| Description |
Harmonic Serialism (HS) is a constraint based theory of phonology that has gained interest in the last ten years. As a theory of phonology, HS must be able to account for phonologically conditioned allomorphy. Currently in HS, phonologically conditioned allomorphy is analyzed in one of two ways - either using a single underlying representation in HS or through the realizational framework of Optimal Interleaving (known as Harmonic Serialism with Optimal Interleaving (HS/OI)). Yet, using data from Jersey Norman French (Jèrriais), I show that neither approach can account for certain cases of phonologically conditioned allomorphy. To remedy this deficiency, I propose the inclusion of Lexical Selection (LS) in HS in a framework termed Harmonic Serialism with Lexical Selection (HS/LS). LS provides for the lexical listing of allomorphs and, when needed, the ordering of allomorphs in the input to reflect a grammar's preference to use certain allomorphs regardless of surface markedness. Using data from Jèrriais, Dyirbal, Moroccan Arabic, Polish, and Catalan I develop a full theory of HS/LS. I explore how GEN is conceived of in HS, how allomorph selection functions within the theory, and how HS/LS can handle certain cases of opacity. I propose a revision of the constraint PRIORITY, which is the LS constraint responsible for ensuring respect of allomorph ordering, from a gradient faithfulness constraint to a categorical markedness constraint. The incorporation of LS into HS is important in that it allows HS to more fully account for phonologically conditioned allomorphy. |
