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On the anatomy of a chain shift1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2010
Abstract
Phonological chain shifts have been the focus of many theoretical, developmental, and clinical concerns. This paper considers an overlooked property of the problem by focusing on the typological properties of the widely attested ‘s>θ>f’ chain shift involving the processes of Labialization and Dentalization in early phonological development. Findings are reported from a cross-sectional study of 234 children (ages 3 years; 0 months–7;9) with functional (nonorganic) phonological delays. The results reveal some unexpected gaps in the predicted interactions of these processes and are brought to bear on the evaluation of recent optimality theoretic proposals for the characterization of phonological interactions. A developmental modification to the theory is proposed that has the desired effect of precluding certain early-stage grammars. The proposal is further evaluated against the facts of another widely cited developmental chain shift known as the ‘puzzle>puddle>pickle’ problem (Smith 1973).
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010
Footnotes
We are especially grateful to Ashley Farris-Trimble and the members of the Indiana University Learnability Project for their assistance with and comments on various aspects of this work. We would also like to thank the two anonymous JL referees for their thoughtful and constructive comments. This research was supported in part by grants to Indiana University from the National Institutes of Health (DC001694 & DC00012).
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