Optimaton: Optimality theory engine

Comments

Constraints

• Constraints are of the form NAME: PATTERN / ENVIRONMENT, one per line, ordered most-significant first.
• The ENVIRONMENT section is optional; if it is omitted, so is the / that introduces it. If present, it must have a single underscore (_), preceded optionally by a PREVIOUS CONTEXT and followed optionally by a SUBSEQUENT CONTEXT.
• The PATTERN section describes a dispreferred situation.
• Some special patterns for faithfulness constraints:
  • MAX: A cost of 1 for each deletion.
  • MAX-pattern: A cost of 1 for each deletion of a segment that matches the given pattern.
  • MAXF: A cost of 1 for each deletion and replacement.
  • DEP: A cost of 1 for each insertion.
  • DEP-pattern: A cost of 1 for each insertion of a segment that matches the given pattern (segment, shorthand, or feature cluster). Example: DEP-C costs 1 for each insertion of a consonant; DEP-[+voice,-syllabic] costs 1 for each insertion of a voiced consonant;
  • DEPF: A cost of 1 for each insertion and replacement.
  • IDENT: A cost of 1 for each replacement.
  • IDENT-[features]: For each feature in the comma-separated lists of features, a cost of 1 for each replacement of a segment where the replacement disagrees on the polarity of that feature. The feature list may include a geometry specification, in which case it is expanded to all its constituent features. The (expanded) list of features may include duplicates, which can accumulate additional costs.
  • IDENT-[from ↛ to]: A cost of 1 for each replacement of a segment where the underlying form has the segment from but the resplacement does not have the segment to.
• PATTERN possibilities for markedness constraints and the CONTEXTs are built of multiple "characters", where a "character" may be
  • any Unicode sequence representing a segment (see the table), optionally followed by one or more of these diacritics, which can also be entered via the keyboards:
    • [+nasal] (nasalized):   ̃ (\u0303)
    • [+syllabic] (syllabic):   ̩  (\u0329)
    • [-voice] (voiceless):   ̥  (\u0325)
    • [+constr_gl] (creaky-voiced): for vowels,   ̰   (\u0330); for consonants,   ʼ   (\u02bc)
    • [+spread_gl] (breathy-voiced): for vowels,   ̤   (\u0324); for consonants,   ʰ   (\u02b0)
    • [+distributed]:    ̪ (\u032a)
    • [+front]:    ̟   (\u031f)
    • [+back]:    ̠   (\u0320)
    • [+round]:    ʷ   (\u02b7)
    and at most one of these mutually exclusive tone marks:
    • [+tone_top]:   ̋   (\u030b)
    • [+tone_high]:   ́   (\u0301)
    • [+tone_mid]:   ̄   (\u0304)
    • [+tone_low]:   ̀   (\u0300)
    • [+tone_bottom]:   ̏   (\u030f)
    • [+tone_rising]:   ̌   (\u030c)
    • [+tone_falling]:   ̂   (\u0302)
    • [+tone_highRising]:   ᷄   (\u1dc4)
    • [+tone_lowRising]:   ᷅   (\u1dc5)
    • [+tone_highFalling]:   ᷇   (\u1dc7)
    • [+tone_lowFalling]:   ᷆   (\u1dc6)
    • [+tone_peaking]:   ᷈   (\u1dc8)
    • [+tone_dipping]:   ᷉   (\u1dc9)
    and at most one of these mutually exclusive secondary articulations:
    • labial ([+labial, +round]):   ʷ   (\u02b7)
    • palatal ([+dorsal, +high, +front]):   ʲ   (\u02b2)
    • velar ([+dorsal, +high, +back]):   ˠ   (\u02e0)
    • pharyngeal ([+dorsal, +low, +back]):   ˤ   (\u02e4)
    and/or this suprasegmental:
    • [+long] (long):  ː (\u02d0)
  • a bracketed, comma-separated list of FEATURES with polarity in brackets.
    • Available polarities are +, -,
    • The available FEATURES are listed in the table, along with tone marks and suprasegmentals. Example: [-syllabic,-long].
  • the shorthands V for "vowel", C for "consonant" X for "any consonant or vowel", S for "white space", and U for "subscript" (inserted for autosegmental phonology by an Associate rule).
  • any defined custom phoneme.
  • null, which can be written as ∅ (\u2205), Ø (\u00d8), 0, or ␀ (\u2400),
  • a Perl regex combining the items above. Use ^ to mark the start of the word and $ to mark the end of the word. Other Perl regex metacharacters, such as * and {, are also acceptable.
  • a Perl regex where ⁺ (\u207a) appears instead of +. The constraint yields n violations, where n is the length (possibly zero) of the matched region. Restrictions: (1) Only one ⁺ may appear in a pattern. (2) The scope of the repetition must be enclosed in parentheses or be a bracketed set of features or an abbreviation like X.
  • The symbol #, which marks the start of a line, the end of a line, the start or end of a fragment terminated by a space or punctuation.
  • The symbols < and >, which mark the start (respectively, end) of a line or a space-terminated word.
  • Punctuation symbols

    	=	enclitic
    \u21d2	⇒	proclitic
    \u2011	‑	affix symbol (not a minus sign)
    \u20c8	ˈ	stress
    \u27e8	⟨	left infix boundary
    \u27e9	⟩	right infix boundary
    \u2263	≣	juncture
    \u276c	❬	left phrase boundary
    \u276d	❭	right phrase boundary
    	~	reduplicant boundary

  • IPA marks for stress: ˈ \u( 02c8) and ˌ (\u02cc).

Underlying representations

• Place in this section individual words. You can use the keyboard to assist with Unicode symbols. Every line is considered a separate underlying representation.
• Following the word, place // followed by one or more candidates.
• Each candidate must have the same number of segments as the underlying representation.
• To indicate an insertion, place a double underscore ‗ (\u2017) in the associated place in the underlying representation. (The Optimatron tries to place double underscores in the underlying representation automatically.)
• To indicate a deletion, place a double underscore ‗ in the associated place in the candidate.
• Indicate a replacement simply by changing the segment.
• To indicate that a candidate is an expected result, place ▶ (\u25b6) at the start of that candidate. More than one candidate may be marked as expected.
  • If an expected candidate is the one that violates the fewest ranked constraints, it is marked in the results.
  • If it is not one that violates the fewest constraints, it is marked ☹, and those that actually violate the fewest constraints are marked .