The syntax of phonology : A radically substance-free approach

This thesis investigates the formal properties of phonological representation and computation. The starting point of the approach taken here is that these can and should be investigated independently of the effect that extraphonological factors, most notably phonetics, have on the shape of individual phonologies. In chapter 1, I summarise the conceptual and empirical arguments for a model of autonomous phonology. Then I discuss the differences between substancefree approaches to phonology, including the Concordia school (Hale & Reiss 2000a,b, 2003; Hale et al. 2007; Hale & Reiss 2008), the Toronto school (Dresher et al. 1994; Avery 1996; Dresher 1998; Avery & Rice 1989; Rice & Avery 1991; Piggott 1992; Rice 1993; Dresher 2001, 2003 inter alia), Element Theory (Harris 1990, 1994; Harris & Lindsey 1995; Harris 2005, 2006), the Parallel Structures Model (Moren 2003a,b, 2006) and radically substance-free phonology (Odden 2006, this thesis). The approach followed in this thesis is the most substance-free of the alternatives examined: neither phonological computation, nor phonological primes are innately connected to phonetic (or other extra-phonological) correlates. I discuss different formal aspects of phonological representations, and argue for a model using privative indexical features that can freely enter into feature geometrical dependency relations with one another. Finally, I summarise the most important properties of the architecture of radically substance-free phonology. Chapter 2 deals with integrating substance-free phonology and Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993). I formalise featural identity constraints in a way that is compatible with a model using privative features and an unrestricted feature geometry. I also formalise Max and Dep constraints on features, and show how the model presented here can account for ‘fea-

[1]  M. van Oostendorp,et al.  Derived Environment Effects and Consistency of Exponence , 2007 .

[2]  Diana Apoussidou,et al.  The learnability of metrical phonology , 2007 .

[3]  Elizabeth Hume,et al.  Language specific markedness: The case of place of articulation , 2003 .

[4]  Kazutaka Kurisu,et al.  The Phonology of Morpheme Realization , 2002 .

[5]  Tobias Scheer.  What Is CVCV and Why Should It Be , 2004 .

[6]  Alan Prince,et al.  Prosodic morphology : constraint interaction and satisfaction , 1993 .

[7]  Keren Rice,et al.  On deriving sonority: a structural account of sonority relationships , 1992, Phonology.

[8]  Cheryl Cydney Zoll,et al.  Parsing Below the Segment in a Constraint-Based Framework , 1998 .

[9]  D. Hall,et al.  The Role and Representation of Contrast in Phonological Theory (2007) , 2007 .

[10]  Peter Avery,et al.  The representation of voicing contrasts (1996) , 1996 .

[11]  Jaye Padgett,et al.  Contrast Dispersion and Russian Palatalization , 2002 .

[12]  B. Elan Dresher,et al.  Contrast and Phonological Activity in the Nez Perce Vowel System , 2003 .

[13]  Bruce Morén.  Affricates, Palatals and Iotization in Serbian: Representational Solutions to Longstanding Puzzles , 2003 .

[14]  Juliette Blevins,et al.  The evolution of metathesis , 2004 .

[15]  Joan Mascaró,et al.  The Typology of Voicing and Devoicing , 2001 .

[16]  J. McCarthy.  Feature Geometry and Dependency: A Review , 1988 .

[17]  John J. McCarthy,et al.  Theoretical consequences of Montañes vowel harmony , 1984 .

[18]  D. Steriade,et al.  Chapter 1 Introduction : The Phonetic Bases of Phonological Markedness , 2003 .

[19]  Juliette Blevins,et al.  Evolutionary Phonology: The Emergence of Sound Patterns , 2004 .

[20]  Jerzy Rubach,et al.  The Lexical Phonology of Slovak , 1993 .

[21]  Donca Steriade,et al.  Phonetically Based Phonology: Introduction: the phonetic bases of phonological Markedness , 2004 .

[22]  Larry M. Hyman.  Underspecification and vowel height transfer in Esimbi , 1988, Phonology.

[23]  Edward Flemming.  The Role of Metrical Structure in Segmental Rules , 1996 .

[24]  J. Fodor.  The Modularity of mind. An essay on faculty psychology , 1986 .

[25]  Harry van der Hulst,et al.  Units in the analysis of signs , 1993, Phonology.

[26]  /v/ and Voice Assimilation in Hungarian and Russian , 2004 .

[27]  J. Werker,et al.  The Perceptual Acquisition of Phonological Contrasts , 2004 .

[28]  P. Smolensky,et al.  Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar , 2004 .

[29]  Bruce Morén,et al.  The Parallel Structures Model of Feature Geometry , 2003 .

[30]  Vowel Harmony: An Account in Terms of Government and Optimality , 2000 .

[31]  Carla Unseth.  Vowel Harmony , 2010 .

[32]  B. Dresher.  Contrast and asymmetries in inventories , 2003 .

[33]  Keren Rice,et al.  Segment structure and coronal underspecification , 1989, Phonology.

[34]  Charles Reiss,et al.  The Subset Principle in Phonology: Why the tabula can't be rasa , 2003 .

[35]  George N. Clements,et al.  The geometry of phonological features , 1985, Phonology Yearbook.

[36]  Jaye Padgett,et al.  Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian , 2003 .

[37]  K. Rice,et al.  Contrast in phonology: overview , 1994 .

[38]  Joseph H. Greenberg,et al.  The Nature and Uses of Linguistic Typologies , 1957, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[39]  Rachel Walker.  Esimbi Vowel Height Shift : Implications for Faith and Markedness , 1999 .

[40]  B. Morén.  Chapter 13 The division of labor between segment-internal structure and violable constraints , 2007 .

[41]  L. Lombardi.  Positional Faithfulness and Voicing Assimilation in Optimality Theory , 1999 .

[42]  Paul Boersma,et al.  Cue constraints and their interactions in phonological perception and production , 2009 .

[43]  Keren Rice,et al.  ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LATERALITY AND CORONALITY , 1991 .

[44]  E. Cyran.  A Lateral Theory of Phonology, by Tobias Scheer , 2006 .

[45]  Larry M. Hyman.  Universals in phonology , 2008 .

[46]  G. L. Piggott,et al.  Variability in feature dependency: The case of nasality , 1992 .

[47]  Paul Boersma,et al.  The evolution of auditory contrast , 2007 .

[48]  Ferenc Kiefer,et al.  Strukturális magyar nyelvtan , 1992 .

[49]  Charles Reiss,et al.  The Phonological Enterprise , 2008 .

[50]  John Harris,et al.  Vowel reduction as information loss , 2005 .

[51]  Jeff Mielke.  Modeling Distinctive Feature Emergence , 2005 .

[52]  Charles Reiss,et al.  Microvariation, variation, and the features of universal grammar , 2007 .

[53]  M. Hale,et al.  Substance Abuse and Dysfunctionalism: Current Trends in Phonology , 2000, Linguistic Inquiry.

[54]  di-info-pod unistra.fr.  all equal all different , 2008 .

[55]  Paul Boersma,et al.  Modelling the perceptual development of phonological contrasts with Optimality Theory and the Gradual Learning Algorithm. , 2003 .

[56]  D. Steriade.  Phonetics in Phonology: The Case of Laryngeal Neutralization , 1999 .

[57]  John Harris,et al.  Segmental complexity and phonological government , 1990, Phonology.

[58]  Elizabeth Caroline Sagey,et al.  The representation of features and relations in non-linear phonology , 1986 .

[59]  John Harris,et al.  English Sound Structure , 1994 .

[60]  Keren Rice,et al.  A reexamination of the feature [sonorant]: the status of sonorant obstruents' , 1993 .

[61]  Edward Flemming.  Contrast and Perceptual Distinctiveness , 2003 .

[62]  Donca Steriade,et al.  The Phonology of Perceptibility Effects: The P-Map and Its Consequences for Constraint Organization , 2008 .

[63]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  The Sound Pattern of English , 1968 .

[64]  Robert Nathaniel Sanders,et al.  Opacity and Sound Change in the Polish Lexicon , 2003 .

[65]  John M. Anderson,et al.  Principles of Dependency Phonology , 1987 .

[66]  I. Watson,et al.  In the Beginning Was the Word , 2009 .

[67]  Robert Kirchner,et al.  Phonetically Based Phonology , 2008 .

[68]  John Harris,et al.  The phonology of being understood: Further arguments against sonority , 2006 .

[69]  Bruce Morén,et al.  Consonant-Vowel Interactions in Serbian: Features, Representations and Constraint Interactions , 2006 .

[70]  Charles Reiss,et al.  Phonology as Cognition , 2000 .

[71]  Bridget Samuels,et al.  On Evolutionary Phonology , 2007, Biolinguistics.

[72]  Alan S. Prince,et al.  Faithfulness and reduplicative identity , 1995 .

[73]  Xi Zhang,et al.  Phonological Contrast and Phonetics in Manchu Vowel Systems , 2003 .

[74]  Martin Krämer,et al.  Freedom of analysis , 2007 .

[75]  Paul Boersma,et al.  Learning abstract phonological from auditory phonetic catergories: an integrated model for the acquisition of language-specific sound categories , 2003 .

[76]  J. Goldsmith.  Autosegmental and Metrical Phonology , 1990 .