| ROA: | 336 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Esimbi Vowel Height Shift: Implications for Faith and Markedness |
| Authors: | Rachel Walker |
| Comment: | |
| Length: | 14 |
| Abstract: | Esimbi Vowel Height Shift: Implications for Faith and Markedness Rachel Walker USC Esimbi shifts vowel height features from root to prefix (Hyman 1988). This analysis explores several points of interest illuminating feature theory. The surface distribution of height seems to counter the generalization that affixes are unmarked relative to roots, captured in Optimality Theory by a metaconstraint ranking root faithfulness constraints over affix faithfulness (McCarthy and Prince 1994). I argue that this metaconstraint actually plays a critical role in producing the shift. Two related findings are that the feature transfer requires a direct correspondence relation between features and this positional licensing effect presents support for Positional Markedness constraints (Zoll 1996); it cannot be expressed in terms of Positional Faithfulness (Beckman 1998). |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
| Area/Keywords: | |
| Article: | Version 1 |