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As an empirical evaluation of the MacSwan’s (1999) PF Disjunction Theorem, reformulated here in Optimality Theoretic terms as the PF Interface Condition, this paper investigates the question of whether bilinguals mix phonologies in codeswitching contexts under two conditions: (a) when relevant phonological constraint rankings introduce a ranking paradox crosslinguistically; and (b) when they do not. Two experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 tested whether Spanish intervocalic approximant (traditionally fricative) allophones of /b, d, g/ would occur in codeswitching contexts when situated between an English vowel and a Spanish vowel at word boundaries (e.g., Hablamos de mi ghost yesterday). Experiment 2 evaluated whether a word-initial English segment may serve as a trigger for Spanish /s/-voicing (e.g., mis ghosts) which shares its internal ranking with English. In Experiment 1 the Spanish process was not triggered on English words. In Experiment 2, a word-initial English voiced consonant was found to trigger voicing assimi-lation in Spanish. Results indicate that phonological processes accept triggers from another language at word boundaries, but do not modify structure crosslinguistically: Spanish phonological processes cannot be triggered to modify English segments. This generalization is true regardless of whether the specific process involves a ranking paradox (as in Experiment 1) or not (as in Experiment 2). Results support the conclusion that phonological rankings are contained within discretely represented phonological systems, and crosslinguistic differences among constraint rankings relevant to specific phonological processes are sufficient to constitute a ranking paradox for the purpose of the PF Interface Condition when the same constraints are ranked differently

‘A Minimalist Program for Phonology’ defines the computational system commonly known as phonology, and establishes methodology. It provides an introduction to linguistic minimalism and discusses the implications for phonology that stem from the Minimalist Program and the Galilean approach to phonology, as well as a discussion of markedness and the relationship between diachronic and synchronic phonological explanation.

‘The Syntax-Phonology Interface’ presents a theory of how syntax, phonology, and morphology interact in a cyclic manner, based on the Lexical Phonology, Derivation by Phase and Distributed Morphology frameworks. Phenomena discussed include cyclic spell-out and the Phase Impenetrability Condition, locality restrictions in morphology and phonology, lexical and post-lexical rules, and the prosodic hierarchy.

This chapter focuses on the distinctive phonological systems of accent types found in Northern Ireland and outlines the characteristics of Mid Ulster English, South Ulster English and Ulster Scots. The analysis is based on recent recordings of word list, reading passage and interview data from a range of informants representing different regional and social backgrounds. There is a considerable body of scholarship on the phonetics/phonology/prosody of these varieties and we are fortunate that several large-scale phonological surveys have been conducted on them (often using sophisticated sociolinguistic/dialectological methodologies and frameworks of interpretation). However, these largely reflect urban Belfast and other urban/rural varieties of the 1970s and 1980s. The new materials presented here extend our knowledge of innovations that have happened subsequently and change in progress.

This chapter provides two bibliographical resources: (i) an annotated bibliography of works on Northern Irish English and (ii) a general bibliography of works cited passim. The annotated bibliography is an important research tool in that it offers a critical overview of research on different aspects of this field of study highlighting gaps, points of congruence amongst authors and important debates in the scholarship.

This volume compares two very different approaches to modeling speech planning: Articulatory Phonology, with quantitative phonological representations and a set of phonology-intrinsic timing mechanisms, and XT/3C, an alternative model with non-quantitative symbolic phonological representations and general-purpose phonology-extrinsic timing mechanisms. It argues that the motor-control literature for both speech and non-speech supports the XT/3C approach, which expands on earlier models based on Generative Phonology to include a Phonological Planning Component to set the symbolic goals for an utterance, a separate Phonetic Planning Component to provide the quantitative target specifications for the utterance, and a Motor-Sensory Implementation Component to track and adjust the movements required to reach those targets on time. It preserves the insights of a symbol-based phonology, while also providing a comprehensive account of systematic phonetic variation, including timing.

The chapter deals with the origin and phonetic causes of sound changes involving consonants, with the diachronic pathways connecting the input and output phonetic forms, and with models of sound change (e.g., Evolutionary Phonology, the Neogrammarian’s articulatory model, Ohala’s acoustic equivalence model). The need to use articulatory and acoustic data for ascertaining the causes of sound change (and in particular the palatalization and assibilation of velar, labial, and dentoalveolar obstruents) is emphasized. The chapter is also concerned with how allophones are phonologized in sound-change processes and with the special status of (alveolo)palatal stops regarding allophonic phonologization.

This chapter begins a more detailed description of the developments outlined in brief in the introduction. In particular, it details the development of the consonant graphemes that were used in the Older Scots period (1375–1700). The discussion in this chapter considers Older Scots phonology insofar as it impacts on spelling; a much more detailed discussion of the phonological system of Older Scots can be found in Johnston (1997a).

Phonological processes are generally opaque, a well-known problem for two-level, nonderivational theories such as standard Optimality Theory (OT). A variety of solutions have been proposed to address this problem, including one by John McCarthy (1999a), who provided the first comprehensive attempt to treat opacity with the same single enrichment to standard OT: “Sympathy.” McCarthy predicts that natural languages contain distinct, rather than similar, processes which respectively do and do not opacify a third process, a view which this chapter examines using data from Rio Negro Argentinian Spanish involving a sometimes-opaque interaction between a coda-based process and resyllabification into onset. It first considers opacity in a multistratal derivational framework (Lexical Phonology) and then shows that it meets the description of two processes violating the same faithfulness constraint, but does not comply with McCarthy's prediction. The chapter argues that sympathy cannot handle all cases of opacity in OT, and also looks at the derivational account based on Lexical Phonology's division between lexical and postlexical strata.

This chapter examines reduplicative templates and how they can be straightforwardly derived from general principles regarding the modular organization of grammar, computations in phonology, and language acquisition. It outlines the Precedence-Based Phonology (PBP) model of reduplication in comparison with Prosodic Morphology and discusses how the formal representation of reduplication accounts for reduplicative templates. It also demonstrates how a modular approach to morphology and phonology immediately derives the surface appearance of prosodic templates, considers language acquisition in relation to common versus uncommon reduplication patterns, and describes the minimalist theoretical machinery in PBP.

This chapter provides a historical overview of the ideas underlying ‘whole-word phonology’, from the 1970s to the present. The importance of a prosodic (syntagmatic) analysis is grounded in the ideas of Firth, as adapted to early child language (Waterson, 1971). Other studies have proposed ways in which ideas based on analyses of early child data, such as lexical primacy (Ferguson & Farwell, 1975) or Radical Templatic Phonology (Vihman & Croft, 2007), are relevant for adult as well as child language. Key ideas included in the overview are developmental reorganization (Macken, 1979), template matching and the two-stage model (Menn, 1983), and exemplar theory and usage-based models (Menn et al., 2013). The principles of Dynamic Systems Theory (Thelen & Smith, 1994) are related to early phonological and lexical development.

This chapter examines the question of which aspects of language are uniquely human and uniquely linguistic in light of suggestions by Hauser, Chomsky, and Fitch that the only such aspect is syntactic recursion. The hypothesis is problematic. It ignores the many aspects of grammar that are not recursive, such as phonology, morphology, case, agreement, and many properties of words. It is inconsistent with the anatomy and neural control of the human vocal tract. The recursion-only claim appears to be motivated by Chomsky’s approach to syntax, the Minimalist Program, which de-emphasizes the same aspects of language. The approach, however, is sufficiently problematic that it cannot be used to support claims about evolution. This chapter contests related arguments that language is not an adaptation, namely that it is “perfect,” non-redundant, unusable in any partial form, and badly designed for communication. The hypothesis that language is a complex adaptation for communication which evolved piecemeal avoids these problems.

This chapter continues the defence of the analysis of stem alternations in Swiss Rumantsch, especially in the Surmiran of Savognin and environs, as an instance of suppletion conditioned phonologically (by predictable stress) rather than morphomically. The Surmiran evidence for this account is reviewed and formulated explicitly. Evidence from parallel alternations outside the verbal system is adduced, and arguments apparently favouring the morphomic analysis over the phonological one are rejected. Similar phenomena across the full range of Swiss Rumantsch are presented and shown to fall under the phonological account presented for Savognin Surmiran, and it is concluded that the languages of this group provide robust exemplification of the notion of phonologically conditioned allomorphy, rather than evidence for the significance of morphomes.

This chapter asks how affixes can affect the phonology of their stems, as in harmony/ harmonic/harmonious. Within the Parallel Architecture, phonology is an algebraic form of representation, while phonetic representation is analog in character. Their relation is negotiated by an interface that relates phonological segments and sequences to positions and trajectories in phonetic space. In these terms, the chapter explores aspiration, final devoicing, vowel shift and vowel reduction, affixes like -ity and -ious that manipulate the phonology of their bases, and affixes that can blend with their bases, for instance flattery (= flatter+ery). Again the formal machinery of sister schemas plays an important role in the account, taking over the work done in other theories by derivation (as in SPE and Lexical Phonology) and constraint ranking (as in Optimality Theory)