Towards a Unified Exemplar-Theoretic Model of Phonetic and Syntactic Phenomena

Abstract

In the last ten years or so, exemplar theory has enjoyed much growth in the field of phonetics. More recently, attempts have been made to apply exemplar theory to syntactic phenomena. Thus far, the issue of unifying phonetic and syntactic exemplar-theoretic models has not been addressed. This paper presents a single overarching exemplar-based model of constituent interactions across both linguistic domains which represents a significant first step towards a unified account of exemplar theory. Our simulations for one phonetic and two syntactic phenomena provide insights into how a unified account can be achieved. In addition, the phenomena we investigate shed light on the role of prototypes in exemplar theory and on whether exemplar clouds are defined by a fixed radius or by a fixed number of nearest neighbors.