Italian metaphony in optimality theory with candidate chains
| dc.contributor.advisor | Montreuil, Jean-Pierre | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Russi, Cinzia | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Donaldson, Bryan | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Bullock, Barbara E | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Kelm, Orlando | |
| dc.creator | Gaskill, Anne E. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2017-04-10T14:52:16Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-01-22T22:31:58Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2017-04-10T14:52:16Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-01-22T22:31:58Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2013-12 | |
| dc.date.submitted | December 2013 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2017-04-10T14:52:17Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | The regressive (mor)phonological assimilatory process most commonly referred to as metaphony is one which is quite common in Romance: it is found in the dialects of Portugal, Spain, and Italy, with traces appearing in Rumanian and the Spanish of the Americas, as well. As a result, it has been the subject of a great deal of scholarly research both diachronically, (Hall 1950, Blaylock 1965, Leonard 1978, Papa 1981, Kaze 1989) and synchronically (McCarthy 1984, Calabrese 1985, 1998, 2008, Vago 1988, Hualde 1989, Martínez-Gil 2006, Walker 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010). What has eluded recent researchers, however, is a framework that can successfully address the myriad variations of metaphony found in these regions; there exists to date no comprehensive analysis of metaphony in Romance. This dissertation offers an analysis of Italian Metaphony that is couched in a recent variety of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, 2004), Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains (McCarthy 2007), a framework which exploits the rarely used serial capacity of OT. In exploring the myriad varieties of metaphony found in the Italian dialects, this dissertation tests the capabilities and limitations of both Traditional Optimality Theory and Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains; this exploration culminates with the analysis of a problematic variety of OT that currently lacks an acceptable solution in OT-CC. To address this shortcoming, this dissertation introduces a new constraint to the established constraint hierarchy of OT-CC: Subsequence. Subsequence builds on the theoretical premises established in McCarthy (2007) with the introduction of Precedence, which evaluated not a single output candidate but rather the order of the constraint violations found within an individual candidate chain. The resulting analyses create a unified account of Italian metaphony that demonstrates the usefulness not only of OT-CC for addressing different types of opacity, but also the need for an enhancement such as subsequence to account for types of variation that are currently impossible to address in OT-CC. This dissertation offers an analysis of Italian Metaphony that is couched in a recent variety of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, 2004), Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains (McCarthy 2007), a framework which exploits the rarely used serial capacity of OT. In exploring the myriad varieties of metaphony found in the Italian dialects, this dissertation tests the capabilities and limitations of both Traditional Optimality Theory and Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains; this exploration culminates with the analysis of a problematic variety of OT that currently lacks an acceptable solution in OT-CC. To address this shortcoming, this dissertation introduces a new constraint to the established constraint hierarchy of OT-CC: Subsequence. Subsequence builds on the theoretical premises established in McCarthy (2007) with the introduction of Precedence, which evaluated not a single output candidate but rather the order of the constraint violations found within an individual candidate chain. The resulting analyses create a unified account of Italian metaphony that demonstrates the usefulness not only of OT-CC for addressing different types of opacity, but also the need for an enhancement such as subsequence to account for types of variation that are currently impossible to address in OT-CC. | |
| dc.description.department | French and Italian | |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.15781/T2RN30D1F | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2152/46369 | |
| dc.subject | Italian | |
| dc.subject | Optimality Theory | |
| dc.subject | OT | |
| dc.subject | OT-CC | |
| dc.subject | Phonology | |
| dc.subject | Dialectology | |
| dc.title | Italian metaphony in optimality theory with candidate chains | |
| dc.type | Thesis | |
| dc.type.material | text |