| Abstract: | In some languages, notably Kikuyu, the association of tones and syllables is completely predictable. In this paper, we show that a derivational version of Optimality Theory, Harmonic Serialism, cannot account for Kikuyu if underlying representations include preassociated tones. It follows from this result and richness of the base that underlying representations can contain associated tones in NO language, even a language with contrastive tone association. This leads to a discussion of alternative ways of lexically encoding these contrasts, such as underlying sequences of identical tones and diacritic accents. |
