Consonant-vowel interactions in Modern Standard Latvian: a representational and constraint-based account

In this article I provide a representational and a constraint-based analysis of four interacting palatalization processes operative in Modern Standard Latvian: velar affrication, velar palatalization, yod-palatalization and front vowel raising. The main advantage of the representational account developed here is that it treats all of the mentioned Latvian processes as strictly assimilatory, and at the same time avoids purely stipulative mechanisms characteristic of many feature-geometric approaches to cross-category interactions. The article also contributes to the debate on the role of geometric subsegmental representations in constraint-based computational models, by demonstrating that a principled account of locality, transparency and blocking effects in Latvian palatalization requires the reference to hierarchical autosegmental structures