Positional factors in syllabification

From the perspective of standard generative phonological theory, syllable structure is not recorded in the lexicon but it is obtained by means of a syllabification algorithm based on a series of principles. In a given language, the algorithm should parse obstruent+liquid clusters as tautosyllabic both in word-initial and word-internal positions. The tautosyllabic parse as a branching onset complies with all principles on which the syllable-building algorithm is based. In standard theory, if branching onsets of obstruent+liquid are allowed in a language and documented in word-initial position, tautosyllabic parse is predicted to hold also word-internally. Likewise, Kaye’s (1992) Uniformity Principle makes the same prediction, since it states that sequences of contiguous positions that are in a governing relation and contain the same phonological material have the same constituent structure. The present paper draws attention to empirical data showing obstruent+liquid clusters being parsed tautosyllabically in word-initial position and heterosyllabically in word-internal position in the same language. An account is proposed to explain the data discussed, claiming that positional factors may also be relevant in determining syllabification.

Tax Uniformity as a Requirement of Justice

Barbara Fried takes the view that uniform taxation—that is, a single rate applicable to all income levels—cannot be defended on any grounds of justice. She goes further by saying that, of all possible rate structures, it might be “the hardest one”? to ground in “a”? theory of fairness. Using the contractarian-constitutional perspective advanced by John Rawls and James Buchanan, this article argues that tax uniformity can be seen as a requirement of justice. After modelling how the political world realistically decides to distribute tax shares (self-interested parties act under a majority constraint), I show how the uniformity principle could emerge from the constitutional contract. In other words, rational individuals would choose uniformity as a procedural constraint under a “veil of uncertainty”?; that is, with limited knowledge regarding their positions under the future application of the rule. Moreover, I elucidate how the uniformity requirement integrates generalized criteria of fairness and efficiency into fiscal politics as it precludes fiscal exploitation and constrains majorities, and their most influential subgroups, to opt for policies in the direction of the Pareto frontier, and as such promotes outcomes acceptable to all participants.

Universal properties for universal types in bifibrational parametricity

In the 1980s, John Reynolds postulated that a parametrically polymorphic function is an ad-hoc polymorphic function satisfying a uniformity principle. This allowed him to prove that his set-theoretic semantics has a relational lifting which satisfies the Identity Extension Lemma and the Abstraction Theorem. However, his definition (and subsequent variants) has only been given for specific models. In contrast, we give a model-independent axiomatic treatment by characterising Reynolds’ definition via a universal property, and show that the above results follow from this universal property in the axiomatic setting.