Lookahead Effect in Mbe Reduplication

Abstract

An approach to reduplication in parallel Optimality Theory predicts the possibility of lookahead effects in contrast to Serial Template Satisfaction in Harmonic Serialism (McCarthy, Kimper & Mullin 2012). I argue that a lookahead effect is found in the reduplicative imperative affixation in Mbe, where the amount of material copied foresees the availability of a subsequent phonological change. A straightforward account of the pattern is available in parallel OT but not the serial approach, which requires ad hoc stipulations about constraint evaluation that introduce unwanted theoretical complications. This paper thus provides evidence in favor of parallel evaluation in the theory of reduplication.