PROCESS-SPECIFIC CONSTRAINTS IN OPTIMALITY THEORY

Similar phonological processes can be governed by different constraint s. Davis (1995) claims that the effect of such process-specific constr aints cannot be obtained in Optimality Theory (OT), exemplifying this point with material from harmony in Palestinian Arabic. On the contrar y, I show that process-specific constraints are a natural and expected result of constraint ranking, the fundamental idea of OT. Furthermore , OT makes a restrictive prediction, the subset criterion, about coexi stent process-specific constraints within a single grammar-a predictio n supported by the Palestinian material. Davis also presents evidence that epenthetic segments have featural specifications, claiming that O T says they are featureless. This is incorrect; OT is a model of const raint interaction, not of the representation of epenthetic segments.