Gradience and Categoricality in Phonological Theory

Within phonological theory, important roles are assigned to the notions of “gradience” and “categoricality.” The opposition qualifies sounds and sound patterns, and is crucial both for the definition of the phonological and the phonetic components of generative grammar, and for the development of alternative types of grammatical models. This chapter discusses the assumptions generative phonology and its direct successors (including Optimality Theory) have made about the role of gradience. Moreover, it presents data supporting or contradicting these assumptions, and discusses new models accounting for the conflicting data.