Phonetics and Phonology Commons^™

The Theory And Practice Of Harmonic Serialism, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

This chapter explains what Harmonic Serialism is and how it differs from standard parallel Optimality Theory. Several arguments in support of Harmonic Serialism are presented.

Cross-Level Interactions In Harmonic Serialism, John J. Mccarthy, Joe Pater, Kathryn Pruitt

John J. McCarthy

Cross-level interactions are phonological processes that make reference to multiple levels of the prosodic hierarchy, such as vowel shortening in the weak position of a foot. Cross-level interactions figure in most arguments for parallelism in Optimality Theory. This chapter demonstrates with several case studies how cross-level interactions can be analyzed in Harmonic Serialism. The key insight is that the relevant constraints may be violated in the course of the derivation, even if they are obeyed in underlying and surface forms. Cross-level interactions require parallelism only if constraints are inviolable, but that is inconsistent with a fundamental premise of Harmonic Serialism …

Sources Of Prosodic Structure, John J. Mccarthy, Kathryn Pruitt

John J. McCarthy

This chapter claims that phonology is like syntax in that the input consists of lexical items with little or no structure. Specifically, we argue that metrical foot structure is always absent from underlying representations. This argument is framed in a derivational version of Optimality Theory called Harmonic Serialism (HS). The natural assumption in HS is that metrical structures are built one foot at a time. This mode of structure building has desirable consequences for locality in stress patterns. But these results can be subverted if structures that the grammar cannot produce are already present in underlying representations. The chapter concludes …

Implications Of Harmonic Serialism For Lexical Tone Association, John J. Mccarthy, Kevin Mullin, Brian W. Smith

John J. McCarthy

In some languages, notably Kikuyu, the association of tones and syllables is completely predictable. In this chapter, we show that a derivational version of Optimality Theory, Harmonic Serialism, cannot account for Kikuyu if underlying representations include preassociated tones. If richness of the base is to be maintained, then underlying representations can contain associated tones in no language, even a language with contrastive tone association. This leads to a discussion of alternative ways of lexically encoding these contrasts, such as sequences of identical tones and diacritic accents.

Reduplication In Harmonic Serialism, John J. Mccarthy, Wendell Kimper, Kevin Mullin

John J. McCarthy

In standard Optimality Theory, faithfulness constraints are defined in terms of an input-output correspondence relation, and similar constraints are applied to the correspondence relation between a stem and its reduplicative copy. In Harmonic Serialism, a derivational version of Optimality Theory, there is no input-output correspondence relation, and instead faithfulness violations are based on which operations the candidate-generating GEN component has applied.

This article presents a novel theory of reduplication, situated within Harmonic Serialism, called Serial Template Satisfaction. Reduplicative correspondence constraints are replaced by operations that copy strings of constituents. Depending on the constraint ranking, phonological processes may precede or follow …

Autosegmental Spreading In Optimality Theory, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

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.

Copying Prosodic Constituents, John J. Mccarthy, Wendell Kimper, Kevin Mullin

John J. McCarthy

The weight of a syllable-sized reduplicant is never dependent on the syllabification of the base -- that is, no language has a reduplicative morpheme that copies a coda in [pat-pat.ka] but no coda in [pa-pa.ta]. Yet this behavior is attested in the second syllable of foot-sized reduplicants: [pa.ta-pa.ta.ka], [pa.tak-pa.tak.ta]. Why is dependence on base syllabification possible in foot-sized reduplicants, but not in syllable-sized ones?

This article provides an answer to that question in the form of a novel theory of reduplication called Serial Template Satisfaction (STS), which is situated within Harmonic Serialism (a derivational variant of Optimality Theory). In STS, …

Studying Gen, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

In Optimality Theory, phonological patterns are accounted for with output constraints ranked in a hierarchy. There is little explanatory role for a theory of operations, and hence little has been said about the Gen component. This situation has changed with the emergence of a derivational version of Optimality Theory called Harmonic Serialism.

One of the principal differences between Harmonic Serialism and standard Optimality Theory is that Harmonic Serialism's Gen is limited to doing one thing at a time. Harmonic Serialism's analyses and explanations depend on knowing what it means to “do one thing at a time”, and that requires a …

Agreement By Correspondence Without Corr Constraints, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

Agreement by correspondence (ABC) is a theory of long-distance assimilation processes proposed in recent work by Hansson and Rose & Walker. This paper presents a refinement of the ABC framework, eliminating the need for Corr constraints, which require correspondence between similar segments.

An Introduction To Harmonic Serialism, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

No abstract provided.

Harmonic Serialism Supplement To Doing Optimality Theory, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

This document consists of about 30 pages of text to supplement Doing Optimality Theory (Blackwell, 2008).

The P-Map In Harmonic Serialism, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

According to the P-Map, a phonological mapping is less faithful to the extent that there is more perceptual distance between its input and output. Although this idea is attractive, it cannot be implemented in the standard parallel version of Optimality Theory. This note explains why and shows how a derivational version of OT, Harmonic Serialism, can solve this problem.

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

John J. McCarthy

No abstract provided.

Harmony In Harmonic Serialism, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

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.

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

John J. McCarthy

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.

The Gradual Path To Cluster Simplification, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

When a medial consonant cluster is simplified by deletion or place assimilation, the first consonant is affected, but never the second one: /patka/ becomes [paka] and not *[pata]; /panpa/ becomes [pampa] and not [panta]. This article accounts for that observation within a derivational version of Optimality Theory called Harmonic Serialism. In Harmonic Serialism, the final output is reached by a series of derivational steps that gradually improve harmony. If there is no gradual, harmonically improving path from a given underlying representation to a given surface representation, this mapping is impossible in Harmonic Serialism, even if it would be allowed in …

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

John J. McCarthy

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.

What Is Optimality Theory?, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

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.

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

John J. McCarthy

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 …

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

John J. McCarthy

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.

Derivations And Levels Of Representation, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

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.

Morphology: Optimality Theory, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

No abstract provided.

Prosodic Morphology, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

No abstract provided.

Optimal Paradigms, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

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 …

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

John J. McCarthy

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.

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

John J. McCarthy

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 …

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

John J. McCarthy

No abstract provided.

Headed Spans And Autosegmental Spreading, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

No abstract provided.

Phoneme, John J. Mccarthy

John J. McCarthy

No abstract provided.

Metrical Phonology, John J. Mccarthy, Bruce Hayes

John J. McCarthy

No abstract provided.