Opaque Rule Orderings

Will Styler - LIGN 111

Today’s Plan

• Teaching Feedback

• A note on Neutralization

• A vacuous term

• Transparent vs. Opaque Rule Orderings

• Counter-feeding and Counter-Bleeding

Teaching Feedback

Thanks for all the feedback!

• I’m always adjusting things like speed, timing, etc

• Slides are posted on the Syllabus (every lecture day is a clickable link!)

• We’ll go over the group material a bit more

• “The memes are a bit outdated, I guess.”

I’m on it!

Neutralization

We’ve been dealing with a lot of problems where a contrast ‘disappears’

• Two words are distinctive underlyingly

• … but element of phonology makes that contrast go away

Russian Devoicing

Neutralization

When a phonemic contrast ‘disappears’ in certain environments due to phonological rules

• “These words are underlyingly different, but the same on the surface”

Neutralization is really common

• You’ve been dealing with it already

• … and it’s time you had the word for it

… speaking of terms…

Vacuous Application

When a rule applies to a given form without having any effect

Obstruent voicing rule

[-voice,-son] -> [+voice] / __V

Obstruent voicing rule

[-son] -> [+voice] / __V

Rules can apply to forms while having no effect

• [-son] -> [+voice] / __V will apply to /da/, but not result in any change

• [-syll] -> [-high] / [-high]C0__ will apply to /e/, but nothing changes

• The output can be the same as the input, and the rule can be fine

Adding feature X to a segment with feature X does nothing

• So, feel free to make your rules a bit more compact

This is different from when the the environment isn’t present

• [-son] -> [+voice] / __V doesn’t affect /na/

• The rule doesn’t have the opportunity to apply

Now, for something completely different!

… I know what you’re thinking …

• “Will, I want solving phonological problems to be more complex!”

OK!

Lomongo

• Gliding: [-low] -> [-syll] / __V

• Yet [oina] is present in the language on the surface!

Opaque Interactions

We’ve looked at Single-Rule Problems

• There’s just one alternation in the dataset, or several alternations stemming from one rule

We’ve looked at Multi-Rule problems without interactions

• Several rules, but they affect different segments

  • (… or the same segments in different contexts)

• Here, the ordering of the rules doesn’t matter

Then, there are interacting rules

• Multiple rules affecting the same segment(s) or region(s) of the word

• One of the rules applies not to the UR, but to the output of another rule!

• Here, the ordering of the rules is crucial

We’ve looked at “feeding” rule interactions

• Where one rule provides a context for another rule to apply

Aspiration and Approx. Devoicing Derivation (Final)

We’ve looked at “bleeding” rule interactions

• Where one rule removes a context for another rule to apply

English Plural Derivation (Final)

Feeding and Bleeding interactions are transparent

• Both rules are “visible”

• The rules seem to “always apply” on the surface

• You can look at the surface forms and see that these rules are not violated!

There are two other kinds of rule orderings which are opaque

Phonological Opacity

When phonological processes interact in ways that may obscure the applicability or application of a given process

Opaque Rule Orderings

• Counterfeeding order - One rule “fails to feed” another

• Counterbleeding order - One rule “fails to bleed” another

Counterbleeding and Counterfeeding rule orderings are opaque

• Sometimes, you’ll see something ‘illegal’ happening on the surface

  • Your rule appears to fail to apply in some cases

  • Your rule appears to over-apply in some cases

• The rule exists, but it can appear to be violated or over-applied in some situations

  • It is not “surface true”

• Opaque orderings are trickier, theoretically and practically

These names are not great

• “Counter” here means the counterfactual inverse

• “Rule A would feed rule B if ordered first, but instead, Rule B comes first.

• “Rule C would bleed rule D if ordered first, but instead, Rule D comes first.

Counterfeeding Ordering

Rule A fails to feed rule B

• Rule A would feed rule B, but it applies too late!

Let’s look at a counterfeeding ordering!

Lomongo

• (Remember Wednesday?)

• Gliding: [-low] -> [-syll] / __V

• C Deletion: [+voi,-son] -> ∅ / V__

Lomongo

- ### The Gliding rule is violated on the surface by [oina]

A rule exists, but isn’t always followed

Counterfeeding ordering is opaque

• Rules should be given a chance to apply to all words in the language

  • … but it doesn’t seem to apply to some forms

• The correct ordering fails to feed that rule

• The rule seems like it was violated

• When it actually failed to apply to an earlier, intermediate form of the word

The Counterfeeding Motto

• “This rule seems like it should have applied here, but it didn’t!”

Counterbleeding

Counterbleeding Ordering

Rule A fails to bleed rule B

• Rule A would bleed rule B, but it applies too late!

Low German

• Spirantization: [-son,+voice] -> [+cont] / V__

• Devoicing: [-son] -> [-voice] / __#

Low German

- ### Spirantization shouldn’t affect a voiceless sound, but it seems like it did on the surface!

Counterbleeding ordering is opaque

• Rules should have the same effects throughout the language

  • … but it seems to be applying where it shouldn’t

• The correct ordering fails to bleed that rule

• The rule seems like it applied where it shouldn’t

• … but it actually just applied earlier, to an intermediate form where it should have

The Counterbleeding Motto

• “This rule shouldn’t apply here, but it seems to have!”

Let’s try and identify a rule ordering!

English tapping and raising!

• Tapping: [+ant, -cont, -lat] -> [-cons] / __[+syll, -stress]

• … and in some dialects…

• Raising: /aɪ/ -> [ʌɪ] / __[-syll,-voice]

  • (Feature specification and diphthongs is tricky)

English Tapping and Raising - Dialect 1

- ### What kind of rule ordering is this? Do we have a name for what happened at the end?

English Tapping and Raising - Dialect 1

• Here, tapping bleeds raising in “Whiter”

  • Raising could apply, but tapping removes the environment (__[-syll, -voice]) it would need

• The result is neutralization (“whiter” and “wider” become homophones)

English Tapping and Raising - Dialect 2

- ### What kind of rule ordering is this?

English Tapping and Raising - Dialect 1

• Here, tapping counterbleeds raising in “Whiter”

  • Tapping would bleed raising, but it applies too late!

• It looks like the rule overapplied

  • You shouldn’t get [ʌɪ] before a voiced sound

• There’s no longer any neutralization!

• Dialects can differ in rule ordering!

Western Basque

• Mid Raising - [-low] -> [+high] / __V

• Low Raising - [+low] -> [-low] / __V

Western Basque

• What kind of rule ordering is this?

Western Basque

• Here, mid raising counterfeeds low raising

  • Low raising would feed mid-raising, but it happens too late!

• It looks like the rule was violated

  • You shouldn’t get [e] before a vowel, but we did!

Opacity is really tricky!

• You get things on the surface that break your rules

• … and rules that seem to apply more often than they should

• Your rules may be true, but not surface true

Opacity is also theoretically interesting

• Learning a rule that’s regularly violated might be tougher

• Handling opacity is a major area of differentiation among phonological theories

• This is a bit beyond this class, but really interesting!

The problem solving process doesn’t change!

• You’re still generating rules

• Then tweaking their orderings until things work

• Then including derivation tables to show explain your analysis (always!)

• But you should think about opacity!

• Your rules might not be broken, just their orderings.

• That form might not be an exception at all.

Wrapping up

• Neutralization is where phonology causes contrasts to disappear

• Rule interactions can be transparent, or opaque

• Counterfeeding orderings result in rules which should have applied, but didn’t

• Counterbleeding orderings result in rules which seem to apply where they shouldn’t

• Opacity is a royal pain, but really cool!

Next time

• Some counter(C0)eeding interactions!

Thank you!