Paper

Reconciling categorical and gradient models of phonotactics

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Abstract

Should phonotactic knowledge be modeled as categorical or gradient? In this paper, I present new data from a Turkish acceptability judgment study that addresses some limitations of previous work on this question. This study shows that gradient models account for the variability in acceptability ratings better than categorical ones. However, I suggest that the distinction between gradient and categorical models is somewhat superficial when we think of models in a mathematically general way. I propose on this basis that both categorical and gradient models have a role to play in linguistic research.

Keywords: phonotactics, categorical grammar, gradient grammar, phonology, turkish

How to Cite:

Mayer, C., (2025) “Reconciling categorical and gradient models of phonotactics”, Society for Computation in Linguistics 8(1): 5. doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/scil.3117