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date: 07 March 2021

Abstract and Keywords

This chapter discusses the application of Optimality Theory to phonological change, and reviews the body of work that has amassed that treats various aspects of historical phonology, including analogy, paradigmatic levelling, and other shifts due to functional considerations of systemic markedness and perceptual or listener-based factors.

Keywords: sound change, Optimality Theory, phonologization, analogy, Dispersion Theory, markedness, grounding, lexicon optimization, functionalism, computation

D. Eric Holt

D. Eric Holt is Associate Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at the University of South Carolina. His interests lie in phonological theory, especially as a tool for understanding aspects of the sound structure of Spanish, both modern synchronic and historical diachronic, including dialect variation past and present. In addition to editing and contributing to the volume Optimality Theory and Language Change (2003, Kluwer), he also conducts research on the acquisition of connected speech phenomena in Spanish by English-speaking learners, and serves as one of the associate editors of the journal Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics.

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