| ROA: | 247 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Evidence for MaxFeature constraints from Japanese |
| Authors: | Linda Lombardi |
| Comment: | |
| Length: | 19 |
| Abstract: | Evidence for MaxFeature constraints from Japanese Linda Lombardi University of Maryland, College Park This paper presents an analysis of an interesting conspiracy in Japanese phonology and gives an argument that Correspondence Theory (McCarthy and Prince 1995) within Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993) must recognize the existence of MaxFeature constraints, which regulate faithfulness directly between features. In McCarthy and Prince and much subsequent work, featural faithfulness is regulated by Ident constraints, which check whether corresepondent segments are featurally identical. But arguments have been presented by Causely 1996, LaMontagne and Rice 1995, Lombardi 1995, Walker 1997 that there are phenomena which cannot be analyzed solely with Ident constraints for featural faithfulness, but require direct feature correspondence. I will provide an additional argument using data from the Japanese verb paradigm, and also will show how this analysis eliminates the apparent need for rule ordering in certain cases in the paradigm. To conclude I will examine the need for further research into MaxF constraints, especially the existence of strict limitations on how far features can "move" from their underlying position. |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
| Area/Keywords: | |
| Article: | Version 1 |