| ROA: | 396 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Implicational Constraints, Defaults and Markedness |
| Authors: | Sergio Balari, Rafael MarÃn, Teresa Vallverdú |
| Comment: | 30 pages. Requires SILDoulosIPA fonts |
| Length: | 30 |
| Abstract: | Implicational Constraints, Defaults and Markedness Sergio Balari, Rafael Marín and Teresa Vallverdú Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona In this paper, we explore the idea of constraint combination as originally described by Smolensky (1993; 1995). Our main goal is to show that this mechanism is entirely compatible with a classical denotational semantics for logical connectors and with a standard view of the EVAL function. To show this, we take the work of Crowhurst & Hewitt (1997) as a point of departure, where a number of phenomena are analyzed by means of macro- constraints. In particular, we focus on conflicting directionality pheno- mena which, we contend, may be captured by a unified analysis in terms of implicational constraints. It is our contention that all cases of conflicting directionality may be captured by the following general schema: IF P THEN Q, ELSE R. P and Q are two simple constraints combined by material implication into a larger one that captures the marked, less general case; R, on the other hand, corres- ponds to the unmarked, more general pattern that is ranked below the im- plicative constraint. This particular organization of constraints requiring marked and unmarked structures is equivalent to those proposed, for example, by Zoll (1997) for conflicting directionality and by McCarthy & Prince (1994) for other phenomena. |
| Type: | Paper/tech report |
| Area/Keywords: | |
| Article: | Version 1 |