Some aspects of English phonology: An optimality theoretic approach
Lee, Jae Young
This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/23063
Description
Title
Some aspects of English phonology: An optimality theoretic approach
Author(s)
Lee, Jae Young
Issue Date
1996
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Cole, Jennifer S.
Department of Study
Linguistics
Discipline
Linguistics
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Language, Linguistics
Language
eng
Abstract
This thesis investigates some morphophonemic alternations in English vocalic and consonantal phonology. The alternations include three types of phonological phenomena: vowel quality discrepancies, Cluster Simplification, and Voicing Assimilation. This thesis focuses on why these phenomena occur. The goal of this work is to explore the motivating forces of these phenomena and present a principled account of the morphophonemic alternations. Unlike studies in the previous classical generative approach, this work appeals to functional principles fully integrated into a formal phonological analysis. To present explicit formal analyses of the three kinds of phenomena, I adopt the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, McCarthy and Prince 1993a, b).
"Major issues in English vocalic phonology concern the tenseness discrepancy and height discrepancy between underived words and derived words. The tenseness discrepancy is attested in phenomena like CiV Tensing, Trisyllabic Laxing, CC Laxing, and ""-ic"" Laxing. These phenomena are explained in terms of prosodic structure. The height discrepancy, which since SPE has been covered by a rule of English Vowel Shift, is accounted for within the ""principled"" Optimality Theory approach, one which provides an explicit role for functional principles in a formal phonological analysis."
Cluster Simplification observed in nasal-consonant clusters, and voicing agreement in consonant clusters are also treated in a more explanatory way within the principled Optimality Theory approach.
The implications of this study of English phonology are that apparently English-specific phenomena turn out, not surprisingly, to be explainable in terms of universal well-formedness constraint, and that functional considerations serve to justify those constraints.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
