TOPICS IN THE LEXICAL PHONOLOGY OF ENGLISH

This thesis examines some issues of English phonology and of Lexical Phonology. The way rules interact with the principles of the theory to produce different outputs at different points in the grammar is investigated. The syndrome of properties associated with the lexical/postlexical rules is questioned. The syndrome is shown to hold only of the first level and is redefined. I show that differences arise due to the freer application of the rules as they move out of the level 1 phonology when restriction by the theoretical principles is relaxed. In particular, it is shown the Structure Preservation does not govern the derivation after level 1. The interaction of this principle with underspecification and the Obligatory Contour principle is considered in discussion of some segmental phenomena: Nasal Assimilation, s voicing, the distribution of /n/ and of geminates, Spirantization and the inflectional allomophy. The same principles are shown to govern syllabification. The distinction between possible syllable-coda types found morpheme internally, and those found at word-edges, is shown to follow from the interaction of a coda condition with Structure Preservation. Thus syllabification rules apply differently at the separate levels. The restriction of Vowel Shortening to level 1 follows again without stipulation. Further, it is claimed that a word-cycle exists at level 2 prior to any affixation. This enables a description of a series of problematic word-edge phenomena. A series of prosodically similar rules are considered: Flapping, h deletion, the distribution of yuw, O voicing, Palatalization, and Trisyllabic Laxing. It is claimed that all are syllable conditioned rules fed by a rule of Resyllabification in the foot environment. The cyclic rule of Resyllabification ensures the correct results in interaction again with Structure Preservation