| ROA: | 384 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Optionality and Ineffability |
| Authors: | Eric Bakovic, Edward Keer |
| Comment: | Appeared in Géraldine Legendre, Jane Grimshaw and Sten Vikner (eds.), Optimality Theoretic Syntax, MIT Press, 2001. |
| Length: | 17 |
| Abstract: | We propose that the locus of true optionality is in the underlying form or input. There exist faithfulness constraints on distinctive formal properties of syntactic structures which disfavor deviation from the input in each case. If these faithfulness constraints are ranked above markedness constraints against one or another of the possible outputs, the result is (apparent) optionality. As is generally assumed in OT, language-particular ineffability results from the opposite ranking of faithfulness below markedness. This ranking forces avoidance of marked structure in the output through unfaithful input-output mappings. This paper consolidates, and in some parts improves on, work by both authors, independent and joint: Bakovic, Eric. 1997. Complementizers, Faithfulness, and Optionality. ROA-212, Rutgers Optimality Archive, http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/roa.html. Keer, Edward & Eric Bakovic. 1997. Have Faith in Syntax. In E. Curtis, J. Lyle, and G. Webster, eds., Proceedings of the Sixteenth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 255-269. CSLI, Stanford, Calif. [ROA-200, Rutgers Optimality Archive, http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/roa.html.] Our names appear here in alphabetical order. Portions of the present version were presented independently by both authors at the First Workshop on Optimality Theory Syntax in 1997 at Universitaet Stuttgart. |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
| Area/Keywords: | Syntax |
| Article: | Version 1 |