Computational complexity and learnability of two vowel harmony patterns with neutral vowels

This paper investigates the relationship between the complexity of a phonological pattern and its learnability. The Complexity Hypothesis refers to the idea that less complex patterns are easier to learn than more complex patterns. In this paper, the hypothesis is tested as the Subregular Hypothesis...

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Vydané v:음성음운형태론연구 Ročník 26; číslo 1; s. 205 - 230
Hlavný autor: Hyun Jin Hwangbo
Médium: Journal Article
Jazyk:English
Vydavateľské údaje: 한국음운론학회 01.04.2020
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ISSN:1226-8690, 2671-616X
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Shrnutí:This paper investigates the relationship between the complexity of a phonological pattern and its learnability. The Complexity Hypothesis refers to the idea that less complex patterns are easier to learn than more complex patterns. In this paper, the hypothesis is tested as the Subregular Hypothesis, which measures computational complexity in terms of the Subregular Hierarchy. This hypothesis states that patterns in a lower class are less complex and thus easier to learn. Two artificial grammars of vowel harmony patterns with neutral vowels were tested. The two patterns differed in terms of the computational complexity and attestedness. The At Least One (ALO) pattern, the less complex pattern and the unattested vowel harmony pattern, is predicted to be easier to learn than the Rightmost pattern, the more complex pattern and the attested pattern. The results showed that the Rightmost pattern was more difficult to learn than the ALO pattern. This supports the Subregular Hypothesis and implies a learning bias toward computational complexity despite the attestedness of vowel harmony patterns. KCI Citation Count: 0
ISSN:1226-8690
2671-616X
DOI:10.17959/sppm.2020.26.1.205