Derived environment effects in Optimality Theory

Abstract

The Strict Cycle Condition (SCC) permits phonological rules to apply only in derived environments. The notion of a derived environment, and consequently the phenomena attributed to the SCC, are problematic in Optimality Theory (OT). This article argues that OT can be extended to accommodate SCC effects by using local constraint conjunction. By locally conjoining a markedness constraint with a faithfulness constraint, the markedness constraint is active only when the faithfulness constraint is violated. The predictions of this approach are compared to the SCC and found to be superior in several respects.