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Process-Specific Constraints In Optimality Theory, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Similar phonological processes can be governed by different constraints. Davis (1995) claims that the effect of such process-specific constraints cannot be obtained in Optimality Theory (OT), exemplifying this point with material from harmony in Palestinian Arabic. On the contrary, I show that process-specific constraints are a natural and expected result of constraint ranking, the fundamental idea of OT. Furthermore, OT makes a restrictive prediction, the subset criterion, about coexistent process-specific constraints within a single grammar—a prediction supported by the Palestinian material. Davis also presents evidence that epenthetic segments have featural specifications, claiming that OT says they are featureless. This is …