Markedness Constraints Research Articles

English syllabification as the interaction of markedness constraints

The present study offers an Optimality-Theoretic analysis of the syllabification of intervocalic consonants and glides in Modern English. It will be argued that the proposed syllabifications fall out from universal markedness constraints – all of which derive motivation from other languages – and a language-specific ranking. The analysis offered below is therefore an alternative to the traditional rule-based analyses of English syllabification, e.g. Kahn (1976), Borowsky (1986), Giegerich (1992, 1999) and to the Optimality-Theoretic treatment proposed by Hammond (1999), whose analysis requires several language-specific constraints which apparently have no cross-linguistic motivation.

/v/ and Voice Assimilation in Hungarian and Russian

The paper presents an Optimality Theoretic analysis of the behavior of the labiodental continuant /v/ in Hungarian and Russian voice assimilation. Phonetic properties of /v/ (Lulich 2002) account for its cross-linguistic sonorancy ambivalence, manifested to different degrees in other Slavic languages (Rubach 1993), and in non-Slavic languages besides Hungarian, such as Hebrew (Barkai and Horvath 1978), Swedish, Romanian (Lombardi 1991), Pennsylvania Dutchified English (Anderson 2001), and in Russian loanwords in Yakut (Baertsch 2001). Russian and Hungarian /v/ phonologically vacillate between sonorant and obstruent-like behavior: it does not trigger regressive voice assimilation, thereby patterning with sonorants but it undergoes voice assimilation, thus patterning with obstruents. Also, in Russian, it undergoes final devoicing just like obstruents. In the analysis, we build on Petrova et al.'s (2001) OT typology of voicing, claiming that Russian and Hungarian voice assimilation result from the interaction of SHARE (enforcing voice sharing), *VOICE (banning voiced obstruents), IDENTITY VOICE, as well as the positional faithfulness constraint IDENTITY PRE SYLLABIFIED SONORANT VOICE (requiring laryngeal faithfulness before a syllabified sonorant). The assumption of binary voice and the adoption of SONORANT DEFAULT (Rubach 1996) allows for the explanation of the phenomenon of Russian sonorant transparency for voice propagation. The sonorancy patterns of /v/ are the outcome of the interaction of IDENTITY SONORANT (which enforces input/output faithfulness in sonorancy) and LABIAL SONORANT, which requires that /v/ be a sonorant before a syllabified sonorant. The phonetic implementation of /v/ is accounted for by general and positional markedness constraints. The proposed analysis is compared to the alternative OT solutions by Blaho (2001) and Padgett (2002), as well as to previous non-optimality-theoretic proposals, which fall into three major subcategories: (1) alternat

Mid Vowel Alternations in Verbal Stems in Brazilian Portuguese

This paper proposes an alternative analysis for mid vowel alternations in verbal stems in BP, treating them as vowel coalescence, where two input vowels unite into a single output vowel that shares features of its ancestor, in the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, 1993; McCarthy & Prince, 1995). The vowel coalescence in BP is triggered by the markedness constraint ONSET, which prohibits vowel initial syllables, competing with faithfulness constraints. The ranking of MAX and the markedness constraint ONSET above UNIFORMITY (no coalescence) yields coalescence instead of deletion. For vowel neutralization in BP, I assume the typology of height contrasts in relation to stress proposed by Beckman (1997) and McCarthy (1999); this typology needs to be adapted for Portuguese, since Portuguese has a seven vowel system. In addition, the faithfulness constraint IDENT-SUFFIX is introduced to explain leftward coalescence since coalescence in BP does not occur in locally adjacent segments.

Making constraints positional: toward a compositional model of C on

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.

Asymmetries in the Acquisition of Consonant Clusters in Spanish

AbstractThis article considers three children’s acquisition of tauto- and heterosyllabic consonant clusters in Spanish within the framework of Optimality Theory. Each child presents with a unique phonological system with respect to the cluster types. One child, BL4 (female, aged 2;8), reduces tautosyllabic clusters to the least sonorous singleton, but preserves both segments in production of heterosyllabic clusters. A second child, SD1 (female, aged 3;4), preserves both segments of tautosyllabic clusters, but reduces heterosyllabic clusters to the least sonorous singleton. Finally, a third child, SD2 (female, 3;9), reduces both types of clusters, maintaining the least sonorous segment; however, a different pattern is observed withthenasal + voiced stop clusters, which reduce to the most sonorous segment. The inter- and intra-child variation is accounted for by an appeal to general markedness and faithfulness constraints that have been motivated elsewhere in the literature in accounting for syllabic and segmental phenomena in acquisition and beyond.

Direction of Assimilation in Child Consonant Harmony

AbstractIn child language, consonants often assimilate in primary place of articulation across intervening vowels. In adult language, primary place assimilation occurs only between adjacent consonants. In both cases, the first consonant usually assimilates to the second. The standard analysis of directionality of local assimilation in Optimality Theory uses positional faithfulness to protect the second consonant. In this article, it is argued that directionality in child language assimilation is due not to positional faithfulness, but to a markedness constraint that specifies that a consonant preceding a dorsal must agree in place of articulation with it. Along with directionality, this constraint accounts for cases in which dorsals, but not labials, trigger assimilation, which occurs in Korean as well as in child language. Differences between the attested types of assimilation in adult and child language can be explained by differences in the activity of positional faithfulness in the two domains.

Sonority contours in word recognition

Contrary to the Generativist distinction between competence and performance which asserts that speech or perception errors are due to random, nonlinguistic factors, it seems likely that errors are principled and possibly governed by some of the same constraints as language. A preliminary investigation of errors modeled after the child’s ‘‘Chain Whisper’’ game (a degraded stimulus task) suggests that a significant number of recognition errors can be characterized as an improvement in syllable sonority contour towards the linguistically least‐marked, voiceless‐stop‐plus‐vowel syllable. An independent study of sonority contours showed that approximately half of the English lexicon can be uniquely identified by their contour alone. Additionally, ‘‘sororities’’ (groups of words that share a single sonority contour), surprisingly, show no correlation to familiarity or frequency in either size or membership. Together these results imply that sonority contours may be an important factor in word recognition and in defining word ‘‘neighborhoods.’’ Moreover, they suggest that linguistic markedness constraints may be more prevalent in performance‐related phenomena than previously accepted.

Optimal Tone Mapping

Traditional autosegmental accounts of tone mapping invoke three independent factors: morphological category, tone quality, and a phonological directionality parameter. This article argues that the evidence for phonological directionality must be reconsidered. The article introduces a theory of Optimal Tone Mapping, in which attested patterns derive solely from the interaction of morphological directionality with quality-sensitive markedness constraints. The more restrictive theory of tone association that results from eliminating constraints that impose phonological directionality provides a new typology of tone melody languages.

Local conjunction and comparative markedness

In classic Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993), markedness constraints evaluate output well-formedness, whereas faithfulness constraints evaluate input-output disparity. Thus, markedness constraints have access only to the output while faithfulness constraints view both the input and the output. Current research in phonology suggests, however, that the boundary between markedness and faithfulness constraints is no longer clear-cut. See, for example, comparative markedness (McCarthy, this volume), local conjunction (Smolensky 1995), preserve contrast (oubowicz 2003), targeted constraints (Wilson 2001). In what follows, I will seek a parallel between comparative markedness and local conjunction, both of which propose constraints that infringe on the territory of markedness and faithfulness.

Comparative markedness and derived environments

McCarthy's paper contains a simple idea with important consequences. The simple idea is that markedness constraints come in two brands, O M and N M. Whereas a “classic” markedness constraint *M bans the structure M, O M does so only if M is present in the input and N M only if M is not present in the input. The idea is simple but the array of consequences that it entails is by no means simple. It can be implemented in different ways; some of the implementation problems are discussed by the author, others are left for the future. As for the consequences, some are theoretical (relations to local constraint conjunction, sympathy, stratal OT) others empirical. The latter involve new predictions (grandfather effects) and older empirical domains, like counter-feeding opacity and derived environment effects (DEE). In this reaction to McCarthy's paper I will concentrate on the latter.

Comparative markedness and identity effects in reduplication

In “Comparative Markedness” (henceforth CM), McCarthy (this volume) proposes that the markedness family of constraints should be divided into parallel sets of constraints distinguishing ‘old’ and ‘new’ violations. Whether a markedness violation is ‘old’ or ‘new’ is determined by comparing the candidate under evaluation with a ‘fully faithful candidate’ (FFC), defined in reference to a relation of correspondence. (In the case of input-output, or IO correspondence, the FFC is the candidate that is fully faithful to all properties of the input governed by IO faithfulness constraints, and that optimally satisfies markedness constraints that compel no faithfulness violations.) An ‘old’ markedness violation is shared by the candidate under evaluation and the FFC, and thus, is inherited from the input. A ‘new’ markedness violation is not shared with the FFC, and therefore results from a faithfulness violation at the same locus. CM proposes a significant revision of OT doctrine, as the model increases the access of markedness constraints to inputs albeit indirectly, through the FFC. In this first pass through CM, McCarthy shows that a number of knotty problems that have until now resisted straightforward solutions in optimality theory can be analysed employing the new approach.

Towards a typology of disharmony

We propose an OT-theoretic typology of vowel harmony systems based on a comparative study of front/back harmony. Harmony processes are governed by ag eneral constraint that imposes feature agreement on neighboring segments. Disharmonic (“neutral”) segments arise when this constraint is dominated by markedness constraints and/or by faithfulness constraints that govern segment inventories. These constraint interactions determine whether disharmonic segments are opaque or transparent, and fix the cross-linguistically diverse behavior of the latter. We make crucial use of two modes of local constraint conjunction, which are already implicit in the current theory. Our proposal restricts this theory by eliminating the possibility of freely stipulating the domain of local conjunction.

Towards a typology of stop assibilation

In this article we propose that there are two universal properties for phonological stop assibilations, namely (i) assibilations cannot be triggered by /i/ unless they are also triggered by /j/, and (ii) voiced stops cannot undergo assibilations unless voiceless ones do. The article presents typological evidence from assibilations in 45 languages supporting both (i) and (ii). It is argued that assibilations are to be captured in the Optimality Theoretic framework by ranking markedness constraints grounded in perception which penalize sequences like [ti] ahead of a faith constraint which militates against the change from /t/ to some sibilant sound. The occurring language types predicted by (i) and (ii) will be shown to involve permutations of the rankings between several different markedness constraints and the one faith constraint. The article demonstrates that there exist several logically possible assibilation types which are ruled out because they would involve illicit rankings.

Anti-structure preservation effects in optimality theory

The present study examines a particular kind of rule blockage – referred to below as an 'antistructure-preservation effect'. An anti-structure-preservation effect occurs if some language has a process which is preempted from going into effect if some sequence of sounds [XY] would occur on the surface, even though other words in the language have [XY] sequences (which are underlyingly /XY/). It will be argued below that anti-structure-preservation effects can be captured in Optimality Theory in terms of a general ranking involving FAITH and MARKEDNESS constraints and that individual languages invoke a specific instantiation of this ranking. A significant point made below is that while anti-structure-preservation effects can be handled straightforwardly in terms of constraint rankings they typically require ad hoc rule-specific conditions in rule-based approaches.

Phonetics in phonology: The markedness of rhotic+palatal glide sequences in English

The present study investigates a relatively minor gap in English phonotactics, namely the lack of surface rhotic+palatal glide sequences (i.e. /rj/) and explores the theoretical ramifications thereof. It will be argued, contrary to most previous studies, that this gap has a phonetic (i.e. articulatory) explanation and not a phonological one captured in terms of a filter with distinctive features. A typology will be posited which refers to languages with and without syllable-initial and heterosyllabic /rj/ sequences and it will be shown that of the four logical possible language types only three are attested. An Optimality Theoretic analysis will be proposed which hinges on the interaction between a specific and a general version of the MARKEDNESS constraints for /rj/ sequences (i.e. * σ [rj and *rj), and a FAITH constraint. It will be shown that two of the attested language types are represented by two modern English dialects and that the third one is represented by a variety of English spoken in the 17 th century.

True Truncation in Colloquial Hebrew Imperatives

There are two types of truncation that yield shortening of a morphological constituent, FAKE TRUNCATION (templatic) and TRUE TRUNCATION (a-templatic, subtractive). This article provides an analysis of true truncation in colloquial Hebrew imperatives. It is shown that true truncation cannot target a designated phonological unit, since in some forms CV is truncated and in others only V. In addition, there are cases where truncation is blocked. The framework of optimality theory adopted here allows a unified account of the data in terms of constraint interaction. It is argued that an antifaithfulness truncation constraint, which must be morphological, interacts with both faithfulness and markedness constraints. Truncation is minimized to one segment by a general antideletion faithfulness constraint, but markedness constraints may impose truncation of more than one segment. There are cases where truncation is blocked, which suggests that the truncation constraint is violable. The discussion includes regular and irregular verbs and instances of free variation.

René Kager, Optimality theory. Cambridge, UK, and Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. xiii, 452. Pb $24.95; April McMahon, Change, chance, and optimality. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp. x, 201. Pb $19.95; Bruce Tesar & Paul Smolensky, Learnability in optimality theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. Pp. viii, 140. Pb $25.00

Optimality Theory (OT) has been a major force driving developments in formal linguistics during the past decade. Like parameter-setting accounts, OT seeks to describe the range within which languages can vary; but instead of fixing parameters, OT proposes that languages, and children learning languages, arrange a set of constraints in a hierarchical order of strength that determines specific linguistic characteristics. The constraints proposed by OT are constraints on the well-formedness of the output of a grammar, and they are of two types: (i) markedness constraints, which exert pressure toward unmarked types of structure such as CV syllables or voiceless final obstruents; and (ii) faithfulness constraints, which maintain lexical contrasts such as CV and CVC syllable types, or voicing distinctions in final obstruents. The two types of constraints are in conflict, so that no particular constraint can be satisfied without violating others. In OT, “satisfaction” and “violation” are not absolute but a matter of degree, because all constraints play a role in the grammar of each language, though in a different order of strength or priority within a dominance hierarchy.

René Kager, Optimality theory. Cambridge, UK, and Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. xiii, 452. Pb $24.95 April McMahon, Change, chance, and optimality. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp. x, 201. Pb $19.95 Bruce Tesar & Paul Smolensky, Learnability in optimality theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. Pp. viii, 140. Pb $25.00

Optimality Theory (OT) has been a major force driving developments in formal linguistics during the past decade. Like parameter-setting accounts, OT seeks to describe the range within which languages can vary; but instead of fixing parameters, OT proposes that languages, and children learning languages, arrange a set of constraints in a hierarchical order of strength that determines specific linguistic characteristics. The constraints proposed by OT are constraints on the well-formedness of the output of a grammar, and they are of two types: (i) markedness constraints, which exert pressure toward unmarked types of structure such as CV syllables or voiceless final obstruents; and (ii) faithfulness constraints, which maintain lexical contrasts such as CV and CVC syllable types, or voicing distinctions in final obstruents. The two types of constraints are in conflict, so that no particular constraint can be satisfied without violating others. In OT, “satisfaction” and “violation” are not absolute but a matter of degree, because all constraints play a role in the grammar of each language, though in a different order of strength or priority within a dominance hierarchy.

Markedness and laziness in Spanish obstruents

This paper studies the processes of spirantization and devoicing in Spanish. It argues that the aim of these processes is twofold. Phonologically, they serve to simplify marked linguistic structures, and phonetically, they aid to reduce muscular effort in the articulation of segments intended to have a complete oral closure with simultaneous vocal fold vibration. It is assumed that the phonetic component is part of the grammar and that certain sound patterns are determined at this low level by principles specific to this component that operate on surface phonological representations. Markedness constraints are phonological principles that are phonetically grounded, whereas effort-reduction constraints pertain solely to the phonetic component. At both levels, voiced stops are problematic because they contain a complete oral closure, which is the greatest impediment to voicing. Spanish chooses to either give up their voicing, or keep it but loosen the complete oral closure. Phonologically, both stricture and voicing are lost in non-prominent positions but maintained in prominent ones, so that voiced stops may retain their distinctiveness. Phonetically, the stricture of voiced stops must be loosen in all contexts that do not facilitate articulatory ease, so that the crucial effort threshold enforced by the constraint ranking of the phonetic component may be respected. By allowing co-articulation, speech rate and register to play a role in the sound component of the grammar, this analysis accounts for the gradiency, and great deal of cross dialectal and dialect internal variation exhibited by Spanish spirantization.

Polish palatalization in derivational optimality theory

This article is an analysis of Polish palatalization from the point of view of Optimality Theory (OT). Given the OT assumption that constraints are universal, the analysis is presented against the background of data from several Slavic languages to the extent permitted by the limitation of space. It is argued that standard OT is unable to handle the palatalization facts. OT must, therefore, be modified to include derivational levels. This conclusion is based on two types of evidence: first, internal contradictions in the operation of faithfulness and markedness constraints and, second, different roles that segment inventory constraints play at different depths of derivation.