Generative Phonology 3301-JF260

This course is an introduction to standard generative theory. The aim of the course is to discuss the fundamental premises of the generative model presented in The Sound Pattern of English (SPE; Chomsky-Halle 1968) as well as later post-SPE developments in phonological theory. The discussion concentrates both on the problem of phonological representations as well as on various aspects of phonological rules. The course covers areas such as: phonological features (comparison and contrast of the SPE-feature framework and post-SPE developments: binary versus privative/monovalent features, distinctiveness, redundancy, feature bundles versus feature trees), syllable (differences between the SPE [?syllabic] feature format versus the post-SPE concept of syllable as a phonological constituent) and constraints on syllabification (Sonority Sequencing Generalization, Jespersen's Constraint, language-specific constraints, for example Obstruent Sequencing Suspension in Polish or *stop-nasal constraint in English). The analyses of phonological structures of English and other languages introduce students to the problem of rule interaction and rule types (transparent versus opaque rules, disjunctive ordering, conjunctive ordering, rule cyclicity) as well as various conditions on rule application, such as the Alternation Condition, Strict Cyclicity and the Elsewhere Condition. During the course students investigate a number of phonological problems based on linguistic data from English and other languages. Such analytical exercises allow the course participants to apply the methodological tools of generative theory in practice and to examine the advantages as well as constraints of the generative framework.