Description
Book SynopsisThis book is the final version of the widely-circulated 1993 Technical Report that introduces a conception of grammar in which well-formedness is defined as optimality with respect to a ranked set of universal constraints.
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- Final version of the widely circulated 1993 Technical Report that was the seminal work in Optimality Theory, never before available in book format.
- Serves as an excellent introduction to the principles and practice of Optimality Theory.
- Offers proposals and analytic commentary that suggest many directions for further development for the professional.
Trade Review“This is a very important book.
Optimality Theory has transformed the field of linguistics more than almost any other development of the past half-century, and Prince and Smolensky started it all.”
John J. McCarthy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"OT does not need to permanently influence linguistic theory: it has already done so. Between 1993 and 2004, Prince and Smolensky’s Optimality Theory was by far the most widely circulated manuscript among phonologists. Fortunately, it is now available for a larger audience in this text edition." René Kager, Utrecht University
Table of ContentsPrefatory Note ix
Acknowledgments x
Part I Optimality and Constraint Interaction 11
Part II Syllable Theory 101
Part III Issues and Answers in Optimality Theory 203
Appendix 258
References 266
Index of Constraints 281
Index of Languages 283
General Index 284
