Optimality-Theoretic Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics

Abstract Although optimization is a central and pervasive concept in the study of the mind, perhaps in no domain of cognitive inquiry is this concept and its accompanying processes less broadly accepted than in the multifaceted study of language. This book takes on the daunting challenge of integrating optimization processes into the formal and functional study of grammar, interpreting optimization to be the result of conflicting, violable ranked constraints as is commonplace in the architectural design of Optimality Theory (OT). Both structure (morphology and syntax) and meaning (semantics and pragmatics) serve as the dominant empirical domains of focus. A unique feature of this volume on OT syntax and semantics when compared with existing books on this topic is the inclusion of the perspective of directionality of grammar. Language generation (i.e. the process of selecting the optimal form of a given meaning) and interpretation (i.e. the process of optimal interpretation of a given form) can be simultaneously taken into account in a model of grammar where optimization processes bidirectionally interact as in bidirectional OT. The contributions in this volume explore the consequences of both symmetric (unidirectional) and asymmetric (bidirectional) versions of OT, investigating the syntax–semantics interface, first-language acquisition, and sequential bilingual grammars. Collectively, the individual studies housed in this volume represent a cutting-edge advancement of OT approaches to traditional challenges in syntax and semantics, furthering research in these domains while showing how optimization processes as modelled in this formalism serve as a viable approach for linguists and scholars in related fields.