Exceptional stress-attracting suffixes in Turkish : representations vs . the grammar

Generative phonology has wrestled since its inception with the question of whether, for some given phenomenon, that phenomenon should be handled with rules or constraints — i.e. in the grammar — or with prespecified representations — i.e. in the lexicon. The recent introduction by Prince and Smolensky 1993 of Optimality Theory provides a fresh outlook on this old question. By fundamentally changing the nature of grammar, Optimality Theory may change the answer to any given question of this kind. The specific question to be addressed in this paper, from the viewpoint of Optimality Theory, is how to handle exceptional patterns in Turkish stress: in the lexicon, with underlying templatic metrical structure, or in the grammar, through morpheme-specific constraints? The question is of particular interest because of recent work by McCarthy and Prince 1993b which challenges one of the strongest arguments in favor of underlying metrical structure in phonological theory.