P-trac Procedure: The Dispersion and Neutralization of Contrasts in Lexicon
This work addresses a specific problem in linguistics for researchers studying phonological contrasts and lexicon dispersion, but it appears incremental as it applies a new method to an existing theoretical framework.
The authors tackled the problem of tracking dispersion of phonological contrasts in different lexical contexts by introducing the P-trac procedure, and found it effective in revealing dispersion patterns, providing evidence for phonetic-based theories like Licensing by Cue and Dispersion Theory of Contrast in Persian CVCC sequences.
Cognitive acoustic cues have an important role in shaping the phonological structure of language as a means to optimal communication. In this paper we introduced P-trac procedure in order to track dispersion of contrasts in different contexts in lexicon. The results of applying P-trac procedure to the case of dispersion of contrasts in pre- consonantal contexts and in consonantal positions of CVCC sequences in Persian provide Evidence in favor of phonetic basis of dispersion argued by Licensing by Cue hypothesis and the Dispersion Theory of Contrast. The P- trac procedure is proved to be very effective in revealing the dispersion of contrasts in lexicon especially when comparing the dispersion of contrasts in different contexts.