LING 97R – Language Contact Phonology April 5, 2022

LING 97R: Language Contact Phonology1

April 5, 2022
Wei-Fang Hsieh

1. Reminder
• Assignment 1 due by the end of today!
• Final presentation & meeting for final project

2. Today
• Syllable typology; markedness
• Introducing OT framework; markedness & faithfulness constraints

3. Syllable
• Syllable typology

Hua (Papua New Guinea): CV

Arabela (Peru): CV CCV
Puluwat (Western Pacific Ocean): CV CVC
Klamath (North America): CV CVC CVCC
Hawaiian: CV V
Mazateco (Mexico): CV CCV V
Finnish: CV CVC CVCC V VC VCC

Q: What syllable type is shared among languages?

• Markedness: marked vs. unmarked

Something is said to be unmarked if it is more common/general/natural or
appears in more grammars, and is said to be marked otherwise.

Q: Is onset consonant marked or unmarked? How about coda consonant?

• Implicational universals for syllable structure:

o Onset: If a language has onsetless syllables, it also has syllables with an
onset.
o Coda: If a language has syllables with a coda, it also has syllables without
coda.
o Complex onset: If a language has complex onset, it also has simplex onset.
o Complex coda: If a language has complex coda, it also has simplex coda.

1 Some materials are taken from Grad Phonology I taught by Yu-an Lu

HSIEH 1
LING 97R – Language Contact Phonology April 5, 2022

4. Syllable structure constraints

• ONSET: Syllables must have an onset.
• NOCODA: Syllables must not have codas.
• *COMPLEXONSET: Syllables must not have complex onsets.
• *COMPLEXCODA: Syllables must not have complex codas.

5. Architecture of Optimality Theory (OT)

• OT (Prince and Smolensky 1993) is a model that uses constraints to map from
inputs (underlying representations, URs) to outputs (surface representations, SRs).
This model enables us to capture both language universality and language
specificity.

o Universality: same constraints shared by languages

o Specificity: different constraint rankings of individual languages

• Components of OT:
o GEN (generator): takes an input and generates possible output candidates
o CON (constraint): the constraint set that is used to decide the output
o EVAL (evaluator): chooses the optimal candidate based on the constraints and
their ranking; the optimal candidate will be the output

5.1. GEN (generator) and input

• There’s no restriction on what can serve as the input
• GEN takes the input and generates possible candidate set

Q: Language X allows CV and CVC syllables. When it borrows the word ‘tax’,
i.e. /tæks/ is the input, it must repair the complex coda ks. What are the
possible output candidates?

5.2. CON (constraint)

• In OT, constraints are language-universal. That is, they are part of the grammar in
every language.
• Constraints are violable. A language may violate a constraint just to obey other
constraint.
• Constraint rankings are language-specific. Languages may differ in their
constraint ranking.

HSIEH 2
LING 97R – Language Contact Phonology April 5, 2022

• Two types of constraints: markedness & faithfulness constraints

o Markedness constraints: define possible outputs (i.e., what is consider well-
formed in a language)
e.g., ONSET, NOCODA, *COMPLEXONSET, *COMPLEXCODA

o Faithfulness constraints: require the output and input to be identical in some

ways (i.e., they prevent changes/alternations)
Three basic types of F constraints
- MAX: no deletion
(maximize whatever is in the input to the output)
- DEP: no insertion
(output segments must have dependents in the input)
- IDENT(F): no change of value of feature F
(input and output must be identical)

e.g., If Language X adapted ‘tax’ as [tækas], it means they would rather violate
the F constraint DEP than violate the M constraint *COMPCODA. In this case,
*COMPCODA outranks/dominates MAX:

*COMPCODA ≫ DEP.

Additionally, there were (at least) two candidates [tæk] and [tækas], but
[tækas] is the winner/output. This means is DEP violable but MAX is not in X:

MAX ≫ DEP

Overall constraint ranking for Language X: *COMPCODA, MAX ≫ DEP

Q: Language Y allows coda clusters. The word ‘tax’ is borrowed into Language
Y as [tæks]. What is the constraint ranking in Y?

5.3. EVAL (evaluator) and output

• Selects the optimal output from the candidate set
• Given two candidates candA and candB, candA is better (or more “harmonic”) than
candB if candA has fewer violations on the highest-ranked constraint distinguishing
them.

Q: Two of the candidates for the input /tæks/ were [tækas] and [tækasa]. What
constraint(s) does each candidate violate?

HSIEH 3
LING 97R – Language Contact Phonology April 5, 2022

5.4. Tableaux
• The mapping from input (UR) to output (SR) can be presented in the form of
tableaux comparing the input with the candidates.
• The tableaux always include the fully faithful candidate and the optimal candidate
(the output).

e.g., the mapping from English ‘tax’ to Language X:

/tæsk/ *COMPCODA MAX DEP NOCODA

a. [tæks] *! **
b. [tæs] *! *
c. [tæk] *! *
d. F [tæsa] *
e. [tækasa] **!
f. [tæsa] *! *

• Some (a lot!) conventions:

o /input/ is in the upper left corner cell
o [output] candidates
o From left to right: highest- to lowest-ranked constraints
o The star/asterisk * marks one violation of a constraint.
o The exclamation mark ! indicates a fatal violation (i.e., a candidate violates a
constraint that is ranked very high, so it’s kicked out).
o The shaded cells indicate that the lower ranked constraints are irrelevant for
a candidate because it has already been ruled out or it is.
o The pointing finger F marks the optimal candidate/output/winner.
o Solid lines separating constraints indicate that they are crucially ranked
o Dotted or dashed lines indicate non-crucial ranking.

HSIEH 4
LING 97R – Language Contact Phonology April 5, 2022

6. For Thursday
• Samoan loanwords

Samoan English
(1) pisi busy
(2) pasi bus
(3) pesini pasin
(4) pani bun
(5) kirisimasi Christmas
(6) pireniti friend

o Permitted syllable types:

o Generalization (constraint raking):
o Evidence:

• Poluwat loanwords

Poluwat English
(1) peleː play
(2) puruːm broom
(3) kalas glass
(4) kiriːs grease
(5) peːnit paint
(6) milik milk
(7) jaritmetik arithmetic
(8) jaliketor alligator

o Permitted syllable types:

o Generalization (constraint raking):
o Evidence:

7. Assignment 2 will be posted tonight

HSIEH 5