Description
TitleOpacity in Tundra Nenets
PublisherCascadilla Press
Date Created2008
Extent9 p.
DescriptionThe analysis of opaque relations presents a problem to classic Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, McCarthy and Prince 1993), inherently a surface-oriented theory. Many different proposals have been made to integrate the analysis of opacity into OT. In this paper, we address the problem of opacity in Tundra Nenets (TN), a Uralic (Samoyedic) language spoken in Arctic Russia and Northern Siberia.
TN has a complex system of alternations, many of which interact opaquely, and provides a good test case for the current theories of opacity. In this paper, we are concerned with the categorical metrical vowel deletion that represents a case of self-counterfeeding opacity, and its interaction with vowel deletion in final syllables. We show that among OT approaches to opacity, there are some that cannot handle metrical vowel deletion in TN in principle (Targeted Constraints, OT-CC), some that can but are undesirable on theoretical grounds (Local Constraint Conjunction, in particular, self-conjunction), and the full analysis of the data still requires combining two different theories (Stratal OT and Comparative Markedness).
NoteKavitskaya, D., Staroverov P. (2008). Opacity in Tundra Nenets. In N. Abner & J. Bishop (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, (274-282). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
NoteThe definitive version of this paper is published in Proceedings of the 27th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (2008) and is available at http://www.lingref.com.
GenreConference Paper or Lecture
LanguageEnglish
CollectionRutgers Optimality Archive
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
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