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autosegmental phonology 45
theoretical and computational linguistics as part of the frame of reference
for classifying languages which can be formally generated (see Chomsky hierarchy).
Automata (such as computers) can be modelled in abstract terms as a
series of inputs, outputs, states, and rules of operation. They typically perform
operations on an input tape by moving through a series of ‘states’ (or ‘configurations’),
each state being linked to the next by a ‘transition function’. The most
general automata are known as ‘Turing machines’ (named after British mathematician
Alan Mathison Turing (1912–54), who in 1936 devised a logical
machine which defined computable numbers by working in this way). The most
restricted kinds of automata are finite automata (also called ‘Markov sources’ or
‘simple transition networks’), which consist of a finite number of states and
state-transitions, and an input tape which can be read only in one direction, one
symbol at a time. finite-state languages can be recognized by finite state
automata.
autonomous (adj.) (1) A term often used in discussing the status of linguistics
as a science: the implication is that the subject of language is now studied in its
own terms, no longer being dependent on the incidental interest of scholars
from other disciplines, such as logic, literary criticism, or history. The autonomy
of the subject is seen in the emergence, during the second half of the twentieth
century, of a wide range of degree courses in linguistics.
(2) In phonology, the term is used to characterize the notion of a phoneme
when no reference is made to its relationships with grammatical (especially
word) structure. The autonomous phoneme, in this sense, is contrasted
with the morphophoneme, or the systematic phoneme of generative
linguistics, where other factors than the strictly phonemic are allowed into the
analysis.
(3) Autonomous syntax is the view propounded by the standard theory
of generative grammar that the syntactic component of the grammar is
independent (‘autonomous’) of semantics, i.e. the factors which determine
the grammaticality of a sentence operate without reference to those which
determine the sentence’s meaning. For example, the sentence Colourless green
ideas sleep furiously is semantically ill formed but syntactically well formed.
This view was attacked in generative semantics, but prevails in modern
linguistic theory.
autonomous grid
see metrical grid
autonomous speech
see idioglossia
autosegment (n.) A term used in autosegmental phonology for a segment
considered to be autonomous and represented on its own tier. The notion
is applied particularly to tones, which are viewed as segments in their own
right, independent of the consonant and vowel segments represented on the
skeletal tier.
autosegmental phonology A term used in phonological theory to refer to an
approach which contrasts with strictly segmental theories of phonology. The
segmental approach is seen as a set of representations which consist of a