›Umlaut‹ in Optimality Theory

A Comparative Analysis of German and Chamorro

von Thomas B. Klein

152 Seiten, Hardcover

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

In this first book-length study of synchronic
umlaut
, a comprehensive comparative analysis of the phonology and morphology of the
umlaut
alternation in present-day German and the Austronesian language Chamorro is presented in the framework of Optimality Theory.
Umlaut
in German and Chamorro is local and noniterative vowel fronting at the edge of a morphological base.
Umlaut
in German is stress-insensitive, morphologically conditioned, and takes place at the right edge of words, whereas Chamorro
umlaut
interacts significantly with stress, is phonologically and morphologically conditioned and takes place at the left edge of words. The account of German and Chamorro
umlaut
presented in this book results in a fresh perspective of the phonology-morphology interface and the interaction between segmental and metrical structure with wide cross-linguistic implications. A new conception of morphological conditioning based on morphological faithfulness and Representation as Pure Markedness is developed. Given this approach, I propose that the requirement that there is no back vowel at the edge of the morphological base plays a fundamental role in German and Chamorro
umlaut
. It is demonstrated how the interaction of Pure Markedness desiderata and alignment, faithfulness and markedness constraints accounts for German and Chamorro
umlaut
without floating autosegments. Moreover, a careful analysis of Chamorro stress is able to explain the
umlaut
-stress interaction without the previously necessary, yet problematic transderivational correspondence relation. The Chamorro data collected for this study through extensive field research on Guam and Saipan contribute significantly to the documentation of this endangered language.

• Reihe: Linguistische Arbeiten
• ISBN: 9783484304161
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 16.05.2000
• Genre: Sprachwissenschaft, Literaturwissenschaft/Deutsche Sprachwissenschaft, Deutschsprachige Literaturwissenschaft
• Verlag: De Gruyter