Blurb:

Chapter 2 has two primary aims. The first is to address the formulation of alignment constraints, and the second is to establish the basic predictions of Symmetrical Alignment (McCarthy and Prince 1993) and Iterative Foot Optimization (Pruitt 2010). The chapter begins by examining the properties of alignment constraints under the standard Generalized Alignment (McCarthy and Prince 1993) formulation, considering both the formulation’s advantages and its shortcomings. It then examines the alternative Relation-Specific Alignment (Hyde 2012a) formulation. Relation-Specific Alignment allows alignment constraints to produce their essential directional parsing effects while avoiding the problems encountered under Generalized Alignment. Symmetrical Alignment is the primary example employed in demonstrating that Relation-Specific Alignment retains the ability to produce essential directionality effects. Iterative Foot Optimization is employed as an example to demonstrate the importance of parallel evaluation.Topics include: 2.1 Generalized Alignment; 2.2 Relation-Specific Alignment; 2.3 Symmetrical Alignment; 2.4 Advantages of Relation-Specific Alignment; 2.5 Iterative Foot Optimization; 2.6 Summary