Abstract: Opacity is a natural language phenomenon where a phonological process is rendered non-surface-true by virtue of its interaction with other processes. Phonologists have long been fascinated with opaque generalizations both from a typological standpoint (What kinds of non-surface-true generalizations are found?) and a theoretical one (Which formal tools permit an analysis of opacity?). This review aims to (a) discuss the breadth of non-surface-true generalizations in light of phonologists’ (often implicit) working definitions of opacity and (b) address opacity as a flashpoint in one of the larger debates in generative phonology, between the rule-based serial approach of Chomsky & Halle’s Sound Pattern of English and constraint-based parallel Optimality Theory. A conclusion offered here is that the well-known problems Optimality Theory faces with some kinds of opacity are due not to its lack of serialism but to the fact that such processes are input-motivated rather than output-motivated.

Abstract: Primary word stress is typologically diverse. In some languages, the metrical structure of a word predicts the location of primary stress, while in other languages it does not. This diversity is considered through the lens of Harmonic Serialism (HS), a serial constraint-based theory, and it is argued that HS must incorporate a limited degree of parallelism to capture the typology. Namely, primary-stress assignment is simultaneous with foot-building and also mobile, being (re)assessed throughout a metrical derivation. But incorporating this parallelism into HS is both possible and desirable: the positive typological consequences of HS are preserved, and the implied formal divergence between the prosodic word and the foot with respect to parallelism echoes a fundamental distinction that is visible in a wide range of extant theoretical and empirical findings.

Abstract: Full and double reduplication are found in Nez Perce (nimipuutímt), a Sahaptian language spoken in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Full reduplication is characteristic of many nouns and adjectives, while double reduplication occurs when fully-reduplicated forms are subject to an additional reduplicative process, a Ci- prefix indicating plural. This paper describes the quantity-sensitive primary stress pattern of fully- and doubly-reduplicated adjectives, demonstrating a systematic departure from the usual pattern of quantity-insensitive penultimate stress in Nez Perce. It then use patterns of vowel length and plural exponence to show that fully-reduplicated adjectives exhibit a bimoraic stem minimum (though fully-reduplicated nouns do not), and argues that these facts can be understood as a manifestation of a complex recursive prosodic word structure where each stem is its own prosodic word and the Ci- prefix is adjoined as an affixal clitic.

Abstract: Metrical theory recognizes differences between primary and non-primary stresses, sometimes within the same language. In serial theories, this has often led to a parametric approach in derivation: some languages are ‘top-down’, with the primary stress assigned first, while other languages are ‘bottom-up’, where foot construction precedes primary stress placement. This paper examines two languages (Cahuilla and Yine) that have be treated as ‘top-down’ in rule-based metrical theory, and it shows that neither requires a top-down analysis in Harmonic Serialism, a derivational version of Optimality Theory. On the basis of these case studies it is argued that the common, intuitive notion of what makes a language ‘top-down’—a primary stress’s independence from non-primary stresses—is oversimplified. The case studies reveal the importance of theoretical framework and typological predictions in establishing the order of primary and non-primary stress assignment. The argument culminates in a concise statement of Harmonic Serialism-specific criteria for establishing that a top-down derivation is required.

Abstract: Cross-level interactions are phonological processes that make reference to multiple levels of the prosodic hierarchy, such as vowel shortening in the weak position of a foot. Cross-level interactions figure in most arguments for parallelism in Optimality Theory. This chapter demonstrates with several case studies how cross-level interactions can be analyzed in Harmonic Serialism. The key insight is that the relevant constraints may be violated in the course of the derivation, even if they are obeyed in underlying and surface forms. Cross-level interactions require parallelism only if constraints are inviolable, but that is inconsistent with a fundamental premise of Harmonic Serialism and every other version of Optimality Theory. The problems that cross-level interactions pose for serial theories with inviolable constraints are demonstrated through a review of their treatment in pre-OT constraints and repairs theories.

Abstract: Alternative questions differ prosodically from identically worded disjunctive yes/no questions in their accentual characteristics and their final pitch contour. Alternative questions are canonically pronounced with a final fall and with pitch accents on all disjuncts, while disjunctive yes/no questions are canonically pronounced with a final rise and generally without pitch accents on every disjunct. This article presents an experiment investigating the importance of these prosodic features in disambiguation. The experiment shows that the final contour is the most informative prosodic feature. Accentual characteristics also play a significant role, but, contrary to what is often assumed in the literature, cannot force an alternative question interpretation or a yes/no question interpretation on their own. Several theories of disjunctive questions are discussed in the light of these experimental results.

Abstract: This chapter claims that phonology is like syntax in that the input consists of lexical items with little or no structure. Specifically, we argue that metrical foot structure is always absent from underlying representations. This argument is framed in a derivational version of Optimality Theory called Harmonic Serialism (HS). The natural assumption in HS is that metrical structures are built one foot at a time. This mode of structure building has desirable consequences for locality in stress patterns. But these results can be subverted if structures that the grammar cannot produce are already present in underlying representations. The chapter concludes with a further phonology-syntax parallel: exceptional stress patterns require uninterpretable features whose presence can influence the structures that are built.

Abstract: This paper proposes a model of stress assignment in which metrical structure is built serially, one foot at a time, in a series of Optimality Theory (OT)-style evaluations. Iterative foot optimisation is made possible in the framework of Harmonic Serialism, which defines the path from an input to an output with a series of gradual changes in which each form improves harmony relative to a constraint ranking. Iterative foot optimisation makes the strong prediction that decisions about metrical structure are made locally, matching attested typology, while the standard theory of stress in parallel OT predicts in addition to local systems unattested stress systems with non-local interactions. The predictions of iterative foot optimisation and parallel OT are compared, focusing on the interactions of metrical parsing with syllable weight, vowel shortening and constraints on the edges of prosodic domains.