| Abstract: | This paper introduces serial Harmonic Grammar, a version of Optimality Theory that reverses two of Prince and Smolensky’s basic architectural decisions. One is their choice of constraint ranking over the numerically weighted constraints of OT's predecessor, Harmonic Grammar (HG). The other is their choice of parallel evaluation over a version of OT in which the representation is changed and evaluated iteratively (Harmonic Serialism). Serial HG is introduced with an analysis of syllabification in Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber (Dell and Elmedlaoui 1985 et seq.), the same case that Prince and Smolensky use to introduce OT. This analysis illustrates advantages of both serialism and weighted constraints. The paper also discusses some of the positive consequences of the adoption of serialism for the typological predictions of HG, as well as some outstanding issues for further research on serial versions of both OT and HG. |
