On the Logical Complexity of Autosegmental Representations
Adam Jardine · 2017
Autosegmental mapping from disjoint strings of tones and tone-bearing units, a commonly used mechanism in phonological analyses of tone patterns, is shown to not be definable in monadic second-order logic.This is abnormally complex in comparison to other phonological mappings, which have been shown to be monadic second-order definable.In contrast, generation of autosegmental structures from strings is demonstrated to be first-order definable.