sonority sequencing in optimality theory

Although one child did omit the onset in monosyllables, the omis sio n ra te was sig niﬁc an tly low er in the se pr odu ct ion s com par ed to the omis - si on ra te in pol ys yl la bic pr od uc ti on s. A cl os er loo k at th e da ta rev eal s th e om is si on of on se ts to be sy st em at ic, as we ll as con te xt -s pec iﬁ c wh il e all th re e chi ld re n om it the ons et in poly syll abi c pr odu ct ion s, two of t he chil dr en do n ot o mit the ons et in monosyllables. is is su r- prising because chi ld grammar is usually characterized by processes that reduce re la ti ve ma rk edn es s, no t in cr eas e it. e production of onsetless forms for target words that have an initial onset poses another challenge, as it results in the substitut ion of the universally un- ma rk ed CV sy ll abl e st ru ct ur e wi th th e re la ti ve ly ma rk ed V st ru ct ur e.

U nde r thi s approach, ranking the self-conjoined faithfu lness constraint prohibiting conso- na nt del eti on (alo ng wit h th e ma rk edne ss con st rai nt pr ohib iti ng clu ste rs) abov e the mar ked nes s con st rai nt pr ohib iti ng ons ets wil l cor rect ly pr edic t the omis sio n of one, but not two onset c onsonants in complex- onset targets. is notion refers to the combined eﬀect of two conjoined cons tr ain ts as op pos ed to th e eﬀect of eac h con st rai nt ind epe nde nt ly. is paper oﬀers an analysis based on local constraint conjunction (Smolen- sky 1993), which has been employed in Kirchner’s (1995,1996) account of syn- chronic chain shis. During the same stage of phonological development.

Sonority sequencing in optimality theory