Comparative Optimality Theory Analysis of Primary Stress Assignment in Standard British and Nigerian English

Abstract

This work presents a comparative optimality account of primary stress assignment in Standard British English (SBE) and Nigerian English (NE), particularly from the point of view of Igala users of English as a second language. Data for this study included readymade exercises and already recorded cassettes, which deal directly with primary stress assignment in SBE. This is in addition to the researcher's knowledge of these varieties of English, his choice of a native speaker of SBE as a language helper as well as useful pieces of information collated using wordlists. The method for elicitation of segments was mainly perceptual. The study has demonstrated how the constraint ordering in Standard British English is 'naturally' reordered in Nigerian English observing that the different constraint orderings notwithstanding, these constraints are the same, and are present in each of these varieties. It has shown also that Optimality Theory satisfies the requirement that any serious theory of phonology must rely heavily on well-formedness constraints, which means it must be committed to universal grammar, a fact that places the theory at an advantage over its predecessors

Phonological Adaptation and Morphosyntactic Integration in Igbo-English Insertional Codeswitching

“…25Verb Gloss Vowel a. gà-è-send/è-get/è-press will send/get/press [e] b. gaghị na-è-press will not be pressing - Whilst some vowels in the English verbs in the above examples have equivalents in the Igbo vowel system (e.g., /e/ in send, /ᴅ/ in jot, /ai/ in like, /u:/ in use and /au/ in browse), others do not, and have been replaced with vowels that occur in Igbo (e.g., /З:/ in work is replaced with [ᴐ:]), /ᴂ/ in pass and crack is replaced with [a:]), /ᴧ/ in run is replaced with [ᴅ] and /əu/ in show is replaced with [o:]). These vowel replacements are similar to those in the speech of Igala users of English as a second language, as reported by Omachonu (2008). He establishes the following replacements of English vowels that do not exist in Igala: a→ a:, u → u:, ae → a, i: → i, ə → ε, ae/ə → a, ə → ᴅ .…”

“…In some of the words, the placement of primary stress is different from what obtains in Standard British English. This reflects a general tendency for the primary stress of words in Standard British English to shift to the right in Nigerian English (Omachonu 2008). It was observed that the syllable following the high-toned Igbo infinitival prefix is pronounced on a step tone if it is stressed, as in the examples in (13), but on a low tone if unstressed, as in the examples in (14).…”

The Typology of Pharyngealization in Arabic Dialects Focusing on a Rural Jordanian Variety

“…The faithfulness and markedness constraints at work in our analysis are given in (25) below. (For other recent work on Optimality Theory, see Omachonu 2008, Dutta 2012, Nguyen & Dutta 2017, and Ghorbanpour et al 2019 The constraint in (25a) is a faithfulness constraint that militates against any underlying emphatic surfacing as non-emphatic in the output (do not delete the [RTR] feature). The constraint in (25b) is also a faithfulness constraint that militates against any underlyingly non-emphatic segments surfacing as emphatic by way of spreading of [RTR] (do not add additional association lines linked to [RTR]).…”