Week 6: Constraints and Repairs

Question 1

constraints

Answer 1

inherent limitations of the language interacting with the segments in the word
- tend to occur were there are too few or too many consonants

Question 2

repairs

Answer 2

way in which speaker adjusts pronunciation in order to accommodate those limitations

Question 3

basic constraints and processes

Answer 3

1. delete an existing element
2. insert a new element
3. spreading
4. delinking

Question 4

spreading

Answer 4

add association line to existing feature

Question 5

delinking

Answer 5

delete an association line to existing feature

Question 6

feature linking

Answer 6

when child deletes a feature and the feature links up somewhere else
- new segment can be inserted to provide a place for unlinked feature to attach

Question 7

feature spreading

Answer 7

adding association line between two existing elements

Question 8

constraints: is the problem at the level of the

Answer 8

feature or segment?

Question 9

individual feature constraint

Answer 9

a particular feature is not possible in a child’s system

ex. child cannot produce a continuant; child cannot produce velar consonants

Question 10

feature combination constraints

Answer 10

two features may not be possible in the same segment, although they may be possible alone
ex. child can produce continuant in /f/ and coronal in /t,d/ but cannot produce a continuant in the coronal position

Question 11

what is faithfulness in repairs?

Answer 11

pronouncing words as close to adult production as possible
deleting segments (less faithful)
substituting (more faithful)

Question 12

how might a child use a repair to avoid a difficult sequence?

Answer 12

• spreading the initial feature to the final feature (take > cake)
• deleting one segment all together (FCD)
• reverse order of features (take > kate)