Teoria de l'optimitat, processos segmentals i variació dialectal en català

Abstract

The aim of this article is to introduce the reader to the basics of Optimality Theory and to present an application of this theory to the dialectal variation in Catalan, with special reference to the Balearic varieties. After a brief introduction to the history of the origins and the basic assumptions of this theoretical approach, we examine how the theory is able to capture linguistic variation; the behavior of occlusive consonants meeting at word boundaries in the various Catalan dialects on the one hand and the behavior of sequences of adjacent sibilants in the different Balearic varieties on the other serve as a starting point for the application of the theory. The diversity of the processes - such as insertion, elision, assimilation, dissimilation, fusion - to which such consonantal constellations are subjected in the individual dialects of Catalan find their explanation in the different hierarchization of restrictions that have a universal character.