This paper describes the accentuation of compound nouns in Tokyo Japanese in the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993). This new theory assumes that output forms of language production are determined by the interaction of language-universal constraints that are ranked in a particular way for a particular grammar. In this respect it differs from previous phonological theories which held that optimal outputs are produced by (mostly language-specific) rules that apply to input structures in a derivational, i.e. step-by-step, fashion. The ultimate goal of this paper is to demonstrate that the new constraint-based approach provides a simple description of the seemingly complex system of compound noun accentuation in (Tokyo) Japanese which cannot be captured by the traditional rule-based derivational approach.
Cite as: Kubozono, H. (2000) A constraint-based analysis of compound accent in Japanese. Proc. 6th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (ICSLP 2000), vol. 3, 438-441
@inproceedings{kubozono00_icslp, author={Haruo Kubozono}, title={{A constraint-based analysis of compound accent in Japanese}}, year=2000, booktitle={Proc. 6th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (ICSLP 2000)}, pages={vol. 3, 438-441} }