Surface Velar Palatalization in Polish

This article investigates a palatalization process called Surface Velar Palatalization that turns /k g/ into [kj gj] before the front vowel e. What would appear to be a trivial rule, k g ➝ kj gj /—ε, turns out to be a highly complex process. The complexity is caused by several independent factors. First, Surface Velar Palatalization, k g ➝ kj gj, competes with Phonemic Velar Palatalization, k g ➝ ʧ ʤ. Second, some but not all changes are restricted to derived environments. Third, some suffixes appear to be exceptions to one type of Palatalization but not to the other type. Fourth, /x/ behaves in an ambivalent way by undergoing one but not the other type of Palatalization. Fifth, Palatalization constraints interacting with segment inventory constraints yield different results in virtually the same contexts. I argue that the complexity of Surface Velar Palatalization motivates derivational levels in Optimality Theory. Further, the condition of derived environments is expressed as a constraint that is ranked differently at different levels of evaluation. A historical analysis of Surface Velar Palatalization tells the story of how the process came into being and operated for centuries in an unrestricted way. It subsequently became restricted to derived environments, which led to pronunciation reversals of the historical Duke of York type: gε ➝ gjε ➝ gε.