Co-phonology vs. Indexed constraint theory: a case study of Perak dialect partial reduplication

Abstract

This paper presents co-phonologies and indexed constraint theory developed within Optimality theory (Prince and Smolensky, 1993) to account for partial reduplication in Perak dialect of Malay. It is found that the dialect has two patterns of reduplicative morphemes, i.e. light and heavy reduplication. In the co-phonology developed by Orgun (1996), Antilla (2002), Inkelas and Zoll (2005, 2007) and many others, each morphological construction is associated with a different phonological grammar, and the idea of ‘Markedness Reversal’, where a markedness constraint can be re-ranked in different morphological constructions in the same language, is used to account for morphologically conditioned phonology. In indexed constraint theory on the other hand, one constraint ranking is used to define the grammar of the entire language (cf. Alderrete,1999, 2001; Itô and Mester, 1999, 2003). Unlike co-phonology, this theory handles morphologically-conditioned phonology cases by splitting the phonology constraints into a particular morphological context, which results in different indexed versions, such as MAX-CROOT, MAX-CAFFIX and so forth (Ibid.). In the analysis, I will demonstrate how the ideas proposed in both theories can handle light and heavy reduplication. The results of the analysis favour co-phonology rather than indexed constraint theory, as the former offers a better account of morphologically conditioned phonology.