<OT> New Posting: ROA-999

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 999-1108

Iterative foot optimization and locality in stress systems

Kathryn Pruitt <kpruitt at linguist.umass.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=999


Abstract:
This paper proposes a model of stress assignment in which
metrical structure is built serially -- one foot at a time
-- through a series of OT-style evaluations.  Iterative
foot optimization (IFO) is made possible in the framework
of Harmonic Serialism, which defines the path from an input
to an output with a series of gradual changes in which each
form is more harmonic than its predecessor, relative to
a constraint ranking.  Stress assignment in IFO is compared
to parallel OT and it is found that they predict different
classes of languages even when the same standard stress
constraints are considered.  IFO makes the strong prediction
that decisions about metrical structure are made locally,
while parallel OT predicts stress systems with non-local
interactions.  The interactions of stress with syllable
weight, vowel shortening, and edge restrictions are considered,
and in all cases it is shown that attested languages exhibit
local interactions, while parallel OT predicts non-local
counterparts which are not clearly attested.

Comments: 
Keywords: stress, Harmonic Serialism, parallelism, locality
Areas: Phonology
Type: Manuscript

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=999