DoctorSquidPerson600
1. Constraint violations. For each of the following sets of a…
1. Constraint violations. For each of the following sets of a constraint, an underlying representation, and a surface form, specify how many violations are incurred. (Assume the SF is derived from the UR as simply as possible, so as to minimize faithfulness violations.)
Constraint
UR
SF
# Violations
Max
/adebo/
[ade]
Dep
/adebo/
[ade]
*[+voice,-sonorant]
/lopdi/
[lobdi]
*V#
/nenza/
[ninzi]
Ident[nasal]
/mopanu/
[mõpanu]
*[+nasal][-nasal]
/mopanu/
[mõpanu]
*[+nasal][-nasal,-consonantal]
/mopanu/
[mõpanu]
Ident[place]
/slips/
[zlits]
NoCoda
/zampal/
[zam.pal]
DepV
/tronde/
[itrõde]
2. In each of the following tableaux, fill in the violations and mark the winning candidate (? or ?).
2a.
/beað/ *VV Dep Max
[beað]
[beð]
[berað]
2b.
/bepz/ MaxC *C# DepV
[bepz]
[bep]
[be]
[bepzi]
3. Now let’s try to rank constraints as part of an analysis, using Igbo vowel harmony as our test analysis. Igbo has eight vowels, with three relevant features:
[+ATR]
[-ATR]
[-back] [+back]
[+high] i u
[-high] e o
[-back] [+back]
[+high] ? ?
[-high] a ?
Here are some surface forms of affixed words in Igbo, plus the underlying representation of the two roots. Assume all affixes have underlying [+ATR] vowels.
UR
imperative
infinitive
nominal
3rd sing. neg.
‘cook’
/si/
si+e
i+si
o+si
o+si+ghi
‘tell’
/s?/
s?+a
?+s?
?+s?
?+s?+gh?
3a. Complete a descriptive generalization for the vowel harmony process in Igbo, based on this data.
3b. Here are five possibly relevant constraints, including what counts as a violation of each constraint. For each constraint, mark whether it is a Markedness or Faithfulness (M/F) constraint.
Harmony[ATR]
one violation if the SR vowels do not all have the same ATR value
Harmony[Back]
one violation if the SR vowels do not all have the same backness value
Ident[ATR]
one violation for each vowel that changes its ATR value between UR & SR
Ident[ATR]Root
one violation for each root vowel that changes its ATR value between UR & SR
Ident[Back]
one violation for each vowel that changes its backness value between UR & SR
3c. What is the ranking between Harmony[Back] and Ident[Back] in Igbo? Fill in the mini-tableau with a ranking argument (a pair of candidates that conflict on these constraints, but tie on the rest) from the UR /o+s?/, the nominal form of tell. I’ve included the losing candidate this time.
/o+s?/
? [?+s?]
[a+s?]
3d. What is the ranking between Harmony [ATR] and Ident[ATR]? Illustrate a ranking argument in the mini-tableau below, using an appropriate losing candidate.
/o+s?/
? [?+s?]
3e. What is the ranking between Ident[ATR]Root and Ident[ATR]? Illustrate a ranking argument in the mini-tableau below, using an appropriate losing candidate.
/o+s?+ghi/
? [?+s?+gh?]
3f. Since Igbo vowel harmony doesn’t cover backness, we can say that Ident[Back] is a very high-ranked constraint and Harmony[Back] is very low-ranked.
The only remaining constraints to worry about are the ATR constraints. Fill in the constraints and their violations for the third person singular negative form of tell. Note that two of the constraints can be ranked in either order, but one constraint must be ranked below both of them.
/o+s?+ghi/
[o.s?g.hi]
? [?.s?g.h?]
[o.sig.hi]
[?.sig.h?]
4. Let’s wrap this all up by looking at how rule-based and constraint-based phonology would address the same problem. This is a made-up language, but I’ve tried to use phonological processes that happen in real languages.
root UR
1st sing.
2nd sing.
3rd sing.
/pade/
tapade
tipade
tupade
/aste/
taste
tjaste
twaste
/edurt/
tadurt
tjedurt
twedurt
/wajar/
tawajar
tiwajar
tuwajar
/?al/
ta?al
ti?al
tu?al
prefix URs ?
/ta+/
/ti+/
/tu+/
In short, this language hates VV sequences and remedies them by turning the first vowel into a glide if it is [+high], or deleting the second vowel if the first is [-high]. (For high vowels, switching [+syllabic] to [-syllabic] turns an [i] into a [j], or an [u] into a [w]. Mid and low vowels do not have glide equivalents.)
4a. Let’s start with a rule-based account. We need two rules, one to produce a glide, and one to delete the second vowel. Give formal versions of the two rules.
4b. One rule must precede the other. What is the appropriate order for them?
4c. If you swapped the order on these rules, at least one SF would be incorrect. Demonstrate this by applying the rules in the wrong order and show an incorrect SF.
In OT, we’ll need a markedness constraint to explain why the faithful manifestation of the VV UR would be bad, plus faithfulness constraints to help us choose between various solutions that other candidates offer.
4d. The relevant markedness constraint is *VV. What does this constraint mean (i.e., what counts as a violation of this constraint)?
4e. The SF [tadurt] for UR /ta+edurt/ violates a faithfulness constraint. What constraint does it violate?
4f. We know that the candidate [tadurt] beats the candidate [taedurt] for UR /ta+edurt/. Put your constraints from 4d and 4e into the tableau below and show why this is the case:
/ta+edurt/
? [tadurt]
[taedurt]
4g. The SF [tjaste] for UR /ti+aste/ violates an Ident OT constraint. What constraint does it violate (i.e., what phonological feature can’t change without violating this constraint)?
4h. We know that the candidate [tjaste] beats all other candidates for UR /ti+aste/. Put your constraints from 4d, 4e, and 4g into the tableau below to show why:
/ti+aste/
? [tjaste]
[tiste]
[taste]
[tiaste]
