Many phonological theories claim that certain types of phonological processes, such as assimilation and dissimilation, have a privileged cognitive status relative to other logically-possible but "random" or "unnatural" process types. In this talk, I provide evidence that supports this claim from a novel application of the artificial grammar paradigm, in which participants are tested on their knowledge of a grammar after brief exposure (< 2 min.). As applied here, this paradigm does not provide learners with negative evidence or directly call their attention to rules or patterns in the stimuli, and therefore mirrors certain aspects of natural language acquisition. The results show that participants exposed to nasal assimilation and dissimilation processes distinguished between grammatical and ungrammatical items more strongly than participants exposed to formally-matched unnatural processes, the most significant differences between the two groups being found in response time (RT) measures. Based on these initial findings, I will discuss the prospects and challenges for experimental investigation of other central issues in phonological theory, most notably the question of whether synchronic phonological knowledge is grounded in substantive factors such as ease of articulation and perception.

Faculty Host: Dr. Luigi Burzio (burzio@cogsci.jhu.edu)