Syntax-Prosody in Optimality Theory - Theory and Analyses - Jennifer Bellik
6. Visibility Settings for Match Theory
Syntax-Prosody in Optimality Theory - Theory and Analyses - Jennifer Bellik
Nicholas Van Handel [+]
PhD student, University of California, Santa Cruz
Description
An important question in Match Theory concerns which syntactic constituents are visible to Match constraints. This chapter focuses on three proposals at the phrasal level: (i) Match(XP Lexical , φ) = Match(LexP, φ), which sees only lexical XPs; (ii) Match(XP OvertlyHeaded , φ) = Match(OhP, φ), which sees only XPs with phonologically overt heads; and (iii) Match(XP General , φ) = Match(XP, φ), which sees all XPs. Based on data from Italian, Irish, and Xitsonga, it is argued that Match(OhP, φ) usually can and sometimes must be used instead of Match(LexP, φ). This raises the question of whether the lexical/functional distinction is actually needed: although the lexical/functional distinction is a useful heuristic, because it often correlates with the silent/overt head distinction, it may not be necessary to capture the full range of phrasing data.