An overview of the historical phonology of the Austronesian languages shows certain recurrent patterns of change that resemble the synchronic notion of a conspiracy. Over 90% of all lexical bases in Proto-Austronesian and other early Austronesian proto-languages are disyllabic. This dominant pattern, which was transmitted to most of the 1200-plus Austronesian languages spoken today, has tended repeatedly to reassert itself in forms that have come to have other than two syllables. As a structurally defined target that is satisfied by diverse historical changes, this preferential disyllabism can be considered an ‘attractor’ in the sense of Kelso (1995). Perhaps the most interesting consequence of disyllabic attractors in Austronesian historical phonology is the widespread occurrence of syncope only between identical consonants, a pattern that Odden (1988) has characterised in synchronic systems as one of ‘anti-antigemination’.

The structural relationship of the primary/consonantal place features and the secondary/vowel place features has been the focus of much recent work in geometrical and hierarchical feature theories. Sagey (1986), Halle (1986), Selkirk (1988, 1991a, b) and others propose representations in which the secondary/vowel place features are structurally dependent on primary/consonantal place features, while Archangeli & Pulleyblank (1987), Steriade (1987), Clements (1989, 1991), Hume (1990, 1992) and Odden (1991) argue for the structural independence of primary/consonantal and secondary/vowel place features, though to different degrees.

Over the last few years, much work in phonology has been devoted to exploring the way features are specified for segments; in particular, to what extent feature specification may be underlyingly present and/or acquired by rule or default in the course of a derivation. While a number of proposals have been made attributing various degrees of underspecification to abstract levels of the phonology (Kiparsky 1985; Steriade 1987; Archangeli 1988), it has been generally assumed that where phonetic implementation comes into play, i.e. at the end of the derivation, segments are exhaustively specified.

A number of languages have independently developed a pattern of vowel-length neutralisation according to which a vowel after a vocoid must be long. It is proposed that this pattern arises from the inherent acoustic ambiguity of such sequences, which are realised with a diphthongal transition from one formant pattern to the next, with no clear boundary between the two. Neutralisation in vocoid sequences originates from listeners' difficulties in determining the duration of vowels in this context. Lengthening of the second vocoid arises when listeners attribute some of the transition duration to that segment. The phonetic bases of this account are supported by three experiments with Finnish speakers. A production study shows that speakers treat the transition as belonging in part to the realisation of the postvocoid vowel. Two perception studies show that increasing the duration of the transition increases the probability of such a vowel being identified as long.

The child-specific phenomenon of preferential neutralisation in initial position, which reverses a positional bias attested across adult grammars, represents a long-standing problem for formal models of developmental phonology. In a phonetically based model of phonology, child-specific phonological patterns may emerge as the consequence of physical differences between child and adult speech. This paper presents new case-study data suggesting that a child-specific pattern of fricative neutralisation in initial position has its roots in children's articulatory limitations. Coarticulated fricative and vowel gestures are shown to require independent control of the tongue and jaw, known to be problematic for developing speakers. Substitution errors affecting fricatives are analysed as a phonologised reflex of this phonetic pressure to avoid overlapping vowel and fricative gestures. The positional asymmetry emerges as the consequence of the differing degrees of gestural overlap permitted in syllable-initial vs. syllable-final position, as encoded in the framework of Articulatory Phonology (Browman & Goldstein 1986).

The widely attested onset/coda asymmetry involves a situation in which the inventory of phonemes in syllable-final position in a particular language is a subset of those which contrast in onsets. The inverse of this pattern has been claimed to never occur (Goldsmith 1990, Beckman 1998). However, this prediction is falsified by Chamicuro, a Peruvian language in which /h/ and /[glottal plosive]/ are systematically restricted to coda position. Since no permutation of all known constraints can account for this unusual distribution, a new constraint is necessary. I propose that we invoke HAVEPLACE and subcategorise it for onsets. This positional markedness filter permits placeless (laryngeal) consonants to surface in codas, but blocks them in onsets. A beneficial side-effect of this analysis is that it preserves the onset/coda asymmetry while allowing /[glottal plosive]/ and /h/ to be the only principled exceptions to it.

It is well established that the tonal system of Yoruba involves the asymmetric marking or retention of certain tones and the absence or loss of others. The behaviour of Yoruba's three tones is scalar but non-linear, with H tones being the most stable and M tones being the most unstable. In this note, it is shown that previous accounts of the asymmetries in terms of underspecification are problematic, arguing instead for the incorporation of tonal markedness directly into the formulation of faithfulness constraints.

In the paradigms of certain Tigre verbs, the final stem consonant and the vocalic suffix metathesise in some configurations. In this short paper, this is analysed as a hiatus-resolving strategy. The limits and consequences of this strategy are shown to follow from the representation of verbs, in an analysis conducted within CVCV phonology and Element Theory.

The past two decades have seen the development of several constraint-based models of phonological grammar that can handle variable phenomena. Most of these models, however, are purely grammatical, and do not allow for the contribution of non-grammatical factors towards determining the frequency structure of variation. This paper reviews different approaches to phonological variation, focusing on how grammatical and non-grammatical factors co-determine patterns of variation. Based on this review, a model is developed that incorporates influences from both grammatical and non-grammatical factors. The proposed model is grammar-dominant, in the sense that grammar defines the space of possible variation while non-grammatical factors only contribute towards the frequency with which the grammar determined forms are observed. Following Coetzee & Kawahara (2013), the model is developed in a version of noisy Harmonic Grammar that allows non-grammatical factors to scale the weights of faithfulness constraints up or down.

In all human languages, we find words that are similar in some respect or another – usually because they are morphologically related. If speakers wish to determine the degree of similarity between two morphologically related forms, they must decide which elements to compare. Perhaps the most intuitive approach would be to compare the segments, and determine the degree of featural similarity they display. This approach might be thought of as ‘segmental comparison’. A schematic representation for two forms undergoing segmental comparison is given below.

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An equally plausible although less intuitive alternative is also available – prosodic elements could be compared. For example, the most prominent syllable node of each form might be compared, or the main-stressed nucleus of each form might be compared. This approach might be called ‘prosodic comparison’. Importantly, prosodic comparison might result in the comparison of elements that are associated with very different segmental melodies – for example, imagine a pair of words in which a given prosodic role (for example, head of prosodic word) has a different location in each form. Such a situation might occur in a language where stress shifts under affixation; in such a case, the linear order of segments would remain the same in both words, but the location of the prosodic heads would differ. A schematic representation of this sort of situation is given below.

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In this paper, I will consider just such a language – the Saipanese dialect of Chamorro – and demonstrate that the phonology of this language requires both segmental and prosodic comparison. This characteristic of the sound pattern of Chamorro holds great significance for theories which attempt to formalise phonological similarity effects, such as Steriade's (1996) theory of Paradigm Uniformity, Kenstowicz's (1995) theory of Uniform Exponence and McCarthy & Prince's theory of Correspondence (McCarthy & Prince 1993, 1994, 1995, McCarthy 1995). For simplicity of exposition, from this point on my analysis will be cast in terms of the theoretical framework of correspondence (discussed below). It should be remembered, however, that the main result of this analysis – the existence of prosodic phonological comparison – is relevant to any theory which seeks to give a comprehensive treatment of phonological similarity effects.

The proper treatment of NON-DERIVED ENVIRONMENT BLOCKING (NDEB), also known as the Derived Environment Constraint, has long been the subject of debate by phonologists. Past approaches include the Strict Cycle Condition (Mascaró 1976), the Elsewhere Condition (Kiparsky 1982) and underspecification (Kiparsky 1993). However, since the introduction of Optimality Theory (McCarthy & Prince 1993, 1994, Prince & Smolensky 1993), phonologists have tried to model NDEB in terms of parameterised constraints (e.g. Burzio 1997) or constraint conjunction (e.g. Łubowicz 1998).

In this paper I present a case of NDEB found in the stress patterns of Tohono O'odham words. Secondary stress is assigned to all odd-numbered syllables in derived words, but is blocked on word-final odd- numbered syllables in underived words. I claim that all the presented facts about Tohono O'odham stress can be accounted for in terms of co- phonologies (cf. Orgun 1996, Inkelas et al. 1997, Inkelas 1998). By showing the intricate interaction between, on the one hand, stress assignment to latent vowels and, on the other, their behaviour with respect to perfective truncation, I argue that Tohono O'odham stress can be viewed as being assigned ‘cyclically’ and also as exhibiting the effect of bracket erasure. These facts, as I will show, are captured naturally by the co-phonology model. This co-phonology analysis is contrasted with the mono-stratal, non-constituency-based optimality-theoretic account argued for in Fitzgerald (1996, 1997). It is demonstrated that the co- phonology analysis yields a simpler and more explanatory account of the Tohono O'odham facts than Fitzgerald's account.

I begin this paper with an illustration of the stress patterns of both underived and derived forms in §2. I will then provide a co-phonology account for NDEB in §3. An alternative analysis is considered in §3.5. In §4 I illustrate the interaction between stress, latent vowels and perfective truncation, and finally the formal analysis is presented in §5.

Incomplete neutralisation presents a problem for classical modular feed-forward grammars: it results in surface phonetic distinctions between phonologically neutralised segments. This paper argues for a model of incomplete neutralisation using two independently motivated theoretical devices: paradigm uniformity and weighted phonetic constraints. A case study is presented, showing that Japanese monomoraic lengthening results in incomplete neutralisation: when monomoraic nouns with short vowels are lengthened to fill a bimoraic minimality requirement, they reach a duration intermediate between that of unlengthened short vowels and underlyingly long vowels. The Japanese case has properties distinct from other classically cited examples of incomplete neutralisation such as final devoicing, which are not predicted by previous theories of neutralisation. The Weighted Paradigm Uniformity theory of incomplete neutralisation is shown to make four unique predictions, and is argued to better capture the typology of incomplete neutralisation.

Abstract phonological patterns and detailed phonetic patterns can combine to produce unusual acoustic results, but criteria for what aspects of a pattern are phonetic and what aspects are phonological are often disputed. Early literature on Romanian makes mention of nasal devoicing in word-final clusters (e.g. in /basm/ ‘fairy-tale’). Using acoustic, aerodynamic and ultrasound data, the current work investigates how syllable structure, prosodic boundaries, phonetic paradigm uniformity and assimilation influence Romanian nasal devoicing. It provides instrumental phonetic documentation of devoiced nasals, a phenomenon that has not been widely studied experimentally, in a phonetically underdocumented language. We argue that sound patterns should not be separated into phonetics and phonology as two distinct systems, but neither should they all be grouped together as a single, undifferentiated system. Instead, we argue for viewing the distinction between phonetics and phonology as a largely continuous multidimensional space, within which sound patterns, including Romanian nasal devoicing, fall.

The mettle of approaches to synchronic linguistics can often be profitably tested by confrontation with language patterns from paralinguistic areas. In the following pages underspecification theory will be shown to play a central role in illuminating the nature of Turkish rhyme in the classical tradition, where the conditions for euphonic matching of vowels otherwise elude neat linguistic categorisation. As a by-product, the analysis also provides some clarification of a detail of suffix allomorphy.

Over the past few years, research in metrical phonology has witnessed a shift in its main topic of investigation. Originally, attention was focused on the representation of prominence patterns of words (for example, Liberman & Prince 1977; Kiparsky 1979; Selkirk 1980; Hayes 1981), but more recently interest has arisen in several sorts of ‘rhythmic’ stress phenomena in larger domains (Prince 1983; Hayes 1984; Selkirk 1984; Hammond 1984; Giegerich 1985). One way of explaining this shift is by noting that the issue of the treatment of prominence patterns proper seems to have reached a stage where both grid-only (i.e. tree-less) theory and variants of tree-full theories, whether or not they employ grids as well, are capable of explaining the prominence patterns of words (see, for instance, Prince 1983; van der Hulst 1984). In this situation, investigation of rhythmic stress phenomena may offer the possibility of evaluating these theories because, as currently perceived, this area typically deals with the issue of whether metrical tree structure is needed at all, or whether grid structure by itself is capable of explaining rhythmic adjustments: on the one hand, grid-only theory claims that any constituency relevant to rhythmic adjustment is adequately encoded in the grid; on the other, tree theory holds that more detailed, or perhaps different, constituent information is required, as expressed in the metrical tree.

To assess a phonological theory, we often compare its predictions to phonetic observations. This can be complicated, however, because it requires a theoretical model that maps from phonological representations to articulatory and acoustic observations. In this study we are concerned with the question of how phonetic observations are interpreted in relation to phonological theories. Specifically, we argue that deviations of observations from theoretical predictions do not necessitate the rejection of the theoretical assumptions. We critically discuss the problem of overinterpretation of phonetic measures by using syllable coordination for different speaker groups within Articulatory Phonology. It is shown that surface variation can be explained without necessitating substantial revision of the underlying phonological theory. These results are discussed with respect to two types of interpretational errors in the literature. The first involves the proliferation of phonological categories in order to accommodate variation, and the second the rejection of a phonological theory because the model which generates its predictions is overly simplified.

Namwanga is a Bantu language spoken in the Northern province of Zambia.In this paper I would like to present an overview of Namwanga verbal tonology, specifically focusing on the issue of where downstep occurs and how best to account for it. It will be argued that the surface distribution of downstep can be most insightfully accounted for if one assumes that many of the underlying H's fuse together. Determining which H's fuse and which do not is quite complex and the subject of rigorous examination.

Many previous studies have argued that phonology may leave some phonetic dimensions unspecified in surface representations. We introduce computational tools for assessing this possibility though simulation and classification of phonetic trajectories. The empirical material used to demonstrate the approach comes from electromagnetic articulography recordings of high-vowel devoicing in Japanese. Using Discrete Cosine Transform, tongue-dorsum movement trajectories are decomposed into a small number of frequency components (cosines differing in frequency and amplitude) that correspond to linguistically meaningful signal modulations, i.e. articulatory gestures. Stochastic generators of competing phonological hypotheses operate in this frequency space. Distributions over frequency components are used to simulate (i) the vowel-present trajectories and (ii) the vowel-absent trajectories. A Bayesian classifier trained on simulations assigns posterior probabilities to unseen data. Results indicate that /u/ is optionally produced without a vowel-height specification in Tokyo Japanese and that the frequency of such targetlessness varies systematically across phonological environments.

We propose that for the syntax–prosody mapping of clauses and intonational phrases, the notion of ‘clause’ should be determined in a flexible manner, making reference to the highest position to which the verbal material (i.e. the verb itself, the inflection, an auxiliary or a question particle) is overtly moved or inserted, together with the material in its specifier. This contrasts with rigid approaches, which assume that mapping is based on particular functional heads. We provide support for this proposal with data from the Bantu language Bàsàá and the Finno-Ugric language Hungarian, showing that a left-peripheral constituent may be prosodically outside the core intonational phrase even though its syntactic position is relatively low, as long as the verb is even lower, and, conversely, that a constituent may be phrased inside the core intonational phrase even if it is in a syntactically high position, as long as the verb is also high.

This paper reports on a phonetic and phonological study of /t/-affrication in spontaneous British English Received Pronunciation. The study is motivated by the uncertainty surrounding plosive affrication in the literature on lenition and fortition. We suggest that a decision as to the status of a given pattern involving affrication in terms of lenition or fortition should be based on thorough phonetic and phonological analysis. We present a phonetic and phonological account of /t/-affrication, which takes into consideration the temporal and spectral characteristics of the sounds involved, as well as their distribution across phonological environments. Crucially, we compare affricated instances of /t/ with aspirated and fricated ones in the same dataset – the former arguably unmarked in this variety, the latter uncontroversially the result of lenition. We argue that the phonetic and phonological characteristics of /t/-affrication presented in this paper are consistent with an account in terms of fortition rather than lenition.