In recent work I analyzed the phonological and morphological constraints governing wanna-contraction in English. The Construction Grammar analysis I provide illustrates how morpho-syntactic phenomena interact withphonological and semantic restrictions. Working within the framework of Optimality Theory, I also examined a variety of diminutive patterns in Yiddish. I proposed a unified analysis that accounts for the phonological constraints on Yiddish diminutive formation including d-epenthesis. In collaboration with Marc Pierce I have shown in a more recent analysis of this very same phenomenon that d-epenthesis does not require the postulation of a specific constraint but can rather be accounted for in terms of a particular ranking of more general constraints on syllabification.
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