Weighted scalar constraints capture the typology of loanword adaptation

Brian Hsu, Karen Jesney

Abstract


This paper discusses three basic ways in which loanwords pattern differently than native vocabulary, with a particular focus on the implicational relationships that hold among generalizations that apply at different degrees of nativization. We argue that the overall typology and the effects of the core-periphery structure are best modeled if constraints are weighted as in Harmonic Grammar (Legendre, Miyata & Smolensky 1990), and violation scores are scaled according to degree of nativization. The implicational patterns of repair versus non-repair are predicted from basic patterns of interaction among scalar constraints, obviating the need for the kinds of ranking metaconditions required in ranked-constraint alternatives.


Keywords


loanwords; scalar constraints; Harmonic Grammar; Optimality Theory

Full Text:

PDF


DOI: https://doi.org/10.3765/amp.v5i0.4246

Copyright (c) 2018 Brian Hsu, Karen Jesney

License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/