In this paper I discuss a source of reduplicative (non-)correspondence common to Bantu tone languages which has not received attention in the formal literature. In many Bantu languages, the entire RED+Base complex forms a single domain for realisation of the Base stem tone, leading to the occurrence of non-corresponding marked tone in both the RED and the Base. I propose that this pattern of tone realisation in reduplicated forms falls out if the reduplicative complex is a compound verb stem, as compounds are frequently treated as single domains for the realisation of prosodic properties. The length condition on tonal transfer in reduplication which has proven a challenge for previous work on this topic (Myers & Carlton 1996, Hyman & Mtenje 1999) is also shown to follow from the compound structure of the reduplicative complex. This analysis confirms that the morphological status of the reduplicative complex plays an important role in determining the realisation of reduplicative morphemes.

This paper examines the phonology of pitch accents in Chickasaw, a Muskogean language of Oklahoma. Chickasaw is typologically unusual in displaying a predominantly top-down prominence system, in which phonological and morphological factors that are irrelevant for word-level stress play a crucial role in positioning the pitch accent in an Intonational Phrase. Word-level stress docks on the same syllable as the pitch accent, leading to asymmetries between stress patterns found in words carrying a pitch accent and words without a pitch accent. This type of top-down prominence system emerges naturally in Optimality Theory through an inviolable constraint requiring alignment of pitch accents and stress, coupled with the ranking of certain phrasal pitch-accent constraints above word-level stress constraints.

Feature economy is a principle of sound systems according to which languages tend to maximise the ratio of sounds over features. The major goal of this study is to confirm the predictions of feature economy at the synchronic level, using an objective sampling technique applied to a genetically and areally balanced sample of the world's languages. It also shows that feature economy can be used as a tool in phonological feature analysis, and offers voiced aspirates, voiceless sonorants and various types of glottalised sounds as illustrations. Feature economy applies not only to distinctive feature values, but to redundant values of features that are distinctive or phonologically active elsewhere in the system. Feature economy cannot be reduced to a purely phonetic principle of gesture economy, but may reflect a general principle of linguistic organisation according to which the active categories of a grammatical system tend to be used to maximal effect.

This paper builds on growing evidence that aspirated or fortis obstruents in languages like English and German are laryngeally marked, but that phonetic voicing in the (unmarked) unaspirated or lenis series is contextually determined. Employing the laryngeal feature set proposed by Halle & Stevens (1971), as incorporated into the ‘dimensional theory’ of laryngeal representation (Avery & Idsardi 2001, forthcoming), we develop an explicit account of this phonetic enhancement of phonological contrasts, which is widely known as ‘passive voicing’. We find that both passive voicing and inherent aspiration have been phonetic and phonological characteristics of the Germanic languages since the break-up of Indo-European, with laryngeally unmarked stops repeatedly enhanced by the gesture of [spread glottis]. A key implication of this view is that Verner's Law was not an innovation specifically of early Germanic, but rather is an automatic (ultimately phonologised) reflex of passive voicing, itself a ‘persistent change’ rising out of the enduring ‘base of articulation’ that came to characterise Germanic.

This paper presents evidence that tongue-body position is always specified in the phonological representation of coronals, even where it is non-contrastive. Tongue-body position is needed to account for the typology of interactions between coronal consonants and adjacent vowels. For example, coronals only condition vowel fronting if they are produced with a front tongue body (usually anterior coronals), and only coronals produced with a back tongue body (usually retroflexes) condition vowel retraction. However, coronals do not have a fixed tongue-body position. Tongue-body position is affected by the position of the tongue tip/blade, because these articulators are physically connected, so each type of coronal has a preferred tongue-body position that facilitates the production of the coronal constriction. These preferences can be overridden, however, e.g. due to assimilation to a vowel. Optimality-theoretic feature co-occurrence constraints provide a good account of this type of dependency between articulators.

When an English word with a postvocalic word-final stop is adapted to Korean, a vowel is variably inserted after the final stop. Vowel insertion in this position is puzzling not only because of its variability but also because of the fact that it is not motivated by the native phonology in any obvious way. After providing a thorough description of the vowel-insertion pattern on the basis of a survey of a large body of data, the paper proposes that vowel insertion is motivated to improve the perceptual similarity between the English input and the Korean output as well as to obey a morphophonemic restriction in Korean. The paper provides strong evidence that non-contrastive phonetic details of lending or borrowing languages are relevant in the process of loanword adaptation and at the same time suggests a richer view of loanword phonology, one which involves interaction of phonetic, phonemic and morphophonemic factors.

In Optimality Theory, constraints come in two types, which are distinguished by their mode of evaluation. Categorical constraints are either satisfied or not; a categorical constraint assigns no more than one violation-mark, unless there are several violating structures in the form under evaluation. Gradient constraints evaluate extent of deviation; they can assign multiple marks even when there is just a single instance of the non-conforming structure. This article proposes a restrictive definition of what an OT constraint is, from which it follows that all constraints must be categorical. The various gradient constraints that have been proposed are examined, and it is argued that none is necessary and many have undesirable consequences.

In nasal harmony systems, any major consonant class (excluding laryngeal glides) may fail to undergo nasalisation. This paper proposes to derive the neutrality of stops, fricatives, liquids and glides from the satisfaction of a special set of faithfulness constraints; each member of the set commands the presence of a particular segment class in a consonant inventory. The analysis requires that the constraint commanding the presence of stops be active in every grammar and invariably take precedence over the demands of nasal harmony. The explanation of stop neutrality forces a rethinking of the nature of constraints and how they interact. The paper argues that the constraints regulating the cross-linguistic manifestation of segment neutrality are either universal grammatical features (i.e. principles) or language-specific choices (i.e. parameters of variation). It also postulates that constraint interaction is regulated by a set of metaconditions that determine ordering; constraint ranking is not random.

This work evaluates an argument recently made in these pages by Kabak & Vogel (2001) to the effect that the analysis of Turkish which they develop is superior on theoretical grounds to that of past accounts. Kabak & Vogel explicitly contrast their account to that offered in two recent, comprehensive discussions of Turkish stress by Inkelas & Orgun (1998) and Inkelas (1999). Careful consideration of the data discussed by Kabak & Vogel and by Inkelas & Orgun, as well as some additional data introduced in this paper, shows that the original Inkelas & Orgun analysis achieves greater empirical coverage while using less theoretical machinery.