This book is the final version of the widely-circulated 1993 Technical Report that introduces a conception of grammar in which well-formedness is defined as optimality with respect to a ranked set of universal constraints.

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• Final version of the widely circulated 1993 Technical Report that was the seminal work in Optimality Theory, never before available in book format.
  
• Serves as an excellent introduction to the principles and practice of Optimality Theory.
  
• Offers proposals and analytic commentary that suggest many directions for further development for the professional.

About the Author
Alan Prince is Professor of Linguistics and a member of the Cognitive Science Center at Rutgers University and is, along with Paul Smolensky, one of the founders of Optimality Theory. He has published in journals such as Linguistic Inquiry, Science, Cognition, and Critical Inquiry.

Paul Smolensky is Professor of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University. His publications include Learnability in Optimality Theory (with Bruce Tesar, 2000) and Mathematical Perspectives on Neural Networks (edited with Michael Mozer and David Rumelhart, 1996).

Reviews
"This is a very important book. Optimality Theory has transformed the field of linguistics more than almost any other development of the past half-century, and Prince and Smolensky started it all." John J. McCarthy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

"OT does not need to permanently influence linguistic theory: it has already done so. Between 1993 and 2004, Prince and Smolensky's Optimality Theory was by far the most widely circulated manuscript among phonologists. Fortunately, it is now available for a larger audience in this text edition." Rene Kager, Utrecht University

Book Information
ISBN 9781405119337
Author Alan Prince
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 544g
Dimensions(mm) 246mm * 170mm * 22mm