The Role of the OCP and Syllable Structure in Makkan Arabic Hypocoristics

Abstract

This paper shows that the failure of names related to glide-medial and glide-final roots to form Pattern I C 1 aC 2 C 2 uuC 3 hypocoristics is due to the effects of the OCP and syllable structure constraints, respectively. Names related to roots with medial [w] fail to form Pattern I hypocoristics since the sequence -wuu- violates the OCP. Names related to glide final roots [y] or [w] form C 1 aC 2 C 2 u hypocoristics where the deletion of the final glide avoids violation of syllable structure constraints in the language. The Optimality-Theoretic account in this paper demonstrates that there is only one native pattern of hypocoristic formation in Makkan Arabic with two manifestations, C 1 aC 2 C 2 uuC 3 and C 1 aC 2 C 2 u. Syllable structure constraints and the OCP account for the apparent differences between these two forms. Data from Makkan Arabic hypocoristic formation show that native speakers can factor out the root consonants from the actual name and use them in hypocoristic formation.