The Optimal Nose

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• The Optimal Nose
• MARC ETTLINGER
• marce_at_berkeley.edu
• JOHN OHALA
• ohala_at_berkeley.edu
• 42nd Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics
  Society
• University of Chicago
• April 8th, 2006

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• Introduction
• Why is the nose
• where it is on the
• human face?
• Why does is have
• the shape it has?

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Introduction

• Why can't the nose be some place else?

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Introduction

• Or have a different shape?

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Pangloss

• An answer was presciently alluded to by one Dr.
  Pangloss in Candide
• "It is demonstrable," said he, "that things
  cannot be otherwise than as they are for as all
  things have been created for some end, they must
  necessarily be created for the best end. Observe,
  for instance, the nose is formed for spectacles,
  therefore we wear spectacles. They, who
  assert that everything is right, do not express
  themselves correctly they should say that
  everything is best.

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Pangloss

• Panglossian paradigm
• The force of Dr. P's idea carried itself into the
  work of eminent evolutionary biologists Stephen
  Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin in The spandrels
  of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm a
  critique of the adaptationist programme.
• Adaptionist Program(me)
• The notion of "trade-off' is introduced, and
  organisms are interpreted as best compromises
  among competing demands. The adaptationist
  programme is truly Panglossian.
• We feel that the potential rewards of abandoning
  exclusive focus on the adaptationist programme
  are very great indeed.
• The sentiment isnt important so much as the fact
  that it is referenced.

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Optimality Theory

• Optimality Theory
• The theoretical manifestation of the Panglossian
  paradigm in linguistics.
• Today, I will discuss how OT provides the
  framework for the resolution of the myriad
  functional requirements on the human nose
  producing....

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Optimality Theory

• The Optimal Nose

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Picking the Nose

• With so many possible organs to choose from in
  the human body,
• Why do we pick our nose?
• I'll tell you why we pick the nose

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Picking the Nose

• We pick the nose because

• The nose has an incredibly diverse set of
  functions (14 at last count), all with their
  attendant constraints

• It has to satisfy these functions while
  interacting with other functions of human anatomy
  and physiology, e.g., eating the pharynx is a
  conduit for food and drink destined for the
  esophagus as well as air that has to pass into
  and out of the lungs via the trachea.

• Given its familiarity (as opposed to, say, the
  spleen), it is the optimal organ to demonstrate
  the utility of an Optimality Theoretic analysis.
• In this brief presentation we wont be able
  to explore all the interactions of the functions,
  shape, and placement of the nose. But we will
  make a beginning.

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Functions of the nose
1. Breathing
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Functions of the nose breathing (cont.)
We note in passing that in respiration the same
channel serves for both input and output unlike
the alimentary canal and lets be thankful for
that! Breathing involves not just intake of
oxygen and output of carbon dioxide but also
conditioning the air it is warmed and
humidified.
Furthermore, the surfaces of the nasal cavity
constantly secrete mucus in order to trap dust
and the nasty little critters that might cause
disease. This mucus and whats trapped in it
normally slides down into the esophagus and from
there into the stomach which is better able to
deal with such invaders than the lungs are.
(Maybe you didnt want to know this?)
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Functions of the nose breathing (cont.)
If the nose is irritated or if larger-than-normal
foreign objects invade it, more than the usual
amounts of mucus are produced giving rise to a
runny nose or a stuffed nose. This impacts
negatively on some of the other functions of the
nose.
This might be considered a design defect, but
clearly its snot!
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Picking the Nose

• Functions of the nose

2. Sniffing (e.g., perfume, glue, odiferous
linguistic theories)
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Functions of the nose
3. Playing a nose flute
Why use the nose instead of the mouth to play a
flute? It doesnt matter so long as we capture
the generalization in a constraint.
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Functions of the nose
4. Equalizing pressure in the ear (via the
Eustachian tubes)
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Picking the Nose
Functions of the nose
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Picking the Nose

• Functions of the nose
• 6. Decoration

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Picking the Nose

• Functions of the nose, cont.
• 6. Decoration (?!?!?!)

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Functions of the nose, cont. 7. Destination for
excess tears (via the tear ducts).
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Picking the Nose

• Functions of the nose
• 8. Showing affection (rubbing noses)

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Picking the Nose

• Functions of the nose
• 8. Signal of affection (other species)

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Picking the Nose

• Functions of the nose
• 9. Entry point for medical and scientific
  instruments, e.g., in phonetic experimentation

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Picking the Nose

• Functions of the nose
• 10. Support for glasses

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Picking the Nose

• Functions of the nose
• 11. Language
• Nearly every language makes use of the feature
  nasal somewhere in its phonological inventory.

a) m M ? ? N ? n
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Picking the Nose

• Functions of the nose
• 12. Metaphoric expressions
• Keep your nose clean.
• Brown-nose.
• Blue nose.
• Nose in the air.
• A nose for news.
• Plain as the nose on your face.
• Stick ones nose in other peoples business.
• Pay through the nose.
• On the nose...
• To thumb ones nose ..
• Nosey
• Keep ones nose to the grindstone
• To have ones nose bent out of joint

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Functions of the nose 13. Anchor for
self-deixis (pointing to oneself at least in
many cultures)
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Functions of the nose 14. A means of identifying
the owner.
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This may be why a bandana covering the face from
the nose down is used by the bad guys in
Western movies to mask their identity.
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Picking the Nose

• Functions of the nose, cont.
• Despite extensive research in the San Francisco
  environs and the obvious possibilities, we found
  no sexual function for the nose.

Sorry. No pictures.
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Picking the Nose

• Further functional constraints
• Being born (big nose)

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• Functional Constraints
• Presumably, even Cyrano, Richard Nixon, Pinnochio
  and Sarah Jessica Parker had small noses as
  newborns to facilitate passage through the
  relevant canals.

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OT Overview

• OT Overview
• Formal Constraints
• In Optimality Theory, a phonological grammar
  consists of a ranked set of violable constraints.
• Surface forms are those which optimally satisfy
  this set of constraints.
• Underlying representations are evaluated against
  constraints, incurring violations where
  appropriate.

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OT Overview

• Formal Constraints
• Criticism constraints arent constrained.
• Constraints can be added to the system, willy
  nilly.

Au contraire Constraints are themselves
constrained. (Smolensky 1995)
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OT Overview

• Constraints on Constraints
• Latin alphabet okay
• Align(Cat1, Edge1, Cat2, Edge2).
• Let Edge1, Edge2 be either L or R. Let S be any
  string. Then, for any substring A of S that is a
  Cat1, there is substring B of S that is a Cat2,
  such that there is a decomposition D(A) of A and
  a decomposition D(B) of B, both
  sub-decompositions of a decomposition D(S) of S,
  such that Edge1(D(A)) Edge2(D(B)).

Greek alphabet better Edgemost(?ED) The
item ? is situated at edge E of domain D.
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OT Overview

• Constraints on Constraints, cont.
• Phoenician alphabet best?
• Breathe(N)
• Let the amount of airflow passing
  through the nose, N at timet and is the
  set of noses that can breathe.
• Then N is ? if gt 0 at some point t
  gt 0.

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OT Overview
X

• Constraints on Constraints
• - Must be anchored in reality.
• - 100 grounded !!

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OT of the Face

• Physiological Analogues of Phon OT
• - Underlying Representation vs.
• Surface Representation
• - Richness of the Base
• - Factorial Typology

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OT of the Face

• Phonology
• - UR Underlying forms
• /UR/
• - SR Surface forms
• SR

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OT of the Face

• Physiology
• - UR

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OT of the Face

• Physiology
• - SR

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OT of the Face

• Physiology
• - Different URs

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OT of the Face

• Physiology
• - Result in different SRs

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OT of the Face

• Phonology
• - Richness of the Base
• The set of possible inputs to the grammar is
  universal (Smolensky 1996).
• All cross-linguistic variation is in constraint
  ranking, not in the set of inputs.

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OT of the Face

• Physiology
• - Richness of the Face

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OT Overview

• Tableaux
• Tableaux are used to facilitate calculating the
  optimal candidate easy by using a simple notation
  for representing constraints, violations, and so
  on.

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OT Overview

• Tableaux, cont.
• Quick definitions of symbols
• - constraint violation
• ! - crucial constraint violation
• - (shading) cells
• 
  not participating in
• 
  decision
• - (continous line) constraint domination
• - (dashed line) unranked constraints

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OT Overview

• Tableaux, cont.
• A few more
• ? - optimal candidate
• ? - candidate that should have been optimal
• ? - candidate that should have been optimal (and
  you are very unhappy about it)
• ?- optimal candidate that shouldn't be optimal
  (and you are very very unhappy about it)
• ? - sympathetic candidate

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OT Overview

• Tableaux, cont.
• Just a couple more
• ? - sympathetic candidate selector constraint
• - constraint domination
• ? - is more harmonic than

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OT of the Face

• Constraints for Placement of the Nose

- BREATHE Incur a violation if the placement of
the nose inhibits breathing
- Struc Incur a violation if the placement of
the nose leads to a greater chance of being hit.
- Max-See - Incur a violation if the placement of
the nose blocks vision
- Align(BirthCanal) Incur a violation for
complicating the birthing process
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OT of the Face

• Constraints for Placement of the Nose

- Max-IO - Everything that goes in, must come out.
- Harmony(nasal) Nose is able to play the nose
flute.
- Ident Be able to identify owner by their nose.
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OT of the Face

• Tableaux for Nose Placement
• Breathe gtgt Max-See

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OT of the Face

• Tableaux for Nose Size
• Max-See gtgt Struc

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OT of the Face

• Tableaux for Nose Placement
• Germs gtgt Breathe, Harmony, Affection

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OT of the Face

• Phonology
• Factorial Typology - The idea is that Universal
  Grammar provides a set of violable constraints on
  syllable structure, and individual grammars fix
  the relative ranking of these constraints. The
  typology of possible languages is then given by
  the set of all possible rankings. (Prince
  Smolensky 1993)

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OT of the Face

• Physiology
• Factorial Typology Re-ranking of the
  constraints provides the placement of the nose
  for other species.
• Struc gtgt Max-See Bulbous gtgt Struc

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OT of the Face

• Physiology
• Factorial Typology, cont.
• Max-Smell gtgt Struc Drown gtgt Max-See
• The better to smell you with red-riding hood

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We are aware of certain criticisms of OT

• 1. OT is completely ad hoc constraints
  proliferate like randy rabbits
  (but are nowhere near as cute)
• - Anonymous disgruntled phonologist A
• (Identity concealed to protect tenure)

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• Criticisms, cont.
• 2. In the end, OT reduces to nothing more than a
  
• description of the patterns of a language.
  It
• explains nothing.
• - Anonymous disgruntled phonologist B who cant
  figure out where the pointy-finger is on her
  keyboard.

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Criticisms (cont.) 3. The best argument for OT
is that it keeps linguists busy and manages to
fool dissertation advisors, journal editors, and
granting agencies into thinking that if something
uses such arcane formalisms then it must have
some value. - Disgruntled phonologist C who
hasnt been able to publish anything since SPE
rules died off.
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Criticisms (cont.) 4. It resembles Ptolemaic
cosmology in the freedom with which novel patches
can be introduced to save the appearances
nothing empirical, whether phonetic,
psychological, or socio-historical, is required.
So, being non-testable, it has a status similar
to literary criticism or making up fairy stories
rather than to science. - Disgruntled
phonologist D who makes incessant comparisons
between Linguistics and physics, which s/he
considers a real science.
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We reject these criticisms.
Given the vast amount of work done in the OT
framework even if perhaps it is only half-vast
we cant possibly throw it all into the trash
heap of history, can we?
we mean, CAN WE?