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In the Mordvin definite conjugation, portmanteau verbal affixes cross-reference the person and number of both subject and object. This complex agreement system shows extensive syncretism, which is more acute among the most marked members of the paradigm. I argue that Optimality-Theory gives a more explanatory account of the pattern of neutralizations in the Mordvin verb than rule-based theories. Predictions of the analysis are tested against data from other Finno-Ugric and Uralic languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study offers an Optimality-Theoretic analysis of the syllabification of intervocalic consonants and glides in Modern English. It will be argued that the proposed syllabifications fall out from universal markedness constraints – all of which derive motivation from other languages – and a language-specific ranking. The analysis offered below is therefore an alternative to the traditional rule-based analyses of English syllabification, e.g. Kahn (1976), Borowsky (1986), Giegerich (1992, 1999) and to the Optimality-Theoretic treatment proposed by Hammond (1999), whose analysis requires several language-specific constraints which apparently have no cross-linguistic motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]