Browse our books below. You can also search for books.
McMAHON, A., Change, Chance, and Optimality. Oxford University Press, 2000. 1st ed. X,201p. Paperback. Small personal library mark and name on half title.This book is about how languages change. It is also a devastating critique of a widespread linguistic orthodoxy. April McMahon argues that to provide a convincing explanation of linguistic change the roles of history and contingency must be accommodated in linguistic theory. She also shows that theoretical work in related disciplines can be used to assess the value of such theories. Optimality Theory, or OT as it is usually called, dominates contemporary phonology, especially in the USA, and is becoming increasingly influential in syntax and language acquisition. Having set out its basis principles, Professor McMahon assesses their explanatory power in analysing language change and its residues in current phonological systems. Using cross-linguistic data, and drawing comparisons with other theories inside and outside linguistics, she shows that OT is incapable of accounting for language change, without the addition of rules and an appreciation of chance and historical contingency that would then undermine its theoretical underpinnings. (Editor's information). 'This formidable critique of Optimality Theory (OT) should be required reading for all graduate students in linguistics. Phonologists of every stripe - synchronic and diachronic, regardless of the theories in which they work - ignore it at their peril. Anyone with even a passing interest in linguistic theory would also be well advised to read it, because its implications reach well beyond phonology to involve current hypotheses about the nature and evolution of human language ... this volume should solidfy McMahon's reputation as one of the most insightful linguistic theorists currently writing.' (REVIEW General Linguistics). From the library of the late Sir Kenneth James Dover. € 27.50 (Antiquarian) ISBN: 9780198241256