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Just as human beings have various rules that seek to make their lives easier, there are rules that guide the way in which the sounds that make up a language are formed, that is, the phonemes. However, the differences between the phonemes of different languages derive from those linguistic rules that can be “broken”. Precisely, the theory of optimality , developed in 1993 by Alan Prince and Paul Smolensky, states that all languages are based on the same set of restrictive rules or restrictions on what can or cannot be done with their phonemes.
Hierarchy of application of restrictions
According to the theory of optimality, the variations between the languages occur according to the importance that each gives to the constraints. Just as for people some rules are more or less important, languages can be more or less restrictive. Therefore, they cut or exclude some rules to make a set of phonemes fit the constraints of their language, as long as an important constraint is not overlooked, so that the “optimal” forms of the phonemes are obtained.
In this way, the theory of optimality starts from the premise that the restrictions are the same for all languages and that the only thing that varies in them is the hierarchy of application depending on the language. For example, depending on the language, the placement of an initial consonant in the syllable may be mandatory or optional. In English, this restriction can be taken into account (in the word may , for example, which begins with a consonant), but its application is not mandatory (as in the word apple ).
Now, there are languages that prohibit consonants from appearing to end a syllable, such as Fijian; that allow it in a restricted way, as in Japanese or Mandarin; or that allow almost any sound to be put at the end of the syllable, such as German and English. In this case, the pattern is different from the inputs, which can be mandatory or optional, while the outputs can be optional or prohibited.
constraint classes
To understand the theory of optimality, it is important first to focus on the syllable, its main field of study. A syllable is a set of segments grouped around a nucleus that are grouped following a scale of sonority.
Syllables consist of three elements: core, attack, and coda.
- The nucleus is the center of the syllable and the element with the highest sonority. In Spanish, the nucleus is an obligatory element in a syllable.
- The attack is the consonant or group of consonants that comes before the nucleus.
- The coda is the consonant or group of consonants that follows the nucleus in the syllable.
With this in mind, according to the optimality theory, the constraints can be markup or fidelity.
Marking restrictions refer to those on which all languages are based, which tend to reduce the efforts of the speech apparatus. For this reason, the optimal configuration of a syllable implies having a syllabic head and the absence of a coda. Among these types of restrictions are:
- CODA: the presence of syllabic codas is not allowed.
- ONSET: requires the presence of syllabic heads or entries.
Fidelity constraints indicate the cases in which no sounds should be removed from inputs (constraint known as MAX ), in which no additional sounds should be included in a word (constraint known as DEP ), or in which all elements of the outputs must be exactly the same as the inputs (restriction known as IDENT ).
Example of application of the theory of optimality
The theory of optimality eliminates is based on the evaluation, by means of a set of restrictions, of different superficial forms called outputs (potential candidates) created by a generating function or input . The winning form is optimal because it is the candidate that incurs fewer restrictions. Constraints are marked with an asterisk in the corresponding cell.
| Generating function ( Input ) | Constraint 1 | Constraint 2 | Constraint 3 |
| Candidate for ( output ) | * | ||
| Candidate b ( output ) | * | ||
| Candidate c ( output ) | * | * |
For example, in a study among the inhabitants of the municipality of Casares de Las Hurdes (Extremadura, Spain), different pronunciations of the phonemes that make up the word “same” were found. The syllabic structure of this word is as follows.
| m | Yo | yes | – | m | to |
| stroke | core | coda | stroke | coda |
According to the optimality theory, the constraint hierarchy is CODA>>MAX, DEP>>IDENT, and the evaluation is given below.
| same-ma | coda | MAX | D.E.P | IDENT |
| (to) same | * | |||
| (b) my hmm ma | * | |||
| (c) pampers | * | |||
| (d) itself | * |
Candidate (b) is the optimal one, since it is governed by IDENT, a restriction surpassed by all the others of a higher hierarchy. The candidate (a) violates the CODA constraint because syllables must not have a coda; candidate (c) violates MAX since it deletes, with respect to input , one of its elements; and candidate (d) violates DEP, a constraint that does not allow inserting elements into output .
Limitations of the theory
Despite the fact that the theory of optimality is a model applicable to different branches of linguistics and constitutes an advance to generative phonology, that is, to the rules of pronunciation of words in a language, it has not been possible to reach a consensus. consensus about its validity and has even generated some controversy. This is because the restrictions are increasing, so that there is no closed set of analysis units.
Sources
Aguilar, C. (sf). Use of syntactic optimality models in information extraction tasks in textual corpora . In Gutiérrez Bravo, R., Arellanes Arellanes, F., Chávez Peón-Herrero, M. (Coord). New studies of optimality theory: syntax, phonic studies and computational linguistics (187-217). Mexico: The school of Mexico.
Lloret, MR Allomorphy in the theory of optimality . University of Barcelona, nd
Valiente, A. Application of the Theory of Optimity to the consonantism of the speech of the council of Casares de las Hurdes . Yearbook of Philological Studies , 35: 235-253, 2012.
