John D. Alderete

Department of Linguistics
Swarthmore College
118 Pearson
Swarthmore PA, 19081

Email: jaldere1@swarthmore.edu
Office: 102 Pearson
Phone: (610) 690-6863
Fax: (610) 328-7323

Ling 105: Optimality Theory
Classroom: Pearson 118
Time: Tues 4-6:45
Office Hours: M 4-5, or appt.

Photo: me at Eddontenajon Lake,
British Columbia, June 2000

Interests

I have a variety of interests in theoretical phonology and morphology, especially in the ways these
two modules interact with each other. Working in Optimality Theory, my research has argued that
this type of interactionism follows from the assumption that phonological and morphological
constraints may interact with each other directly in a grammar. My dissertation develops
this argument by proposing a set of morphological constraints for accentual systems; pitting these
constraints against the phonological constraints on accent defines a typology of morpho-accentual
processes. More recently, I have been working on the role of morphological structures in the phonology
of the Athabaskan language Tahltan, a critically endangered language of northwest British Columbia.

Recent Stuff

2001. Dominance Effects as Transderivational Anti-Faithfulness. To appear in Phonology 18.2.
2001. Root-Controlled Accent in Cupen~o. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 19: 455-501.
2001. Summary of Morphologically Governed Accent in Optimality Theory. To appear in GLOT International.
2001. [with Kyra Jucovy] A Bibliography of Berber Language Materials. Ms., Swarthmore College.

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2000. Dissimilation . Entry in William Frawley (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Linguistics,

2000. On Tone and Length in Tahltan. To appear in Hargus, Sharon, and Keren Rice (eds.), Special Volume

n Athabaskan Prosody

2000. [with Tanya Bob] A Corpus-based Approach to Tahltan Stress. To appear in Hargus,

Special Volume on Athabaskan Prosody

1999. Morphologically Governed Accent in Optimality Theory. Doctoral dissertation,

Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics

Routledge

1999. [with Jill Beckman, Laura Benua, Amalia Gnanadesikan, John McCarthy, and Suzanne Urbanczyk]

1999. Head Dependence in Stress-Epenthesis Interaction. In Hermans, Ben & Marc van Oostendorp (eds.),

For more publications, and background on my research and teaching, check out my CV (.pdf file).

Grants

MRPG: Word Domains in Athabaskan (2001-2002)
Part II in long term research program on Athabaskan verb structures, with special focus on Navajo and Tahltan.

Morphological and Prosodic Structures in Tahltan (1999-2000)
Support for research designed to test hypotheses about the nature of prosodic structures in Tahltan.