Complex Segment Learner

Complex Segment Learner

Wargamay (Pama-Nyungan)

Wargamay is described by Dixon (1981). Dixon is the only source on Wargamay, and he does not posit complex segments for the language. But he does mention a few suggestive facts:

  • Voiced stop-initial morphemes sporadically appear with prothetic nasals, e.g., /gubi-bulu/ --> [gubimbulu] 'wise man'.
  • NC clusters do not have to be homorganic, but homorganic ones are four times more common than non-homorganic ones (Dixon 1981:23).

  • The learner's outcome in this case is similar to Sundanese: it identifies homorganic nasal-stop clusters as complex segments. From the point of view of distribution, NC clusters are inseparable. Thus, just as in Sundanese, this could be a learning-theoretic argument for a complex segment analysis.
    Dixon, Robert M. W. 1981. Wargamay. In Handbook of Australian Languages, ed. Robert M. W. Dixon and B. J. Blake, volume 2. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
    The data source is Hayes and Wilson's (2008) lexicon for Wargamay, available on Bruce's site.

    Simulation data at a glance

    Click on simulation name to view additional simulation details.

    Simulation nameInitial state Learning DataInitial state features
    only version LearningData.txt Features.txt

    Simulation details for Wargamay

    Input:

    LearningData.txt | Features.txt

    Summary of iterations:

    IterationLearning Data producedFeatures producedInseparabilityNew Segments addedSegments removed
    1 LearningData.txt Features.txt [download] [view] Ng, mb, nd None
    2 No new learning data No new features [download] [view] None None

    Summary of inventory changes

    StageConsonant set
    Inputg N b m nj j d n R r l y w
    Outputg N b m nj j d n R r l y w Ng mb nd

    Simulation Plots

    /media/wargamay/simulation/insep_plots.png