McCarvel (2016): Harmonic Serialism with Lexical Selection: Evidence from Jèrriais allomorphy

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/content/article/files/1555_mccarvel_1.pdf

ROA: 1288
Title: Harmonic Serialism with Lexical Selection: Evidence from Jèrriais allomorphy
Authors: Miranda McCarvel
Comment:  
Length: 219
Abstract: Harmonic Serialism (HS) is a constraint based theory of phonology that has gained interest in the last ten years. As a theory of phonology, HS must be able to account for phonologically conditioned allomorphy. Currently in HS, phonologically conditioned allomorphy is analyzed in one of two ways – either using a single underlying representation in HS or through the realizational framework of Optimal Interleaving (known as Harmonic Serialism with Optimal Interleaving (HS/OI)). Yet, using data from Jersey Norman French (Jèrriais), I show that neither approach can account for certain cases of phonologically conditioned allomorphy. To remedy this deficiency, I propose the inclusion of Lexical Selection (LS) in HS in a framework termed Harmonic Serialism with Lexical Selection (HS/LS). LS provides for the lexical listing of allomorphs and, when needed, the ordering of allomorphs in the input to reflect a grammar’s preference to use certain allomorphs regardless of surface markedness.

Using data from Jèrriais, Dyirbal, Moroccan Arabic, Polish, and Catalan I develop a full theory of HS/LS. I explore how GEN is conceived of in HS, how allomorph selection functions within the theory, and how HS/LS can handle certain cases of opacity. I propose a revision of the constraint PRIORITY, which is the LS constraint responsible for ensuring respect of allomorph ordering, from a gradient faithfulness constraint to a categorical markedness constraint. The incorporation of LS into HS is important in that it allows HS to more fully account for phonologically conditioned allomorphy.

Type: Dissertation
Keywords: Phonology; Phonologically Conditioned Allomorphy; Jersey Norman French; Jerriais; Harmonic Serialism; Lexical Selection