Optimaalsusteooria fonoloogias

Optimaalsusteooria (OT) esitasid 1990. aastate alguses Alan Prince ja Paul Smolensky. Praeguseks on OTst saanud enim kasutatav teooria fonoloogias. Tegemist on generatiivse teooria edasiarendusega. Artiklis tutvustan lühidalt optimaalsusteooria põhiseisukohti, samuti mõningaid varasemaid teooriaid, mis on OTga seotud. Pööran tähelepanu ka sellele, miks OTs on nähtud funktsionalistide ja formalistide lepitajat, ning milliseid muutusi uurimisprobleemide valikul on OT levik kaasa toonud. Väiteid ilmestab lihtne näide eesti keele kaasaütleva käände kujunemisest: miks on tunnuseks kujunenud ‑ga, mitte ‑kka ega -ks.Optimality Theory in phonology. Optimality Theory (OT), which has become the dominant paradigm for phonological research, was developed in the early 1990s by Alan Prince and Paul Smolensky. Compared to rule-based frameworks, OT arguably has more explanatory power. OT also gives the opportunity for the synthesis of functionalist and formalist ideas. In this paper, I introduce some main principles of OT. To illustrate how OT works, I present a somewhat simplified case study of the phonological development of Estonian comitative ending -ga (from the postposition *kansak ’with’). The aim of this paper is to introduce OT (in Estonian) to postgraduate students and researchers working within other theoretical frameworks.