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Re: THEORY: phonemes and Optimality Theory tutorial

From:Marcus Smith <smithma@...>
Date:Sunday, November 19, 2000, 19:21
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. :)) =============================== Marcus Smith AIM: Anaakoot "When you lose a language, it's like dropping a bomb on a museum." -- Kenneth Hale ===============================