1. Issues in Dutch devoicing: Positional faithfulness, positional markedness, and local conjunction

2007 ◽  
pp. 1-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim Zonneveld
Keyword(s):  
Positional Faithfulness ◽  
Positional Markedness

scholarly journals Comparing Positional Licensing Patterns in HG and OT

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Bakovic ◽  
Anna Mai
Keyword(s):  
Counter Example ◽  
Feature Values ◽  
Positional Faithfulness ◽  
Positional Markedness ◽  
Made In

Positional licensing refers to the observation that elements (e.g. particular feature values or feature value combinations) can be limited to specific positions (e.g. syllable onsets, initial syllables, stressed syllables, etc.). Positional licensing patterns have been analyzed using either positional markedness or positional faithfulness constraints in OT and HG. In this paper we demonstrate that the predictions of OT and HG diverge in deep but structured ways once there are more than two licensing positions. We propose an account for this structured divergence based on 3-position systems, and confirm the validity of that account with an analysis of 4-position systems. We also describe how conjoined constraints impact positional licensing patterns, and in doing so provide a counter-example to a claim made in our previous work (Mai & Baković 2020).

Non-optimal onsets in Chamicuro: an inventory maximised in coda position

Phonology ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Parker
Keyword(s):  
Side Effect ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Unusual Distribution ◽  
Positional Markedness

The widely attested onset/coda asymmetry involves a situation in which the inventory of phonemes in syllable-final position in a particular language is a subset of those which contrast in onsets. The inverse of this pattern has been claimed to never occur (Goldsmith 1990, Beckman 1998). However, this prediction is falsified by Chamicuro, a Peruvian language in which /h/ and /[glottal plosive]/ are systematically restricted to coda position. Since no permutation of all known constraints can account for this unusual distribution, a new constraint is necessary. I propose that we invoke HAVEPLACE and subcategorise it for onsets. This positional markedness filter permits placeless (laryngeal) consonants to surface in codas, but blocks them in onsets. A beneficial side-effect of this analysis is that it preserves the onset/coda asymmetry while allowing /[glottal plosive]/ and /h/ to be the only principled exceptions to it.

The role of prosodic structure in the L2 acquisition of Spanish stop lenition

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro
Keyword(s):  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Markedness Constraint ◽  
L2 Spanish ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Positional Faithfulness ◽  
L1 English

This study tests the hypothesis that late first-language English / second-language Spanish learners (L1 English / L2 Spanish learners) acquire spirantization in stages according to the prosodic hierarchy (Zampini, 1997, 1998). In Spanish, voiced stops [b d g] surface after a pause or nasal stop, and continuants [β̞ ð̞ ɣ̞] surface postvocalically, among other contexts. We adopt an Optimality Theoretic analysis of the phenomenon that assumes that postvocalic continuants surface due to the ranking of prosodic positional faithfulness constraints below a markedness constraint that prohibits stops in postvocalic position. L1 English speakers are presumed to start with a ranking in which prosodic positional faithfulness outranks the markedness constraint. In line with the Gradual Learning Algorithm (Boersma and Hayes, 2001), gradual demotion of the relevant faithfulness constraints is predicted in L2 Spanish, extending the prosodic domain until continuants surface postvocalically across domains. A cross-section of 44 L1 English / L2 Spanish learners and a control group ( n = 5) completed a recitation task, and data were analysed acoustically for manner of articulation and degree of constriction. Results partially align with Zampini’s impressionistic data: Learners first produce underlying stops as postvocalic approximants at the onset of the syllable (word-medial position), followed by the onset of the prosodic word (word-initial position). Unlike Zampini’s findings, there is no evidence for an intermediate stage of acquisition across the boundary of a word and its clitic. Advanced L2 learners produce continuants in postvocalic position at all applicable prosodic levels, which we take to indicate acquisition of the target ranking. We also examined whether learners’ postvocalic continuants are lenited to the same degree as the control group, and whether degree of lenition changes across development. The difference in degree of lenition between controls and learners lessens at higher levels of the prosodic hierarchy as acquisition progresses, and several advanced learners produce target-like segments across prosodic levels.

German fricatives: coda devoicing or positional faithfulness?

Phonology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Beckman ◽  
Michael Jessen ◽  
Catherine Ringen
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Positional Faithfulness ◽  
Present Experimental Evidence

AbstractIn this paper we show how Jessen & Ringen's (2002) analysis of voicing in German stops can be extended to account for the voicing of German fricatives. It is argued that while stops in German contrast for the feature [spread glottis], fricatives contrast for [voice] (and [spread glottis]). Our analysis, which involves presonorant faithfulness, is compared to an analysis with coda devoicing. We show that the two analyses make crucially different predictions, and present experimental evidence in support of the presonorant faithfulness analysis. The experimental results show considerable variation, which can be accommodated in our OT analysis.

scholarly journals Positional Markedness as a By-Product of the Learning Situation

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 545
Author(s):  
Alexei Kochetov
Keyword(s):  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Learning Situation ◽  
General Session ◽  
Positional Markedness

Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Phonetic Sources of Phonological Patterns: Synchronic and Diachronic Explanations (2003)

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