Elan Dresher of the University of Toronto (PhD UMass 1978) gave a talk last Friday Sept. 18th. The title and abstract follow.
Contrastive Hierarchy Theory: An Overview.
In this talk I will present an overview of contrastive hierarchy theory, aka Modified Contrastive Specification (MCS) or ‘Toronto School’ phonology. I will set out the main tenets of this theory, and briefly review their antecedents in the history of phonology. I will then illustrate various applications of the theory to topics in synchronic and diachronic phonology, as well as its implications for typology.
