Kashaya [asp] assimilation and dissimilation by correspondence

Abstract

An aspirated stop in a Kashaya prefix becomes a plain voiceless stop by dissimilation when the root begins with an aspirate; but it also assimilates to an unaspirated stop in the same position. The OCP cannot help with assimilation, so I propose a unified analysis of the two phenomena within Agreement by Correspond­ence (Rose & Walker 2004, Bennett 2013). Unlike somewhat similar cases in the literature with both assimilation and dissimilation, here there is no structural difference. I posit a conjoined constraint that penalizes an initial aspirate in a correspondence relation; the rest follows from standard ABC assumptions.