An OT Account Of Vocalic Epenthesis In Mandarin Transliterations From English

This thesis aims at providing an OT Account of Vocalic Epenthesis in Mandarin transliterations from English. Optimal Theory, often shortened as OT, was formulated by Prince and Smolensky (1993). The central idea of this theory is that universal constraints are ranked and violable; a surface form is considered to be the most harmonic or optimal in the sense that it minimally violates or best satisfies a set of hierarchically ranked constraints with the other potential surface forms. Vocalic epenthesis in Mandarin is a subject which has not been fully discussed in the present literatures. The study in this thesis shows that vocalic epenthesis in Mandarin transliterations from English is the result of the interactions of constraints in the hierarchy.The study on the Mandarin segmental structure and the syllable structure is central in the thesis. From the angle of analysis, Mandarin segmental structure and syllable structure are the basis for the constraint hierarchy to derive the grammatical surface forms; from the theoretical angle, there exists the question such as whether unary segmental specifications and the non-linear representations of the syllable structure are compatible with the surface oriented constraints and the constraint hierarchy.The related data are provided at the beginning. All the descriptive data presented are clear enough to lead to the assumption that the vocalic epenthesis in Mandarin are homorganic with the immediately preceding consonant. The consonantal segments are divided into six different groups according to their place features: palatals, alveolars, labials, apicals, nasals and velars. I argue that what is really inserted is an empty slot for vowels rather than vowels themselves. Since the epenthetic vowel is not a phonetically realized nuclear in the underlying form, the epenthetic vowels acquire their place specifications from the immediately preceding consonant. Feature spreading is the important mechanism in this process.DP phonology is adopted in the study. I claim that DP segmental theoryhas some advantages over other binary-featured segmental theories, because DP theory applies only three place features 11, U ,A I as the basic phonological components to specify the segments, not only for vowels but also relevant to the place of articulation for consonant, thus it provides a unified account of consonants and vowels. And this unified account provides us with the possibility to discuss the feature spreading from consonants to vowels, and vice versa.Mandarin syllable structure has been analyzed in the thesis. I take the view that the syllable structure for Mandarin is (C)(G)V(C). The pre-nuclear glide is placed in the position of onset. Though consonant clusters are not allowed in the onset position, consonant-glide sequences are acceptable in Mandarin, and they are expressed in the markedness constraints: *a[CC and *o[CG. Besides, Mandarin disallows labial consonants to be followed by another labial segment as the pre-nuclear glide:*Lab.-W. Velars are not to be followed by a high front vowel: *ki. And the right edge of the syllable is respected in vocalic epenthesis. The right edge of the syllable is to be aligned with the right edge of the lexical word: Align-R. Besides, the prosodic foot should be binary either on the syllable level or on the mora level: Ft-Bin.This thesis has answered these questions: (1) What are the motivations for the epenthesis ? (2) What are the epenthetic vowels in Mandarin? (3) In what position are the vowels inserted? The following are the conclusions made in the thesis.The vocalic epenthesis is motivated by well-formedness requirements on the syllable, phonotactic requirements on the syllable and the prosodic well-formedness on the syllable. Feature values of the epenthetic vowels are the result of the interactions between the constraints, and ranked as:Codacondition>>S-Ident(F)>> *i, *u, *a, * l>>*>>Align-R.The site of the epenthesis is decided by the constraint schema:Ft-Bin.>>DEP-IO >>Align-R.The thesis has demo...