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ROA:126
Title:Vowel/Glide Alternation in a Theory of Constraint Interaction
Authors:Samuel Rosenthall
Comment:240 pages
Length:40
Abstract:Vowel/Glide Alternation in a Theory of Constraint Interaction

(Ph.D Dissertation, UMass, Amherst. September 1994)



Samuel Rosenthall

Ohio State University





This dissertation examines the distribution of high vowels and glides

using Prince and Smolensky's Optimality Theory, which proposes that

phonological constraints are violable and hierarchically ranked. The

distribution of high vowels and glides is shown to be a consequence of

simultaneously comparing moraic and nonmoraic syllabifications of high

vowels for satisfaction of phonological constraints. In brief, a high

vowel surfaces when the moraic parse best satisfies the constraints

and a glide surfaces when the nonmoraic parse best satisfies the

constraints. This dissertation investigates three main phenomena

associated with the distribution of high vowels and glides.



First, it treats the syllabification of vowel sequences in a number of

languages with only surface monophthongal vowels. In Etsako, Luganda,

Kimatuumbi, and Ilokano, high vocoids are syllabified as vowels when

followed by a consonant, but there are syllabified as their nonmoraic

counterparts when followed by another vowel. Furthermore, the

syllabification of nonhigh vowels varies across these languages. The

syllabification of vowel sequences is shown to follow from the

interaction of syllable structure constraints that ensure the surface

vowel is a monophthong. The interlinguistic variation in

syllabification is shown to follow from different rankings of the same

set of syllable structure constraints.



Second, stress can influence the distribution of high vowels. In

Lenakel and Spanish, the generalization is that a high vocoid adjacent

to a nonhigh vowel is a vowel when stressed otherwise it is a glide.

This generalization implies that stress placement must be known prior

to syllabification, which is problematic in procedural approaches to

constituent construction, where syllabification must precede

metrification. In the Optimality-Theoretic approach, the distribution

of high vowels is determined by simultaneously best satisfying the

metrical and the syllable structure constraints.



Third, the distribution of high vowels and glides cannot always be

attributed to an alternation between underlying vowels and glides. In

a language like Berber, glides must be present underlyingly, and these

underlying glides can alternate with high vowels. This is often called

glide vocalization. The alternation between underlying glides and

high vowels in Berber is also shown to be the result of constraint

interaction. In this case, moraic and nonmoraic syllabifications of

the underlying glide are compared for constraint satisfaction.



TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.....................................................v

ABSTRACT............................................................vi



1. INTRODUCTION.....................................................1

1.1 Overview.....................................................1

1.2 The Vowel/Glide Alternation..................................2

1.3 Optimality Theory............................................8

1.4 Syllable Structure Constraints..............................13

1.5 Underlying Representations..................................24



2. SURFACE PATTERNS OF UNDERLYING VOWEL SEQUENCES..................31

2.1 Introduction................................................31

2.2 Etsako......................................................32

2.2.1 The Distribution of Nonmoraic Vocoids...................33

2.2.2 Vowel Elision...........................................41

2.3 Yoruba......................................................49

2.3.1 /i/ and Elision.........................................51

2.4 Luganda.....................................................54

2.4.1 Luganda Syllable Structure..............................55

2.4.2 Vowel Elision...........................................56

2.4.3 High Vocoids and Vowel Length...........................63

2.4.4 High Vocoids and Short Vowels...........................65

2.4.5 Vowel Length and Prenasalization........................70

2.4.6 Previous Analyses of Luganda............................78

2.5 Kimatuumbi..................................................83

2.5.1 Sequences with a Nonhigh Vowel..........................83

2.5.2 The Distribution of Nonmoraic Vocoids...................85

2.5.3 Glides as Onsets........................................89

2.6 Ilokano.....................................................93

2.6.1 Ilokano Syllable Structure..............................93

2.6.2 Vowel Sequences in Ilokano..............................94

2.6.3 Nonmoraic Vocoids and Geminates.........................97

2.7 Conclusion.................................................104



3. METRICAL INFLUENCES ON SYLLABIFICATION.........................108

3.1 Introduction...............................................108

3.2 Lenakel....................................................109

3.2.1 Lenakel Syllable Structure.............................110

3.2.2 Lenakel Stress.........................................115

3.2.3 Metrification and Syllabification......................117

3.2.4 Postvocalic High Vocoids...............................122

3.2.5 Underlying Glides......................................129

3.2.5.1 The Phoneme /v/....................................131

3.2.6 Previous Work On Lenakel...............................132

3.3 Spanish....................................................133

3.3.1 Spanish Syllable Structure.............................135

3.3.2 Spanish Metrical Structure.............................144

3.3.2.1 Previous Analyses of Spanish Stress................150

3.3.3 Stress and Syllabification.............................151

3.3.3.1 The Penultimate Position...........................152

3.3.3.1.1 Postvocalic High Vocoids.......................152

3.3.3.1.2 Prevocalic High Vocoids........................155

3.3.3.2 The Final Position.................................161

3.3.3.2.1 Prevocalic Vocoids.............................161

3.3.3.2.2 Postvocalic Vocoids............................164

3.3.3.3 The Antepenultimate Position.......................166

3.4 Intervocalic Glides........................................171

3.5 Evidence for Phonemic Glides...............................173

3.6 Conclusion.................................................176



4. OTHER SOURCES OF GLIDES........................................178

4.1 Introduction...............................................178

4.2 Homorganic Glides and Epenthetic Consonants................178

4.2.1 Other Examples of Homorganic Glide Distribution........190

4.3 Consonantal Glides.........................................203

4.3.1 Ilokano Diphthongs.....................................204

4.3.2 Ponapean Reduplication.................................207

4.4 Glide Vocalization.........................................211

4.4.1 Vocoid Distribution in Ait Segrouchen Berber...........212

4.4.2 Vocalized Glides and Epenthesis

in Kabyle and Ath-Sidhar Rifian.......................219

4.4.3 Vocalized Glides and Vocalized Consonants

in Imdlawn Tashlhiyt..................................233

4.5 Conclusion.................................................236

4.6 Concluding Remarks.........................................237



REFERENCES.........................................................238
Type:Dissertation
Area/Keywords:
Article:Version 1