Books in the Advances in Optimality Theory series

This book develops an Optimality-theoretic model of the interaction of phonological tone with segmental sonority, arguing that tone can interact directly with vowel quality without mediating factors such as syllable structure or duration.

Opacity arises when the conditions for or results of an active phonological process are not evident in the speech signal. It is particularly important in Optimality Theory. This monograph is devoted to the problem of phonological opacity. It evaluates representational approaches to opacity that emerged in the 1980's.

Conflicts in Interpretation applies novel methods of constraint interaction, derived from connectionist theories and implemented in linguistics within the framework of Optimality Theory, to core semantic and pragmatic issues such as polysemy, negation, (in)definiteness, focus, anaphora, and rhetorical structure.

"This book shows that harmonic serialism can be substantiated as a viable approach to inflectional morphology"--

Layering and Directionality is unique in the OT literature in that it examines both the formulation of constraints that produce directional parsing effects and it also addresses assumptions concerning prosodic and metrical structure.

Argues that contrast is one of the central organizing principles of the grammar and provides a formal theory of contrast couched in the framework of Optimality Theory. This monograph contributes to the debate on where contrast fits in the grammar.

The principle commonly held to be responsible for disjunctive application, the Elsewhere Condition (Kiparsky 1973), is argued in this book to be little more than a collection of necessary stipulations within Chomsky & Halle's original SPE framework.

The theory of prosodic hierarchy, proposed and developed by a series of work by Elisabeth O. Selkirk, has been one of the most important areas of research in the past few decades. The current volume puts together papers that address issues surrounding the theory of prosodic hierarchy, from its bottom (mora) to the top (utterance).

Presents a collection of papers in phonology and syntax on the topic of ineffability, or absolute ungrammaticality. These papers contribute analyses of carefully presented cases. The theoretical context for the papers is the analytical challenge which these cases present for Optimality Theory.

Presents a collection of papers in phonology and syntax on the topic of ineffability, or absolute ungrammaticality. These papers contribute analyses of carefully presented cases. The theoretical context for the papers is the analytical challenge which these cases present for Optimality Theory.

Focusing on the phonologies of children with functional (non-organic) speech disorders, this volume reports the findings in optimality theory, phonological acquisition and disorders. It is based on typological, cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental evidence from over 200 children.