Strict CV without government
Strict CV without government

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, I aim to unify the Empty Category Principle of Government Phonology with another (more general) principle: the Obligatory Contour Principle. I show that these principles share numerous structural properties: (i) they prevent sequences of identical entities, and (ii) they trigger the same repair mechanisms. The main difference is substantial: ECP handles empty syllabic components, when OCP handles phonological features. I propose to broaden the definition of OCP in including all phonological entities and I show to what extent this definition can account for the effects of ECP. Finally, I point out that this analysis can also account for some specificities of word-edges.

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