| ROA: | 13 |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Emergence of the Unmarked: Optimality in Prosodic Morphology |
| Authors: | John J. McCarthy, Alan Prince |
| Comment: | |
| Length: | 47 |
| Abstract: | The Emergence of the Unmarked: Optimality in Prosodic Morphology John J. McCarthy UMass Amherst Alan Prince Rutgers University Published (1994) in Mercè Gonzàlez, ed., Proceedings of the North East Linguistics Society 24, GLSA, Amherst, MA. Pp. 333-379. French translation (1997) \'L\'émergence du non marqué. L\'optimalité en morphologie prosodique,\' Langages special issue \'Nouvelles phonologies\', vol. 125, pp. 55?99. Ed. Bernard Laks, trans. Marc Klein. This paper identifies and illustrates a key consequence of Optimality Theory called \'emergence of the unmarked\'. In OT, a constraint can be active even if it is crucially dominated. A low-ranking markedness constraint, then, can decide between candidates, as long as they tie on all higher-ranking constraints. The linguistic structure that is unmarked with respect to this constraint can emerge in such circumstances. This notion is applied to a core problem in the theory of Prosodic Morphology, that of defining templates. The frequently encountered minimal-word template is shown to emerge from markedness constraints on prosodic structure. (Also see ROA-59, ROA-216, and ROA-236.) |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
| Area/Keywords: | Phonology,Formal Analysis |
| Article: | Version 1 |