⚠ Click on the entries below to see additional information and files My published and unpublished research, along with supplementary materials.
For a guide to my research, click here.
Download all references: RIS | RDF | BIB
Also see my page on tone- and sonority-driven stress.
Journal link | Paper (Coming soon)
Audio Recording: mp3 (71.3 MB)
Email me for wav: prof@pauldelacy.net
Also see my page on markedness, and me as a evidence.
The concept of a phonological ‘augment’ is explored in the dominant L1 phonological system of the author, a 50-year old New Zealand male. Several segmental processes involving voiceless stops are examined, including aspiration, glottalization, debuccalization (‘t-glottalling’), deletion, and flapping. Building on Shih (2027), the augment – a voiced non-syllabic approximant [ə] – is proposed as a key component of all of these processes; outcomes are derived through assimilation to or of the augment. This approach is an alternative to theories that ascribe segmental processes to structural reduction or reduction of disharmony.
Keywords: phonology, augment, debuccalization, glottalization, flapping
⚠ If you would like to review this book, please fill out this form using ISBN 9781009436373.
I edited the first edition of this book on my own (see below – 2006). This second edition is not a replacement for the first edition – you should read them both because they hardly overlap at all. I see them more as two volumes of one book than two editions of the same book.
Audio recordings and derivations
Here is a prepublication draft. The published version is here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11525-022-09393-1
Article (PDF)
https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/catjl.25
keywords: sonority-driven stress, sonority, stress, evidence
We argue that there is no adequate evidence for ‘sonority-driven stress’, building on Shih (2018a,b), and disagreeing with Kenstowicz (1997), de Lacy (2002a, 2004, 2006), and others. More precisely, we argue that there is no phonological mechanism that induces metrical structure to deviate from its default position for reasons that involve the direct interaction of segmental sonority and foot form. After reviewing the history of sonority-driven stress theory, we identify two broad issues with extant evidence: the lack of methodological reliability, and misattribution of cause. We argue that impressionistic descriptions of sonority-driven stress are not reliable, in the technical sense of evidentiary validity. We further argue that apparent sonority-sensitivity in foot form is a side-effect of either allophony or minor syllable behavior.
Slides: Powerpoint, PDF
References: PDF
Article (PDF)
This short paper is really an addendum to de Lacy (2020) The feature [stress].
Here is a prepublication draft. The published version is here: https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2017.0024
This PDF is a pre-publication draft. For the final version, see the DOI below:
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.63
! I was not able to include acknowledgements in the article. So, I would like to thank the following people for their feedback here: Shu-hao Shih, Luca Iacoponi, and an anonymous reviewer.
Poster (PDF)
Powerpoint with audio [mp4] (124 MB)
Some of the articles I mentioned:
Braver, Aaron (2014) Imperceptible incomplete neutralization: Production, non-identifiability, and non-discriminability in American English Flapping. Lingua 152:24-55. http://www.aaronbraver.com/papers.php
Lehiste, Ilse, Pire Teras, Toomas Help, Partel Lippus, Einar Meister, Karl Pajusalu, Tiit-rein Viitso (2005). Meadow Mari prosody. Linguistica Uralica Supplementary Series vol. 2. http://www.kirj.ee/public/va_lu/Meadow%20Mari%20Prosody.pdf
Williams, H.W. (1957) A dictionary of the Maori language. Government Printer (note: not the most recent edition). http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WillDict.html
Powerpoint with audio [mp4] (115.1 MB)
Prepublication version (PDF)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-013-9191-y
This article has undergone some changes over its long life. Some people have cited the 2006 version (PDF)
Draft (28 Jan 2010 version) (PDF)
Data (Excel)
Corrections (PDF)
Some hard-to-find references:
Anderson & Browne (1976), Degenshein (2004), de Lacy (2002) MorphDisF, Fitzpatrick et al. (2004), Gregerson (1974), Walker (1970), Westermann (1912).
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199573721.003.0005
(I was not able to include acknowledgements in the article…)
I would like to thank the following people for their feedback here: Ricardo Bermudez-Otero, Abby Cohn, Elan Dresher, Matt Gordon, Anne-Michelle Tessier, Tobias Scheer, and Hubert Truckenbrodt.
Presentation: Powerpoint and PDF.
Recently, there has been a renewed interest in how the grammar influences sound change. Reductionist approaches, like Blevins’ (2004), seek to minimize or eliminate the role of the phonological component. In contrast, other work, such as de Lacy & Kingston (2011), argues that grammatical mechanisms play a significant – though circumscribed – role.
The aim of this talk is to determine the extent of the phonological module’s influence on sound change within a Generative Phonology framework. I will argue that the phonological module has a minimal role, limited to circumscribing the space of possible output systems and input-to-output mappings. Consequently, the phonological module’s relevance in explaining typological patterns is very limited, but still significant.
References
Blevins, Juliette (2004). Evolutionary phonology: the emergence of sound patterns. Cambridge University Press.
de Lacy, Paul & John Kingston (2013). Synchronic explanation. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 31.2
Violation Assigner (VR) is software for experimenting with a particular theory of Optimality Theoretic constraints. The theory is described in Paul de Lacy’s Markedness and Faithfulness Constraints chapter in the Blackwell Companion to Phonology.
To install the software, download it and run it. Windows 7 and 8 will usually report security violations. Please click “More options” and accept the program to continue. You may need to run the program as an administrator. The help file is accessible from within the program (click Help).
Version 0.9.0 for Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8.x (11 April 2009; 4.47MB)
Review: This is the final draft, pre-publication version (PDF). For the published version see:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675710000278
Handout (PDF)
Cambridge University Press webpage (link)
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486371
Readings
A detailed table of contents: PDF
The introductory chapter: PDF
References
RIS format (TXT) (RIS is a general purpose format; it is easy to convert into other formats)
RTF (zipped) (Formatted as it appeared in the Handbook)
DOCX (zipped) (Formatted as it appeared in the Handbook)
Reviews
Cahill, Mike (2007) SIL Electronic Book Reviews [link]
Zerbian, Sabine (2008) Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 26.4:547-549
Scheer, Tobias (2010) What OT is, and what OT is not. Journal of Linguistics 46.1: 193-218.
Kenstowicz, Michael (2010) Language 86.1:216-219
Smith, Jennifer (2010) In Phonology 27.3: 537-541
Juliette Blevins’ wrote an overview of Evolutionary Phonology (PDF)
I replied to it (PDF)
Blevins’ responded to my and others’ replies (PDF)
I cited some hard-to-find sources on Tonkawa by Hoijer (PDF), Modern Frisian by Tiersma (PDF), and Grouw Frisian by Eijkman (PDF).
I also cited some hard-to-find articles:
Chung et al. Consonantal and prosodic influences on duration in Korean. [PDF]
de Lacy, Paul & John Kingston (2006) Synchronic explanation. ms. Rutgers & UMass. [PDF]
Review [PDF]
Chapter by chapter: link
Entire volume: PDF
I started COPiL in 2003 with the help of many very enthusiastic graduate students, particularly Marc and Lluïsa. I remember that Ian Roberts went to great lengths to find the money to pay the printer. I’m very happy to see that COPiL has flourished since then: https://www.copil.mmll.cam.ac.uk/
Chapter (PDF)
For a longer version, see de Lacy (2003) Maximal words below.
UMass Scholarworks: link
Abstract (PDF)
Chapter (PDF) (UMass Scholarworks)
Review (PDF)
Article (PDF)
Entire NELS volume: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/37064
Generals paper (PDF)
* This is the original version I submitted for assessment at UMass, and the one I posted on the Minimalist Syntax Archive
Revised version: PDF
* I prepared this shorter version for publication, but it was never published (I can’t remember why). I have a vague feeling that it was rejected, but I can’t find any evidence I even sent it anywhere.
I should have published this paper because people have referred to it. Douglas (2018) even says “In this paper I argue that de Lacy’s (1999) descriptive generalisation is essentially correct and can successfully describe a wider range of Māori constructions.”, which makes me feel happy (and hypothetically vindicated, if the paper was in fact rejected), but also a bit ashamed that I didn’t publish it so people could find it more easily. Sorry about that.
Chapters: UMass Scholarworks
Entire volume: PDF
Article (PDF)
The aim of this paper is to explore another way to account for edge-asymmetries, namely by prohibiting reference to right edges entirely. So, there is no ALIGN/ANCHOR-Right or ALIGN/ANCHOR-{Left and Right}, only ALIGN/ANCHOR-Left. We dub this the ‘Impoverishment’ approach since it is the solution that invokes the fewest number of constraints (so CON is ‘impoverished’ in comparison to the other solutions).
To explore the Impoverishment approach, we push it to its logical extreme, eliminating the possibility of right-edge reference for all constraints, not just for ALIGN/ANCHOR.
Rutgers Optimality Archive 328.
Link to entire volume: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/54297
Author’s note: I remember this paper very well. I gave a copy of the near-final draft to John McCarthy for his comments. He gave it back a day later with an encouraging note on it. It said: “Not a disgrace.”
Abstract (PDF)
Chapter (PDF), also at Rutgers Optimality Archive 298.
Abstract (PDF)
Article (PDF)
Rutgers Optimality Archive 333
There is a well-established relationship between tone and metrically prominent positions: metrically prominent
positions attract high tone, and high toned moras attract
metrical prominence.
The empirical aim of this paper is to show that the converse
is also true: there is an attraction between lower tone and
metrically non-prominent positions. In addition, it is argued
that these attractions hold at every prosodic level, from
the mora to the Intonational Phrase.
The theoretical aim of this paper is to provide a mechanism
to account for tone-prominence interactions. Crucial to
this proposal is the Designated Terminal Element of
Liberman & Prince (1977). When combined with the elements
of a tonal prominence scale, sets of constraints in fixed
rankings are produced. Various rankings of these constraints
with respect to stress- and tone-placement constraints produce
the variety of attested tone-prominence interactions.
To justify both the empirical and theoretical claims of this
paper, the relation between tone and stress in three Mixtec
dialects – Ayutla, Molinos, and Huajuapan – is examined.
Conditions of adequacy on theories of prominence-driven
stress are also considered.
Article (PDF)
It is argued that the Biblical book Ecclesiastes is the principle influence behind the thematic structure of the Old English poem The Wanderer. Specifically, the tonal disjunction at the end of the poem is directly analogous to a similar disjunction in the Judaic work. The recognition of this influence aids in determining the genre of the Old English poem as a sub-part of a Wisdom Literature tradition. Some insight is also gained regarding the number of protagonists in the work and the style of imagery presented.
Article (PDF)
The poem (link)
Article (PDF)