Moreton, Elliott (to appear).  Analytic bias and phonological
typology.  To appear in *Phonology*.

ABSTRACT

Two factors have been proposed as the principal determinants of
phonological typology: *channel bias*, the effects of phonetically
systematic errors in transmission between speaker and hearer, and
*analytic bias*, cognitive predispositions which make learners more
receptive to some patterns than others.  Many typological facts can be
explained equally well by either factor, making channel and analytic
bias difficult to distinguish empirically.  This study presents
evidence that analytic bias is strong enough to create typological
asymmetries in a case in which channel bias is controlled.  We show
that (1) phonological patterns relating the height of two vowels are
typologically more frequent than patterns relating vowel height to
consonant voicing; (2) the phonetic precursors of the height-height
and height-voice patterns are equally robust, eliminating precursor
difference as an explanation for (1); and (3) in two experiments,
English speakers learned a height-height pattern and a voice-voice
pattern better than a height-voice pattern.  We conclude that both
factors contribute to typology, and discuss hypotheses about their
interaction.