Start Date: 9/15/2025 1:00 PM EDT
End Date: 9/15/2025 2:30 PM EDT
Venue Name: Online Webinar
Organization Name:
LSA
Contact:
LSA Presidential Research Forum -
Tutorial on Logical Phonology
Speakers: Kyle Gorman, Rim Dabbous, Charles Reiss
Logical Phonology (LP; Bale et al. 2014, Dabbous et al. 2021, Reiss 2021, Gorman and Reiss 2024) is a formally rigorous theory of phonological computation. This symposium consists of three presentations that describe the formal properties of LP and illustrate some of its novel linguistic predictions. The LP model is ("small-m") minimalist: the model is substance-free in the sense of Reiss (2017); taxonomic notions like assimilation or markedness play no role. In LP, following Poser (1982) et seq., the distinction between feature-filling and feature-changing rules is generated by decomposing them into separate feature insertion and deletion operations, and intrasegmental rules are distinguished from segment insertion and deletion rules. Similarly, in LP the distinction between local and long-distance rule application is derived from natural classes used to parameterize a search procedure loosely inspired by "probe-goal" models of syntactic agreement (e.g., Chomsky 2000, Deal 2015). Adapting and generalizing proposals by Inkelas and colleagues (Inkelas and Cho 1993, Inkelas 1995, Inkelas and Orgun 1995, Inkelas et al. 1997), LP uses underspecification to determine what segments are targets and triggers for rules, generating patterns previously understood as "morphophonological" in the narrow phonology.
Rules and representations in Logical Phonology
Speakers: Charles Reiss
In LP, feature-changing processes are modeled via feature deletion and insertion operations. LP's use of unification solves the decades-old problem of targeting relatively underspecified structures without affecting more richly specified ones. LP's reliance on basic set-theoretic notions addresses questions about the interpretation of natural classes and alpha-notation.
Locality and long-distance effects in Logical Phonology
Speaker: Rim Dabbous
Rule application in LP involves a search beginning at an initiator (trigger) segment, proceeding in the specified direction until the first terminator (target) segment is reached. The change is then applied if the terminator meets further conditions. Search is used both for "local" and "long-distance" effects.
Morphophonology in Logical Phonology
Speaker: Kyle Gorman
Inkelas and colleagues use underspecification to mark particular specific segments as mutable, allowing phonological rules to generate many patterns previously analyzed with morphophonological rules, morpheme-specific constraints, cophonologies, or lexical diacritics. In LP, similar logic applies not only to the targets of rules but also to triggers, moving even more "morphophonology" into the narrow phonology.
