(forthcoming). "Area Identity: A theory of harmony". Manuscript, Rutgers University. Currently in a final revision stage; available on request.
This paper proposes Area Identity Theory (AIT), an entirely new theory of assimilation, in which surface segments are subject to violable identity requirements imposed on non-local relations. The range of possible relational structures in the analysis yields the range of empirically attested harmony patterns. This analysis builds heavily on Span Theory (McCarthy 2004) and Optimal Domains Theory (Cole and Kisseberth 1994); its establishment of relations is largely adapted from these two approaches. The manner in which markedness and faithfulness act these relations is unique to AIT, however, and the result is a substantial increase in predictive power.
(2006). "Transparency in Span Theory". In Leah Bateman, Adam Werle, Michael O'Keefe, and Ehren Reilly, eds., Papers in Optimality Theory 3, University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics 33. Amherst, MA: GLSA Publications. Download from Rutgers Optimality Archive.
This paper argues that a Span Theory account of assimilation can solve the problem of transparent vowels in ATR harmony systems. A basic assumption of Span Theory—namely that taking on the value of the span is obligatory—is transferred to Con and formalized via the AssociateHead family of constraints.
(2003). Akan vowel harmony. BA thesis, Swarthmore College. Available on request.
(April 29, 2006). "The Area Faithfulness approach to non-local assimilation", HUMDRUM 2006 [Hopkins-UMass-Rutgers joint class meeting], Johns Hopkins University. Download handout as PDF.
(April 24, 2005). "Vowel harmony in Span Theory", HUMDRUM 2005 [Hopkins-UMass-Rutgers joint class meeting], University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Download handout as PDF.