Perspectives on Polish Palatalization
Jerzy Rubach
University of Warsaw / University of Iowa
This paper reviews the treatment of Polish palatalization in various theoretical frameworks. that have developed from the standard model of generative phonology. By looking at a selection of examples, it pursues the question of how much progress has been made with regard to the analysis of Polish palatalization.
Analysis of palatalization is a matter of how theories of representations interact with theories governing the organization of generalizations. Perspectives change radically when we move from the SPE type of representations to autosegmental representations. The most significant aspect of the latter is the claim that features are organized in a hierarchical fashion, which leads to the tenet of inherent underspecification. Equally significant is the tenet that phonological operations are limited to spreading and delinking, which has the consequence of bringing naturalness to the statement of generalizations regarding palatalization.
Theories concerned with the organization of phonological generalization address the basic question of whether the interaction between generalizations should or should not be expressed by invoking derivation. If derivation is admitted, the further question is how many derivational steps should be allowed and whether phonological generalizations operate differently in word phonology and in sentence phonology.
It is concluded that the ever changing generative frameworks have each contributed to the understanding of palatalization, but the most significant steps were made by feature geometry and by the tenet of universalism in the statement of phonological generalizations.