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

convert the coda into an onset, and in (c) the coda consonant is deleted. In the
grammar in (6.3), MAX C is ranked above DEP V; therefore, this grammar prefers
the preservation of the underlying consonant to its deletion, and candidate (b) is
optimal, indicated by the pointing hand. Candidate (d) is eliminated
immediately because it violates the highest ranking constraint.
In standard OT, there is no cumulative calculation of violations: if a
candidate violates the highest ranking constraint and other candidates do not, it
is a loser even if it does better with respect to all the remaining constraints. 1
Different constraint rankings yield different optimal outputs. In (6.4), the
faithfulness constraints are in reverse order from (6.3), and sandwiched between
the markedness constraints, also in reverse order from the previous example.
(6.4) Constraint evaluation tableau
/bak/ NOCODA DEP V MAX C ONSET
a. bak *!
b. bake *!
c. ba *
d. ak *! * *
The optimal candidate in this grammar is (c). Candidate (a) will become optimal
in a grammar that ranks the faithfulness constraints over the two markedness
1 Nothing prevents OT from adopting other forms of constraint evaluation, including stochastic
rankings, or weighted constraints that are added cumulatively, and so on. These issues are
largely orthogonal to the general relation between OT and contrast.
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