Dependency Theory Meets OT: A Proposal for a New Approach to Segmental Structure

Abstract

Abstract It used to be suggested that the question of phonological segmental structure was orthogonal to Optimality Theory (OT). In other words, it was claimed that from the point of view of OT there was no particular reason to prefer one theory of segmental structure to another—OT could as it were be used together with any segmental theory with equal facility. More recently, a consensus seems to have emerged that the point of view that segmental structure is somehow not the concern of OT cannot be maintained, as discussions on the Optimality List during 1997 have concluded.