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

theory is indirectly sensitive to the contrasts in an inventory. It computes the
similarity of pairs of phonemes as a function of how many natural classes they
share and do not share. It has been proposed that this metric can provide a
theory of similarity that plays a role in phonological processes. I will show that
this similarity metric simply does not make the right predictions with respect to
the phonological processes discussed in the previous chapter.
The theory of Clements (2001, 2004) is the subject of §8.5. Like MCS,
Clements proposes a feature hierarchy that governs segmental specification, as
well as a theory of markedness. His theory differs from the one advocated here
in assuming that these are universally fixed and independent of phonological
activity. The theory of Calabrese (1994, 1995, 2005), discussed in §8.6, also
incorporates contrasts and hierarchy, and pays attention to feature activity, but
with a different set of assumptions about how contrasts are achieved and what
markedness is. I will argue that phonological activity is an essential source of
evidence bearing on the contrastive feature hierarchy, and that the evidence from
activity shows that the hierarchy is not universal.
Finally, §8.7 considers the notion of ‘minimal contrast’ which plays a
prominent role in the work of a number of contemporary phonologists whose
theoretical assumptions are otherwise fairly diverse. I will show that minimal
contrast arises from the concept of pairwise comparison, which was shown to
have fatal flaws in Chapter 2.
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