Optimality Theory

In Kalhori Kurdish, the full forms of second-person-singular
and first-person-plural endings end in /ən/, but this sequence
may be deleted for simplification. In certain phonetic contexts,
though, the freedom of choice in these variations is lost, with
only the full forms of these endings being grammatical. The
present article attempts to study such phonetic contexts, and
explains why and how truncation is blocked. The data were
collected by interviewing 15 Kalhori Kurdish speakers from
Eslamabad-e Gharb. The findings show that speakers can
freely choose between the full form and truncated form except
when the endings are preceded by the vowel [i], in which case,
in order for the first-person-plural ending /-imən/ not to be
confused with the first-person-singular /-im/, the sequence
/ən/ cannot drop. Furthermore, the second-person-singular
ending, although phonetically represented either as [i], [id], or
[idən], cannot take the former form when preceded by the past
tense suffix /i/.

Veel taaltypologisch onderzoek geschiedt tegenwoordig volgens de principes van het ‘categoriale particularisme’. Deze visie houdt in dat de concepten die in de beschrijvingen van individuele talen gebruikt worden, strikt taalspecifiek zijn; zij beantwoorden aan reele categorieen van talen. Vergelijkende, zgn. ‘crosslinguistische’, concepten beschouwt men daarentegen als louter terminologische conventies. Zij bewijzen in de vergelijkende taalwetenschap weliswaar hun nut, maar zij staan niet voor categorieen die in de talen van de wereld voorhanden zijn; zij zijn m.a.w. constructies van taalkundigen. Deze bijdrage gaat na wat het categoriale particularisme betekent voor de plaats en ons begrip van de notie ‘universele categorie van taal’ in de theorie van de taalwetenschap, waarin er naast empirische universalia ook ruimte is voor een conceptueel niveau dat essentiele en mogelijke universalia omvat.

The paper discusses the relevance of the 18th-century Catalan-Maltese Vocabulary by Marquis de Sentmenat to a number of issues pertaining to the historical phonology of Maltese. The topics addressed are the following: word-medial imāla of */a:/; deletion of short unstressed vowels in word-initial open syllables; auxiliary vowels; interdental fricatives; regressive voicing assimilation in obstruent clusters; word-final obstruent devoicing. The accuracy of the data in de Sentmenat's Vocabulary is evaluated in light of corroborating evidence adduced mainly from other 18th-century records of Maltese.

In the rapid internationalization and informatization, many research efforts have been made to build computer-aided language learning (CALL) systems. Good pronunciation assessment systems should be built using the technologies which can deal with acoustic variabilities found in learners' utterances caused by non-linguistic factors such as age and gender. However, the widely-used acoustic modeling technique of HMM often shows unstable performances with speakers of different ages and genders. Recently, a new method of representing learners' pronunciations with their non-linguistic features effectively removed, called pronunciation structure. In this method, only the contrastive features of speech are extracted. However, the excessively high dimensionality of the structure comes to degrade its performance and, to solve this problem, multilayer regression analysis with structural features is proposed in this paper. The results show much higher correlation between human and machine performances of assessing learners' pronunciations compared to the previously proposed structure-based method. Further, the proposed method shows much higher robustness compared to the widely-used HMM-based method. In this paper, we also propose a good combination of the structure and the HMM.

This article describes and analyzes double downstep in Northern Toussian (Niger Congo; Burkina Faso), a phenomenon whereby downstep occurs twice at the same position in the utterance, leading to a precipitous drop in pitch. I argue that this is caused by two separate effects: 1) a prosodically conditioned boundary effect, as well as 2) an instance of grammatical tone. Each of these processes cause downstep, and when both of them target the same syllable, their effects are cumulative. I show that the mechanisms by which double downstep arises in Northern Toussian are distinct from those in other languages with double downstep, such as several Eastern Grassfields languages (Voorhoeve 1971; Hyman and Tadadjeu 1976) and two Western Nilotic languages (Hieda 2010, 2011). I argue that Northern Toussian double downstep cannot effectively be accounted for using tonal primitives, and instead I analyze it with a model of tonal representation based on Register Tier Theory (Snider 1990, 2020). Like Register Tier Theory, the model employs the tonal features L and H as well as the register features l and h. It differs in that, rather than modeling downstep in terms of spreading and delinking of register features, multiple register features can stack onto a single tone without delinking the existing register feature, and downstep occurs for each register feature associated with a tone beyond what is lexically specified. I show that this model is well equipped to straightforwardly account for basic tonal processes like automatic and nonautomatic downstep, as well as rarely attested phenomena like double downstep.

This study investigates tone sandhi and tonal coarticulation in disyllabic sequences in Changsha Xiang, a Sinitic language with six lexical tones in Hunan Province, China. Changsha Xiang exhibits two distinct tone sandhi patterns: right-dominant and leftdominant. Previous descriptions of these patterns have been largely impressionistic, lacking an instrumental phonetic analysis. Building on data from 16 native speakers, this study provides an acoustic analysis of the tonal realization, coarticulation, and phonetic reduction patterns in Changsha Xiang. Our results indicate that in rightdominant sequences, the non-dominant syllable exhibits reduced F0 excursion without neutralization, whereas in left-dominant sequences, the non-dominant syllable undergoes paradigmatic neutralization to four short level tones. Additionally, the study finds that the tone sandhi pattern affects tonal coarticulation, with a larger influence on carryover effect than anticipatory effect. These findings contribute to a broader understanding of tonal processes in Sinitic languages and highlight parallels between tone sandhi and stress-tone interactions in other languages.

This article provides a description and an Optimality Theory (OT) analysis of contact-induced changes and variation in contemporary Yoruba syllable structure. The article claims that a major diachronic change has occurred in the syllable structure of Yoruba phonology due to its continued contact with English, resulting in the invention, preservation, and hypercorrection of clusters and codas. I characterize this change in terms of OT constraint re-ranking (Miglio and Moren 2003) and assess the resulting synchronic variation against the indexed constraint approach of Itô and Mester (1995a, b, 1999), the ranked-winners approach of Coetzee ( ), the partial-order co-phonology of Anttila (1997), and the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model of . I show that none of these approaches is able to account independently for the categorical, gradient, and lexically conditioned variation that characterize the contemporary Yoruba syllable structure, but rather that a MaxEnt model augmented with lexical indexation is the most economical model that fits the Yoruba data accurately.

The Urhobo language displays a hiatus environment created via morphological or syntactic concatenation. However, the grammar of the language requires that such an environment be repaired. This is because it violates a constraint forbidding hiatuses in the language. Languages that do not tolerate hiatus may apply one or more repair strategies to ensure deviant structures conform to constraint requirements. This study seeks to examine the hiatus resolution strategy in Urhobo and its interaction with general processes in the language. It employs data elicited from two adult L1 speakers of the language, while the analysis of the data is couched within the theory of constraint and repair strategies (TCRS). The study noted that only vowel elision is employed as a repair strategy, but it is bled by glide formation, which is a general process in the language. Elision targets V1, but it is blocked by *ØLINCON, a constraint that requires the preservation of elements that encode greater lingui...

Data compression can save energy and increase network capacity in wireless sensor networks. However, the decision of whether and when to compress data can depend upon platform hardware, topology, wireless channel conditions, and application data rates. Using Lyapunov optimization theory, we design an algorithm called seec that makes joint compression and transmission decisions with the goal of minimizing energy consumption. A practical distributed variant, dseec, is able to achieve more than 30% energy savings and adapts seamlessly across a wide range of conditions, without explicitly taking topology, application data rates, and link quality changes into account.

36 national and international contributors attended the conference entitled Order and Disorder held at the University of Jendouba, Tunisia on 6-7th November 2015. These proceedings are a selection of the lectures, and seminars presented, looking at the ways that Order and Disorder are used in areas such as literature and linguistics.

El presente informe analiza los procesos lingüísticos presentes en tres canciones de la artista dominicana Tokischa: Linda, Delincuente y Tukuntazo. Estas piezas musicales constituyen un corpus relevante para estudiar el español urbano contemporáneo, caracterizado por la presencia de préstamos del inglés, procesos de derivación, sufijación productiva y creación de lexías nuevas sin una base reconocible. El estudio se centra en identificar cómo estos mecanismos amplían el léxico, modifican estructuras morfológicas y reflejan fenómenos sociolingüísticos propios de la juventud dominicana actual.

We examine the interaction of two phonological notions: Greek letter variables, (α-notation), and natural classes in the context of Logical Phonology. The conclusions we reach hold for any theory that attempts to develop a precise mapping between phonological notation and mental processes/representations. By keeping the Greek variables in the grammar, rather than treating them as metalanguage variables, we predict where learners will generalize rules. Our "variable subsumption" model is a theory of what counts as a natural class.

Despite Inkelas' (2000) instinct that such an analysis "would be far-fetched and uninsightful" I show how appeal to underspecification accounts for Turkish velar deletion with a simple, albeit counterintuitive, narrow phonological solution couched in Logical Phonology (LP). Components of the LP approach are introduced via discussion of Finnish assibilation, which, like the Turkish pattern, has also been discussed in terms of "non-derived environment blocking."

Across languages, certain phonological patterns are preferred to others (e.g., blog > lbog). But whether such preferences arise from abstract linguistic constraints or sensorimotor pressures is controversial. We address this debate by examining the constraints on doubling (e.g., slaflaf, generally, XX). Doubling demonstrably elicits conflicting responses (aversion or preference), depending on the linguistic level of analysis (phonology vs. morphology). Since the stimulus remains unchanged, the shifting responses imply abstract constraints. Here, we ask whether these constraints apply online, in eye movements. Experiment 1 shows that, in bare phonological forms, doubling is dispreferred, and correspondingly it elicits shorter fixations. Remarkably, when doubling signals morphological plurality, the aversion shifts into preference, in Experiment 2. Our results demonstrate for the first time that the constraints on doubling apply online. These findings are consistent with the hypoth...

Languages are known to exhibit universal restrictions on sound structure. The source of such restrictions, however, is contentious: Do they reflect abstract phonological knowledge, or properties of linguistic experience and auditory perception? We address this question by investigating the restrictions on onset structure. Across languages, onsets of small sonority distances are dispreferred (e.g., lb is dispreferred to bn). Previous research with aural materials demonstrates such preferences modulate the perception of unattested onsets by English speakers: Universally ill-formed onsets are systematically misperceived (e.g., lba 3 leba) relative to well-formed onsets (e.g., bn). Here, we show that the difficulty to process universally ill-formed onsets extends to printed materials. Auxiliary tests indicate that such difficulties reflect phonological, rather than orthographic knowledge, and regression analyses demonstrate such knowledge goes beyond the statistical properties of the lexicon. These findings suggest that speakers have abstract, possibly universal, phonological knowledge that is general with respect to input modality.

Linguistic research suggests that certain skeletal frames (e.g., CVC) are preferred to others (e.g., VCC). We examine whether such preferences constrain reading in the Stroop task. We demonstrate that CCVC nonwords facilitate naming the color black (/blaek/, a CCVC frame) relative to CVC controls. Conversely, CCVC items inhibit red (a CVC frame) relative to CVC controls. These results suggest that readers are sensitive to the congruency between the skeletal structure of color names and printed nonwords. However, various frames are not all equally preferred: The color black is named faster with a VCC frame, an infrequent and ill-formed frame, relative to a CVC frame, a frequent and grammatically preferred frame. These findings suggest that the representation of printed words specifies distinct slots for consonants and vowels, and readers are equipped with preferences (either grammatical or statistical) concerning skeletal frames. These conclusions underscore the contribution of linguistic knowledge to skilled reading.

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Core phonology: Evidence from grammatical universals Iris Berent ([email protected]) Northeastern University, Department of Psychology, 125 Nightingale Hall, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115 The human capacity for language is one of the most contentious topics in cognitive science. While some researchers attribute language to domain-general mechanisms, others postulate a specialized language system. When it comes to the phonological component, however, even proponents of domain-specificity concede that specialization is unlikely (Fitch et al., 2005). Phonological competence, in this view, is the product of experience, auditory perception, and motor control. And indeed, phonological systems are intimately grounded in phonetics. But while the domain-general perspective can account for this fact, it offers no explanation for several key features of language. It fails to explain why all languages—signed and spoken—have a phonological system, why phonological systems emerge spontaneo...

Duality of patterning, is, by hypothesis, a universal design feature of language. Every language constructs words from meaningful units (morphemes), which, in turn, are comprised of meaningless phonological elements (e.g., segments, syllables). But whether the language faculty does, in fact, include a separate morphological level, distinct from the phonology, is a matter of controversy. To elucidate the role of morphology, here we ask whether morphological forms are constrained by putatively universal combinatorial principles, distinct from those applying to phonological patterns. Our research exploits the structural ambiguity of doubling. Doubling (e.g., trafraf) is open to two competing interpretations-as either a purely phonological form, or as a complex morphological structure that is systematically linked to meaning (e.g., trafraf is the diminutive of traf). Our experiments show that responses to doubling (trafraf) shift radically, depending on its level of analysis. Viewed as a meaningless phonological form, doubling is dispreferred irrespective of its kind (i.e., trafraf is as bad as traftaf, even though the latter violates a morphological constraint on contiguity). But once doubling is systematically linked to meaning (i.e., as a morphological structure), the doubling dislike shifts into a reliable preference, and an additional constraint on its contiguity arises (i.e., trafraf > traftaf). Remarkably, the dissociation between morphological and phonological doubling emerges regardless of whether morphological reduplication is abundant in participants' language (in Hebrew) or relatively rare (in English). These results suggest the existence of distinct linguistic constraints that preferentially target the morphological vs. phonological levels. We discuss various explanations for the origins of these restrictions.

Domain-specific systems are hypothetically specialized with respect to the outputs they compute and the inputs they allow . Here, we examine whether these 2 conditions for specialization are dissociable. An initial experiment suggests that English speakers could extend a putatively universal phonological restriction to inputs identified as nonspeech. A subsequent comparison of English and Russian participants indicates that the processing of nonspeech inputs is modulated by linguistic experience. Striking, qualitative differences between English and Russian participants suggest that they rely on linguistic principles, both universal and language-particular, rather than generic auditory processing strategies. Thus, the computation of idiosyncratic linguistic outputs is apparently not restricted to speech inputs. This conclusion presents various challenges to both domain-specific and domain-general accounts of cognition.

Across languages, onsets with large sonority distances are preferred to those with smaller distances (e.g., bw>bd>lb;. Optimality theory (Prince & Smolensky, 2004) attributes such facts to grammatical restrictions that are universally active in all grammars. To test this hypothesis, here, we examine whether children extend putatively universal sonority restrictions to onsets unattested in their language. Participants (M=4;04 years) were presented with pairs of auditory words-either identical (e.g., lbif→lbif) or epenthetically related (e.g., lbif→lebif)-and asked to judge their identity. Results showed that, like adults, children's ability to detect epenthetic distortions was monotonically related to sonority distance (bw>bd>lb), and their performance was inexplicable by several statistical and phonetic factors. These findings suggest that sonority restrictions are active in early childhood and their scope is broad. A large body of research demonstrates the sensitivity of young children and adults to the sound-pattern of novel linguistic forms that they have never heard before. Infants as young as nine months of age, for instance, favor syllables like blif over lbif despite no experience with either (e.g., Friederici & Wessels 1993). But while the productivity of language is widely recognized, its source is contentious. Some authors attribute linguistic generalizations to domain-general mechanisms, including statistical learning, articulatory and auditory preferences (e.g., ). Others, however, assert that productivity might be constrained, in part, by grammatical principles that are potentially specific to language (e.g., Prince & Smolensky 1993/2004; de Lacy 2006a). In this view, all phonological grammars include a universal set of grammatical well-formedness restrictions called markedness constraints. Markedness constraints, for example, disfavor syllables such as lbif over blif. Because the variant lbif incurs a more severe violation of markedness constraints, grammars are less likely to admit this marked variant compared to its unmarked counterpart, blif. Consequently, marked structures are less likely to emerge in typology, they are disfavored as the output of active phonological alternations, and they are more difficult to master in language acquisition. And while marked syllables, such as lbif, are typically ones that are also harder to articulate and perceive on purely phonetic grounds, by hypothesis, grammatical markedness constraints are independently represented in the grammar, irreducible to their analog phonetic precursors (de Lacy 2006b). Moreover, markedness

Linguistic research suggests that certain skeletal frames (e.g., CVC) are preferred to others (e.g., VCC). We examine whether such preferences constrain reading in the Stroop task. We demonstrate that CCVC nonwords facilitate naming the color black (/blaek/, a CCVC frame) relative to CVC controls. Conversely, CCVC items inhibit red (a CVC frame) relative to CVC controls. These results suggest that readers are sensitive to the congruency between the skeletal structure of color names and printed nonwords. However, various frames are not all equally preferred: The color black is named faster with a VCC frame, an infrequent and ill-formed frame, relative to a CVC frame, a frequent and grammatically preferred frame. These findings suggest that the representation of printed words specifies distinct slots for consonants and vowels, and readers are equipped with preferences (either grammatical or statistical) concerning skeletal frames. These conclusions underscore the contribution of linguistic knowledge to skilled reading.

Languages are known to exhibit universal restrictions on sound structure. The source of such restrictions, however, is contentious: Do they reflect abstract phonological knowledge, or properties of linguistic experience and auditory perception? We address this question by investigating the restrictions on onset structure. Across languages, onsets of small sonority distances are dispreferred (e.g., lb is dispreferred to bn). Previous research with aural materials demonstrates such preferences modulate the perception of unattested onsets by English speakers: Universally ill-formed onsets are systematically misperceived (e.g., lba 3 leba) relative to well-formed onsets (e.g., bn). Here, we show that the difficulty to process universally ill-formed onsets extends to printed materials. Auxiliary tests indicate that such difficulties reflect phonological, rather than orthographic knowledge, and regression analyses demonstrate such knowledge goes beyond the statistical properties of the lexicon. These findings suggest that speakers have abstract, possibly universal, phonological knowledge that is general with respect to input modality.

Are speakers equipped with preferences concerning grammatical structures that are absent in their language? We examine this question by investigating the sensitivity of English speakers to the sonority of onset clusters. Linguistic research suggests that certain onset clusters are universally preferred (e.g., bd > lb). We demonstrate that such preferences modulate the perception of unattested onsets by English speakers: Monosyllabic auditory nonwords with onsets that are universally dispreferred (e.g., lbif) are more likely to be classified as disyllabic and misperceived as identical to their disyllabic counterparts (e.g., lebif) compared to onsets that are relatively preferred across languages (e.g., bdif). Consequently, dispreferred onsets benefit from priming by their epenthetic counterpart (e.g., lebif-lbif) as much as they benefit from identity priming (e.g., lbif-lbif). A similar pattern of misperception (e.g., lbif fi lebif) was observed among speakers of Russian, where clusters of this type occur. But unlike English speakers, Russian speakers perceived these clusters accurately on most trials, suggesting that the perceptual illusions of English speakers are partly due to their linguistic experience, rather than phonetic confusion alone. Further evidence against a purely phonetic explanation for our results is offered by the capacity of English speakers to perceive such onsets accurately under

Across languages, onsets with large sonority distances are preferred to those with smaller distances (e.g., bw>bd>lb;. Optimality theory (Prince & Smolensky, 2004) attributes such facts to grammatical restrictions that are universally active in all grammars. To test this hypothesis, here, we examine whether children extend putatively universal sonority restrictions to onsets unattested in their language. Participants (M=4;04 years) were presented with pairs of auditory words-either identical (e.g., lbif→lbif) or epenthetically related (e.g., lbif→lebif)-and asked to judge their identity. Results showed that, like adults, children's ability to detect epenthetic distortions was monotonically related to sonority distance (bw>bd>lb), and their performance was inexplicable by several statistical and phonetic factors. These findings suggest that sonority restrictions are active in early childhood and their scope is broad. A large body of research demonstrates the sensitivity of young children and adults to the sound-pattern of novel linguistic forms that they have never heard before. Infants as young as nine months of age, for instance, favor syllables like blif over lbif despite no experience with either (e.g., Friederici & Wessels 1993). But while the productivity of language is widely recognized, its source is contentious. Some authors attribute linguistic generalizations to domain-general mechanisms, including statistical learning, articulatory and auditory preferences (e.g., ). Others, however, assert that productivity might be constrained, in part, by grammatical principles that are potentially specific to language (e.g., Prince & Smolensky 1993/2004; de Lacy 2006a). In this view, all phonological grammars include a universal set of grammatical well-formedness restrictions called markedness constraints. Markedness constraints, for example, disfavor syllables such as lbif over blif. Because the variant lbif incurs a more severe violation of markedness constraints, grammars are less likely to admit this marked variant compared to its unmarked counterpart, blif. Consequently, marked structures are less likely to emerge in typology, they are disfavored as the output of active phonological alternations, and they are more difficult to master in language acquisition. And while marked syllables, such as lbif, are typically ones that are also harder to articulate and perceive on purely phonetic grounds, by hypothesis, grammatical markedness constraints are independently represented in the grammar, irreducible to their analog phonetic precursors (de Lacy 2006b). Moreover, markedness

Across languages, onsets with large sonority distances are preferred to those with smaller distances (e.g., bw>bd>lb;. Optimality theory (Prince & Smolensky, 2004) attributes such facts to grammatical restrictions that are universally active in all grammars. To test this hypothesis, here, we examine whether children extend putatively universal sonority restrictions to onsets unattested in their language. Participants (M=4;04 years) were presented with pairs of auditory words-either identical (e.g., lbif→lbif) or epenthetically related (e.g., lbif→lebif)-and asked to judge their identity. Results showed that, like adults, children's ability to detect epenthetic distortions was monotonically related to sonority distance (bw>bd>lb), and their performance was inexplicable by several statistical and phonetic factors. These findings suggest that sonority restrictions are active in early childhood and their scope is broad. A large body of research demonstrates the sensitivity of young children and adults to the sound-pattern of novel linguistic forms that they have never heard before. Infants as young as nine months of age, for instance, favor syllables like blif over lbif despite no experience with either (e.g., Friederici & Wessels 1993). But while the productivity of language is widely recognized, its source is contentious. Some authors attribute linguistic generalizations to domain-general mechanisms, including statistical learning, articulatory and auditory preferences (e.g., ). Others, however, assert that productivity might be constrained, in part, by grammatical principles that are potentially specific to language (e.g., Prince & Smolensky 1993/2004; de Lacy 2006a). In this view, all phonological grammars include a universal set of grammatical well-formedness restrictions called markedness constraints. Markedness constraints, for example, disfavor syllables such as lbif over blif. Because the variant lbif incurs a more severe violation of markedness constraints, grammars are less likely to admit this marked variant compared to its unmarked counterpart, blif. Consequently, marked structures are less likely to emerge in typology, they are disfavored as the output of active phonological alternations, and they are more difficult to master in language acquisition. And while marked syllables, such as lbif, are typically ones that are also harder to articulate and perceive on purely phonetic grounds, by hypothesis, grammatical markedness constraints are independently represented in the grammar, irreducible to their analog phonetic precursors (de Lacy 2006b). Moreover, markedness

The aim of this article is to study Sanandaji consonant clusters in relation with their conformity to the principle of sonority sequencing. Analyzing the data provided in this paper, we found out that, of the three kinds of consonant clusters existing in all languages, only core clusters-clusters that conform to the sonority sequencing principle (SSP)-are found in Sanandaji, and therefore the arrangement and combination of segments to make syllables in this dialect of Kurdish is absolutely governed by the SSP. Applying principles of Optimality Theory on the data, the relative ranking of syllable structure constraints is determined, the outcome of which is deriving surface phonotactic patterns through the interaction of markedness and faithfulness constraints.

IsiNdebele is a Nguni Bantu language spoken in South Africa. While the tone systems of many other Nguni languages are well described and analysed, this paper presents the first description of the isiNdebele nominal tone system. The isiNdebele tone system is typical of Bantu languages in that Low tones are the default tones, added after phonological rules have been applied, and only High tones undergo any phonological rules. It is well known in the literature of Nguni languages that H tone spread/shift targets the antepenultimate and penultimate syllables, but isiNdebele differs from other Nguni languages in that the H tone spreading/shifting target is one syllable further, that is, the penultimate and the final syllable.

It is very important for the participants in a competitive electricity market, which is concerned to various uncertainties, to develop an optimal bidding to achieve maximum profit, especially in a discriminatory pricing (Pay-as-Bid) auction. In this research, the market clearing price (MCP) of each hour assumed to be known as a probability density function (pdf). In this paper, the bidding problem is modeled from a supplier viewpoint and its optimal solution is obtained analytically based on the classical optimization theory. Also, the analytical solution for a multi step bid protocol is generalized and properties of the generalized solution will be discussed. The model is developed to consider concept of risk in the bidding decision making problem. Two different methods for handling the risk are introduced. The proposed two methods are compared using some numerical examples and the results are interpreted. In addition, the effect of variation of MCP's pdf parameters on supplier profit is studied and the results are presented.

It is very important for the participants in a competitive electricity market, which is concerned to various uncertainties, to develop an optimal bidding to achieve maximum profit, especially in a discriminatory pricing (Pay-as-Bid) auction. In this research, the market clearing price (MCP) of each hour assumed to be known as a probability density function (pdf). In this paper, the bidding problem is modeled from a supplier viewpoint and its optimal solution is obtained analytically based on the classical optimization theory. Also, the analytical solution for a multi step bid protocol is generalized and properties of the generalized solution will be discussed. The model is developed to consider concept of risk in the bidding decision making problem. Two different methods for handling the risk are introduced. The proposed two methods are compared using some numerical examples and the results are interpreted. In addition, the effect of variation of MCP's pdf parameters on supplier profit is studied and the results are presented.

Old Tamil exhibits two kinds of sonorant gemination, which were previously explained by two separate, linear phonological rules. We postulate that the rules explaining both these 'separate' phenomena are part of the same conspiracy. This study is devoted to exploring the optimality theoretic analysis of the phenomenon of morphologically derived geminates in Old Tamil, as depicted from Sangam poetic texts and the traditional Tamil Grammars (Tolkāppiyam and Naṉṉūl). We use optimality theoretic markedness or well-formedness constraints like Prosodic Word constraint (ProsWd) and faithfulness constraints like DEP-IO, MAX-IO, NoCoda, etc., as part of the explanatory apparatus. The analysis focuses on a unified ranking of constraints explaining the gemination phenomenon in Old Tamil.

Demonym formation: Demonym is a name of inhabitants or adjective of a place name
(toponym). In French, demonyms are formed by suffixation as well as English or other
European languages. That is, the demonym for Paris is paris-ien/-ienne, Niç-ois/-oise for
Nice, Tokyo-ïte for Tokyo etc. Each suffix has the same function, so this formation is
treated as affix rivalry. (Thuilier et al. 2023, Huygevelde et al. 2025 etc.)
Aim of this presentation: French demonym formation has been studied in linguistic
approaches and non-linguistic ones. The linguistic approaches mainly focus on
phonological properties: suffix selection is determined by the final segment of the
toponym or its length. However, those studies do not focus on computational process to
create new demonyms. I assume that analogical effects have an influence on neologism
of demonyms and phonological properties are checked at the end of computation. Then,
this presentation proposes a framework of Distributed Morphology (DM; Halle and
Marantz 1993, Harley and Noyer 1999 etc.) is suitable for demonym formation.
Optionality of suffix selection: Thuilier et al. (2023) pointed out that phonological
effects have statistically greater importance in suffix selection than other factors. This
same study and Huygevelde et al. (2025) suggest that dissimilation (especially about
features [±back] and [nasal]) of segments between toponym and suffix works in suffix
selection. Dissimilation is represented as a constraint of Obligatory Contour Principle
(OCP). Examples in (1) show an OCP effect and corresponding repair strategy in Ainu.
(1) OCP effect in Ainu (Shibatani 1999, 13)
a. /ku-kor-rusuy/ → ku kon rusuy b. /kor-rametok/ → kon rametok
1.PL.NOM-have.PL want have bravery
In Ainu example, there is an evident repair strategy against the violation of OCP[rhotic].
That is, when [r] precedes its identical segment, [r] changes to [n]. However, the problem
in demonym formation is that this type of repair strategy does not exist. (2a) is an example
of official demonym and (2b,c) shows demonyms created by native speakers. Even
though nantais is the official demonym for Nantes, another form nantois was observed.
This means that suffix selection in demonyms is unstable and does not have a repair
strategy.
(2) Competition of official and created demonyms (Eggert 2002, 34)
Nantes > a. nant-ais b. ?nant-ois c. *?nant-ien (not observed in Eggert 2002)
Analogy in DM: DM takes Root hypothesis, late insertion, and underspecification as
a basic concept. A category-unspecified Root as in √TSUKUBA becomes a toponym by a
merge with [+N]. Category is determined after the syntactic operations in DM. Demonym
formation differs from the derivation of √TSUKUBA into [NTsukuba]. This research argues
that demonyms are derived after the category is determined. This difference can be
accounted by concept of Root-derivation and Word-derivation (Arad 2003). Demonym is
derived through a merge of toponym (Word) and suffix. Then, how a speaker chooses one
suffix from competitive environment? This talk suggests that analogy plays a role in
suffix selection. Analogy is based on non-linguistic parameters as in geographical features.
Thuilier et al. (2023) propose that the suffix -ien favours toponyms that are not a cities: it
favours areas (Eurasie ‘Eurasia’, Amazonie ‘Amazon’, or Angleterre ‘England’). On the
contrary, suffix -ais favours cities. Moreover, they observed that geographically close
toponyms tend to share the same suffix. These non-linguistic effects are treated as
Encyclopedia in DM structure. According to Harley and Noyer (1999), Encyclopedia has
an impact on the Conceptual Interface (Meaning). Therefore, it is an effect for logical
form (LF) which is spelled out. This talk assumes that speakers analyse the LF of existing
demonyms and apply the analysed suffix. At the back side of LF spell-out, morphological
operations are spelled out to phonological form (PF). Phonology filters out
phonologically ill-formed PFs in view of some constraints. (e.g. OCP[±back] and OCP[nasal])
Analogical effects are major concept in construction morphology and not sufficiently
discussed in DM. Therefore, this challenge can be a novel account. I support my analyses
by referring the evidence from municipal vote to decide an official demonym such as
Aindin-ois/-oise for Ain, for which the vote was conducted in 2018.

Evidence will be reviewed suggesting a fairly direct link between the human ability to think about entities which one has never perceived-here called 'cognition by description'-and procedural memory. Cognition by description is a uniquely hominid trait which makes religion, science, and history possible. It is hypothesized that cognition by description (in the manner of Bertrand Russell's 'knowledge by description') requires variable binding, which in turn utilizes quantifier raising. Quantifier raising plausibly depends upon the computational core of language, specifically the element of it which Noam Chomsky calls 'internal Merge'. Internal Merge produces hierarchical structures by means of a memory of derivational steps, a process plausibly involving procedural memory. The hypothesis is testable, predicting that procedural memory deficits will be accompanied by impairments in cognition by description. We also discuss neural mechanisms plausibly underly...

If we know the model structure of perfect paradigms we can create the conjunctural state under which each of them operates, creating in the process model structure and conjunctural state truth tables. Knowing both the model structure and the conjunctural state we can state the structure of deep paradigm flips and deep paradigm flip-backs taking place at the same level of analysis, using both model variability theory and conjunctural state variability theory. This paper is about framing the model and the conjunctural state flip and flip back for the deep capitalism/deep economy paradigm to expand that way pareto optimality thinking beyond traditional thinking in terms of flip and flip-back theory to capture the idea of horizontal deep capitalism/deep economy paradigm evolution, where the same level of externality responsibility is kept where the move is horizontal, but the nature of the pollution production problem associated with the way new deep markets work changes, and where the knowledge base of the previous paradigm is left behind during the flip or it is recaptured during the paradigm flip-back. Then how the deep capitalism/deep market paradigm evolves vertically is pointed out when as when under binding socio-environmental externality pressures it shifts upwards to save its core values leaving the previous knowledge base behind as it acquires higher externality responsibility levels.

This thesis has two aims. The first is to provide a description of constituent ordering in Silozi syntactic structures. It also describes the language's morphological structure. The other is to ascertain, in an empirical way, the extent to which Dik's categorial complexity hypothesis (or LIPOC) affects the ordering of constituents in Silozi syntactic structures. It is claimed that the internal structure of a constituent can have a direct effect on its placement, since the composition of syntactic units in terms of length and structural complexity is a further factor influencing their linear ordering. Using a database of spoken and written Silozi texts, the thesis employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the distribution of constituents in their functional profiles. The methodology used involves counting and studying the distribution of all the constituents (elements) of the clause and sentence. The constructions studied are SVX, XSVX and special focus...

If we know the model structure of perfect paradigms we can create the conjunctural state under which each of them operates, creating in the process model structure and conjunctural state truth tables. Knowing both the model structure and the conjunctural state we can state the structure of deep paradigm flips and deep paradigm flip-backs taking place at the same level of analysis, using both model variability theory and conjunctural state variability theory. This paper is about framing the model and the conjunctural state flip and flip back for the deep socialism paradigm to expand that way pareto optimality thinking beyond traditional thinking in terms of flip and flip-back theory to capture the idea of horizontal deep socialism paradigm evolution, where the same level of externality responsibility is kept, but the nature of the pollution production problem associated with the way new deep markets work changes, and where the knowledge base of the previous paradigm is left behind during the flip or it is recaptured during the paradigm flip-back.

Contents i Chapter 1 1 Introduction 1 1 Goals of this Dissertation ................................................... ........... 1 2 Languages discussed in this Dissertation ...................................... 4 3 Overview of the Dissertation......................................................... 6 Chapter 2 11 Background to Vowel ...

Linguistic evidence suggests that syllables like bdam (with stop-stop clusters) are less preferred than bzam (with stop-fricative combinations). Here, we demonstrate that English speakers manifest similar preferences despite no direct experience with either structure. Experiment 1 elicited syllable count for auditory materials (e.g., does bzam have one syllable or two?); Experiment 2 examined the AX discrimination of auditory stimuli (e.g., is bzam = bezam?); whereas Experiment 3 repeated this task using printed materials. Results showed that syllables that are dispreferred across languages (e.g., bdam) were prone to misidentification relative to preferred syllables (e.g., bzam). The emergence of this pattern irrespective of stimulus modality-for auditory and printed materials-suggests that misidentification does not solely stem from a phonetic failure. Further, the effect remained significant after controlling for various statistical properties of the materials. These results suggest that speakers possess broad linguistic preferences that extend to syllables they have never encountered before.

Linguistic evidence suggests that syllables like bdam (with stop-stop clusters) are less preferred than bzam (with stop-fricative combinations). Here, we demonstrate that English speakers manifest similar preferences despite no direct experience with either structure. Experiment 1 elicited syllable count for auditory materials (e.g., does bzam have one syllable or two?); Experiment 2 examined the AX discrimination of auditory stimuli (e.g., is bzam = bezam?); whereas Experiment 3 repeated this task using printed materials. Results showed that syllables that are dispreferred across languages (e.g., bdam) were prone to misidentification relative to preferred syllables (e.g., bzam). The emergence of this pattern irrespective of stimulus modality-for auditory and printed materials-suggests that misidentification does not solely stem from a phonetic failure. Further, the effect remained significant after controlling for various statistical properties of the materials. These results suggest that speakers possess broad linguistic preferences that extend to syllables they have never encountered before.

Optimality Theory explains typological markedness implications by proposing that all speakers possess universal constraints penalising marked structures, irrespective of the evidence provided by their language (Prince & Smolensky 2004). The account of phonological perception sketched here entails that markedness constraints reveal their presence by inducing perceptual ‘repairs’ to structures ungrammatical in the hearer's language. As onset clusters of falling sonority are typologically marked relative to those of rising sonority (Greenberg 1978), we examine English speakers' perception of nasal-initial clusters, which are lacking in English. We find greater accuracy for rising-sonority clusters, evidencing knowledge of markedness constraints favouring such onset clusters. The misperception of sonority falls cannot be accounted for by stimulus artefacts (the materials are perceived accurately by speakers of Russian, a language allowing nasal-initial clusters) nor by phonetic ...

Do speakers know universal restrictions on linguistic elements that are absent from their language? We report an experimental test of this question. Our case study concerns the universal restrictions on initial consonant sequences, onset clusters (e.g., bl in block ). Across languages, certain onset clusters (e.g., lb ) are dispreferred (e.g., systematically under-represented) relative to others (e.g., bl ). We demonstrate such preferences among Korean speakers, whose language lacks initial C 1 C 2 clusters altogether. Our demonstration exploits speakers' well known tendency to misperceive ill-formed clusters. We show that universally dispreferred onset clusters are more frequently misperceived than universally preferred ones, indicating that Korean speakers consider the former cluster-type more ill-formed. The misperception of universally ill-formed clusters is unlikely to be due to a simple auditory failure. Likewise, the aversion of universally dispreferred onsets by Korean s...

Order preservation effects are documented with a number of movement operations in various languages, among them wh-movement in English (superiority), multiple wh-movement in Bulgarian, object shift in Danish and Icelandic, pronoun fronting in German, Case-driven NP raising in English, and quantifier raising in German. Beginning with Lakoff (1971), several analyses have been suggested in the literature that rely on the basic intuition that certain types of movement, under certain conditions, must preserve the pre-movement order of arguments. However, a unified, non-construction specific approach to the phenomenon that reduces all order preservation effects to a single underlying constraint is still outstanding, for what at first sight appear to be good reasons: In many cases, overt movement operations can freey change D-structure order (e.g., this holds for wh-movement of an object across a non-wh-subject). Thus, order preservation should best be viewed as the unmarked case, arising ...

Conservation in mixed-use landscapes requires understanding how different land-use types affect species distributions. In semi-arid regions like the Baviaanskloof, South Africa, biodiversity persists across a mosaic of protected areas and agricultural lands. Using camera trap data from 131 camera traps deployed over 21,020 trap nights and Bayesian multi-species occupancy models, we assessed the effects of land-use (e.g., settlement density, croplands, livestock, water) and vegetation (e.g., type, degradation) covariates on the mammal community. Agricultural areas supported greater species richness than the adjacent nature reserve, largely driven by generalist (e.g., Cape grey mongoose, common duiker), adaptable (e.g., leopard, bat-eared fox), and extralimital species (e.g., springbok). Human settlement density emerged as the strongest predictor of community occupancy, with both occupancy and species richness declining in more densely settled areas. While community-level patterns were evident, individual species exhibited diverse and sometimes contrasting responses. Livestock presence reduced species richness, displacing Cape mountain zebra and greater kudu. Despite typically reducing biodiversity, cultivated lands benefited certain species (e.g., bushpig). Responses to water were species-specific, with most favouring intermediate distances. Vegetation type strongly influenced biodiversity patterns, with savanna having the highest detection rates. Fynbos and savanna within agricultural areas exhibited greater species richness and occupancy than equivalent habitats in the nature reserve. Thicket, even when moderately degraded, maintained high species richness and, along with resting farmlands, served as vital refuges for wildlife. Our findings highlight the conservation value of private lands. Enhancing habitat connectivity, promoting restoration and sustainable land use, and engaging communities can help align biodiversity conservation with agricultural goals in mixed-use landscapes.

If we know the model structure of perfect paradigms we can create the conjunctural state under which each of them operates, creating in the process model structure and conjunctural state truth tables. Knowing both the model structure and the conjunctural state we can state the structure of paradigm shifts from deep paradigms to true sustainability paradigms, either as a two step shift route or as a one step shift route using both model variability theory and conjunctural state variability theory. This paper is about framing the model and the conjunctural state shift from deep socialism to yellow sustainability or true sustainability while highlighting the main implications of each deep paradigm shift route emphasizing that when the shift takes place the independent social pareto optimality thinking under which it operates is left behind as it takes higher level of responsibility either at a step by step shift or by one step shift.

Rob van der Sandt (Nijmegen) Ingeborg Sanner (Oslo) Helle Frisak Sem (Oslo) Hanne Gram Simonsen (Oslo) Kåre Solfjeld (Halden) Jennifer Spenader (Groningen) Kjetil Strand (Oslo) Andreas Sveen (Oslo) Andreas Ropeid Saebø (Oslo) Signe Ropeid Saebø (Oslo) Rolf Theil (Oslo) Martha Thunes (Bergen) ii Janne von Koss Torkildsen (Oslo) Johan Tønnesson (Oslo) Carla Umbach (Osnabrück) Espen Vestre (Oslo) Sten Vikner (Aarhus) Arnfinn Muruvik Vonen (Oslo) Else Bjerke Westre (Oslo) Olaf Westvik (Tromsø) Åse Wetås (Oslo) Torstein Winger (Oslo) Per Winther (Oslo) Tor A. Åfarli (Trondheim) Dep. of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, University of Oslo iii vi Kjell Johan is truly an interdisciplinary scholar -being a professor of German, he has supervised four completed doctoral dissertations on various languages, and none of them was conducted at his own department! This volume contains contributions from three of his former doctoral students -Bergljot Behrens (What the Structure of Criterion Predicates Told Me), Ingebjørg Tonne (Elucidating Progressives in Norwegian) and Atle Grønn (Norwegian Bare Singulars: A Note on Types and Sorts). Currently, Kjell Johan is the supervisor of Eirik Welo (Pragmatics of the Complex DP in Ancient Greek). Other young researchers who are inspired by Kjell Johan and benefit from his insights through discussions, occasional supervision and PhD seminars are Pål Eriksen (The Pragmatic Nature of Grammatical Categories) and Torgrim Solstad (Unification and Word-Internal Pragmatics). Silence When he's not doing linguistics or spending his time with his dear family, Kjell Johan prefers the silence of Norwegian mountains or the silent movies of Buster Keaton -no words to analyze, just Kjell Johan alone with his thoughts. Oslo, April 12, 2006. Atle Grønn, Dag Haug and Torgrim Solstad (editors). The editors wish to express their gratitude toward the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages and its direction represented by Per Winther and Karen Gammelgaard, for financially and morally supporting this volume. vii