Constraint Transfer and Reranking in L3 English Vowel Acquisition: An Optimality-Theoretic Account of Moroccan Multilingual Speech

Abstract

This theoretical article models the acquisition of English high-vowel contrasts by Moroccan multilingual learners through an Optimality-Theoretic account of transfer and cue development. The focus is the contrast between /i?-?/ and /u?-?/, a learning problem because Tashlhiyt, Moroccan Arabic, and French all provide peripheral high vowels but no four-member high-vowel system equivalent to English. The study uses a comparative phonological analysis of the target and source systems, formulates a restricted set of markedness and faithfulness constraints, and derives ranking hypotheses that can be tested in future perception and production research. The proposed baseline grammar ranks *HI-LAX and *V? above IDENT-IO(TENSE) and MAX-?, predicting merger of /i?-?/ to [i] and /u?-?/ to [u]. Independent promotion of MAX-? and IDENT-IO(TENSE) yields duration-first and quality-first intermediate grammars. The analysis links these rankings to major L3 transfer models and argues for a property-by-property account in which vowel quality and duration may develop asynchronously.