Abstract
The purpose of this study is to account for cross-linguistic variation of nasal harmony within the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993). This study focuses on the distribution of opaque segments to nasal harmony. According to Walker’s (1998) survey, nasal harmony can be classified into six types regarding opaque segments: (ⅰ) no opaque segments, (ⅱ) opaque plosives, (ⅲ) opaque fricatives, (ⅳ) opaque liquids, (ⅴ) opaque glides, and (ⅵ) no nasal harmony. The classification is closely related to hierarchical compatibility of nasalization. In addition, opaque segments imply subcategories in sonority scale. In order to account for the properties, the previous approach needs arbitrary fixed ranking, called Hierarchical Markedness Constraints. This study proposes Sonority-Referring Markedness to Nasality, adopting Scale-Referring Constraints (de Lacy 2002), without any arbitrary stipulation to constraint rankings. This study shows that our approach is superior to the previous one in accounting for cross-linguistic variation of opaque segments in nasal harmony.
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