Constraints in Phonological Acquisition

Description

Bringing together well-known researchers, this collection of essays focuses on constraints in phonological acquisition. The first two chapters review the research in its broader context, including an introduction by the editors that provides a concise tutorial on Optimality Theory. The remaining chapters address a number of partially overlapping themes: the study of child production data in terms of constraints; learnability issues; perceptual development and its relation to the development of production; and second language acquisition.

Rene Kager is Associate Professor of Language Development at Utrecht University. His books include A Metrical Theory of Stress and Destressing in Dutch (1989), The Prosody-Morphology Interface (with H. van der Hulst and W. Zonneveld, Cambridge 1999) and Optimality Theory (Cambridge, 1999). Joe Pater is Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has published in a number of journals including Phonology, Language Acquisition and the Journal of Child Language. Wim Zonneveld is Professor of Linguistics and Phonology at Utrecht University. He is the author of A Formal Theory of Exceptions in Generative Phonology (1978), Klemtoon & Metrische Fonologie (with M. Trommelen, Couthinho, 1989) and Prosody-Morphology Interface (with R. Kager and H. van der Hulst, Cambridge 1999).

'... the volume has already achieved considerable success ... this volume is a must for anyone working in the area of phonological acquisition or optimality theory ... the volume would also make an excellent textbook for a graduate course ...'. Journal of Phonology