Course: TuTh 09:30-10:50, SBS 216
Instructor: Jeffrey Heinz, jeffrey.heinz@stonybrook.edu
Office Hours: TBD
Syllabus: pdf html
Course Log
27 Jan 2026
- We went over the syllabus pdf html.
- We went over the introduction pdf html to this course.
- We began discussion of the Lezgian assignment pdf html due Thursday February 5 before class.
- For Thursday, please read sections 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 of McCarthy 2008
- Section 1.2 asks “Why Must Constraints Be Violable?” Is McCarthy’s argument convincing? Why or why not?
- In section 1.3, McCarthy writes “OT itself does not say much about the nature of constraints, beyond distinguishing between markedness and faithfulness. OT is a theory of how constraints interact with one another; it isn’t a theory of what the constraints are, nor is it a theory of representations.” Why do you think this is or isn’t true, and what does it mean for a theory of phonology?