Ch 9 – Productivity

1. Ch 9 – Productivity Productivity – the capacity of a rule to apply to novel circumstances. P. 190 Vowel nasalization in English is a fully productive rule. Postnasal /t/ deletion in English = not 100% productive. Isn’t a rule that applies 100% of the time (differences in casual versus careful speech for most) Also – there are lexical exceptions, like intonation

2. Ch 9 – Productivity Polish /n/ weakening (becoming a nasalized [w]) – shows some exceptions to rule, so does that make it not productive? No – the exceptions are borrowed words (sometimes they don’t follow typical phonological rules in a language – like borrowings from Yiddish into English allowing shl- as an onset) Polish shows transference of this rule to other languages, indicating it as a productive rule. Some exceptions are 100% (like intonation which never applies the rule) versus “part-time” exceptions like Polish (diff between careful and casual speech)

3. Ch 9 – Productivity Theoretical problem for rules that aren’t 100% productive – are these exceptions stored in the lexicon and each is memorized (like suppletive forms go~went) The /f/ voicing rule for some English plurals is complicated, has many exceptions, and is not fully productive. If we create a new word in English, like spife then what is the plural? Some cases that appear to be phonological rules (that is, we can see a systematic pattern) may be not productive and therefore not a rule at all. Sometimes, old phonological alternations become leveled (historical process that eliminate certain alternations in favor of a more productive one) and we are left with a handful of alternations. If they don’t show any productivity, then we must assume the rule has been lost and these are memorized in lexicon

4. Ch 9 – Productivity Shows that there are different types of rules /f/ voicing is a minor rule and only applies to certain forms. Basically, this rule is memorized in the lexicon, rather than just memorizing the separate plural form. Has diacritic feature [+/f/ Voicing] A major rule – normal productive rule Can have a form with a diacritic feature [-Rule X] that blocks rule from applying. 3 degrees of productivity: minor rules, major rules with exceptions, and major rules without exceptions. Lardil example of an exception to the Apocope and Final lowering rules.

5. Ch 9 – Productivity Wug test – ways to test productivity Yidijn shows 2 morphemes to form the ergative case. Since there is no real phonological connection between them, we can say that these 2 morphemes are both underlying and which form gets selected depends on the form of the stem Sometimes, a data pattern shows multiple allomorphs which cannot be derived from phonological rules (called Allomorphy) Example of stem allomorphy in Persian. Shows a different stem for the present than for the past without any phonological connection between the two (we can’t easily apply phono rules to derive one from the other). Just 2 separate lexical entries

6. Ch 9 – Productivity Possible to analyze Lardil /k/ epenthesis as allomorphy instead of a limited phonological rule. If stem ends in nasal, then use 1 allomorph. If not, use the other. A morphological or lexical account is required when an alternation is morpheme-specific and there is no phonological relationship between the allomorphs A phonological analysis is required when the alternation is productively extended to new morphemes There are intermediate cases where we cannot determine the correct analysis with our current knowledge.

7. Ch 10 – Role of Morph and Syntax Bounding domain = rule only applies when all segments are within the same domain. Word-bounded rule = all parts of the environment string are within a word – discusses /ai/ raising – what about tai chi and chai tea?

8. Ch 10 – Role of Morph and Syntax Pseudo-minimal pairs = when a domain issue creates minimal pairs – rice ales vs. rye sales – because different words, looks like minimal pair but not Some rules are non-bounded – although discusses r-epenthesis in British English – really utterance bound (meaning it won’t apply before pause in speech)

9. Ch 10 – Role of Morph and Syntax Stem-bounded rule – alternation below shows that rule applies only within a stem VS.

10. Ch 10 – Role of Morph and Syntax Hierarchy of domains

11. Ch 10 – Role of Morph and Syntax Some rules bounded by phrase-edge – Chimwiini lengthening and shortening rules

12. Ch 10 – Role of Morph and Syntax Some rules bounded by phrase-edge – Chimwiini lengthening and shortening rules

13. Ch 10 – Role of Morph and Syntax Some rules only apply across boundaries – the rule indicates a domain and if that domain is not encountered, then rule doesn’t apply – sometimes called derived environment