CHAPTER 4 OT ANALYSIS
4.1 Prosodic Constraints for Mandarin Regular Tone Sandhi
4.2.2 A LIGN -R(F, FP) & A LIGN -R(FP, Ft)
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
ALIGN-L(IC, Ft) because the left edge of xiao bao does not align with the left edge of the foot. As a result, (16b) is successfully selected as the optimal output.
So far, one may ask why ALIGN-L(F, FP) and ALIGN-L(FP, Ft) operate in Type A and the unmarked Type C. To be specific, what is the theoretical implication of ALIGN-L(F, FP) and ALIGN-L(FP, Ft) with regard to Mandarin typology? A possible answer would be the interleaving between focus and Mandarin lexical tones.
Phonetically, when focus occurs, the pitch range of the focused element is greatly expanded. In Mandarin, Tone2 is a LH tone while Tone3 is a L tone. A LH tone is more prominent than a L tone because it ends with a H pitch. Therefore, the focus would prefer to fall on the position where the pitch is prominent in surface representation. To be concrete, ALIGN-L(F, FP) and ALIGN-L(FP, Ft) let the focused element be at the sandhi position since a L tone always undergoes tone sandhi and changes to a LH tone if followed by another L tone. Thus, the sandhi position at which pitch raises from a L tone to a LH tone is where the focused element prefers to be.
4.2.2 A
LIGN-R(F, FP) & A
LIGN-R(FP, Ft)
The ALIGN-R(F, FP) is proposed to capture the fact that the focused element is at the right edge of the focal phrase. The definition is given below.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(17) ALIGN-RIGHT(focused element, focal phrase): the right edge of the focused element (F) coincides with the right edge of the focal phrase (FP).
The ALIGN-R(F, FP) constraint aligns the right edge of the focused element with the right edge of the focal phrase. In Type B and the marked reading of Type C, every candidate which observes this requirement would incur a fatal violation in the ALIGN-R(F, FP) constraint. Take Type B, for example.
(18) wu wu jui wu wu ‘55955’
wu wu jui wu wu
[σσσσσ] ALIGN-R(F, FP) ALIGN-L(F, FP)
☞ a. {σσσ}FP{σσ} *
b. {σσ}{σσσ}FP *!
Further, to ensure that the foot formation ends at the focused syllable, another alignment constraint is necessary.
(19) ALIGN-RIGHT(focal phrase, foot): the right edge of the focal phrase (FP) coincides with the right edge of the foot (Ft)
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
The alignment of the focal phrase and the foot at the right edge means that the foot formation ends at the right edge of the focal phrase. The ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) constraint comes into play in Type B and the marked Type C. With regard to its ranking, the ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) constraint must dominate FTMIN to allow a focal syllable to form a monosyllabic foot. First, consider the example of the marked Type C.
(20) gou yao xiao bao ‘Dogs bite Small bao.’
gou yao xiao bao
[σ[σ[σσ]]] ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) FTMIN FTMAX ALIGN-L(IC, Ft) Focal Phrase: {
σ}
FP{σσσ}a. (σσ)(σσ) *!
☞ b. (
σ)(σ(σσ))
* *c. (
σ)((σσ)σ)
* * *!d. (
σσσσ)
*! * *As can be seen in tableau (20), the focused syllable is the monosyllabic subject gou.
Both candidates (20a) and (20d) violate ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) because the right edge of the focal phrase does not align with the right edge of the foot. Instead, gou continues associating with the following syllables to form a disyllabic foot and a quadrisyllabic foot, respectively. Thus, (20a) and (20d) are ruled out. Other the other hand, candidates (20c) and (20b) do not violate the ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) constraint because the
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
focal phrase gou aligns with the right edge of the foot. As a result, the focal phrase is isolated as a monosyllabic foot. Although (20b) and (20c) violate FTMIN, they are not rejected because of the full satisfaction of the higher ranked ALIGN-R(FP, Ft).
However, in (20c), the left edge of xiao bao does not align with the left edge of the foot. It causes a fatal violation in the ALIGN-L(IC, Ft) constraint. Therefore, candidate (20b) is selected as the optimal output.
(21) gou yao xiao bao ‘Dogs bite Small Bao.’
gou yao xiao bao
[σ[σ[σσ]]] ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) FTMIN FTMAX ALIGN-L(IC, Ft) Focal Phrase: {σσ}FP{σσ}
☞ a. (σσ)(σσ)
b. (σ)(σ(σσ)) *! * *
c. (σ)((σσ)σ) *! * * *
Tableau (21) demonstrates the situation where the focus shifts to the verb yao.
Candidates (21b) and (21c) fail to satisfy the highest ranked ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) constraint owing to the mismatch of the focal phrase and the foot. That is, the foot formation does not end at the focal syllable yao; instead, yao proceeds to form a trisyllabic foot with the object xiao bao. As a result, (21a) is the optimal candidate among all of the candidates.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(22) gou yao xiao bao ‘Dogs bite Small Bao.’
gou yao xiao bao
[σ[σ[σσ]]] ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) FTMIN FTMAX ALIGN-L(IC, Ft) Focal Phrase: {σσ}{σσ}FP
☞a. (σσ)(σσ)
b. (σ)(σ(σσ)) *! *
In (22), it seems that (22a) and (22b) may be grammatical output since there is no violation in the ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) constraint. The right edge of the focal phrase accurately aligns with the right edge of the foot. However, in (22b), the subject gou is isolated as a monosyllabic foot. Candidate (22b), therefore, is ruled out due to the violation of the FTMIN constraint. The optimal candidate is (22a). Now consider the focal phrasing in Type B.
(23) wu wu jui wu wu ‘55955’
wu wu jui wu wu
[σσσσσ] ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) FTMIN FTMAX
Focal Phrase: {σσσ}FP{σσ}
☞a. ((σσ)σ)(σσ) *
b. (σ)(σσ)(σσ) *!
c. (σσ)((σσ)σ) *! *
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Tableau (23) demonstrates the focal phrasing of a list of digits. Candidate (23c) violates ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) since the right edge of the focal phrase does not align with the right edge of the foot. Candidates (23a) and (23b) fully satisfy the ALIGN-R(fp, ft) constraint because the phrasing ends at the focal digit. However, (23b) incurs one violation in the FTMiIN constraint because the first syllable forms a monosyllabic foot.
Consequently, candidate (23a) is successfully selected as the optimal output.
Then, what is the correlation between ALIGN-R(F, FP), ALIGN-R(FP, Ft), and Type B? Type B refers to the flat structure. By nature, a flat structure is composed of more than two constituents of the same type. The constituency of each constituent is not so tight as that of other types of sentence. Under such circumstances, the duration of the constituent would tend to be lengthened when it is under focus. The ALIGN-R(F, FP) and ALIGN-R(FP, Ft) constraints thereby regulate the focused element to be at the lengthening position.