Many languages exhibit nasal cluster dissimilation, in which an illicit sequence of nasal–stop clusters is modified in some way (e.g. NC1VNC2 → N1VNC2). This article discusses generalisations in the typology of nasal cluster dissimilation, and claims that nasal cluster dissimilation is driven by constraints on contrast distinctiveness: it occurs preferentially in those environments where the first NC is most confusable with a plain nasal consonant. I propose an analysis that appeals to auditory factors, and provide acoustic and perceptual evidence that is consistent with it.

I introduce 1460 lines of Chinese regulated verse and offer an analysis of the data. I also compare Chinese with English and discuss two approaches to variability in linguistic patterns (such as regular vs. exceptional forms, or perfect verse lines vs. lines with metrical tension). I argue that, whereas word stress is often more important than phrasal stress in English, it is crucial to understand the latter in Chinese. However, stress maxima play a central role in both languages. This suggests that metre is probably less variable cross-linguistically than previously thought. Moreover, while a correlation is thought to exist between metrical tension and frequency, it is difficult to see it in the present corpus. I argue that non-phonological factors can influence frequency patterns and that the presence of variable patterns does not necessarily imply the presence of marked forms. Rather, even fully well-formed patterns may occur rarely.

A phonotactic grammar assigns a well-formedness score to all possible surface forms. This paper considers whether phonotactic grammars should be probabilistic, and gives several arguments that they need to be. Hayes & Wilson (2008) demonstrate the promise of a maximum entropy Harmonic Grammar as a probabilistic phonotactic grammar. This paper points out a theoretical issue with maxent phonotactic grammars: they are not guaranteed to assign a well-defined probability distribution, because sequences that contain arbitrary repetitions of unmarked sequences may be underpenalised. The paper motivates a solution to this issue: include a *Struct constraint. A mathematical proof of necessary and sufficient conditions to avoid the underpenalisation problem are given in online supplementary materials.

Current typologies of voice assimilation between obstruents include languages that exhibit either assimilation to voicelessness (a type of emergence of the unmarked effect) or onset-controlled patterns, where the value controlling the change is in the onset obstruent. In either case, this type of local assimilation is considered to result in (contextually) unmarked structures. This article presents data that highlights a previously unrecognised pattern: assimilation resulting in voicing (an ‘emergence of the marked’ effect). This pattern has implications for how markedness is expressed in grammar. It is argued here that voicing is a privative feature, and that faithfulness constraints regulating the feature [voice] yield a rich typology that includes emergence of both marked and unmarked patterns. In addition, this typology yields benefits that are lost if voicing is considered a binary feature. This is illustrated by extending the dynamics of this voicing typology to other laryngeal features, such as [spread glottis].

Basaa, a zone A Bantu language spoken in Cameroon, is only one among many genetically unrelated languages for which the positing of phonetically null phantom consonants facilitates a phonological account of certain otherwise unexpected surface forms encountered in derivational paradigms. Clements & Keyser (1983), Marlett & Stemberger (1983), Keyser & Kiparsky (1984), Crowhurst (1988) and Hualde (1992) propose that phantom consonants exist in Turkish, Seri, French, Finnish, Southern Paiute and Aranese Gascon, for example, syllabifying as onsets or codas where appropriate and in certain cases inducing the gemination of an adjacent consonantal segment or the lengthening of a preceding tautosyllabic vowel, as we shall see takes place in Basaa.

This paper presents a technique for estimating the influences of channel bias on phonological typology. The technique, based on statistical bootstrapping, enables the estimation of historical probability, the probability that a synchronic alternation arises based on two diachronic factors: the number of sound changes required for an alternation to arise and their respective probabilities. I estimate historical probabilities of six attested and unattested alternations targeting the feature [voice], compare historical probabilities of these alternations, perform inferential statistics on the comparison and, to evaluate the performance of the channel bias approach, compare outputs of the diachronic model against the independently observed synchronic typology. The technique also identifies mismatches between the typological predictions of the analytic bias and channel bias approaches. By comparing these mismatches with the observed typology, this paper attempts to quantitatively evaluate the distinct contributions of the two influences on typology in a set of alternations targeting the feature [voice].

This paper explores the variable application of n-insertion in Korean. Several tendencies emerge from the distribution of n-insertion in existing Korean words, using data drawn from a dictionary and from surveys and experimental studies. Most, but not all, of these tendencies are mirrored in the results of experiments involving novel words, suggesting that Korean speakers are aware of the differential influence of certain phonological factors on the probability of the application of n-insertion. The observed patterns of variation are analysed within the framework of a probabilistic version of Optimality Theory. In addition, the paper shows that the main aspects of n-insertion are motivated by the requirement of perceptually minimal modification, employing an analysis based on Steriade's P-map theory. The observed data vs. learning mismatch is also attributed to the lack of a perceptual basis for the tendency in question.

This paper offers a formal analysis of prefixing and suffixing reduplication in Kosraean. The prosodic shape of each affix is sensitive to the form of the stem, giving rise to multiple prosodic variants. In particular, its prefix illustrates the binarity effect, in which the reduplicant is binary if and only if the base is binary. Curiously, the suffix is not subject to the same generalisation, but still follows from the same formal analysis. Both affixes also show additional curious effects of vowel-initial stems. Using an optimality-theoretic approach, I will show that the prosody of both affixes is a function of the prosodic structure of the whole word rather than of a requirement that the affix fill a specified prosodic template. The analysis makes the binarity effect an example of a contextually weight-sensitive language, in which closed syllables are bimoraic only under certain morphological circumstances.

During the fixed initial-stress period of Latin (sixth to fifth centuries BC), internal open syllable vowels were totally neutralised, usually raising to /i/ (*per.fa.ki.oː>perficiō ‘I complete’), whereas in closed syllables /a/ was raised to /e/, but the other vowels remained distinct (*per.fak.tos>perfectus ‘completed’). Miller (1972) explains closed syllable resistance by positing internal secondary stress on closed syllables. However, evidence from vowel reduction and syncope suggest that internal syllables never bore stress in early archaic times. A typologically unusual alternative is proposed: contrary to the pattern normally found (Maddieson 1985), vowels had longer duration in closed syllables than in open syllables, as in Turkish and Finnish, thus permitting speakers to attain the targets for non-high vowels in closed syllables. This durational pattern is manifested not only in vowel reduction, but also in the quantitative changes seen in ‘classical’ and ‘inverse’ compensatory lengthenings, the development CVːCV > CVC and ‘superheavy’ degemination (VːCCV > VːCV).

Stowell (1979) argues that an intermediate level of structure between foot and word tree is necessary: superfeet or cola. Cola are metrical constituents built on the output of footing. Stowell's argument is based on the accentual systems of Passamaquoddy and Seneca. However, in both cases, the analysis is for one reason or another questionable. First, P. LeSourd (personal communication) has suggested that the Passamaquoddy data are more complex than the sample Stowell presents, which undercuts his account. (Stowell's data are drawn from LeSourd's fieldwork.) Second, the Seneca analysis rests on the assumption that bounded and unbounded feet cannot cooccur in the same language – not a necessary component of metrical theory.

Opaque phonological patterns are sometimes claimed to be difficult to learn; specific hypotheses have been advanced about the relative difficulty of particular kinds of opaque processes (Kiparsky 1971, 1973), and the kind of data that is helpful in learning an opaque pattern (Kiparsky 2000). In this paper, we present a computationally implemented learning theory for one grammatical theory of opacity, a Maximum Entropy version of Stratal OT (Bermúdez-Otero 1999, Kiparsky 2000), and test it on simplified versions of opaque French tense–lax vowel alternations and the opaque interaction of diphthong raising and flapping in Canadian English. We find that the difficulty of opacity can be influenced by evidence for stratal affiliation: the Canadian English case is easier if the learner encounters application of raising outside the flapping context, or non-application of raising between words (e.g. life with [ʌɪ]; lie for with [aɪ]).

Despite differences in parsimony and philosophical orientation, physical and abstract theories of phonology often make similar empirical predictions. This study examines a case where they do not: gemination restrictions in Hungarian. While both types of theory correctly prohibit the lengthening of a consonant when flanked by another consonant, they make different predictions regarding both the relative duration changes within a target consonant and the applicability of restrictions to lengthening processes besides gemination. In two speech-production experiments, these predictions are evaluated by measuring stop and frication durations within affricates. Results show that relative duration changes occur, and that the restriction holds only for gemination, supporting an abstract theory. Yet results also indicate that gemination exhibits sensitivity to inherent durational differences between affricates, providing some support for a physical theory. Thus I argue that an adequate theory of phonology must include abstract constituents, alongside a limited, principled set of physical landmarks.

Among the many types of non-concatentative morphemes are auto- segments or floating features which, in order to be realised phonologically, must attach to a root node in the stem. Akinlabi (1996) terms this process FEATURAL AFFIXATION. Featural affixes are of particular interest for models of reduplication, which make varying predictions as to whether or not they will be copied. In segmental models such as that of Marantz (1982), where nothing other than the underlying segmental base of the melody is copied, we would not expect the featural affix to be ‘transferred’ (Clements 1985a, Myers & Carleton 1996) between base and reduplicant.In models where the entire base is copied, such as that of Steriade (1988), featural transfer depends on the particular conception of the grammar. Within serial models of the grammar featural transfer depends crucially on the ordering of word-formation rules and phonological rules, while in a non-serial model like Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993) featural transfer depends on the rank ordering of relevant constraints. The goal of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of featural affixation and featural transfer by presenting a constraint-based account of consonant mutation in Seereer-Siin, an Atlantic (Niger-Congo) language related to Fula, and by focusing specifically on the interaction of consonant mutation and reduplication. In the analysis presented here I consider mutation to be the result of featural affixation to the root node of a stem-initial consonant.

A dispreference for onsetless syllables is often manifested by processes of consonant insertion or vowel deletion which eliminate onsetless syllables, and it is sometimes manifested by disallowing prosodic distinctions which onsetful syllables make, e.g. onsetless syllables may resist bearing tone or stress. This paper investigates the interaction between minimality and the structure of onsetless syllables in the Bantu language Zinza, documenting a previously unobserved onsetless effect which is partially conditioned by minimality. In Zinza, word-initial vowels of disyllables are lengthened, so /o-ljá/ becomes [óó-lja] ‘you eat’ (compare [o-líma] ‘you cultivate’ and [bá-lja] ‘they eat’, with no lengthening). These facts test previous theories of onsetless effects (Downing 1993, 1998, Odden 1995, Orie 2000). I argue that a special representation of onsetless syllables is not warranted, and does not explain this pattern of lengthening. A constraint against word-initial short onsetless syllables interacting with word minimality suffices to explain this lengthening.

The kinds of rhythmical variation I will examine in this paper can be observed in some double-accented Hungarian words, and can be exemplified by the changes that the stressing of the numeric compound ′tizen′három ‘thirteen’ may undergo when it is embedded in phrases. The stressing of this word may become tizen′három in the phrase ′pont tizen′három ‘exactly thirteen’ and ′ tizen′három in the phrase ′ tizen′három ′pont ‘thirteen points’. The two processes, however, are not quite symmetrical in their range of application; the first kind of change occurs in only a subset of the words affected by the second kind. The symbol ′ in the examples represents a pitch accent on the syllable whose orthographic form it precedes.

These changes are the Hungarian counterparts of the two kinds of rhythmical variation in English, manifested, for instance, by the different realisations of the word ′thir′teen, when it is embedded in phrases like ′thirteen ′points or ′just thir′teen. However, while rhythmical variation in English is extremely widespread, in Hungarian it is restricted to certain classes of words. Besides, rhythmical variation in English lacks the asymmetry between the two processes; both kinds of change affect the same set of words.

This article concentrates on rhythmical variation in Hungarian and on the implications of this variation for metrical theory.

This paper presents both dictionary evidence and experimental evidence that the quality of a word's final vowel plays a role in assigning main stress in English. Specifically, a final [i] pushes main stress leftwards – three-syllable words ending with [i] have a strong tendency to take antepenultimate stress. This pattern is compared with the Latin Stress Rule for English, according to which words with heavy penultimate syllables should have penultimate stress. Both pressures are shown to be productive in experiments. Two analyses of the final-[i] generalisation are tested, one using the ‘cloned’ constraint Non-finFt[i], and one using the ‘parochial’ constraint Antepenult[i], which directly penalises [i]-final words which do not have antepenultimate stress. Although it is has less typological support, Antepenult[i] is argued for on the grounds that it correctly predicts participants' behaviour on words with both a heavy penult and a final [i], which are extremely rare in the lexicon.

The Northwest Caucasian language Kabardian displays a typologically unusual process of word formation, whereby two lexical roots fuse to form a single prosodic word whose phonological behaviour is parallel to prosodic words containing a single root. It is shown that this process of fusion, which is subject to a number of phonological and morphosyntactic restrictions, reflects a typologically unusual response to a cross-linguistically common minimal word requirement banning monomoraic prosodic words. Rather than employing segmental lengthening or insertion to ensure that minimality is satisfied, Kabardian chooses to violate the one-to-one mapping between grammatical and prosodic words. A further complication is the scalar nature of minimality in Kabardian: while the impossibility of fusion in certain prosodic and morphosyntactic contexts allows monomoraic prosodic words to surface, a more stringent minimality restriction ensures that all prosodic words have at least one mora.

Theories of stress assignment commonly assume that syllable onsets do not determine a syllable's ability to attract stress. In the frameworks of McCarthy (1979) and Hayes (1981, 1995), for example, only the rhyme is projected in order to determine the weight of a syllable. In Moraic Theory (Hyman 1985), onsets do not contribute to the weight of a syllable as a consequence of the Onset Creation rule, by which onsets lose their weightbearing unit. In the framework of Hayes (1989), the rule of Weight-by-Position ensures that only coda consonants can ever be weight-bearing.