Re: THEORY: phonemes and Optimality Theory tutorial

And Rosta wrote:

>The essential idea behind my proposal is that E and O are more complex than
>A, I, U. Only strong syllables can support this additional complexity.
>(That, btw, is a familiar finding in languages -- that extra complexity
>(such as double moras) is supported more strongly in strong than in weak
>syllables.) Paradigmatic complexity is reanalysed as a kind of simultaneitous
>syntagmatic complexity.
I would not explain that as "extra complexity". I would explain that as
perceptual saliency. The perceptual distinction between A and I, U is
greater than the distinction between A and E,O and E,I; O,U. Strong
syllables allow for enhanced perceptability when compared to weak
syllables; therefore, strong syllables can support less acoustically
distinct forms than weak syllables can.

(You can probably tell I'm coming out of the Donca Steriade/Bruce Hayes
School of Phonology. :))



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Marcus Smith
AIM:  Anaakoot
"When you lose a language, it's like
dropping a bomb on a museum."
   -- Kenneth Hale
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