<OT> New Posting: ROA-639

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 639-0104

Constraint Interactions in Spanish Phonotactics: An Optimality Theory Analysis of Syllable-Level Phenomena in the Spanish Language

Michael Shepherd <don.miguel at ekit.com>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=639


Abstract:
This thesis presents an Optimality Theory (OT) investigation
of the role of the syllable in Spanish phonology.  The explanator
y power of the syllable has earned it a central role in
phonological theory, and this well-deserved distinction
has followed it into OT.  In this thesis, we demonstrate
how such issues as the well-/ill-formedness of onsets and
codas, word- and phrase-level syllabification and ‘resyllabificat
ion’, phonotactically motivated repair processes, as well
as several other well-known phenomena such as vowel merger,
diphthong formation, glide strengthening, /s/ and nasal
debuccalization, nasal and lateral place assimilation, ‘depalatal
ization’, and even plural formation follow from constraint
interactions within a single, language-specific hierarchy
of universal, violable constraints.


In the first half of this thesis (chapters 1 through 3),
we set the stage by dividing simple and complex onsets and
codas into well formed, ill formed, and unclear/marginal
cases.  We then present an OT analysis of syllabification,
showing how the same constraint interactions that account
for the respective well- or ill-formedness of the aforementioned
onsets and codas also accounts for the parsing of input
strings into syllabified outputs.  We go on to expand our
constraint hierarchy to demonstrate how not only the need
for phonological repairs, but also the specific repair strategies
employed and even the variable application of some repairs,
follow from constraint interactions.


The second half of this thesis (chapters 4 through 6) develops
a series of case studies.  Chapter 4, ‘Onset fulfillment’,
examines such ONSET-motivated phenomena as vowel merger
and diphthong formation, discusses the possibility of ONSET-motiv
ated epenthesis, and presents a rather extensive analysis
of the underlying status of glides, all within the framework
of OT.  Chapter 5, ‘Coda conditions’, presents an OT analysis
of coda phenomena, including several patterns of /s/ and
nasal debuccalization with varying degrees of opacity as
well as place assimilation by nasals and laterals, and concludes
by reconsidering ‘depalatalization’.  In Chapter 6, we touch
on the phonology-morphology interface as we present a novel,
OT analysis of Spanish plural formation which uses constraint-int
eractions to eliminate the need for the concatenation of
a plural morpheme.

Comments: 
Keywords: Spanish, phonotactics, syllable structure, syllabification, resyllabification, glides, diphthongs, diphthongization, debuccalization, aspiration, place assimilation, velarization, depalatalization, plural, pluralization, nonconcatenative morphology
Areas: Phonology,Morphology
Type: Masters Dissertation

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=639