Vowel Harmony In Emergent Phonology

Abstract This chapter explores how a stripped-down theory of phonology can account for complex patterns of phonological distribution and alternation found in vowel harmony. The hypothesis is that the complex patterns found in phonological systems arise from general human cognition, learning language from the bottom up—Emergent Grammar. Without innate predispositions, lexical items are represented as sets of surface morphs, replacing the unique underlying representations posited in much of generative grammar. Harmony is characterized by well-formedness conditions which prohibit certain feature sequences, a formalization of asymmetries in directly observed distributions. Through examination of harmony in four languages, we demonstrate Emergent analyses of root-restricted harmony (Kɔɖa), root and word harmony (Dàgáárè), opacity and directionality (Fula), non-canonical harmony (Nata), and lexical disharmony (Kinande). The Emergent analyses relate transparently to surface forms, yet express generalizations about phonological and morpho-phonological patterns with analyses that very directly characterize the properties of the harmony systems themselves.