<OT> New Posting: ROA-601

[roa@ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 601-0503

Towards a Theory of Constraints in OT: Emergence of the not-so-unmarked in Malayalee English

Tara Mohanan <elltaram@nus.edu.sg>
K. P. Mohanan <ellkpmoh@nus.edu.sg>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=601


Abstract:
This paper explores the phenomena of ‘persistence’ and ‘emergence
’ in the patterns of contrast, distribution, and alternation
in the phonology of Malayalee English, a transplanted second
language system, and argues for the need to supplement the
theory of constraint interaction in Optimality Theory with
an explicit theory of constraint generation. The proposal
involves two parts. First, when two or more constraints
share a common core but vary in the details of their manifestatio
n, their redundancy can be eliminated by deriving them from
an underspecified constraint core. Adding further specifications
of domain, locus, trigger, or outcome value, would yield
the fully specified constraints. The constraints derived
from the same constraint core would form a constraint homologue,
providing a basis for the study of invariance and probable
variations in language typology, language change, and language
contact. Second, to capture cross-linguistic probabilities
in the ranking of constraints, we propose that each markedness
constraint homologue be paired with its faithfulness counterpart,
with a universal default ranking relation. Such a constraint
pair with default ranking expresses a universal tendency.
In a weak tendency, faithfulness outranks markedness; given
a language, reversing the default ranking would activate
the tendency. In a strong tendency, markedness outranks
faithfulness; reversing the ranking would deactivate the
tendency. Strong tendencies correspond to the unmarked state
of affairs in the SPE sense of ‘unmarked’. Our analysis
also reveals that, contrary to expectation in language contact,
some patterns in ME that it shares with neither its substrate
nor its superstrate sources illustrate the emergence of
marked configurations of facts. We suggest that these marked
structures can be explained as the resolution of conflicting
pulls from the parent languages within the space provided
by universal grammar.

Keywords: constraint generation, markedness, default universal ranking, language contact

Areas: Second language systems, Phonology

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=601