Parallelism and planes in optimality theory: evidence from afar
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A Paradox for OTIn this section I use the previously motivated constraints to analyze the Afar data. I show that no ranking of the constraints in a monoplanar parallel model can account for the order of the affixes without resulting in a paradox. I first show the monoplanar parallel model has some explanatory value as it accounts for a subset of the data. I then proceed to data in which trouble arises. The analysis of second person plural vowel-initial verbs poses a paradox with respect to the analysis of the consonant-initial first person plurals: it requires the opposite ordering of the aspect (r) and plural (r). First person consonant–initial plurals require that aspect (r) dominates plural (r) to select [rab–n–e#] instead of *[rab–e–n], but second person plural vowel–initial forms require that plural (r) dominates aspect (r) to get the correct [t–okm–e–n] instead of the incorrect *[t–okom–n–e].50 In this and following analyses, I argue that syllabification constraints play a role in the location of variable-position affixes. I briefly show how this works. Imagine an input consisting of four morphemes: the root (rab), second person (t), plural (n) and aspect (ee). GEN will produce outputs with all possible orders of these morphemes. Some of these orders will require that a vowel be epenthesized or a consonant deleted in order to syllabify the string without violating *cmp. (185) Possible Outputs that Violate Syllabification Constraints Outputs Violation a. [n][rab][t][e] b. [t][rab][e][n] *cmp pl-die-2-asp You (pl) die b. [n]V[rab][t][ee] d. [t]V[rab][e][n] dep (m) pl-V-die-2-asp c. [rab][t][ee] f. [rab][e][n] max (c) die-2-asp This means that constraints which determine allowable syllable structure, irrespective of the lower ranked morphological constraints, will require that all three of these affixes occur on the same side of the root on consonant-initial verbs. Syllabification constraints also play a role in ordering the affixes even when they are all on the same side of the root. Person and plural cannot occur together on either side of aspect without requiring epenthesis or deletion. (186) Syllabification Constraints and the Order of Morphemes a. *[rab][t][n][ee] b. *[rab][ee][t][n] In other words, higher ranked syllabification constraints limit the candidates to be decided between by the lower ranked morphological constraints to the four outputs shown in (199). The morphological alignment constraints decide between these possibilities. (187) Outputs Decide Among by Morphological Constraints a. [t][e][n][rab] b. [n][e][t][rab] c. [rab][n][e][t] d. [rab][t][e][n] I now show how this analysis translates into OT. Syllabification constraints prevent aspect and plural from occurring on opposite sides of the root as shown in the tableaux in (188) - (190). If plural occurs to the left of the consonant–initial root but aspect to the right, a complex onset would result as in (188a). (188) *cmp
Another nonoptimal possibility would be that an epenthetic vowel is inserted between the consonants (189a). (189) dep (m)
Another nonoptimal output would be that one of the consonants is deleted as in (190a). (190) max (m)
This leaves the optimal form as one where aspect is rightmost and plural and aspect are on the same side of the root as in (190b). There is no evidence for any ordering of these constraints as all of the outputs have one max (m) violation: the optimal form has no additional relevant constraint violations. The other possible outputs are the ones where plural and aspect both occur on the same side of the root. Some of these possibilities are shown in (191). onset or aspect (r) will rule out forms where aspect is prefixed (191a, b). Notice that aspect (r) must be ranked above max (m) as (191b) has no max (m) violations, but the optimal form does. (191) aspect (r) >> max (m); onset
Of the other forms, the ones with both plural and aspect as suffixes, the optimal form is the one where aspect is rightmost (192b), as it has the least aspect (r) violations. (192) aspect (r)
In the vowel-initial forms, if plural is not leftmost, a fatal onset violation will occur. (193) onset
Of the remaining possible outputs, (194) is the most optimal because it has the least violations of aspect (r). (194) aspect (r)
onset must dominate plural (r) so that plural will occur in onset position rather than to the right of the root as required by plural (r). Additionally, aspect (r) must dominate max (m) as the optimal form has more max (m) violations than the nonoptimal form. The second person plural input consists of four morphemes: plural, person, aspect and a root as shown in (195-197). Person and plural cannot occur on the same side of the root without aspect between them, or a syllabification violation will result as shown in (195)-(197). (195) *cmp
(196) dep (m)
(197) max (c)
This leaves only the candidates where person and plural occur on the same side of the root with aspect between them. The morphological constraints then determine the optimal form. Forms with aspect to the left of the root will incur fatal aspect (r) violations. (198) aspect (r)
The remaining candidates (199a & b) both have a single aspect (r) violation so plural (r) decides between them. (199) plural (r)
There is no additional evidence for constraint ranking in these forms. Similar to the consonant-initial plural forms, the position of the vowel-initial second person and plural markers are limited by syllabification constraints (200-202). These forms provide evidence for additional constraint rankings. *cmp must dominate aspect (r) as shown by (200a vs. 200b). (200) *cmp >> aspect (r)
dep (m) must also dominate aspect (r) (201a vs. b). (201) dep (m) >> aspect (r)
Either onset or max (c) must dominate aspect (r) (202a vs. 202b) (202 ) max (c) or onset >> aspect (r)
The remaining nonoptimal candidates are ruled out by the morphological constraints. If aspect (r) is the highest ranking morphological constraint, it will rule out candidates in which aspect is not the rightmost morpheme (203a & b). plural (r) will decide between the remaining candidates with the optimal output being the one with the least plural (r) violations (203d). There is a problem with this however. This hierarchy chooses the wrong output as optimal. (203) aspect (r) >> plural (r)
To choose the correct optimal output, plural (r) must dominate aspect (r). (204) plural (r) >> aspect (r)
It is now necessary to return to the first person consonant–initial plurals to see how ranking plural (r) above aspect (r) affects these forms. Recall that the plural and aspect markers cannot occur on opposite sides of the root on consonant-initial forms without violating *cmp, dep (m) or max (c). Also, forms with aspect to the right of the root will be more optimal than forms with aspect on the left side. This leaves us with the two candidate outputs shown in (205) for first person consonant-initial plurals. But if plural (r) outranks aspect (r), as required by the vowel-initial second person forms, the wrong candidate will be designated as optimal. (205) plural (r) >> aspect (r)
To produce the correct form, first person plural requires a change in the dominance between aspect (r) and plural (r). If aspect (r) outranks plural (r), the correct result is obtained, as shown in (206). (206b) is optimal because (206a) violates the higher-ranked aspect (r). (206) aspect (r) >> plural (r)
The first person consonant–initial verbs require that aspect (r) dominate plural (r). But the change in dominance between aspect (r) and plural (r) creates a problem for the second person plural vowel–initial verbs. If aspect (r) outranks plural (r) the incorrect result is obtained for the second person vowel–initial plurals as repeated in (207). If aspect (r) dominates plural (r) then the optimal form will be the incorrect (207b) as it is the only form without an aspect (r) violation. (207) aspect (r) >> plural (r)
It seems, then, that the Afar data create a paradox for OT. First person consonant–initial plurals require that aspect (r) dominate plural (r) because aspect occurs to the right of plural ([rab–n–e#] instead of *[rab–e–n]) but second person plural vowel–initial forms require that plural (r) dominate aspect (r) because plural occurs to the right of aspect ([t–okm–e–n] instead of the incorrect *[t–okom–n–e]). I conclude that a monoplanar parallel model cannot account for the Afar data. In the next section I show it is possible to avoid this paradox through the use of morphological planes in the output representations. Yüklə 2,55 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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