“Support /səpɔˊ:rt/” may be pronounced as follows: [səpʰ ɔˊ:rt] or [spʰɔˊ:rt]. In English phonology the latter [spʰɔˊ:rt] has more phonologically critical problems than [ə] is deleted, because [pʰ] shouldn't normally appear after [s]. Although [pʰ] is an allophone of /p/, it even distinguishes [spʰɔˊ:rt] “support”and [spʼɔˊ:rt] “sport”in meaning. This phonological inconsistency, which is not explained in rule-based phonology, is neatly explained in Optimality Theory. As Optimality Theory is a constraint-based phonology, misdistributed allophones can be also optimal forms, because optimal forms can violate constraints, which are lower than decisive ones in ranking, and be chosen by ranking constraints differently.

• 박인진(부산외국어대학교)