Cooccurrence restrictions in Mandarin Chinese

This paper examines co-occurrence restrictions in Mandarin Chinese within an autosegmental framework. Co-occurrence restrictions can be adduced through an examination of the systematic absence of certain types of sequences within a morpheme. The following types of sequences are systematically absent in Mandarin: palatalized consonants cannot co-occur with rimes containing /i/; labialized consonants cannot co-occur with rimes containing /u/; consonants with a coronal-labial secondary articulation cannot co-occur with rimes containing /i/ or /u/. Assuming that secondary articulations are represented by vowel place features, these gaps can be accounted for by a constraint against like vowel place features within a syllable. Mandarin further disallows complex segments of certain types. In particular, palatalized coronals and labialized labials do not exist. These are argued to be ruled out by a constraint against shared vowel place features within a segment. Given a featural model with distinct C-place and V-place, and assuming the OCP and antigemination, the systematic gaps in Mandarin syllables receive a straightforward analysis