Author Description

"Natural Derivational Phonology endeavors to settle the problems to be encountered in Optimality Theory and other perplexing problems. In Natural Derivational Phonology constraints, including constraint pairs, apply singly or multiply to any input (underlying or intermediate) in accordance with the natural ranking of universal ranking principles, bringing forth serial derivation. And evaluation constraints may evaluate their outputs. Part 1 takes the form of a monograph in which the fundamental principles of Natural Derivational Phonology are established. And part 2 comprises three self-contained papers written within the framework of Natural Derivational Phonology. The papers in part 2 are designed to be case studies. They demonstrate that Natural Derivational Phonology has survived the rigid testing, solving complex and baffling problems in a natural fashion. As a consequence, the basic tenets of Natural Derivational Phonology established in part 1 have been corroborated. Natural Derivational Phonology adheres to serial derivation, as does rule-based phonology. A serious defect of serialism in rule-based phonology is that it heavily rests on extrinsic ordering of rules. Most importantly, the natural ranking of universal ranking principles rids serialism of the extrinsicality parallel to extrinsic ordering of rules, and it can also do away with the extrinsicality parallel to extrinsic ranking of constraints in Optimality Theory. It solves the chronic problem with which phonologists have been obsessed since the inception of generative phonology. Although Natural Derivational Phonology is widely divergent from Optimality Theory, it composes constraint pairs, utilizing the dichotomy between M and F, and tableaux are made effective use of with the necessary change made." -- Preface.