Optimality Theoretic Analysis Research Articles

Level Ordering and Lexical Phonology of Bangla: A Stratal Optimality Theoretic Analysis

This study deals with the different word formation processes in Bangla under the framework of Lexical Phonology and Stratal OT with both descriptive and theoretical goals. The study attempts a) to provide a description of the morphophonemics of Bangla that result from the concatenation of morphemes, b) to use the theory of Lexical Phonology and Morphology (Kiparsky, 1982,1985; Mohanan, 1982) and later developments in Stratal OT (Kiparsky, 2003; Bermudez- Otero and McMohan, 2006) and others.

An Optimality-Theoretic Analysis of Syllable Structure in Najdi Arabic

This paper provides a constraint-based analysis of the syllable structure of onset consonant sequences in Najdi Arabic, spoken in central Saudi Arabia. Unlike Classical or Standard Arabic, Najdi is believed to allow consonant clusters in the onset. The study tested two assumptions. The first is that Najdi onset clusters result from a vowel deletion process, leading to different kinds of clusters with distinct sonority hierarchies and that these form complex onsets. The second is that Najdi inputs are different from Classical or Standard Arabic, in which there is no vowel in the underlying representation and hence no deletion occurs, resulting in simplex onsets. The paper adopted optimality theory to analyze the data, considering a phenomenon that occurs in the speech of Najdi speakers. Following this framework, constraints were utilized to demonstrate the syllable structure of the onset clusters in Najdi according to the above assumptions. The results revealed consonant sequences rather than consonant clusters, meaning the consonants were not parsed in the same syllable, agreeing with previous acoustic research.

A Feature Alignment Approach to Plural Realization in Eastern Andalusian Spanish

Using an optimality theoretic analysis, this study offers a conception of the problem of plural realization in Eastern Andalusian Spanish (EAS) where plural suffix /s/ was deleted diachronically that differs from other accounts that assign the EAS plural an underlying suffixal /s/ synchronically. Using alignment constraints, we argue that plural /s/ does not appear in the underlying form synchronically in EAS, but that instead the plural morpheme is represented by a floating [–ATR]PL feature that aligns to the right edge of the word and spreads left. The [–ATR] feature, represented phonetically as a laxing or opening of vowels, applies to all mid vowels, low vowels in word final position, and combines with vowel epenthesis to explain Eastern Andalusian pluralization tendencies in words with final consonants. We discuss the behavior of high vowels, which can be transparent to harmony, and focus in particular on the plural of words that end in a final stressed vowel that have been rarely discussed in the EAS literature. We develop an optimality-theoretic analysis on the Granada variety and extend that analysis to other varieties with somewhat different patterns.

Syllable contact effects as a diachronic precursor to mora licensing in early French /sC/ clusters

This paper proposes that Old French coda /s/ deletion (11th-13th centuries) forms part of a broader diachronic progression of ever-stricter requirements on the sonority contour of /sC/ clusters in syllable contact, reframing part of a well-known moraic analysis (Gess 1998a, 1999, and later work) of Old French coda loss phenomena. Given the multistage rollout of coda /s/ deletion as a function of the sonority of the following onset, an approach hinging on syllable contact constraints not only offers a more detailed and precise formalization of the diachrony of word-medial /sC/ in Old French, but also draws systemic connections with cognate processes affecting /sC/ clusters in early French such as prothesis and earlier Proto-French stop epenthesis. The Optimality-Theoretic analysis presented here formalizes these phenomenological links and the constraints on syllable-contact sonority using the Split Margin Approach to the Syllable (Baertsch 2002, Baertsch & Davis 2003). Rather than sonority-graded mora-licensing constraints causing Old French coda /s/ deletion, the present account argues that their ranking above Faith is instead the acquisitional outcome of the near-total absence of coda /s/ across the lexicon, as a culminative result of the progressive tightening of syllable contact requirements.

Manner change in early French unharmonic obstruent-sonorant clusters

This diachronic constraint-based analysis details shifting reflexes in Proto-French (PF) and early Old French (OF) (approximately 2nd-12th centuries) towards the repair of underlying obstruent-nasal clusters, especially where the obstruent is coronal, as well as phonotactically dispreferred /tl, dl/. In earlier PF, deletion and gemination prevail, with gemination broadening scope from flat-sonority clusters to some obstruent-sonorant clusters, including /dl/ and variably obstruent-nasal. Late PF /dn/ assibilates to [zn], avoiding a suboptimal syllable-contact sonority contour, with the end result of both processes finalizing a broader coda obstruent ban before OF. Early OF ecclesiastic loanwords from Latin re-introduce underlying medial obstruent-nasal and /tl, dl/ clusters, with the cluster-final sonorant undergoing the novel repair of rhotacization (/n/ or /l/ " [r]), representing an extension of manner change seen in earlier spirantization and assibilation in the native lexicon. The unified optimality-theoretic analysis identifies and argues for a multi-stage shift in the prioritization of constraints governing the intersecting deletion, gemination, spirantization, assibilation, and rhotacization processes, and their interaction with syllabification, sonority, and phonotactics.

Adjustable word edges and weight-sensitive stress

In standard Optimality Theoretic analyses of weight-sensitive stress, no consideration is given to thepossibility that languages may reposition the edges of the prosodic word in order to avoid violations ofconstraints related to syllable weight. I propose that this underexplored prediction is borne out in Karuk (isolate, California) and Majhi Punjabi (Indo-Aryan).

An Optimality-Theoretic Analysis of Word-stress Learnability: Evidence from Moroccan-English Interlanguage

This study adopts a theoretical analysis of the learnability of English word-stress. It intends to provide an Optimality-theoretic analysis of word-stress learnability among Moroccan learners of English. Language acquisition, from an Optimality Theory perspective, is a process of reordering the constraints from an initial state of the grammar to the language-specific ranking of the target grammar. To account for stress development, this paper makes use of the Constraint Demotion Algorithm (Tesar & Smolensky, 1996; 2000), which learners adopt to infer the correct hierarchy of constraints. Starting with a default hierarchy supplied by Universal Grammar, learners proceed with the recursive demotion of higher-ranked constraints until the correct ranking is reached. The algorithm, starting by initializing the hierarchy, assumes that constraints are unranked and thus hosted in the same stratum. Sixty Moroccan learners participated in the study. The informants are third-year students at Ibn Tofail University. They were administered an oral multiple-choice test that elicited their intuition about English stress patterns. The overall findings of the study reveal that learners’ prior (L1) ranking influences their learnability of English stress. That is, Moroccan learners misplace stress in English words due to the initial state of their grammar. From the findings, OT is evidenced to successfully predict learning stages using CDA, wherein each demotion signals a learning stage.

An Optimality Theoretic analysis of Yoruba hypocoristic personal names: Issues of truncation, reduplication and tone

This paper provides an Optimality Theoretic analysis of Yoruba hypocoristic personal nameswith the aim of showing the interaction of different linguistic processes in the formation ofYoruba names. Based on the data collected from Yoruba texts and interactions in the speechcommunity, this study demonstrates that the formation of the hypocoristics involves not onlyprocesses of shortening or reduplication, but also tonal truncation. While Akinlabi andLiberman (2000) note that Yoruba has tonotactic restrictions—where especially vowel-initialwords can only take a low or mid tone but not a high tone—, this study reveals that suchrestriction may be violated in formation of hypocoristics, where reduplicated forms tend ratherto satisfy a tonal requirement of HHML to be well-formed. Crucially, the study shows thatderiving the hypocoristic in Yoruba involves processes relating not only to the foot structure(foot binarity), where the base of the derived form is expected to be a binary foot, but also, andessentially, processes relating to the tonal structure.

Laryngeal Markedness in Chhatthare Limbu: An Optimality Theoretic Analysis

This paper looks at the laryngeal contrast in Chhatthare Limbu and formalises the phonological effects through an optimality theoretic analysis. It discusses the underlying laryngeal feature specification in the language and how it fares with the constraint ranking in the language. The analysis shows that while the voicing and aspiration contrasts are available in the language, the context sensitive markedness and faithfulness constraints inhibit the free occurrence of these contrasts.

An Optimality-Theoretic Analysis of Some Phonological Errors Produced by Saudi Female Learners of the English Language

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the phonological errors associated with consonant and vowel pronunciation made by Saudi learners of the English language in light of the optimality hypothesis. In addition, transfer and contrastive analysis hypotheses are discussed, which justify why Saudi English language learners make phonological errors. Methods. Thirty Saudi female students in their first semester in the English language department at Qassim University were randomly selected. They were examined on their pronunciation of over 30 words from a list of twenty sentences. Each participant was individually recorded using a sensitive microphone, and all recordings were transcribed using IPA symbols and compared to the English transcription to identify the correct and incorrect pronunciation. Each participant filled out a consent form before to having their pronunciation recorded. Results. The majority of errors committed by Saudi English learners are attributable to the substitution of foreign sounds with the closest native sounds. In addition, Saudi English learners tend to add a glottal stop to non-onset syllables and insert a vowel to break clusters of three or more obstruent consonants. This finding is due to the fact that their native language is an onset language and lacks clusters of three or more obstruent consonants. The descriptive tables in addition to the Pareto charts of these errors are provided. Conclusions. Overall, results from this study support optimality theory, transfer, and contrastive analysis hypotheses. Moreover, this study contributes to the growing literature on the investigation of phonological errors produced by Arab learners of English, particularly Saudi learners. This study proposes that Saudi English learners listen attentively to English native speakers to correct phonological errors. In addition, Saudi English learners should record their pronunciation during discussions and replay them in order to identify their mistakes and avoid them in the future.

Metathesis in Moroccan Arabic: Optimality-theoretic account

This paper aims to examine the phonological process of metathesis occurring in MA. The article provides preliminary observations and analysis within Optimality Theory and the rule-based approach. Notably, this paper aims to analyse and unveil the constraint interactions responsible for the consonantal sequence alteration occurring in MA. After presenting the MA data, an optimality-theoretical analysis is developed for further scrutiny. The results have highlighted that the SyllCon constraint is an undominated constraint and motivating force behind the metathesis process in MA.

Markedness-Based Analysis of Englyn Meter

This research aims to examine the Englyn meter in the poetry of Celtic language (Medieval Welsh) that requires the poetic texts to conform to an abstract prosodic template. This counting meter regulates the phonological constituency on the same metric level of the prosodic hierarchy rather than on the metrical hierarchy in verse (the line). In the main types of Englyn meters, Englyn milwr and Englyn penfyr, phonological units of each line are constrained with a certain number of syllables and rhyme with the final syllable of most lines. This research offers a markedness-based analysis that generates the well-formedness meter of Celtic language Welsh poetry. The Optimality Theoretical analysis derives the constraint on the phonological constituency over a certain metric level of the prosodic hierarchy (the line) with markedness constraints. Further coping constraints that are normally used for reduplication are needed to account for the rhyme of the final syllable in Englyn meter. The analysis offered supports the Development hypothesis, which is fundamental to generative metrics indicating that meter is evidently related to general language phonology. These results could help analyse other counting meters with restricted phonological constituency.

Nominal French Loanwords’ Initial Gemination in Kenitra’s Dialect: An Optimality-Theoretic Analysis

This paper investigates French nominal loanwords’ initial gemination in Kenitra’s dialect in Moroccan Arabic within the framework of optimality theory. It studies the initial geminates that surface in borrowed nominal words from French into Kenitra’s dialect as well as looks into why the source words do not have geminate segments. The focus is to unfold the reason behind the emergence of geminate consonants when they are adapted into Kenitra’s dialect from French nominal words. Under the purview of optimality theory, we introduce and discuss the interaction between constraints in this dialect and how they conflict to allow the harmonic candidate to surface. The significance of this research is to provide evidence that initial geminates are inherently moraic in MA, especially Kenitra’s dialect.

Defining the prosodic word with segmental processes in Dagbani

Abstract Few studies have explored the relevance of metrical structures in segmental processes. This paper shows that Dagbani (Gur, Ghana), has a prosodic word dominating a trochaic foot which licenses segmental processes and phonotactics. The foot is the domain for marked vowels and unmarked consonants. The prosodic word regulates the sequencing of syllables of different degrees of sonority and weight within a word. The Optimality Theoretic analyses make use of classical metrical theory and prosodic principles used in defining the prosodic word in stress languages to highlight the typological relevance of these principles and the prosodic universality of these metrical structures.

On the treatment of super-heavy syllables in Arabic Dialects: an Optimality Theoretic approach to historical typology

This study provides a historical typological Optimality Theoretic analysis of the treatment of potential super-heavy syllables in six Arabic varieties: Hijazi, Egyptian, Emirati, Kuwaiti, Algerian, and Palestinian. The analysis in this study uses the same violable OT constraints for all languages, and the differences between the grammars are represented by the order in which the constraints are ranked relative to one another. The similarities and differences between these varieties are examined from the point of view of one approach to historical OT (Cho 1998), which states that individual pairs of constraints may be ranked or unranked in relation to one another, one operation at a time, meaning that switching the order of two constraints takes two steps historically. According to Cho (1998, 45), “each step of a sound change should be viewed as a change in the ranking of constraints.” Cho’s approach in detecting the historical typological differences between varieties by counting the steps of constraint reranking is compatible with a common approach to historical linguistics. Specifically, Wichmann et al. (2010) provide a quantitative method for determining the geographic homeland of a group of related languages, which takes into account a simple linguistic-difference metric and the geographic distance between the languages. Using constraint reranking in place of Wichmann et al.’s linguistic-difference metric to calculate the homeland of Arabic dialects results in an area around Hijaz as the homeland of Arabic dialects, since Hijazi, Egyptian and Emirati dialects form a cluster of geographically close, but linguistically diverse dialects.

SG] and Final Consonant Allophony in Tz'utujil

This paper considers two phenomena in Tz'utujil (Mayan) phonology: final sonorant devoicing and final aspiration of plain (pulmonic) stops and affricates. Both occur word-internally in coda position, as well as word-finally. I present an Optimality-Theoretic (OT) analysis which accounts for both of these phenomena via positional constraints on [spread glottis] ([SG]). This analysis also accounts for attested variation in final aspiration and devoicing across the Mayan language family and predicts an implicational relationship between final nasal devoicing, final sonorant devoicing, and final obstruent aspiration. Final sonorant devoicing is typologically rare and somewhat difficult to explain in terms of phonetic motivation. Tz'utujil may be able to provide insight into the typology of laryngeal features and the roles of contrast and phonetic pressures in phonology.

Text-setting in Kaytetye

Singing is a universal human activity. Across the vast range of song traditions throughout the world, native speakers have consistent intuitions about how the syllables in a given line of song text should be set to the tunes and/or rhythms within their various song traditions. This paper presents an Optimality Theoretic analysis of text-setting in a set of ceremonial songs traditionally sung and passed on orally by groups of Kaytetye-speaking women in Central Australia. Australian Aboriginal songs are renowned for the degree to which they diverge from speech. For our analysis, we use a computational method to exhaustively generate all permitted ways sung forms may diverge from their spoken equivalents along with all possible ways each form may be set to rhythm. We show that the seemingly idiosyncratic nature of text-setting strategies in this song set can be accounted for through a relatively generic set of constraints (even when thousands of competing candidates are considered), reflecting many of the fundamental processes that govern the interaction of language, meter, and music.

An Optimality-Theoretic Analysis of the Acquisition of English Sentence Stress Based on Acoustic Data

The present study adopts both empirical and theoretical methods for the analysis of the acquisition of English sentence stress based on Optimality Theory, aiming to overcome mispronunciation of English sentence stress. Optimality Theory has a dramatic impact on most areas in linguistics besides phonology. The acoustic software Praat is chosen to collect and label data as the basis of the empirical method. Then, through analyzing the four major principles of distribution of sentence stress (content words stressed principle, rightmost words stressed principle, leftmost words stressed principle, and new information priority principle) and based on the analysis of Optimality Theory, the software Praat, and SPSS, the researcher can present the following findings: firstly, the constraint hierarchical ranking of nonnative speakers is DEP-IO >> NEW-IP >> ALIGN-IP-LEFT >> ALIGN-IP-RIGHT. Secondly, the native speakers also undergo the demotion of constraint hierarchical ranking: NEW-IP >> DEP-IO >> ALIGN-IP-RIGHT >> ALIGN-IP-LEFT. Thirdly, the constraint in each demotion of constraint hierarchical ranking during different stages is as follows: NEW-IP constraint moves from the undominated position to the dominated position in the hierarchy; ALIGN-IP-RIGHT and ALIGN-IP-LEFT constraints move from the dominated position to the lower position in the hierarchy. Through the specific analysis, the researcher draws a conclusion that the varied reasons affect the nonnative speakers to master the distribution of sentence stress due to their incorrect position in the demotion of constraint hierarchical ranking.

Word Stress system of the Saraiki language

This study presents an Optimality-Theoretic analysis of Saraiki word stress. This study presents a first exploration of word stress in the framework of OT. Words in Saraiki are mostly short; secondary stress plays no role here. Saraiki stress is quantity-sensitive, so a distinction must be made between short and long vowels, and light and heavy syllables. A metrical foot can consist of one heavy syllable, two light syllables, or one light and one heavy syllable. The Foot structure starts from right to left in prosodic words. The foot is trochaic and the last consonant in Saraiki words is extra metrical. These generalizations are best captured by using metrical phonology first and Optimality constraints later on.

Foreword

The winter issue of Volume 11 presents a selection of seven different research articles on Japanese, Tetun Dili, Sylheti Bangla, Pahari, and Saraiki language. The rise of the Covid-19 pandemic, of which continuation unfortunately still allows many to collect data for research, has prompted us to publish several other interesting studies. This compilation brings to the readers the following topics.
 This issue opens with Saki AMANO’s paper “Polysemy of ‘Common Language’ and the Modern Japanese Nation: The Universalization of a ‘Standard Language’ to correct ‘Dialects’?”. The author examines the term futsūgo (common language) over two periods and explains the shift from the populace’s everyday commonplace language to a unified national language.
 In the next paper “From Native-speaker Likeness to Self-representation in Language: Views from the Acquisition of Japanese Transitive and Intransitive Verbs”, ITO Hideaki considers the degree to which a language user’s own will is recognized in language education. The author demonstrates that the usage-centric acquisition process can create opportunities for language users to make expressive choices focused on what they wish to say.
 The third article is Nastja PAHOR’s paper “Corpus analysis of the collocations of the transitive verbs owaru and oeru”, in which the author approaches the transitivity of Japanese verbs from the corpus perspective. Semantical analysis of collocations in combination with the morphological analysis of co-occurring verbs reveals some interesting findings.
 After the first three papers that focus on Japanese, the fourth one brings some new insights into Tetun Dili. Andrei A. AVRAM in his paper “Contact-induced variation in Tetun Dili phonology” analyzes Portuguese influence on Tetun Dili phonology, and demonstrates that the intricacies of inter-speaker variation cannot be merely reduced to variation between more Portuguese-like phonology and a more Tetun-Dili-like one. 
 Arpita GOSWAMI’s paper “Marked Geminates as Evidence of Sonorants in Sylheti Bangla: An Optimality Account” analyzes the universal concept that sonorants are marked geminates in the gemination process of Sylheti Bangla, and proposes a hierarchy of the constraints for analyzing the gemination processes in SHB. Besides, the author illustrates some additional constraints found to be necessary.
 The following article “Stop Voicing and F0 Perturbation in Pahari” presents the findings of Nazia RASHID, Abdul Qadir KHAN, Ayesha SOHAIL, and Bilal Ahmed ABBASI. The authors investigate the perturbation effect of the voicing of initial stops on the fundamental frequency of the following vowels in Pahari. 
 Last but not least, “Word Stress system of the Saraiki language” is an article by Firdos ATTA, who presents an Optimality-Theoretic analysis of Saraiki word stress. The author concludes that Saraiki has a trochaic stress system and falls in the category of quantity-sensitive languages. This paper also indicates further research work on word stress at the sentence level.
 Editors and Editorial board wish the regular and new readers of the ALA journal a pleasant read full of inspiration, and a rise of new research ideas inspired by these papers.