earticle

영어

This study compares two different approaches to the opacity occurring in the allomorphs of morphemes le/la and les located before h-aspiré words in French: One is based on Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains (OT-CC) and the other is on Preservation of Contrast (PC) Theory. This comparison shows that the OT-CC-based approach correctly predicts the occurrence of opacity whereas the PC theory-based approach does not. It also shows that the constraint called PREC(MAX(subseg), MAX(ʔ)), one that evaluates the optimality of derivational process, plays a crucial role in the allomorph selection and its opacity. Consequently, this study provides us with crucial evidence for the argument that the opacity in the French allomorph selection does not occur as a result of contrast transfer and preservation but occurs as a result of the most optimal derivation for the input-output mapping.