Making constraints positional: toward a compositional model of C on

Abstract

In Optimality Theory, the phonological grammar of each language is a particular ranking of a set of constraints C on [Prince and Smolensky, Optimality Theory: constraint interaction in generative grammar. Unpublished manuscript, Rutgers University and University of Colorado, Boulder. Rutgers Optimality Archive ( http://roa.rutgers.edu), ROA-537]. An understanding of universal grammar therefore requires an understanding of the nature of C on. Several researchers have argued that C on is systematically structured; in particular, that formally similar constraints should be modeled as specific instantiations of a general schema, such as the Generalized Alignment schema [Yearbook of Morphology 1993 (1993) 79]. One advantage of a schema-based approach to C on is that the formulation of each individual constraint is compositional, determined by the combination of the general schema (a function) with the specific phonological elements involved in each constraint (arguments of the function). This paper examines the formal structure of positional constraints—constraints that are relativized to certain phonological positions, such as stressed syllables or released consonants. Positional constraints are systematically related both to the general (non-positional) constraints on which they are based, and to other positional constraints for the same position. Therefore, these relationships should be formally captured with a compositional constraint schema. The focus here is on one particular set of positional constraints, the positional augmentation constraints (markedness constraints relativized to phonologically prominent positions). A compositional constraint schema is developed that is flexible enough to extend to the many different kinds of positions and constraints involved in positional augmentation, while still determining precisely how the formulation of each general constraint is to be modified in its positional counterpart. Implications of the approach for another set of positional constraints, the positional faithfulness constraints, are also considered.