UC Santa Cruz

Domain generalization is an account of certain word-final phonological phenomena, such as devoicing, in which they originate as phrase-final patterns that become phonologized and generalized by learners from the phrase level to the word level. Myers & Padgett (2014) tested this theory empirically through two artificial language learning experiments. They show that participants can learn an utterance-final obstruent devoicing pattern, given relatively short exposure, and generalize it to a word-level final devoicing rule.

Building upon Myers & Padgett (2014), this thesis explores whether the same type of domain generalization can account for syllable-final phenomena, or whether there is something special about the word that makes it the destination of generalization. Three artificial language learning experiments are presented, the third of which shows generalization from the word/utterance level to the syllable. Though syllables may differ from words in important ways, evidence from this study suggests that the syllable is accessible to the grammar for learning, generalization, and derivation of phonological rules.