A theory of the theory of vowels

The structure and content of phonological primitives

“…For instance, the replacement of |A| with structure has been somewhat of a mission-statement for GP2.0 (Pöchtrager 2006). At the extreme end, one may even contemplate replacing all of the primitives with 'pure structure' as suggested by Cavirani and van Oostendorp (2020). Since we have already discussed the benefits of a structural conception of features such as [(±)long] and [(±)syllabic] at some length earlier on, we will not take up this issue again and instead here turn our attention to other aspects of structure below the segment, such as the question whether phonological primitives are organised below the segment and whether they are really primitives in the sense that they are not constituted of any smaller parts themselves.…”

Sabrina Bendjaballah, Ali Tifrit and Laurence Voeltzel (eds.) (2021). Perspectives on Element Theory (Studies in Generative Grammar 143). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. Pp. v + 280

“…Similarly, the chapter by Youngberg adds an interesting new computational device to GP, Intervocalic Government, and builds on (a revised version of) Pöchtrager's proposal concerning the structural nature of what in standard ET corresponds to |A| (a similar proposal concerning |A| can be found in Cavirani & van Oostendorp 2020). This new type of government is argued to be sensitive to the elemental makeup of the relevant V nodes and, crucially, to the presence of the structural version of |A|, which makes the nucleus containing it a good governor and, conversely, a bad governee.…”

“…Thus, standard ET and Radical CV are extensionally equivalent with respect to the number of primes, whereas Pöchtrager's model reduces their number to three (but see above). Note that the picture that emerges from comparing these approaches is characterised by a trade-off between the number of primes and structural complexity: whereas standard ET and conservative GP approaches minimise the subsegmental structure and maximise the number of primes (many elements on small trees), Radical CV and GP 2.0 minimise the number of primes by maximally exploiting the structural dimension (fewer elements on bigger trees; see Cavirani & van Oostendorp 2020 for further discussion of the trade-off between structural complexity and number of primes, and for a radical proposal featuring one prime).…”