02) to Iris Berent. We are indebted to Gary Marcus and Steve Pinker for discussions of this research. We also thank Allan Nash, for statistical consultation, and Addie Adams, Ruben Bouissa, Josef Degani, and Vered Vaknin for their technical assistance.

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
    • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
    • Developmental and Educational Psychology
    • Linguistics and Language
    • Artificial Intelligence

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