ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Optimality Theory (OT) constraints, provides constraint rankings for the several languages under consideration, and illustrates important tableaux. OT is a constraint-based theory of phonology in which the violability of constraints holds center stage. Constraints are held to be universal; differences among languages follow from two facts: languages have distinct lexicons, and constraints are ranked differently in different languages. In OT, the essential tension within the grammar of a language exists between faithfulness constraints, which require output forms to be similar to input forms, and phonological well-formedness constraints, which govern output forms. The cooccurrence restrictions of Cuzco Quechua are somewhat more complicated than those of Souletin Basque and Sanskrit. The cooccurrence restrictions of Peruvian Aymara, however, differ from those of Cuzco Quechua in several respects. Peruvian Aymara manifests a cooccurrence restriction against ejectives and aspirated stops.
