This dissertation is concerned with the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) and its relationship to the representation of geminate consonants. The OCP blocks lexical forms with pair geminates, a pair of adjacent identical melodies. Therefore geminates must be represented as single melodies associated to two timing units. The OCP is also active on outputs, blocking phonology from creating pair geminates. The dual nature of the OCP (as both input and output constraint) is derived from the interaction of ranked and violable output constraints in an Optimality-theoretic grammar. In this analysis, no input restrictions are required.

The OCP is interpreted as a constraint on the set of constraints in UG (CON). The lexical OCP is accounted for by positing that no faithfulness constraint requires maintaining a distinction between one segment and two identical adjacent segments. The output OCP is accounted for by positing that output markedness constraints universally prefer one segment to two. The interaction of these markedness and faithfulness constraints neutralizes the contrast between pair and single geminates. One consequence of the analysis is that no specific OCP constraint is required. Rather, the effects of the OCP follow from general markedness considerations.

Geminates behave differently with respect to phonological changes compared to their singleton counterparts. Geminates are sometimes affected by changes that affect singletons (alterability). Examples of geminate alterability are found in Faroese, Persian, Fula, and Alabama. The fission of geminates appears to be a counter example to the claim that markedness universally prefers one segment to two. It is shown that fission follows from the activity of faithfulness constraints relativized to the syllable onset. The analysis of fission captures an asymmetry in fission processes. No fission process creates a cluster where the initial segment is more faithful to the input than second segment.

In addition to alterability, geminates are sometimes unaffected by changes that affect singletons (inalterability). Examples of geminate inalterability include Tiberian Hebrew, Latin, and the restriction of coda consonants in many languages. Universal inalterability must be an effect of the constraint responsible for the change in singletons. Parochial inalterability however, is the result of standard constraint interaction in an OT grammar.

This article argues that the difference between English and Norwegian with respect to the presence of a complementizer in embedded subject questions is attributable to a larger difference between the two languages, namely that Norwegian is a verb second language while English is not. Verb second forces subject wh-phrases to move to the specifier of a higher projection in Norwegian. The movement creates the need for a complementizer. In English, there is no such pressure for subject wh-phrases to move. Therefore there is no need for a complementizer. The so called anti *that-trace effects in Norwegian and the lack of them in English supports the use of ranked and violable constraints in an Optimality-Theoretic system.

In this paper I provide an Optimality Theoretic (OT) account of Icelandic preaspiration that relies on both the moraic theory of geminates (Hayes 1986, McCarthy & Prince 1986) as well as the bisegmental theory of aspiration proposed by Steriade (1993, 1994). The main claim of the analysis is that preaspiration is a type of metathesis between the stop and the aspiration. Following Thr�insson (1978) and Hermans (1985) I assume that preaspiration is contingent on lengthening of consonants in stressed syllables. This restriction is captured in an OT grammar through relative ranking of constraints. The analysis is further supported by a typology of preaspiration processes.

We propose that the locus of true optionality is in the underlying form or input. There exist faithfulness constraints on distinctive formal properties of syntactic structures which disfavor deviation from the input in each case. If these faithfulness constraints are ranked above markedness constraints against one or another of the possible outputs, the result is (apparent) optionality. As is generally assumed in OT, language-particular ineffability results from the opposite ranking of faithfulness below markedness. This ranking forces avoidance of marked structure in the output through unfaithful input-output mappings.

This paper consolidates, and in some parts improves on, work by both authors, independent and joint:

Bakovic, Eric. 1997. Complementizers, Faithfulness, and Optionality. ROA-212, Rutgers Optimality Archive, http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/roa.html.

Keer, Edward & Eric Bakovic. 1997. Have Faith in Syntax. In E. Curtis, J. Lyle, and G. Webster, eds., Proceedings of the Sixteenth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 255-269. CSLI, Stanford, Calif. [ROA-200, Rutgers Optimality Archive, http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/roa.html.]

Our names appear here in alphabetical order.

Portions of the present version were presented independently by both authors at the First Workshop on Optimality Theory Syntax in 1997 at Universitaet Stuttgart.

In this paper we argue that syntactic optionality is best understood in Optimality Theory in terms of faithfulness constraints regulating input-output disparity with respect to purely formal properties of syntactic structures. Specifically, we propose that the three forms of object relative clause in English shown in (a-c) below are the result of high-ranking faithfulness to a formal property we call "operator type". Any structural output constraints violated by the three forms are overridden in the typical Optimality-theoretic way by higher-ranked faithfulness.
a. the man who Bill saw
b. the man that Bill saw
c. the man Bill saw
The absence of the equivalent of (a) in Norwegian is then argued to be the result of lower-ranking faithfulness. We explore some consequences of this particular analysis, including the factorial typology of the constraints employed, and contrast this faithfulness approach to optionality with two other approaches in the OT Syntax literature. We conclude that the faithfulness approach is more satisfactory than other approaches, both empirically and theoretically.