<OT> New Posting: ROA-737

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 737-0505

Lateral survival: An OT account

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

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=737


Abstract:
When laterals are the targets of phonological processes,
laterality may or may not survive. In a fixed feature geometry,
[lateral] should be lost if its superordinate node is eliminated
by either the spreading of a neighbouring node, or by coda
neutralization. So if [lateral] is under Coronal (Blevins
1994), it should be lost under Place assimilation, and if
[lateral] is under Sonorant Voicing (Rice and Avery 1991)
it should be lost by rules that spread voicing. Yet in some
languages lateral survives such spreading intact. Facts
like these argue against a universal attachment of [lateral]
under either Coronal or Sonorant Voicing, and in favour
of an account in terms of markedness constraints on feature-co-oc
currence (Padgett 2000). The core of an OT account is that
if IDENTLAT is ranked above whatever causes neutralization,
such as SHARE-F or *CODAF, laterality will survive. If these
rankings are reversed, we derive languages in which laterality
is lost.  The other significant factor is markedness. High-ranked
feature co-occurrence constraints like *LATDORSAL can block
spreading from affecting laterals at all.

Comments: appeared in International Journal of English Studies 4 (2004) pp. 25-51
Keywords: lateral, feature geometry, variation, inventories, feature co-occurrence
Areas: Phonology
Type: Journal Article

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=737