Prosodic constraints and morphological alignment in French

Abstract

Abstract In constraint-based phonological theories, phonological processes occur at the intersection of competing demands on surface well-formedness. All constraints on output form are permitted to be active at once, to interact, and potentially, to conflict. This article recognizes two levels of structural constraints in Standard French, one which pertains to prosodic structure and one which constrains the interface between prosodic and morphological categories. It is argued that the addition of phonological material through morphological operations can lead directly to constraint violations when prosodic factors, specifically conditions on syllable structure and foot well-formedness, are dominant. Since the metrical requirements of the language privilege the right edge of a phonological word in French, the dominance of prosody over morphological alignment is argued to be asymmetric. This approach allows us to explain why phonological processes disproportionately occur with suffixation rather than with prefixation. Further, it obviates the need for intermediate stages of derivation, for rule-ordering and for level-ordering in French.