Evaluation and simulation of exemplar theoretic -t/-d deletion

Josef Fruehwald (2008)

Abstract

I evaluate a model of TD-Deletion where the morphological effect is generated by an Exemplar Theoretic production-perception feedback loop like proposed in Bybee (2002). I find that 1) it is insufficient to produce morphological differences of the required magnitude and 2) that it produces the wrong shape of linguistic change. Most language change follows an S-shaped curve, while the production-perception feedback loop produces exponential decay.

Presented at NWAV 37

Handout [PDF]