Output-to-Output Identity in Word Level Phonology

Recent developments in optimality theory have led to a revision of the role of faithfulness. In particular, it is argued that output candidates can be compared not only with their underlying inputs by means of input-to-output constraints, but also with the surface form of paradigmatically related words by means of output-to-output constraints (Benua 1995; McCarthy 1995; McCarthy and Prince 1995; Kenstowicz 1996). Many phonological effects of underor overapplication formerly attributed to the cycle or to level ordering receive a straightforward one-level analysis in this type of paradigmatic phonology. In this paper, I will consider several cases of underand overapplication in word-level phonology. I will argue that analyses based on outputto-output faithfulness constraints lead to a variety of problems, which do not arise in accounts based on rule ordering and the definition of rule domains. The paper is organized as follows. First, I will introduce output-to-output identity in section 1. I will then consider cases of phonological underand overapplication with prefixation in Italian and Spanish in section 2 and 3. I will turn to suffixation in section 4, and discuss the phonological distinction between two types of suffixes in Dutch. Going beyond word-level phonology in section 5, I will examine the inter­ action of coda rules and enclisis in Catalan. The conclusion is drawn in section 6.