External allomorphy and contractions in Romance

Lexical items that show different, phonologically unpredictable allomorphs whose distribution is governed by phrasal phonological conditions (like beau bei in French) are examined. Theproblems that originate from their dual phonological/ phrasal Status are solved through the minimal assumption that ifthe competition between two lexical allomorphs is not resolved in the lexicont but is decided by Evaluation at the phrasal level. Under such circumstances an effect ofemergency ofthe unmarked arisesy and äs predictedy the syllabically less marked candidate is chosen. Cases of single phonological underlying representations interpreting two different lexical items (contractions) are also analyzed, and a solution which is based on the relation of phonological and other grammatical properties in the lexicon is proposed. 1. Allomorphy and non-allomorphy A pattern of emergence of unmarked phonological properties arising under special conditions ("emergency of the unmarked") is derived by McCarthy and Prince (1994) from properties inherent to Optimality Theory. They argue that, in cases of reduplication, some normally active constraints remain exceptionally unviolated, and cause thereby the activation of lower ranked constraints that are normally inactive. In this paper I argue that a parallel pattern obtains for external allomorphs, which consist of multiple underlying forms. In the process of selecting the optimal form, this multiplicity has the effect of transferring the 1. This work was made possible by grant DGICYT PB93-0893-CO4. I am indebted to Eulälia Bonet, Fran£ois Dell, and to attendants of the Going Romance Conference for their comments. Probus 8 (1996), 181 -205 0921 -4471/96/0080181 © Walter de Gruyter