Earticle

This paper aims to investigate the linguistic realities of what is known as Standard English in the context of World Englishes. Beyond sociolinguistic and educational realities, extensively studied by Kachru and others in their critiques of Quirk's reservations regarding deficit linguistics, this study focuses on the rationale for non-standard English variants in the Outer and Expanding Circles based on the linguistic dynamics of ever-changing variants of Standard English in the Inner Circle. In doing so, it is argued that the linguistic realities of Standard English may not be impervious to change: they can be modified in terms of alterations to the relative importance of violable constraints. Especially within the global landscape of World Englishes, non-native English variants in both the Outer and Expanding Circles may be considered liberated from the endocentric norms of Standard English. The findings of this study are expected to offer educational insights, liberating both teachers and learners of English in Korea from long-standing myths about Standard English and native English norms.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the spirantization in English suffixation with Optimality Theory. In Lexical Phonology, spirantization is explained with the rule ordering, based on the Siegel’s(1974) affix classification and ordering hypothesis. Spirantization rule is applied after the class 1 affixation in stratum1(Mohanan, 1986). However, several scholars point out that classification of affixes has a few problem such as bracketing paradox, stress assignment and so on(Selkirk, 1982; Mohanan, 1982; Booij and Rubach, 1984; 이용성, 2010). This paper also points out that not all the class 1 suffixes beginning with /i/ change the final stem /t/ sound into /s/, and Lexical Phonology cannot identify a reason why some of the class I suffixes transform /t/ into /s/. Therefore, this paper proposes that spirantization can be analyzed within the framework of OT and a plausible reason for the occurrence of spirantization can also be presented.

This paper provides an account of the selection of allomorphic case markers for Korean nouns with the notion of violable constraints and inviolable constraints. The current study first deals with the selection of optimal forms in the allomorphs of conjunctive, instrumental, objective, nominative, and vocative case markers which represent most Korean nominal case marker allomorphy. This study further argues that there are two groups of constraints--violable and inviolable, and that there are no rankings within the group of constraints. The candidate that violates an inviolable constraint will never become an optimal form or a variant (standard or non-standard), but a candidate that violates violable constraints can be a winner depending on the cumulative sum of violations. By adopting this proposal, one can explain for more diverse styles in speech

This paper focuses on motivating affix subcategorization constraints in order to explain deviant stress patterns caused by affixes. The main idea is that affixes select their prosodic base for affixation. These subcategorization constraints, formulated in Alignment schema, consist of four different types: Align-to-σ', Align-in-σ', Align-to-Ft, and Align-in-Ft. Data from various languages are considered to motivate these constraints. It is shown that these constraints offer systematic explanation to the role of affixes in stress assignment and to apparently deviant stress patterns caused by affixes.

This paper investigates how constraints are used in traditional generative phonology and Optimality Theory. In the traditional framework, constraints apply not only to surface representations, but also to the sequential procedure which derives the output from the input. Constraints are not allowed to be violated in this step-by-step derivation,. However, the status of constraints in Optimality Theory is fundamentally different from the way constraints have employed in earlier generative phonological frameworks. In terms of OCP and Coda Conditions, I show that the traditional notion of inviolability of constraints has been radically changed in OT. Higher ranked constraints end up surface-unviolated whereas lower-ranked constraints end up surface-violated. In this framework, it is possible that the attested form violates a number of constraints but is still the optimal candidate.

There are plenty of phonological processes in natural language that only occur in the context of particular morphemes or lexical categories. The question is how such morpheme (or lexicon) specific processes, sometimes called exceptionality, can be captured in the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, McCarthy and Prince 1995). Two different types of treatment have mostly been proposed: (i) structural prespecification like floating features, mora, underspecification, etc (Zoll 1996, 2001, Inkelas, Orgun and Zoll 1997, Inkelas 2000, Wolf 2007, Kager to appear, and many others), and (ii) diacritic approach, mostly employing morpheme-specific constraints (Hammond 1995, Golston and Wiese 1995, Golston 1996, Russel 1995, Yip 1998, Pater 2000, 2004, 2007, Ota 2004, Green 2005, Flack to appear, and many others). The purpose of this study is to compare the two different views and to show that the latter is superior to the former in accounting for exceptional plural formation implemented by umlaut in English and German.

This paper points out that the current methodology of Optimality Theory may date back to Pāṇini's rule of optionality by examining Kiparsky's work on Pāṇini's grammar. It is well known that the approach to phonology taken in Optimality Theory lies in its claim that constraints are minimally violable. This is contrasted with the implicit view of traditional generative grammar that an active constraint is inviolable. In this paper, two attempts are made to demonstrate that this theory may also extend to non-phonological areas of linguistics. The first one is an attempt to apply this theory to syntax and the second one is an attempt to explore any possibility of this theory to give an account of dialectal differences on equal terms.

Velar softening, partly historical and partly synchronic in nature, has been dealt with in many different frameworks. The g→ǰ change is predictable, but the k→s change is unexpected and defies an easy explanation. In this paper, we review two key issues in English velar softening. The first issue is the predictability of these changes. The review of Lee(2004) and Randomski(2010) shows that velar softening is unpredictable and that there should be multiple inputs for all words that undergo velar softening. It is proposed in this paper, however, that in most cases we can dispense with multiple inputs. The second issue is the trigger of the velar softening process. It is assumed that part of i-initial suffixes triggers the change. The analysis in this paper shows that contextual velar softening can be explained with a single input, and we limit the use of multiple inputs only for historical residues.

The purpose of this study is two-fold: (i) to review various approaches to ‘long-distance assimilation’ (namely, harmony) within the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993), and (ii) to examine which approach is the most successful to the process. In autosegmental phonology (Goldsmith 1976), the process is mainly accounted for by feature spreading, formalized by association lines between features and segments. However, the Optimality Theoretic approach requires a different perspective: it needs to involve, not rules forcing the harmonic features to spread, but constraint interaction filtering wrong candidates that are under- or over-harmonized. Various approaches have been introduced in this connection. This study classifies them into two main streams: (i) the autosegmental spreading approach, and (ii) the agree-based approach. Through the examination, this study shows that the agree-based approach, especially no-disagreement, is more successful than others to account for harmonic process. The approach without autosegmental representation does not require any specific pro- spreading constraint or representational modification for harmony, and does not induce any problems others have, such as wrong typological prediction and ‘sour-grapes property’. In conclusion, this study verifies that harmonic process can be accounted for without autosegmental spreading.

In Optimality Theory (OT: McCarthy and Prince 1993, Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004), sound change is accounted for by constraint reranking. However, it does not properly show the ‘gradual’ aspect of a diachronic change, though the unranking process is introduced for variation e.g. [knou] > [knou, nou] > [nou] (Cho 1998). Following Oh (2002), this paper proposes an alternative approach to the representation of historical sound change within the OT framework, on the basis of the sound change of know ([knou] > [hnou] > [nou] > [nou]) in Early Modern English (Dobson 1968). To show the gradual changes of [k], MAX, *VL NAS, IDENT [cont], and *σ[kn- constraints are interacted with each other. To display the gradual change of frequency among variants, the meaning of dotted lines is reinterpreted as weak domination contrary to that of straight lines as strong domination, based on Oh (2002). This paper concludes that gradual diachronic changes can be fully represented within the framework of OT through a series of unranking, reranking and ranking tools.

This study compares two different approaches to the opacity occurring in the allomorphs of morphemes le/la and les located before h-aspiré words in French: One is based on Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains (OT-CC) and the other is on Preservation of Contrast (PC) Theory. This comparison shows that the OT-CC-based approach correctly predicts the occurrence of opacity whereas the PC theory-based approach does not. It also shows that the constraint called PREC(MAX(subseg), MAX(ʔ)), one that evaluates the optimality of derivational process, plays a crucial role in the allomorph selection and its opacity. Consequently, this study provides us with crucial evidence for the argument that the opacity in the French allomorph selection does not occur as a result of contrast transfer and preservation but occurs as a result of the most optimal derivation for the input-output mapping.

Loanwords are the words taken into one language from another. The pronunciation differences between recipient language and loanwords result from different phonemic systems and phonotactic patterning between two languages. In this paper, some English loanwords in Korean are analysed by Optimality Theory with violable constraints and their ranking that is very different from Generative Phonology. This paper is not to argue whether the phonology of loanwords is exclusively based on recipient language's or independent loanwords' but to show some kinds of constraints and rankings for explaining it.

본고는 최적성이론에 기반하여 기후현 다지미시를 중심으로 사용되는 다지미 방언에나타나는 모음축약현상과 일본어의 세 방언(오와리 방언, 시즈오카시 아시쿠보오쿠구미방언, 도쿄 방언)에 나타나는 모음축약의 유형을 제약의 상호작용으로써 분석하는 것을목적으로 한다. 다지미 방언의 축약모음은 축약 전의 첫 번째 모음의 특징이 그대로나타나고 있는데(V1V2 → V1:), 이는 축약 전의 두 모음에서 저모음성의 보존이 가장중요시되고 그 다음으로 원순성의 보존이 작용한 결과로 해석할 수 있다. 이러한 일반화를 바탕으로 본고는 정도평가제약을 바탕으로 한 계승유형을 통하여 각 방언의 모음축약유형을 설명하였다.

This paper examines vowel coalescences pattern in Tajimi Japanese comparing to three dialects of Japanese -- Owari Japanese, Shizuoka Japanese, and Tokyo Japanese -- within the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004, McCarthy and Prince 1999). Tajimi Japanese exhibits very different coalescence pattern to three dialects; that is, two vowels are coalesced to first vowel (i.e., V1V2 → V1:). This pattern results from the different feature preservation system: lowerness is most preserved feature in this dialect and roundness is more preserved than frontness. I will analyze these coalescence type based on factorial typology with gradient constraints.

本研究は最適性理論の枠組みから多治見方言に起こる母音融合の類型を分析することを目的とする。この方言は二つの連母音から母音融合が起こる 時、融合母音は第一母音の特徴をそのまま受け継ぐものになる(V1V2 → V1:)。 これを素性の観点からすると、融合前の低母音性の保持が最も重視され、次 に円唇性の保持が働いた結果であると考えられる。本研究は、この一般化を もとに、ミクロ的言語類型論の観点から勾配的制約の階乗類型を通じて、多 治見方言と尾張方言・足久保奥組方言・東京方言の母音融合の仕組みおよび その類型を明らかにした。

The purpose of this paper is to reconsider realization of the English inflectional plural suffix /z/ in compounds within the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolnesky 1993; McCarthy & Prince 1993, 1995). I show that none of the previous rule-based analyses provide a satisfactory and unified account of the phenomena. I argue that plural affixation that occurs in compounds is best analyzed in Optimality Theory in terms of Generalized Alignment Constraint (McCarthy & Prince 1993) and Lexically Indexed Markedness Constraint (Pater 2000). I specifically propose lexically indexed markedness constraints WORDPLURALL and WORDPLURALP, which apply only to those lexical items indexed for their application. WORDPLURALL outranks alignment constraint ALIGNPLURALHEAD, which in turn ranks above another lexically indexed markedness constraint WORDPLURALP, while WORDPLURALL ranks beneath the general markedness constraint NOPLURALADJECTIVE. With the constraint ranking, it is shown that realization of the English inflectional plural suffix /z/ in compounds can be accounted for in a straightforward way. I also show that plural formation of compounds such as ‘craftsman,’ which could not be accounted for within the framework of Lexical Morphology & Phonology, are best analyzed under the analysis assumed in this paper.