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Abstract

A principled derivation of OT and HG within constraint-based phonology 

Author
  • Giorgio Magri

Abstract

This paper tackles the question of the mode of constraint interaction in categorical phonology in a principled, axiomatic way. It starts from an elementary axiom of phonological behavior, left implicit so far in the literature, dubbed the innocuous concatenation axiom (ICA). Categorical constraint-based grammars can flout the ICA without a judicious choice of the mode of constraint interaction. The paper then shows that the OT and HG modes of constraint interaction used in the current phonological literature can be axiomatically derived from the ICA. In conclusion, we can determine whether the OT and HG modes of constraint interaction fall or stand based solely on the empirical validity of the ICA. 

How to Cite:

Magri, G., (2025) “A principled derivation of OT and HG within constraint-based phonology ”, Society for Computation in Linguistics 8(1): 31. doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/scil.3080

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Published on
2025-06-13

Peer Reviewed