[CS] CS Wednesday Talk on April 4 at noon. Kathryn Pruitt: Modeling the typology of word-level rhythm in language"

[Paula Harmon]

"Modeling the typology of word-level rhythm in language"
by Kathryn Pruitt, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Linguistics.

Abstract: Typological modeling in linguistic theory aims to capture 
generalizations about human languages by providing an explicit 
formalization of their considerable variation, while at the same time 
accounting for the ways in which they are fundamentally similar.  In 
this talk I will discuss the application of typological models to 
linguistic rhythm in the form of word-level stress patterns, with two 
main goals: (1) to illustrate the diversity of stress patterns across 
languages, and (2) to demonstrate the formal methods that are used to 
model this diversity.  The general framework for typological modeling is 
Optimality Theory, which accounts for variation across languages with a 
set of competing pressures whose priority differs between languages.  
Time-permitting, I will also discuss recent refinements to Optimality 
Theory that improve its ability to accurately model actual stress 
patterns and distinguish them from others that are logically possible 
but which are not found in any known language.

Biographical: Kathryn Pruitt, adjunct assistant professor of 
linguistics, received a BA in music and linguistics from the University 
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently completing a Ph.D. in 
linguistics at UMass Amherst. Her research centers around the sound 
structures of language, particularly linguistic prosody. She has 
conducted research on theoretical approaches to the typology of 
linguistic rhythm, the meaning and interpretation of intonational 
contours in questions in English, and accounting for phonological 
patterns by modeling language change. Other interests include mental 
representations of linguistic knowledge and the relationship between 
language acquisition and language change. She also has a keen interest 
in statistics and in methodologies of linguistic data collection.

Location: ASH Lobby. A light lunch is available.
-- 
Paula Harmon, Administrative Assistant
School of Cognitive Science
Hampshire College
893 West Street Amherst, MA 01002
phone: 413.559.5502
fax: 413.559.5438
http://cs.hampshire.edu
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