Using model theory in phonology: a novel characterization of syllable structure and syllabification

This dissertation investigates the computational properties of syllable-based phenomena using tools from Model Theory. Although the syllable has been studied by linguists for over a century, the computational complexity of syllable well-formedness and syllabification processes has not yet been investigated. After introducing the necessary formalisms from Model Theory, I present three main findings. First, I show that three types of syllable structure representations from the literature are notationally equivalent, meaning we can `translate' between them very easily without loss of information. Second, I formalize syllable well-formedness patterns in Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber (ITB) and Moroccan Arabic (MA) as grammars of local, inviolable constraints. Third, I formalize syllabification processes in ITB and MA using Quantifier-Free logic, a weak logical language that can only make local computations. Taken together, these findings support the hypothesis---contrary to constraint-based paradigms which emphasize global optimization---that syllable-based phenomena are fundamentally local in nature.