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Rule Insertion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Robert D. King*
Affiliation:
University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

The claim that Rule insertion—rule addition anywhere in the middle of a grammar—is a possible type of phonological change is considered and rejected. Some putative cases of Rule insertion are shown to reduce to rule re-orderings governed by revised constraints on re-ordering; others involve non-controversial rule addition prior to the phonetic rules of a grammar; remaining cases of apparent Rule insertion are the fictitious consequence of incorrect analyses. New phonological rules can be added at only one point: at the end of the phonological rules but prior to the low-level phonetic rules.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , September 1973 , pp. 551 - 578
Copyright
Copyright © 1973 by Linguistic Society of America

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