Phonology, naturalness and universals

Abstract

This paper briefly surveys several conceptions of naturalness in phonology, touching primarily on typological frequency and the notion of "phonetic motivation". It is argued that typological frequency is not a reliable indicator of what is "phonetically motivated" as relative frequency patterns are the outcomes of more complex interactions, including non-phonetic factors. Phonetic motivations are diverse and include random variations, not only deterministic results, as is often desired. Models that view phonological patterns as emerging from complex interactions of a variety of natural factors are the most satisfying.