| ROA: | 172 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Mongolian Stress, Licensing, and Factorial Typology |
| Authors: | Rachel Walker |
| Comment: | Updated 07/27/00; supercedes previous versions of ROA-172-0197 |
| Length: | |
| Abstract: | Mongolian Stress, Licensing, and Factorial Typology Rachel Walker University of Southern California This paper examines the analysis and typology of prominence-based stress systems, which do not call on binary rhythms but depend solely on factors such as syllable weight or sonority, peripherality, and nonfinality in locating stress (Prince 1983, 1990; Prince & Smolensky 1993). Four prominence-driven constraints are defined which position stress independent of foot structure. Pursuing the optimality-theoretic hypothesis that typology derives from factorial constraint ranking, it is established that reranking accurately captures attested variation, and further, that the range of prominence-driven patterns is richer than previous conceptions, including variation in nonfinality effects. Two important empirical and theoretical findings are presented. First, new data from East Mongolian dialects are introduced, correcting a misinterpretation of the Khalkha stress pattern and illuminating the analysis with a case uniquely employing all four prominence- driven constraints. Second, opposite-edge default is argued to be a categorical licensing effect, informed by the typological result that nonfinality only fails to cooccur with opposite-side systems when the default is to the right. This finds new evidence for Zoll's (1996) licensing account of conflicting directionality and offers an argument against alternative foot-based analyses. |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
| Area/Keywords: | |
| Article: | Version 1 |