Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-s22k5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-12T03:32:10.539Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

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.