FROM A RULE-BASED MODEL TO A CONSTRAINT-BASED MODEL

Abstract

In the late 1950ûs, Noam Chomsky and Moris Halle broke new ground by introducingthe Generative School of Phonology. This school beleives that phonological structure echoesthe linguistic competence of the speakers of particular langauges. Speakers are able tocompute a phonetic representation for the infinite number of sentences generated by thegrammar. Generative phonology consists of five crucial components-levels of phonologicalrepresentation (underlying form and surface form), phonological rules, derivations, distinctivefeatures, and linearity. In this paper, two generative phonological models are examined. Eventhough a constraint-based model or Optimality Theory (OT) can solve the duplication problem,a rule-based model still exists for some reasons. This study does not intend to identify whichmodel is the better between the two. Rather, both models account for phonological alternationsin differnt ways.Key words : phonology, Optimality Theory, rules-based model, phonological alternations,English plural suffixes