<OT> New Posting: ROA-779

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 779-1005

Phonological constraints are not directly phonetic

Jennifer L. Smith <jlsmith AT email DOT unc DOT edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=779


Abstract:
This paper presents evidence that constraints are expressed
abstractly, in terms of formal phonological categories,
rather than directly encoding phonetic information.  The
argument is made on the basis of constraints that have the
same functional basis, but distinct formal properties: ONSET
and *ONSET/X.  If phonetic factors are projected directly
onto phonological constraints, then the shared functional
basis of these constraints should entail that they cannot
be formally distinct.  Specifically, the direct-phonetics
model predicts that ONSET is actually '*ONSET/zero,' a constraint
against null onsets that is the highest ranked member of
the *ONSET/X family.  However, there is phonological evidence
against equating ONSET with *ONSET/zero.  First, ONSET can
be freely ranked with respect to *ONSET/X constraints, although
the *ONSET/X constraints are themselves in a universally
fixed relationship derived from the sonority scale.  Second,
the behavior of glide-initial syllables in languages that
avoid high-sonority onsets while also banning onsetless
syllables shows that ONSET and *ONSET/X evaluate different
phonological structures.  Each of these factors independently
demonstrates that ONSET and *ONSET/X are formally distinct.
Consequently, even phonetically grounded constraints like
these do not encode phonetic information directly.

Comments: To appear in CLS 41, vol. 1.
Keywords: syllable structure, markedness scales, functional grounding
Areas: Phonology,Formal Analysis
Type: Conference Proceedings Chapter

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=779