Optimality Theory and Variable Word-Final Deletion in Faetar
In this paper, we provide a model which accounts for the rates of intraspeaker
variation in pronunciation of a number of words in a little studied language:
Faetar, a branch of Francoprovençal spoken in two farming villages in southern
Italy. In Faetar, there is a phonological pattern of variable
"deletion" at the end of the word: words are often produced without
the final segment (V or C), final syllable, or more. This type of problem
requires an analysis which not only accounts for the types of variation which
occurs, but also accounts for the frequency of each form. We propose to do this
by enhancing Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993; McCarthy and Prince
1993a, b; inter alia) with one new aspect: Floating Constraints (as developed in
Reynolds (1994) . In the revised OT, the constraints do not fall into a single
fixed ranking. Rather, there are "normal" anchored constraints and
Floating Constraints, which are ranked within a particular range in the
hierarchy, rather than always occupying one fixed position.
Paper appearing in:
Language Variation and Change 9.2, co-authored with Bill Reynolds.
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