<OT> New Posting: ROA-613

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 613-0903

Derivational Phonology and Optimality Phonology: Formal Comparison and Synthesis

Russell Norton <russell_norton at sil.org>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=613


Abstract:
This thesis conducts a formal comparison of Optimality Theoretic
phonology with its predecessor, Rule-based Derivational
phonology. This is done in three studies comparing (i) rule
operations and Faithfulness constraint violations, (ii)
serial rule interaction and hierarchical constraint interaction,
and (iii) derivational sequences and harmony scales. In
each, the extent of the correlation is demonstrated, and
empirical implications of their differences drawn out. Together,
the studies demonstrate that there is no case in which the
two frameworks mimic each other at all three points at once:
the "Duke of York gambit", where one rule is reversed by
another, is the one case where rule ordering and constraint
ranking converge, yet the complexity of this composite mapping
demonstrably exceeds that of the input-output mappings of
Optimality Theory. It is also argued that the Duke of York
mapping is generally unexplanatory, and that its availability
falsely predicts that a vowel inventory may be reduced to
one in some contexts by deletion and then insertion. The
failure of this prediction is illustrated from Yokuts, Chukchee
and Lardil.


A synthesis of derivational and optimality phonology is
then presented in which constraints accumulate one by one
(Constraint Cumulation Theory, CCT). This successfully describes
patterns of overapplication, mutual interdependence, and
default, each of which was previously captured in one of
the systems but not replicated in the other. It also automaticall
y excludes Duke of York derivations except for some attested
subtypes. The way the model handles overapplication and
underapplication leads to the further prediction that neutralisat
ion and elision processes are transparent except when neutralisat
ion occurs as part of a stability effect – a result which
draws on the resources of contemporary phonology to resolve
the 'unmarked rule ordering' problem from the 1970s, and
reinforces the traditional distinctions of neutralisation
vs. conditioned variation, and elision vs. epenthesis.

Comments: University of Essex
Keywords: serialism, opacity, Duke of York gambit, Faithfulness, neutralization
Areas: Phonology,Formal Analysis
Type: PhD Dissertation

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=613