Sharon Inkelas

The consequences of Optimization for Underspecification

This paper* argues for a theory in which underlying representation is determined solely by optimization with respect to the grammar, not by imposing any type of constraints directly on underlying representation. This approach has important consequences for underspecification, changing the way in which this and other properties of underlying structure are deployed. In particular, I show that an optimization approach, couched within Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993), results in the use of underspecification only when there are alternant surface forms all of which are predictable from context or grammatical defaults.

Is grammar dependence real? A comparison between cophonological and indexed constraint approaches to morphologically conditioned phonology*

Abstract This article compares and contrasts cophonology theory and indexed constraint theory, the dominant current proposals to morphologically conditioned phonology. In cophonology theory, morphologically conditioned phonology is captured by associating each morphological construction or lexical class with its own phonological grammar, or cophonology. All constraints within a given cophonology are purely phonological; no constraint directly refers to morphological context. By contrast, indexed constraint theory assumes a single fixed constraint ranking for the entire language, and captures morphologically conditioned phonology by indexing individual constraints to specific morphological contexts. The article raises three arguments in favor of cophonology theory: greater formal parsimony, the ability to handle free variation, and more accurate predictions about the scope of morphologically conditioned phonological effects. It also evaluates and rejects the primary argument for indexed constraint theory, i.e., Grammar Dependence, the claim that indexed constraint theory is more restrictive in the degree of language-internal diversity allowed. Cophonology theory and indexed constraint theory are equivalent in the range of language-internal diversity they allow; it is argued that the upper limit on language-internal diversity should not be a matter for formal grammar, but instead requires extra-grammatical explanation in terms of the factors influencing language change and variation.

The theoretical status of morphologically conditioned phonology: a case study of dominance effects

This paper addresses the very general topic of morphologically sensitive phonology, arguing for a theory of the phonology-morphology interface in which the phonological grammar is completely insensitive to morphological information. The interface between phonology and morphology lies in the association between phonological subgrammars (“cophonologies”) and particular morphological constructions.

Nimboran position class morphology

The verbal morphemes in the Papuan language Nimboran are rigidly ordered; moreover, morphemes with identical ordering properties are in complementary distribution. This suggests that verbal morphemes belong to position classes, each permitting at most one member to surface. Certain morphemes belong simultaneously to more than one position class, with corresponding blocking of all morphemes in the relevant classes. A striking generalization is that position classes blocked in this joint fashion must be contiguous.The problem is that linear order and blocking diagnose two incompatible orderings for the position classes. The solution rests in reinterpreting verbalpositions as levels in a fixed morphological hierarchy; we resolve the ordering paradox by exploiting the distinction between dominance and precedence available in a hierarchical structure.This paper adduces new support for the theory of level-ordering and offers a formal theory of position class morphology, a well-known phenomenon which deserves attention in morphological theory. It also covers a large corpus of data — and certain phenomena — not previously discussed in the generative literature.

Turkish stress: a review

This work evaluates an argument recently made in these pages by Kabak & Vogel (2001) to the effect that the analysis of Turkish which they develop is superior on theoretical grounds to that of past accounts. Kabak & Vogel explicitly contrast their account to that offered in two recent, comprehensive discussions of Turkish stress by Inkelas & Orgun (1998) and Inkelas (1999). Careful consideration of the data discussed by Kabak & Vogel and by Inkelas & Orgun, as well as some additional data introduced in this paper, shows that the original Inkelas & Orgun analysis achieves greater empirical coverage while using less theoretical machinery.

The dual theory of reduplication

Abstract This article argues that the fundamental typological distinction pertaining to reduplication is that between phonological duplication and morphological doubling (the Dual Theory of reduplication). Phonological duplication, which occurs for a phonological purpose such as providing an onset or nucleus for a syllable or filling in the featural content of an otherwise unspecified timing unit in the representation, is formally related to phonological assimilation, modeled here via the mechanism of string-internal correspondence. It obeys phonological locality conditions, targets phonologically defined constituents, and is sensitive to phonological markedness considerations. Morphological doubling, which occurs for a morphological purpose such as marking a change in meaning or creating a new stem type, is the result of the doubling of a morphological category such as root, stem, or affix. Morphological doubling, modeled via the “double insertion” mechanism of Morphological Doubling Theory (Inkelas and Zoll 2005), is not derived by phonological correspondence and therefore is not subject to any of the phonological properties characteristic of phonological duplication; the two copies, related morphosemantically, are phonologically independent.

The architecture and the implementation of a finite state pronunciation lexicon for Turkish

This paper describes the architecture and the implementation of a full-scale pronunciation lexicon for Turkish using finite state technology. The system produces at its output, a parallel representation of the pronunciation and the morphological analysis of the word form so that further disambiguation processes can be used to disambiguate pronunciation. The pronunciation representation is based on the SAMPA standard and also encodes the position of the primary stress. The computation of the position of the primary stress depends on an interplay of any exceptional stress in root words and stress properties of certain morphemes, and requires that a full morphological analysis be done. The system has been implemented using XRCE Finite State Toolkit.

Reconsidering bracket erasure

Whether there are limits on the amount of morphological information that the grammar can access has been the topic of much debate. In early cyclic approaches to phonology (Chomsky, Halle & Lukoff 1956, Chomsky & Halle 1968), the erasure of morphological boundaries at the end of cycles (Bracket Erasure) was simply a mechanism that drove the cyclic derivation. In The Sound Pattern of English (SPE), for example, Chomsky & Halle (1968) derived cyclic phonology in the following way

EMERGENT TEMPLATES: THE UNUSUAL CASE OF TIENE

In this paper we analyze an unusual pattern of stem formation in Tiene (Bantu) which appears to involve a related pair of highly restricted prosodic templates. 1 In showing that these templates can profitably be reconstrued as the result of constraint interaction, we provide support for the program of McCarthy and Prince (in press) to derive prosodic templates from the grammar, rather than stipulating the templates as objects to which strings must be fitted. 1. Data As background to the morphological and phonological structure of the Tiene verb, consider the following representation of the verb in Bantu languages:

The interplay of morphology and phonology

1. Introduction 2. Morphologically conditioned phonology 3. Process morphology 4. Prosodic templates 5. Reduplication 6. Infixation 7. Interleaving: The phonological interpretation of morphologically complex words 8. Morphologically derived environment effects 9. Phonology interferes with morphology 10. Nonparallelism between phonological and morphological structure 11. Paradigmatic effects 12. Conclusion