SPE cum autosegmental representations In memoriam Morris Halle (1923-2018)

Résumé

Morris Halle was involved in the two major overthrows of post-war phonology: as a central actor in the 50s-60s when SPE replaced structuralist thinking, as a prominent victim in 1993 when Optimality Theory took over the field with the promise to eliminate serial computation, the lifetime issue of M. Halle’s thinking. Its disgrace after 1993 made him a living monument put on a pedestal, admired for his past but condescended to for his stubborn persistence on serialism. At end of his life, he could witness the gradual return of serial computation in OT, for him certainly a revenge.