Japanese Phonology Constraint Domains and Structure Preservation

This article sketches some of the most important aspects of the sound pattern of Modern Japanese, focussing on segmental processes and restrictions. Even at this basic level of phonological organization, an empirically and conceptually adequate description requires explicit reference to the large-scale stratification of the Japanese lexicon into morphemes of different classes. A secondary purpose of this article is to show that a formal explication of the structure of the phonological lexicon — a complex network of partially overlapping phonological regularities of various degrees of generality — calls for significant emendation and extension of traditional views on morpheme classes and necessitates the development of a constraint-based model of lexical organization.