Optimal Phonology: The Very Idea

The epistemology, theoretical constructs and production mechanism in optimality-theoretic approaches to phonology are examined and critiqued in terms of the phenomenology of speech sounds. An understanding has been arrived at that phonological optimality is construed too narrowly. A linguistic form is optimal in that it invokes in the hearer the meaning intended by the speaker. Its occurrences in different usage events form a cloud, in which phonological abstractions take place. Phonology is thus an inventory of both concrete and abstract exemplars, with the latter immanent in the former. Due to its emphasis on constructions, Cognitive Grammar provides the means for the flesh-out of a comprehensive model for optimality-theoretical approach to phonology