Simon WolfLING 203

8/27/15Study Questions #3

1. Jakobson says that “The Principle of Least Effort” is logical to a certain extent

except for the fact that during the babbling stage of language acquisition an infant

can and does articulate practically every possible phone, even those that would be

classified as more effortful. So the principle perhaps applies, but only during the

stage of phonological limitation after babbling.

2. The first vowel an infant adds to its phonemic inventory is more often than not a

low vowel something close to /a/ and the first consonants are something with a

labial “occlusion” – a /b/ or /m/.

3. Jakobson cites a “stratified structure” inherent to all phonological systems the

hierarchy of which is for the most part unchanging throughout the world’s

languages. Because, based on this, he believes that there is a “relationship of

irreversible solidarity” that exists between two phonological values and that the

existence of one is inextricable from and presupposed by the existence of the

other.