Comparing Positional Licensing Patterns in HG and OT

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).

Positional faithfulness drives laxness alternations in Slovenian

We analyse the distribution of vowel laxness and stress alternations in Slovenian nouns (for example in the nominative and genitive forms of the masculine noun [ˈjɛzik ~ jeˈzika] ‘tongue’), showing that stress shifts away from mid lax vowels in initial syllables. A stress shift of this sort is predicted by positional faithfulness (Beckman 1997). We show that this prediction is correct, contra McCarthy (2007, 2010) and Jesney (2011). The productivity of the pattern is confirmed in a large-scale nonce-word task. Stress shift in Slovenian is a result of the markedness of mid lax vowels and, perhaps counterintuitively, faithfulness to laxness in initial stressed position.

Positional faithfulness in Harmonic Grammar

In Tamil, coronals are licensed in onsets and initial syllables, exemplifying what Jesney (2011b) calls Licensing in Multiple Contexts (LMC). Jesney shows that while only positional faithfulness produces LMC in Optimality Theory, positional licensing provides a competing analysis of LMC in Harmonic Grammar (HG). This suggests that positional faithfulness may not be necessary in HG. We argue, though, that positional faithfulness remains essential. First, other facts in Tamil are incompatible with the positional licensing approach to LMC, rendering the positional faithfulness alternative the only viable analysis. Second, only with positional faithfulness can certain typological generalizations concerning assimilation between consonants be captured.

Drawing the krtań: Laryngeal alternations in Polish

Polish exhibits the cross-linguistically common processes of final devoicing and voice assimilation. Notably, these target not only obstruents and obstruent clusters, but also certain obstruent-sonorant clusters. This paper argues for an analysis in Harmonic Serialism where sonorants acquire laryngeal nodes, thereby becoming susceptible to the same constraints that act on obstruents. There is an asymmetry between OS#O clusters, which show assimilation, and O#SO clusters, which do not. The analysis captures this asymmetry with positional faithfulness constraints on word-initial sonorants. The analysis also straightforwardly models other patterns in Polish and neatly captures a dialectal difference between Warsaw and Cracow Polish with a single constraint reranking.

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

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.

Servigliano revisited: An examination from constraint-based serialism

This paper examines a metaphonic chain shift in Servigliano (Italo-Romance), in which /ɛ, ɔ/ raise to [e, o] and /e, o/ raise to [i, u] when stressed and followed by inflectional /i, u/. The paper also explores pre-tonic metaphony, whereby /ɛ, ɔ/ raise all the way up to [i, u] when followed by a stressed high vowel. First, an analysis of the data is developed using Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains (OT-CC), taking as a starting point the parallel OT analysis developed in Mascaró (2011). Second, it is shown that OT-CC causes one analytical problem and no gain in terms of economy. On the one hand, the metaphony-triggering constraint Agree(+high,+ATR) proposed in Mascaró (2011) needs to be split into two different constraints, one of which needs a more complicated formulation that requires a conditional clause. On the other hand, positional faithfulness is needed, as in the parallel OT analysis by Mascaró (2011b), to explain the asymmetry between one-step metaphony and fell-swoop pre-tonic metaphony; OT-CC provides no inherent advantage in explaining this asymmetry.

Emergent faithfulness to morphological and semantic heads in lexical blends

In many languages, sounds in certain "privileged" positions preserve marked structure which is eliminated elsewhere (Positional Faithfulness, Beckman 1998). This paper presents new corpus and experimental evidence that faithfulness to main-stress location and segmental content of morpho-semantic heads emerges in English blends. The study compared right-headed (subordinating) blends, like motor + hotel -&gt; motel (a kind of hotel) with coordinating blends like spoon + fork -&gt; spork (equally spoon and fork).<br /><br />Stress: Analysis of 1095 blends from Thurner (1993) found that right-headed blends were more faithful to stress location of the second source word than were coordinating blends. Given source words with conflicting stress (e.g., FLOUNder + sarDINE), participants preferentially matched the blend that preserved second-word stress (flounDINE) to a right-headed definition.<br /><br />Segmental content: When source-word length was controlled, segments from right-headed blends were more likely to survive than those from coordinating blends. Given source words that could be spliced at two points (e.g., flaMiNGo + MoNGoose), participants preferentially matched the one that preserved more of the second word (flamongoose) to a right-headed definition.<br /><br />These results support the hypotheses that Positional Faithfulness constraints are universally available, that heads are a privileged position, and that blend phonology is sensitive to headedness.<br /><br />