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Generational shift as a window into phonological learning biases

Jennifer Kuo

Cornell University

Dewey 1101 Auditorium

Given sufficient exposure, learners can acquire unnatural alternations, obscuring effects of learning biases. However, such biases may arise in the context of language change or diminished input. In this talk, I show that language shift offers a window into learning biases, as speakers in contexts of shift grow up speaking a minority language at home, but have less sustained exposure to this language. I present case studies from Maga Rukai and Paiwan, both endangered Formosan languages. Maga Rukai has an opaque vowel syncope alternation, which was maintained to some degree in older speakers. However, a new generation of speakers has removed it and innovated a system of phonologically motivated allomorphy. Paiwan has a case of allomorphy that is phonologically motivated, but highly restricted in its domain. I show that language experience modulates the degree to which speakers productively extend this alternation, and the degree to which they are sensitive to a phonetic bias.