Investigating the hidden structure of phonological systems (original) (raw)

This paper explores the hidden structure of phonological systems through the analysis of data from the UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database (UPSID). The authors investigate three main questions: whether a data mining approach can reveal phonological system structures, how the nature of phonological features influences this exploration, and whether phonological systems align with complex adaptive system paradigms. Initial findings suggest that while frequent vowel segments allow for greater derivation of sounds, larger consonant systems do not demonstrate a similar trend, indicating potential areas for future research into the influence of feature selection on phonological system characteristics.