<OT> New Posting: ROA-749

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 749-0605

A faithfulness scale projected from a perceptibility scale: the case of [+voice] in Japanese

Shigeto Kawahara <kawahara at linguist.umass.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=749


Abstract:
Within the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky
2004), Steriade (2001a,b) proposes the P-map hypothesis,
which claims that the rankings of faithfulness constraints
are projected from perceptual similarity rankings. An alternation
involving a more perceptible change is penalized by a higher-rank
ed constraint. This article provides empirical support for
this hypothesis. In Japanese loanword phonology, only voiced
geminates, but not singletons, devoice to dissimilate from
another voiced obstruent with the same stem. I argue that
this is because the faithfulness constraint for [+voice]
is relativized for singletons and geminates, and the constraint
for geminates is ranked lower than the constraint for singletons.
I further argue that this ranking derives from the lesser
perceptibility of [+voice] in geminates. I provide both
acoustic and perceptual evidence to support this conclusion.

Comments: 
Keywords: P-Map, OCP, devoicing, loanword phonology, phonetics-phonology interface
Areas: Phonology
Type: Manuscript

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=749