Hostname: page-component-5f7774ffb-7hcng Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-02-20T02:49:13.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adjacency parameters in phonology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2026

David Odden
David Odden*
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
*
Department of Linguistics, 222 Oxley Hall, The Ohio State University, 1712 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

One motivation for nonlinear phonology is the potential for eliminating the devices of linear phonology needed to allow rules to apply to nonadjacent segments. Imposing hierarchical structure on the organization of features within a segment and allowing segments to be unspecified for certain features makes it possible to view apparently longdistance rules as rules operating between segments which are adjacent at a specified level, even though the segments are not adjacent at all levels of representation. This paper presents a theory of phonological adjacency requirements. Locality Theory is defined by a universal Locality Condition, which requires elements to be local within a plane, the Adjacency Parameter, which in turn allows rules to impose further constraints on the maximal distance between interacting segments, and by Transplanar Locality, which bans certain types of relations across featural planes. A survey of phonological processes demonstrates the generality of this theory across feature tiers.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 70 , Issue 2 , June 1994 , pp. 289 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 by Linguistic Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ao, Benjamin. 1991. Kikongo nasal harmony and context-sensitive underspecification. Linguistic Inquiry 22. 193–96.Google Scholar
Archangeli, Diana, and Pulleyblank, Douglas. 1987. Maximal and minimal rules: The effects of tier scansion. North Eastern Linguistic Society 17. 16–35.Google Scholar
Archangeli, Diana, and Pulleyblank, Douglas. 1992. Grounded phonology. Tucson & Vancouver: University of Arizona & University of British Columbia, ms.Google Scholar
Besha, Ruth. 1989. A study of tense and aspect in Shambala. (Language and dialect studies in East Africa, 10.) Berlin: Reimer.Google Scholar
Bright, William. 1957. The Karok language. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 13.) Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bright, William. 1972. The enunciative vowel. International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 1. 26–55.Google Scholar
Casali, Roderic. 1993. Labial opacity and roundness harmony in Nawuri. Los Angeles: UCLA, ms.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam, and Halle, Morris. 1968. The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Clements, G. N. 1976. Vowel harmony in nonlinear generative phonology: An auto-segmental model. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Clements, G. N. 1985. The geometry of phonological features. Phonology Yearbook 2. 225–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clements, G. N. 1989. A unified set of features for consonants and vowels. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, ms.Google Scholar
Clements, G. N. 1990. Place of articulation in consonants and vowels: A unified approach. Working Papers of the Cornell Phonetics Laboratory 5. 77–123.Google Scholar
Clements, G. N., and Hume, Elizabeth. 1993. The internal organization of segments. A handbook of phonological theory, ed. by Goldsmith, John. Oxford & Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, to appear.Google Scholar
Cohn, Abby. 1992. The consequences of dissimilation in Sundanese. Phonology 9:199–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, John, and Local, John. 1991. The “No crossing constraint” in autosegmental phonology. Linguistics and Philosophy 14. 295–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daly, John. 1993. Representation of tone in Peñoles Mixtec. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics, ms.Google Scholar
Davy, J. I. M., and Nurse, Derek. 1982. Synchronic versions of Dahl's Law: The multiple applications of a phonological dissimilation rule. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 4. 157–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimmendaal, Gerrit. 1983. The Turkana language. Dordrecht: Foris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doke, Clement. 1938. Textbook of Lamba grammar. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.Google Scholar
Ebert, Karen. 1979. Sprache und Tradition der Kera (Tschad), Teil III: Grammatik. (Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde, Serie A: Afrika.) Berlin: Reimer.Google Scholar
Fallon, Paul. 1993. Liquid dissimilation in Georgian. Columbus: Ohio State University, ms.Google Scholar
Foley, William. 1991. The Yimas language of New Guinea. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Grønbech, Kaare, and Krueger, John. 1955. An introduction to Classical (Literary) Mongolian. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Halle, Morris. 1979. Preface. Papers on syllable structure, metrical structure and harmony processes, ed. by Safir, Ken, vi–viii. Cambridge, MA: MIT Department of Linguistics and Philosophy.Google Scholar
Harrington, J. P. 1930. Karuk texts. International Journal of American Linguistics 6. 121–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, Bruce. 1981. A metrical theory of stress. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation. [Distributed by Indiana University Linguistics Club].Google Scholar
Hayes, Bruce. 1986. Inalterability in CV phonology. Lg. 62.321–51.Google Scholar
Herzallah, Rukayyah. 1990. Aspects of Palestinian Arabic phonology: A non-linear approach. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University dissertation.Google Scholar
Howard, Irwin. 1972. A directional theory of rule application in phonology. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation.Google Scholar
Hualde, Jose. 1991. Basque phonology. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hume, Elizabeth. 1992. Front vowels, coronal consonants and their interaction in nonlinear phonology. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University dissertation.Google Scholar
Itô, Junko, and Mester, Ralf-Armin. 1986. The phonology of voicing in Japanese: Theoretical consequences for morphological accessibility. Linguistic Inquiry 17. 49–73.Google Scholar
Jensen, John. 1974. A constraint on variables in phonology. Lg. 50.675–86.Google Scholar
Jensen, John., and Stong-Jensen, Margaret. 1979. The relevancy condition and variables in phonology. Linguistic Analysis 5. 125–60.Google Scholar
Johnson, C. Douglas. 1972. Formal aspects of phonological descriptions. (Monographs on linguistic analysis 3.) The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Ka, Omar. 1988. Wolof phonology and morphology: A nonlinear approach. Urbana: University of Illinois dissertation.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Lawrence. 1981. Phonological issues in North Alaskan Inupiaq. (Alaska Native Language Center Research Center Research Papers 6.) Fairbanks: University of Alaska.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul. 1982. How abstract is phonology? Explanation in linguistics, ed. by Kiparsky, Paul, 120–63. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Kisseberth, Charles, and Abasheikh, Mohammad. 1975. The perfective stem in Chi-Mwi:ni and global rules. Studies in African Linguistics 6. 249–66.Google Scholar
Krause, Scott. 1980. Topics in Chukchee phonology and morphology. Urbana: University of Illinois dissertation.Google Scholar
Levergood, Barbara. 1987. Topics in Arusa phonology and morphology. Austin: University of Texas dissertation.Google Scholar
Liberman, Mark, and Prince, Alan. 1977. On stress and linguistic rhythm. Linguistic Inquiry 8. 249–336.Google Scholar
McCarthy, John. 1979. Formal problems in Semitic phonology and morphology. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation.Google Scholar
McCarthy, John. 1984. Theoretical consequences of Montañes vowel harmony. Linguistic Inquiry 15. 291–318.Google Scholar
McCarthy, John. 1986. OCP effects: Gemination and antigemination. Linguistic Inquiry 17. 207–63.Google Scholar
McConvell, Patrick. 1988. Nasal cluster dissimilation and constraints on phonological variables in Gurindji and related languages. Aboriginal Linguistics 1. 135–65.Google Scholar
McConvell, Patrick. 1993. [–nasal] spreading in Gurindji and related Australian languages. Casuarina: Northwest Territories University, Australia, ms.Google Scholar
McGregor, William. 1990. A functional grammar of Gooniyandi. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Moscati, Sabatino, Spitaler, Anton, Ullendorff, Edward; and von Soden, Wolfram. 1980. An introduction to the comparative grammar of the Semitic languages: Phonology and morphology. 3rd printing. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Nash, David. 1986. Topics in Walpiri grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation. [Published, New York: Garland].Google Scholar
Odden, David. 1977. Overspecification and variables in phonology. Linguistic Analysis 3. 177–96.Google Scholar
Odden, David. 1980. The irrelevancy of the relevancy condition: Evidence for the feature specification constraint. Linguistic Analysis 6. 261–394.Google Scholar
Odden, David. 1987. Dissimilation as deletion in Chukchi. Eastern States Conference on Linguistics '87.235–46.Google Scholar
Odden, David. 1988. Floating tones and contour tones in Kenyang. Studies in African Linguistics 19. 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odden, David. 1990. Tone in the Makonde dialects: Chimaraba. Studies in African Linguistics 21. 61–105.Google Scholar
Odden, David. 1991. Vowel geometry. Phonology 8. 261–89.Google Scholar
Odden, David. 1993. Tone: African languages. A handbook of phonological theory, ed. by Goldsmith, John. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, to appear.Google Scholar
Palmer, Frank. 1956. ‘Openness’ in Tigre: A problem of prosodic analysis. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 18. 561–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parkinson, Frederick. 1993. The place feature [pharyngeal] as a marker of height in Efik vowel harmony. Columbus: Ohio State University, ms.Google Scholar
Poppe, Niklaus. 1964. Grammar of Written Mongolian. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Pulleyblank, Douglas. 1986. Tone in lexical phonology. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rialland, Annie, and Badjimé, Mamadou. 1989. Réanalyse des tons du bambara: Des tons du nom à l'organisation générale du système. Studies in African Linguistics 20. 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rialland, Annie, and Djamouri, Redouane. 1984. Harmonie vocalique, consonantique et structures de dépendance dan le mot en mongol khalkha. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 89. 333–83.Google Scholar
Roehl, K. 1911. Versuch einer systematischen Grammatik der Shambalasprache. Hamburg: Abhandlungen des Hamburgischen Kolonialinstituts, 2.Google Scholar
Rose, Sharon. 1994. Palatalization, underspecification and plane conflation in Chaha. West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics 12, to appear.Google Scholar
Sagey, Elizabeth. 1986. The representation of features and relations in nonlinear phonology. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation.Google Scholar
Schein, Barry, and Steriade, Donca. 1986. On geminates. Linguistic Inquiry 17. 691–744.Google Scholar
Selkirk, Elisabeth O. 1988. Dependency, place, and the notion ‘tier’. Amherst: University of Massachusetts, ms.Google Scholar
Selkirk, Elisabeth O. 1993. Labial relations. Amherst: University of Massachusetts, ms.Google Scholar
Shaw, Patricia. 1991. Consonant harmony systems: The special status of coronal harmony. The special status of coronals: Internal and external evidence, ed. by Paradis, Carole and Prunet, Jean-François, 125–57. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Steriade, Donca. 1987a. Redundant values. Chicago Linguistic Society 23. 339–62.Google Scholar
Steriade, Donca. 1987b. Locality conditions and feature geometry. North Eastern Linguistic Society 17. 595–618.Google Scholar
Svantesson, Jan-Olof. 1985. Vowel harmony shift in Mongolian. Lingua 67. 283–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vago, Robert. 1980. The sound pattern of Hungarian. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Vago, Robert. 1988. Underspecification in the height harmony system of Pasiego. Phonology 5. 343–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Soden, Wolfram. 1969. Grundriss der Akkadischen Grammatik. Analecta orientalia 33, 2. Rome: Pontificum Institutum Biblicum.Google Scholar
Wordick, Frank. 1982. The Yinjibarndi language. (Pacific Linguistics Series C, 71.) Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Zimmer, Karl. 1967. A note on vowel harmony. International Journal of American Linguistics 33. 166–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar