Optimality Theory and Language Change (Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory (56))

This work discusses many optimization and linguistic issues in great detail. It treats the history of a variety of languages, including English, French, Germanic, Galician/ Portuguese, Latin, Russian, and Spanish and shows that the application of Optimality Theory allows for innovative and improved analyses. It contains a complete bibliography on OT and language change. It is of interest to historical linguists, researchers into OT and linguistic theory, and phonologists and syntacticians with an interest in historical change.

"The quality of the papers is generally very good a ] . It comprises useful features such as indices of names, languages, constraints, and terms at the end of the volume. Especially for those readers who are looking for one reference or phenomenon in particular, these indices will be of great help. a ] the volume reflects ongoing debates in both the fields of language change and Optimality Theory and leaves the reader with a lot of food for thought." (Mareile Schramm, BeitrAge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, Vol. 129 (2), 2007)