Alternatives to Syllable-based Accounts of Consonantal Phonotactics

PHONOTACTICS Donca Steriade, UCLA Abstract Phonotactic statements characterize contextual restrictions on the occurrence of segments or feature values. This study argues that consonantal phonotactics are best understood as syllable-independent, string-based conditions reflecting positional differences in the perceptibility of contrasts. The analyses proposed here have better empirical coverage compared to syllable-based analyses that link a consonant's feature realization to its syllabic position. Syllable-based analyses require identification of word-medial syllabic divisions; the account proposed here does not and this may be a significant advantage. Word-medial syllableedges are, under specific conditions, not uniformly identified by speakers; but comparable variability does not exist for phonotactic knowledge. The paper suggests that syllableindependent conditions define segmental phonotactics, and that word-edge phonotactics, in turn, are among the guidelines used by speakers to infer word-internal syllable divisions.