<OT> New Posting: ROA-605

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ROA 605-0603

Directional Rule Application and Output Problems in Hakha Lai Tone

Larry M. Hyman <hyman@socrates.berkeley.edu>
Kenneth VanBik <VanBik@socrates.berkeley.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=605


Abstract:
In this paper we discuss some rather interesting tonal facts
from Hakha Lai, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Burma
and Mizoram State, India in which words are generally monosyllabi
c. In the first part of the talk, we show that a single
conspiracy under lies all of the tonal alternations which
occur in two-word sequences, which can be elegantly captured
within optimality theory. In the second part of the talk
we show how this "elegance" appears to dissipate once sequences
of three or more words are taken into consideration: In
particular, a serious problem arises in predicting the right-to-l
eft direction of rule application, which produces opaque
outputs violating the very conspiracy that motivates the
tonal alternations in the language. In the last part of
the paper we show how this problem is wholly dependent on
the view one takes on how to represent the input-output
relations in question.

Keywords: tone, tone sandhi, opacity, directionality, directional rule application, representations

Areas: Phonology

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=605