Morphology Commons^™

Autosegmental Spreading In Optimality Theory, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Revised December 2009

This paper is a shorter (and probably better) version of "Harmony in Harmonic Serialism." Like its big brother, it argues that Harmonic Serialism answers the conundrum of how iterative autosegmental spreading is obtained in Optimality Theory.

Pausal Phonology And Morpheme Realization, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Revised December 2009

Classical Arabic has complex phonological alternations affecting words in utterance-final position, traditionally called "pause". All pausal forms end in a heavy syllable, but the ways of achieving this result are both diverse and subject to both phonological and morphological conditioning. This chapter argues that an adequate analysis of Arabic's pausal phonology requires a derivational version of Optimality Theory, called Harmonic Serialism, in which morpheme spell-out is interleaved with phonological processes.

Harmony In Harmonic Serialism, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

What OT constraint favors autosegmental spreading? Existing proposals for the pro-spreading markedness constraint make implausible typological predictions. This paper presents a new proposal that depends on Harmonic Serialism to avoid those unwanted predictions.

Classified Bibliography Of Works On Ot With Candidate Chains (Ot-Cc) And Harmonic Serialism (Hs), John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

The Serial Interaction Of Stress And Syncope, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Many languages respect the generalization that some or all unstressed vowels are deleted. This generalization proves elusive in classic Optimality Theory, however. The source of the problem is classic OT’s parallel evaluation, which requires that the effects of stress assignment and syncope be optimized together. This article argues for a version of OT called Harmonic Serialism, in which the effects of stress assignment and syncope can and must be evaluated sequentially. The results are potentially applicable to other domains where process interaction is best understood in derivational terms.

Derivations And Levels Of Representation, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

In the theory of generative phonology, the phonological grammar of a language is regarded as a function from underlying to surface forms: /kæt þz/ ! [kæts] ‘cats’. Underlying and surface form are known as levels of representation, and the mapping between them is a derivation. This chapter describes the rationale for positing distinct levels of representation, various views of how many and what kind of levels of representation there are, and the nature of the derivations that link different levels of representation.

Consonant Harmony Via Correspondence: Evidence From Chumash, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

The phonology of [anterior] in Chumash supports recent proposals by Hansson (2001), Rose & Walker (2004), and Walker (2000a, 2000b) that long-distance consonant assimilation does not involve autosegmental spreading. Linking of the feature [anterior] is forbidden across morpheme boundaries, but long-distance [anterior] harmony is allowed across morpheme boundaries. The Chumash evidence therefore shows that assimilation can occur without autosegmental spreading.

What Is Optimality Theory?, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Optimality Theory is a general model of how grammars are structured. This article surveys the motivations for OT, its core principles, and the basics of analysis. It also addresses some frequently asked questions about this theory and offers suggestions for further reading.

Slouching Toward Optimality: Coda Reduction In Ot-Cc, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

There is a well-established asymmetry in the behavior of medial consonant clusters: the first consonant in the cluster can undergo assimilation or deletion, but the second consonant in the cluster cannot. This article presents an explanation for that asymmetry based on a version of Optimality Theory with candidate chains (McCarthy (2006a)). The key idea is that a consonant can only assimilate or delete if it first loses its place features by debuccalizing, and debuccalization is only possible in coda position.

Less Than Zero: Correspondence And The Null Output, John J. Mccarthy, Matthew Wolf

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

In this chapter, we have argued for a revision of correspondence theory in which strings rather than segments are the formal objects that stand in correspondence. In this revision, well-behaved unfaithful mappings do not alter ℜ’s status is a total bijective function. Candidates with a less orderly ℜ violate MPARSE; among these candidates there is one that harmonically bounds all of the others, the null output &#;. The primary goal of this project is to explain why &#; uniquely violates no constraints except MPARSE, making it suitable for the analysis of phonologically-conditioned gaps. Along the way, we have also discussed …

Morphology: Optimality Theory, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Prosodic Morphology, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Optimal Paradigms, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

Transderivational Correspondence and Uniform Exponence are two recent theories of surface resemblances among morphologically related words. This article describes the Optimal Paradigms theory, which incorporates elements of both. In OP, candidates consist of entire inflectional paradigms. Within each candidate paradigm, there is a correspondence relation from every paradigm member to every other paradigm member. Faithfulness constraints on this intraparadigmatic correspondence relation resist alternation within the paradigm. This model is illustrated and supported with a type of evidence that has not figured in previous discussions, the templatic structure of the Classical Arabic verb. Generalized Template Theory demands that templatic restrictions emerge …

The Length Of Stem-Final Vowels In Colloquial Arabic, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

This paper has argued that richness of the base, when combined with OT’s inherent commitment to typology, leads to an improved understanding of problems of indeterminacy in underlying representations. The controversy over the length of Arabic final vowels, a controversy to which many analysts have contributed without a final resolution, disappears once the phenomena are examined from the perspective of ROTB and a typologically responsible CON. It has been suggested (M. Hale and Reiss 1998: 660) that “the notion of richness of the base [is] a computational curiosity of OT grammars that may be quite irrelevant to human language”. This …

Taking A Free Ride In Morphophonemic Learning, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

As language learners begin to analyze morphologically complex words, they face the problem of projecting underlying representations from the morphophonemic alternations that they observe. Research on learnability in Optimality Theory has started to address this problem, and this article deals with one aspect of it. When alternation data tell the learner that some surface [B]s are derived from underlying /A/s, the learner will under certain conditions generalize by deriving all [B]s, even nonalternating ones, from /A/s. An adequate learning theory must therefore incorporate a procedure that allows nonalternating [B]s to take a «free ride» on the /A/ →[B] unfaithful map.

Headed Spans And Autosegmental Spreading, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Review Of Janet C. E. Watson (2002) The Phonology And Morphology Of Arabic, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Phonological Processes: Assimilation, John J. Mccarthy, Norval Smith

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Ot Constraints Are Categorical, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

In Optimality Theory, constraints come in two types, which are distinguished by their mode of evaluation. Categorical constraints are either satisfied or not; a categorical constraint assigns no more than one violation-mark, unless there are several violating structures in the form under evaluation. Gradient constraints evaluate extent of deviation; they can assign multiple marks even when there is just a single instance of the non-conforming structure. This article proposes a restrictive definition of what an OT constraint is, from which it follows that all constraints must be categorical. The various gradient constraints that have been proposed are examined, and it …

Metrical Phonology, John J. Mccarthy, Bruce Hayes

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Optimality Theory: An Overview, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Phonology, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Phoneme, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Sympathy, Cumulativity, And The Duke-Of-York Gambit, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

The Duke-of-York gambit (Pullum 1976) involves derivations of the form A->B->A, where underlying /A/ passes through an intermediate stage B before returning to A at the surface. Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993) has significant implications for the Duke of York gambit. Furthermore, attested and unattested Duke-of-York cases have implications for the analysis of opacity in Optimality Theory using sympathy (McCarthy 1998, to appear). A key idea pursued in this paper is that derivations must be cumulative, and a measure of cumulativity is incorporated into sympathy theory.

What Does Comparative Markedness Explain, What Should It Explain, And How?, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

These seven commentaries treat a wide range of topics in interesting and insightful ways. It is not possible to write a coherent response that addresses all of the criticisms and suggestions, large and small, that the authors have brought up. Several main themes emerge, however, that transcend the individual commentaries, and these themes supply the structure for this reply. They include alternatives to comparative markedness, possible counterexamples, comparative markedness on other dimensions of correspondence, and questions about the authenticity of opaque phonological processes. These themes will each be addressed in turn.

On Targeted Constraints And Cluster Simplification, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

In his article 'Consonant cluster neutralisation and targeted constraints', Wilson (2001) proposes a far-reaching revision of Optimality Theory to accommodate targeted constraints, which compare candidates differing only in certain specific ways. Targeted constraints, it is argued, can explain why cluster-simplification processes affect the first member of a cluster but never the more marked member of a cluster. In this remark, I show that this argument encounters difficulties once it has been embedded in a fuller picture of constraint interaction. Some general properties of the targeted-constraints model are also discussed.

Comparative Markedness (Long Version), John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

The markedness constraints of classic Optimality Theory assign violation-marks to output candidates without reference to the input or to other candidates. This paper explores an alternative conception of markedness that is comparative: markedness constraints compare the candidate under evaluation with another candidate, the most faithful one. Comparative constraints distinguish two situations: the candidate under evaluation contains an instance of a marked structure that is also present in the fully-faithful candidate; or the candidate under evaluation contains an instance of a marked structure that is not present in the fully faithful candidate. The empirical consequences of comparative markedness are explored, including …

Review Of Bruce Tesar And Paul Smolensky (2000) Learnability In Optimality Theory, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Nonlinear Phonology, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Harmonic Serialism And Parallelism, John J. Mccarthy

Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series

The most familiar architecture for Optimality Theory is a fully parallel one, meaning that "all possible ultimate outputs are contemplated at once" (Prince and Smolensky 1993: 79). But Prince and Smolensky also briefly entertain a serial architecture for OT, called Harmonic Serialism. The idea is that Gen Eval iterates, sending the output of Eval back into Gen as a new input. This loop continues until the derivation converges (i.e., until Eval returns the same form as the input to Gen). There are clear resemblances between this approach and theories based on notions like derivational economy (e.g., Chomsky 1995). There is …