Modeling Artificial language data to extend the Typology of vowel and Consonant Harmony (MATCH)

In describing the range of variation found across the world’s languages, we encounter phenomena so rare that a full description is impossible due to the limited data found in natural language. The limitations placed by human cognition on the possible forms of vowel and consonant harmony is one such area.

MATCH uses experimental approaches relying on artificial languages to explore the outer bounds of possibility in the typology of vowel and consonant harmony. With this data, we can improve our phonological models of the typology of harmony and develop a more thorough description of the range of variation possible in this aspect of human language.