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Head–dependent asymmetries in phonology: complexity and visibility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2002

B. Elan Dresher  and
Harry van der Hulst
B. Elan Dresher
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Harry van der Hulst
Affiliation:
Holland Institute of Generative Linguistics and University of Leiden
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Abstract

Developments in phonological theory have led to the recognition that phonological representations have a layered constituent structure. Many, perhaps all, of these constituents contain elements which can be identified as heads. Heads enter into various kinds of relations with their dependents. In this article, we identify a phenomenon which is quite pervasive in every part of phonology which has heads and dependents, namely, the existence of head–dependent asymmetries (henceforth HDAs). While various particular manifestations of these asymmetries are well known and have been much studied, this is the first attempt, to our knowledge, to unite a broad range of seemingly different phenomena under one heading. We identify various types of HDAs, and propose constraints on possible HDAs.

Most importantly, we distinguish between HDAs that involve complexity, and those that involve visibility. These have properties which potentially contradict each other. We propose that they apply in fundamentally different types of cases: unlike complexity HDAs, visibility HDAs are limited to mappings from one phonological plane to another, and so are related to the notion of projection (cf. Vergnaud 1977).

We also wish to show that an understanding of HDAs reveals general structural principles that play a role in diverse phenomena at various levels of the phonological hierarchy. For example, the fact noted in the Optimality Theory literature that certain positions tend to be more ‘faithful’ to underlying specifications (Beckman 1998) is a consequence of the fact that heads allow more complexity. These principles act as constraints on possible constraints, and on possible mappings from one plane to another.

Type
Research Article
Information
Phonology , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , December 1998 , pp. 317 - 352
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Work on this article began when the coauthors collaborated in the Project on Language Acquisition sponsored by NIAS (Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences) in 1990–91. Early versions were presented at: the GLOW Workshop on Acquisition of Phonology, Leiden University, March 1991; the Workshop on Formal Issues in Language Acquisition, Max-Planck-Institut für Psycholinguistik, Nijmegen, June 1991; the MOT Phonology Workshop, University of Ottawa, January 1992; and the 1st HIL Conference on Phonology, Leiden University, January 1993. We are grateful to participants at these workshops, to colleagues and students at Leiden and Toronto, and to several anonymous reviewers for valuable comments. This article is a considerably revised version of Dresher & van der Hulst (1993, 1995). In addition to the organisations mentioned above, Dresher acknowledges the support of SSHRCC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) Research Grants 410-92-0885 and 410-96-0842.The above-mentioned NIAS project was organised by van der Hulst together with Teun Hoekstra, to whose memory we dedicate this article.