Irreducible parallelism in phonology: Evidence for lookahead from Mohawk, Maragoli, Sino-Japanese, and Lithuanian

摘要

McCarthy (2013) asks whether there are phonological systems necessitatingirreducible parallelismin grammar-systems requiring that multiple changes to the input apply in parallel, in a single derivational step. Such systems would necessitate a framework withlookahead: the ability to see from a given derivational step the results of applying multiple changes to its input. This article makes the following claims: (i) a variety of systems across languages, involving a diverse array of processes, require lookahead; (ii) these systems share the same underlying character, despite superficial differences. Our evidence comes primarily from the distribution of stress, lengthening, and epenthesis in Mohawk; reduplication and hiatus repair in Maragoli; syncope and gemination in Sino-Japanese; and assimilation and epenthesis in Lithuanian. All these systems involve what we call a COMPARISON OF PROCEDURES. To best satisfy constraints, the grammar applies one change followed by another, unless the final result is dispreferred. In such a case, the grammar instead applies a different series of changes. We make the argument for lookahead in grammar by comparing the ability of two frameworks-Parallel Optimality Theory and Harmonic Serialism-to capture these systems. We show that Parallel OT captures them naturally, as it permits lookahead and therefore allows the grammar to compare entire procedures. HS, on the other hand, is challenged by them, as it forbids lookahead and thus does not permit the grammar to compare entire procedures unless the changes involved are specified to apply in a single derivational step. That the problem arises in connection with a diverse array of processes suggests that lookahead is not merely the reflex of a single exceptional phenomenon, but rather is a property of the grammar as a whole.