Poznan09

Optimal Domains Theory

Charles W. Kisseberth

This course focuses on phonological phenomena (most significantly, tone and harmony) in which phonological features are realized over "long distances" in relation to their point of origin. Such phenomena were originally treated in terms of "autosegmental" representations, but such representations turn out to be closely tied to the derivational model of phonology in which they first arose. Optimal Domains Theory is a constraint-based, non-derivational model which re-interprets autosegmental structure in terms of the notion of a "feature domain" and differs from both autosegmental phonology and also from recent developments in Optimality Theory such as "headed span theory" in recognozing that a domain is not the same thing as the extent of the realization of a feature. When properly understood, the notion of a feature domain accounts in a straightforward way for the very substantial amount of phonological opacity seen in Bantu tonal systems.

ODT will be explored primarily utilizing an array of Bantu tonal systems, but also in terms of vowel harmony systems (particularly, rounding harmony). Bantu tonal systems are of particular interest due to the fact that tonal phenomena often operate across words and thus are entirely productive. One language that we shall study in great detail, Shingazidja (spoken on Ngazidja, the largest island in the Comoros archipelago), is particularly interesting due both to the complexity of its phrasal tonology and also due to the considerable external evidence that French loanwords provide with respect to this system.

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