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Concept
Optimality Theory
Summary
In linguistics, Optimality Theory (frequently abbreviated OT) is a linguistic model proposing that the observed forms of language arise from the optimal satisfaction of conflicting constraints. OT differs from other approaches to phonological analysis, which typically use rules rather than constraints. However, phonological models of representation, such as autosegmental phonology, prosodic phonology, and linear phonology (SPE), are equally compatible with rule-based and constraint-based models. OT views grammars as systems that provide mappings from inputs to outputs; typically, the inputs are conceived of as underlying representations, and the outputs as their surface realizations. It is an approach within the larger framework of generative grammar.
In linguistics, Optimality Theory has its origin in a talk given by Alan Prince and Paul Smolensky in 1991 which was later developed in a book manuscript by the same authors in 1993.
There are three basic components of the theory:
Generator () takes an input, and generates the list of possible outputs, or candidates,
Constraint component () provides the criteria, in the form of strictly ranked violable constraints, used to decide between candidates, and
Evaluator () chooses the optimal candidate based on the constraints, and this candidate is the output.
Optimality Theory assumes that these components are universal. Differences in grammars reflect different rankings of the universal constraint set, . Part of language acquisition can then be described as the process of adjusting the ranking of these constraints.
Optimality Theory as applied to language was originally proposed by the linguists Alan Prince and Paul Smolensky in 1991, and later expanded by Prince and John J. McCarthy. Although much of the interest in Optimality Theory has been associated with its use in phonology, the area to which Optimality Theory was first applied, the theory is also applicable to other subfields of linguistics (e.g. syntax and semantics).
Official source
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