The contrastive hierarchy in phonology 2009 Dresher.pdf - CUNY ...

(5.29) Yowlumne Rounding harmony (Archangeli 1984)
[+round]
[α high] [α high]
The rule makes reference to the feature [α high]. According to the RROC, the
reference to [α high] triggers all rules that fill in both values of [high], if they
have not yet applied, before the spread of [round] can occur. Since rounding
harmony is a fairly early rule, there are no empirical consequences of the
decision to specify only [–high] in underlying forms. As far as the phonology is
concerned, both values of [high] may as well have been specified.
5.3.2.3. Summary
Although Radical Underspecification takes phonological activity into account to
the extent that it bases the choice of underlying specifications on the identity of
the epenthetic vowel, this is the only aspect of phonological activity it looks at.
Considerations of minimality trump any other criteria, and the RROC
systematically removes phonological activity as a possible determinant of feature
specification by insulating the theory from any possible negative consequences of
underspecification. As Hall (2007: 24–26) puts in, Radical Underspecification
predicts that features may be absent only if they are redundant, whereas the
Contrastivist Hypothesis says that they may be present only if they are
contrastive.
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