<OT> New Posting: ROA-632

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 632-1103

Phonological markedness and allomorph selection in  Zahao

Moira Yip <moira at ling.ucl.ac.uk>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=632


Abstract:
	This paper deals with verb stem alternations involving
tone, glottalization, and length in the Chin language Zahao
(Osburne 1975), spoken in Burma. The emphasis is on tone,
but the length facts are extremely interesting, and are
given a preliminary treatment in the final section. It is
argued that verbs must list stem alternants in the lexicon,
but the possible pairs, and the choice of alternant in a
given environment, are controlled by markedness. The data
offer a theoretical challenge for an output-based grammar
like Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993), in which
the lexicon plays a relatively minor role in the grammar
since it is inaccessible to direct control. The Zahao data
adds to the list of well-known cases in which allomorphs
must be listed in the lexicon, and allomorph selection is
then controlled by phonological markedness (e.g. French
ma/mon, ce/cet, see Tranel 1998). In Zahao, markedness indirectly
constrains the set of possible tonal allomorph paradigms,
because positional markedness selects the least marked allomorph
in one environment, and pressure to realize the full lexical
entry selects the more marked allomorph elsewhere. Output-output
constraints limit the permissible difference between the
two allomorphs.  H and L tones tie on markedness, and exchange
rules are analyzed as the result of this markedness parity.

Comments: To appear in Language and Linguistics
Keywords: allomorphy, markedness, tone, chainshift, exchange, circularity, lexicon
Areas: Morphology, Phonology
Type: Journal Article

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=632