Phonological Projection A Theory of Feature Content and Prosodic Structure

Oostendorp first provides evidence for the constraint CONNECT(N, lax) and discusses the interaction of this constraint with phenomena of vowel length. He then discusses schwa (the empty vowel) in Dutch, French, and Norwegian, showing that this vowel shows a defective behavior at almost all projection levels. He reviews all the projection constraints that are introduced in the volume and shows that the constraint set is not an arbitrary, unprincipled set of unrelated constraints but can be subdivided into a small number of classes of tightly related constraints. Appendices provide information on constraints and families of constraints; arguments for ranking; and ranking schemes. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.