An optimality-theoretic analysis of Navajo sibilant harmony

Abstract

This paper presents an Optimality-Theoretic analysis (Prince and Smolensky, 1993) of sibilant harmony in Navajo. This Optimality- Theoretic (OT) analysis uses correspondence theory (McCarthy and Prince, 1995) to account for changes in the [±anterior] feature in coronal segments in the verbal conjunct domain. Specifically, the place of articulation of the rightmost coronal fricative segment determines the place of articulation of all other coronal fricatives in the verbal conjunct domain via Ident, Agree and Max constraints. This OT analysis is innovative in that it posits a constraint that protects pronominal-argument morphemes from deletion.