Dissertation - Michael Becker

(107)LOC-AL(o) xalonLOC-AL(o) alonDISTAL(o) φ-MATCHa. xalon-ót ≻ *xalon-ím W W⊘ Lb. alon-ím ≻ *alon-ót L L⊘ Wc. olam-ót ≻ *olam-ím W Ld. olar-ím ≻ *olar-ót L WRecall that finding the most specific constraint to clone was done by finding the columnthat had the smallest number of W’s and L’s. After the most specific constraint is cloned, thelearner searches for constraints that are more general, defined as constraints that assign asuperset of the W’s and L’s that the cloned constraints assigns. The more general DISTAL(o)will be found this way, and W’s and L’s that belong to lexical items that are now associatedwith clones of LOCAL(o) are masked, or ignored for the purposes of cloning.The installation of LOCAL(o) xalon can be done either before or after the masking of thegeneral W’s and L’s from the column of DISTAL(o). Once LOCAL(o) xalon is installed, thefirst winner-loser pair can be removed. This leaves DISTAL(o) as the column with the leastnumber of W’s and L’s, and it is cloned. Now, only olám and olár are correctly associatedwith clones of DISTAL(o). The resulting grammar in (108) correctly lists all and only nounswith [o] in their final syllable under clones of LOCAL(o), and all and only nouns with [o]in this non-final syllable under clones of DISTAL(o).(108) LOCAL(o) xalon ≫ DISTAL(o) olam ≫ φ-MATCH ≫LOCAL(o) alon , DISTAL(o) olar107