8 - Rule Interaction

Abstract

This chapter presents the notion of applying rules in sequence that plays a fundamental role in the development of generative phonology. The chapter also examines several conceptions about how a set of phonological rules applies to relate an underlying representation (UR) to its corresponding phonetic representation (PR); the kinds of claims these conceptions make about the nature of language; and these claims are evaluated in the light of relevant data from a variety of languages. The consideration that led most generative phonologists to adopt partially ordered rules are emphasized and an overview on the direct mapping hypothesis (DMH), which claims that the set of phonological rules is applied directly to the UR to give as output the corresponding PR, is provided. The essential claim of the DMH is that the input structure to each of the phonological rules is the underlying representation. The applicability of a rule is entirely a function of whether the underlying form meets the input requirements of that rule. The phonetic representation is then the result of applying the changes called for by the rule to the UR. The effects of a rule are necessarily irrelevant to the applicability of any other rule as only the underlying form determines whether a rule applies or not. This view then claims that URs are mapped into PRs without postulating intermediate levels of representation.