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The interaction of tone and stress in Optimality Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2002

Paul de Lacy
Paul de Lacy
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between tone and prosodic positions. I show that prosodic heads prefer higher tone over lower tone, while non-heads exhibit the opposite preference. These generalisations are expressed within Optimality Theory as a family of constraints in a fixed ranking. One set regulates the relation of tone to heads: *HD/L [Gt ] *HD/M [Gt ] *HD/H; the other deals with tone on non-heads: *NON-HD/H H [Gt ] *NON-HD/M [Gt ] *NON-HD/L. These constraints are used to account for the stress system of Ayutla Mixtec: in this language, stress is attracted to a syllable based on its tonal content, but is also influenced by the post-tonic syllable's tone. The implications of the theory for other tone–stress interactions – metrically influenced tone placement and neutralisation – are also examined.

Type
Research Article
Information
Phonology , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , May 2002 , pp. 1 - 32
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

I wish to thank John McCarthy, Lisa Selkirk, three anonymous reviewers and the associate editor, who offered many constructive suggestions for improvement. I am also grateful to John Kingston, Alan Prince, Keren Rice and Moira Yip for their comments on various manifestations of this work. For guidance related to the languages discussed, I thank Lee Bickmore, Barbara Hollenbach, Inga McKendry and Ken Pike.