Optimality Theory

Optimality theory (frequently abbreviated OT) is a linguistic model proposing that the observed forms of language arise from the interaction between conflicting constraints. OT models grammars as systems that provide mappings from inputs to outputs; typically, the inputs are conceived of as underlying representations, and the outputs as their surface realizations.

Read more about Optimality Theory:  Theory, Input and GEN: The Candidate Set, CON: The Constraint Set, EVAL: Definition of Optimality, Example, Criticism, Theories Within Optimality Theory, Use Outside of Phonology

Famous quotes containing the word theory:

    The weakness of the man who, when his theory works out into a flagrant contradiction of the facts, concludes “So much the worse for the facts: let them be altered,” instead of “So much the worse for my theory.”
    George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)