Prosodic identity in copy epenthesis: evidence for a correspondence-based approach
Juliet Stanton, Sam Zukoff
direct link: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003522
June 2017
This paper focuses on languages that exhibit processes of copy epenthesis, specifically those where the similarity between a copy vowel and its host extends to prosodic or suprasegmental resemblance. We argue that copy vowels and their hosts strive for identity in all prosodic properties, and show that this drive for prosodic identity can cause misapplication in the assignment of properties such as stress, pitch, and length. To explain these effects, we argue that any successful analysis of copy epenthesis must involve a correspondence relation (following Kitto and de Lacy 1999). Our proposal successfully predicts the extant typology of prosodic identity effects in copy epenthesis; alternative analyses of copy epenthesis relying solely on featural spreading (e.g. Kawahara 2007) or gestural realignment (e.g. Hall 2003, 2006) do not naturally capture the effects discussed here.

Arabic stress with no moras, no syllables, no feet and no extrametricality
Noam Faust, Shanti Ulfsbjorninn
direct link: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003520
June 2017
This paper continues the effort that began in Scheer & Szigetvari (2005) to present a compelling alternative to moraic accounts of stress systems, framed in the theory of Strict CV (Lowenstamm 1996). For this purpose, the empirical basis of the paper is a stronghold of moraic theory: stress in Palestinian Arabic, with its rich interplay of syllable structure and stress assignment, involving quantity sensitivity, a syllabically-determined stress shift and metrically-conditioned long vowel shortening. Showcasing the innovative grid-based notion of weight incorporation in Ulfsbjorninn (2014), the account provided recognizes only one unit relevant for meter: the nucleus. No appeal is made to moras, syllables, feet or extrametricality. Besides these principled advantages over the traditional moraic account, it is shown that metrical vowel shortening is much more simply explained in the present framework than in the moraic account, and can also explain final vowel shortening. The analysis is also brought to bear on Cairene Arabic, which in our analysis differs from Palestinian in a single parameter setting. Finally, the paper also improves on previous analyses of meter in Strict CV, as for the first time in Strict CV metrics, a computational component is explicitly formalized. Given all of the advantages of the Strict CV account here presented, we submit that this framework, rather than the moraic alternative, should be pursued.

A theory of the theory of vowels
Edoardo Cavirani, Marc Van Oostendorp
direct link: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003514
September 2017
We represent the most common vowel contrasts in a theory that allows only (recursive) embedding of sets, including the empty set. Such a theory needs neither features nor elements. We show that from such a theory we can actually derive some common properties of the element set |A, I, U|: why are there only three of them? And why does |A| behave differently from the other two? Furthermore, the theory also gives a natural place to both schwa and the completely empty nucleus. We also show how this theory is related to some earlier proposals in the literature.

Syntax-prosody interactions in the clausal domain: Head movement and Coalescence [Dissertation]
Brian Hsu
direct link: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003512
July 2016
This dissertation addresses two core questions in linguistic theory. [1] What are the sources of variation in word order, both within and across languages? [2] What information is shared between the syntactic and phonological modules of natural language grammar? It makes several proposals regarding possible mappings of syntactic structures to surface word order, and the role that phonological information plays in syntactic derivations. It argues that phonological considerations can influence word order by determining the optimal pronunciation of movement copies, and that some syntactic operations are driven by requirements to produce phonologically licit structures. The first few chapters examine the role of the Phonetic Form (PF) grammar in the linearization of movement copies and in the creation of prosodic structure. It presents an analysis of a puzzling pattern in Bangla (a.k.a. Bengali) that involves variation in the placement of the subordinating complementizer je. It is shown that previous analyses, which rely purely on grammatical or discourse properties, do not adequately account for the pattern. New data on Bangla prosody is presented to argue that variation in complementizer placement is driven by a grounded phonological constraint against the placement of je in the initial position of an Intonational Phrase. This leads to an implementation of the PF component as an Optimality-Theoretic grammar in which phonological and syntactic well-formedness conditions compete to determine the optimal pronunciation of movement copies. The remainder of the dissertation turns to the accessibility of phonological information to syntactic operations. It proposes the existence of a syntactic operation, Coalescence, which bundles structurally adjacent heads into a single, featurally complex head. This operation derives variation in how category features are realized on heads, as well as certain types of head-adjunction and cliticization. It is argued that the application of Coalescence is properly motivated and constrained by a requirement to eliminate heads that would be deficient in their phonological realization, suggesting that a restricted amount of information about phonological exponence is visible to syntactic operations. The approach is illustrated in analyses of cross-linguistic variation in the realization of positions within the clausal left periphery and the inflectional domain, with a focus on verb second effects and verb movement.

String Phonology
Ollie Sayeed
direct link: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003508
June 2017
I give a formal model of phonology, which I call String Phonology, which maps strings to strings. In line with substance-free and evolutionary phonology, the model doesn’t try to limit phonology to ‘natural’ rules; instead, it’s supposed to be maximally general, performing any sort of computation on strings given the pieces of machinery that are needed to account for attested rules. In section 2, I discuss some preliminaries in methodology around how to pick a theory of phonology from the evidence. In section 3, I introduce the model; in section 4, I define the operations that produce allowable strings; and in section 5, I explain the ‘delete-and-unify’ model of how rules act on strings. In section 6, I discuss what sorts of rules are possible and impossible under this model.