Same exponent, different strength
A Gradient Harmonic account of allomorphy in Greek
In this article we discuss two vowel-deletion processes in Greek that show variation, even within the same prosodic domain, namely deletion of the compound theme vowel /-o-/ and deletion of /e/ in the pl imperative inflection /-ete/. We attribute variation to the underlying activity of the segments that are part of their phonological representation (Inkelas 2015; Smolensky & Goldrick 2016). More specifically, we argue that there exist allomorphs that differ only in the contrastive activation of their underlying segments. From the perspective of Gradient Harmonic Grammar (Smolensky & Goldrick 2016), gradient activity and constraint weight contribute jointly to the harmony of candidate outputs, determining the winner. As a result, exponents in which the relevant vowels (i.e. /-o-/ and /e/) have different input activities yield variation when computed by the same grammar.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Variation in the realization of vocalic elements
- 2.1Deletion of /-o-/ in compounds
- 2.2Deletion of /e/ in imperatives
- 3.Exponents with gradiently active symbols
- 4.A GHG analysis of gradiently active vowels
- 4.1Deletion of the compound theme vowel /-o-/
- 4.2Deletion of /e/ in 2pl imperative verb forms, and optionality
- 5.Exploring an alternative analysis
- 6.Conclusions
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
References
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