Optimality Theory

Optimality Theory or OT is a recent theory with applications in phonology in particular and also in other subfields of linguistics. OT states that utterances (phonetic sounds, but also other speech units) are determined by the relative ranking of sets of (violable) constraints. The resulting speech is optimal in the sense that it obeys as many of the constraints as possible with respective to the constraints' relative weightings.

External Links

• Rutgers University Optimality Archive (http://roa.rutgers.edu/)