LICENSING
(Syntax) It has been proposed that well-formedness conditions on syntactic structure (esp. the principle of Full Interpretation) may be viewed as licensing conditions: The presence of an element in a structure is permitted if the element is licensed in any of a small number of ways.
 E.g. an argument in a structure is licensed if its chain contains a visible theta-position.
 Similarly, a VP is licensed if it functions as a predicate (hence the obligatoriness of sentential subjects stipulated in the EPP). (Chomsky 1986) | Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics, 2001

LICENSING BY CUE

1. (Phonology) Licensing by Cue (Steriade 1997) is a linking hypothesis between perception and typology.

   Licensing by Cue
   If two contexts (C₁, C₂) differ in that some contrast x-y is better-cued in C₁ than in C₂, the presence of x-y in C₂ implies its presence in C₁.

    Licensing by Cue is typically used to predict patterns of neutralization, but we can use it to predict patterns of enhancement, too. | ?
2. (Phonology) Recent work revived the interest in phonetic factors as a source of explanation for various phonological patterns (Flemming 1995, Hamilton 1996, Hume et al. 1999, Steriade 1997, 1999, etc.). One of the directions taken in these works is to account for phonemic neutralization, deriving it from acoustic cues ("Licensing by Cue": Steriade 1997). In this view phonological contrasts are neutralized in environments that are poor in terms of phonetic information and are licensed in positions that are high on a scale of perceptibility. | Alexei Kochetov, 2019
3. (Phonology) The concept of a phonetic cue comes from experimental work on speech perception, where a "cue" is treated as "a term of convenience, useful for the purpose of referring to any piece of signal that has been found by experiment to have an effect on perception" (Liberman 1996).
    The key idea of Licensing by Cue is that the distribution of a phonological contrast is sensitive to the amount of acoustic information available in a given environment. Environments that contain fewer or less salient acoustic cues are lower on a scale of perceptibility, and thus are more likely to be neutralized. The relation between the phonetic cues and phonological contrast can be presented schematically as implicational relations. If an acoustic signal contains more information about the contrast (e.g., cues available in formant transitions, burst release, nasal murmur etc.), the contrast is likely to be preserved, or licensed. If less acoustic information is present, the contrast is more likely to be neutralized. Also, a contrast that is distinguished by fewer and less salient cues is more prone to neutralization than a distinction supported by a robust set of cues. | Daniel Hall, 2003

LIFETIME EFFECT

1. (Pragmatics) Kratzer (1989) notes that past tense sentences exploiting individual-level predicates, as opposed to stage-level predicates, impose restrictions on the lifetime of their subjects. Thus, when the sentences in (1) are uttered out of the blue, they suggest that Gregory is dead at the time of utterance of the sentence; the sentence is either false or a case of presupposition failure in a situation where Gregory is still alive. By contrast, the sentences in (2) can be true and perfectly acceptable when Gregory is alive. The sentences in (1) contain the individual-level predicates be from America, have blue eyes, and resemble Jörg Bieberstein, whereas the sentences in (2) contain the stage-level predicates be happy, have a cold, and eat cookies.
   1. Individual-level predicates
      a. Gregory was from America.
      b. Gregory had blue eyes.
      c. Gregory resembled Jörg Bieberstein.
   2. Stage-level predicates
      a. Gregory was happy.
      b. Gregory had a cold.
      c. Gregory ate cookies.
    Kratzer accounts for the contrast between (1) and (2) by proposing that tense in individual-level clauses does not locate the event time of the main predicate but rather the subject individual. Since the past tense seems thus to limit the lifetime of the subject, I will call effects like the one observed in (1) "lifetime effect". | Renate Musan, 1997
2. (Pragmatics) Information about a referent's lifetime (dead or alive) has been shown to be integrated with temporal morphology in a phenomenon known as the Lifetime Effect, eliciting processing costs and lower ratings when the Present Simple or Present Perfect are used to refer to dead referents (Chen and Husband 2018, Palleschi et al. 2020). | Daniela Palleschi, Camilo Rodríguez Ronderos, and Pia Knoeferle, 2021

LIGHT VERB

1. (Syntax) A verb (such as make in make a turn) whose contribution to the meaning of the whole is less specific than, say, make a table.
    A light verb is a thematically incomplete verb which only in combination with a predicative complement qualifies as a predicate. | Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
2. (Syntax) A thematically incomplete verb which only in combination with a predicative complement qualifies as a predicate.
    The Japanese verb suru in (1a) case-marks but does not theta-mark the complement NP hanashi which in its turn theta-marks John and Mary. As shown by the contrast with (1b), the verb suru only contributes the past tense (shita = suru + PAST) and the case-marking (-o) of the complement.
   1. a.
       

      John-wa
      John-TOP

      Mary-ni
      Mary-to

      hanashi-o
      talk-ACC

      shita
      suru-PAST

        'John talked to Mary'
      b.
       

      John-no
      John-GEN

      Mary-e-no
      Mary-to-GEN

      hanashi
      talk
    (Catell 1984, Grimshaw and Mester 1988) | Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics, 2001
3. (Ontology) There is no agreement, at this point, as to the ontological content of syntactic category distinctions. This is a difficult issue also because there is a lot of cross-linguistic variation as to what syntactic categories natural languages display (Gil 2000). Moreover, there are theoretical developments in syntax that put familiar syntactic category distinctions into question and require at least a recasting of the issue. ... Another example is the theory of radical lexical decomposition (Hale and Kayser 2002), according to which a range of full verbs are derived from combinations of a "light verb" and a noun, e.g., walk from take a walk (take being the light verb and walk the noun). This view gives up a close connection between events and the category of verbs, but posits a much greater range of nouns instead that underlie full verbs. | Friederike Moltmann, 2022

LIGHT-VERB CONSTRUCTION
See SUPPORT VERB CONSTRUCTION.

LINEAR CORRESPONDENCE AXIOM

1. (Syntax) Kayne's (1994) influential Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA) predicts that there is a direct mapping between syntactic structure and linear order. Informally:

   Linear Correspondence Axiom
   Take X, Y, nonterminal nodes that dominate the terminals x,y, respectively. Assume that X c-commands Y, while Y does not c-command X (asymmetric c-command). Then x precedes y.

    | Luis López, 2009
2. (Syntax) For any pair of non-terminal nodes A and B, if A asymmetrically C-commands B, then the terminal nodes dominated by A linearly precede those dominated by B. | ?
3. (Syntax) Kayne's (1994) LCA proposes a correspondence between syntactic hierarchy and linear order of words.
    The focus-sensitive particle ma'aa in Kusaal (Mabia) behaves like adjuncts that have been reported to not be constrained by the LCA. In fact, Kayne (1994), himself, says that "specifiers and adjoined phrases appear to have no place in the theory (of LCA)." | Daniel Aremu, ?
4. (Syntax) According to the LCA, asymmetric c-command between nonterminal nodes maps into a linear order of the terminal nodes. As Kayne (1994) has shown, various properties of phrase structure that are stipulated by X-bar-theory can be derived from the LCA. Further, he has noted that the LCA excludes the coordination of heads. Consider the structure in (1).
   1.  [_ConjP X [_ConjP Conj Y] ]
    The structure in (1) is excluded, since the coordinating conjunction Conj and the head Y symmetrically c-command each other, and hence no relative order is specified between the terminals that are dominated by these heads. | Hans Broekhuis, 1996

LINEARIZATION
(Syntax) A syntactic process by which words and phrases are realized in a specific sequence. | Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics

LINGUISTIC GEOGRAPHY
(Sociolinguistics) Concerns the geographical distribution of linguistic variation (Trudghill 1975) which is illustrated in atlases. Jules Gilliéron's seminal work (1880) was developed in Atlas Linguistique de la France (1902–1910) in collaboration with Edmond Edmont that aimed at investigating French dialects, although his initial project was conducted in 1880 on Romance varieties spoken across a region between Switzerland, Italy and Savoy. It was at that time that linguists started using direct measurement (phonetic transcriptions) in recording geographical linguistic variation.
 According to Gilliéron's theory, the similarities between dialects of a language enable the inference that dialects of a language are geographically distributed varieties that compose a linguistic continuum of that language. Following the theory of linguistic geography, atlases have been later compiled in different contexts of the world. For instance, Wenker in his Sprachatlas des Deutschen Reichs (1888–1923) showed the geographical variation of German dialects, setting borders based on the use of typical dialect features. | Melanie P. Satraki, 2015

LINGUISTIC MARKETPLACE

1. (Sociolinguistics) Or, talk market. The concept of the economic market where goods are traded achieving a certain price has been transferred to the application of language in society. Accordingly, the concept of the linguistic marketplace denotes that there is a marketplace for the application of language and that language—a speaker's linguistic capital—is consequently applied on a linguistic market where different linguistic varieties have different linguistic market values and therefore achieve different prices. That is, the varieties (and their use on the linguistic market) are either valued positively or negatively and they are thus ascribed with differing levels of prestige / non-prestige. In order to succeed on the linguistic market it is necessary to apply the linguistic variety which has the highest market value. | English Language and Linguistics Online
2. (Sociolinguistics) Wardhaugh and Fuller (2015) stated that the linguistic marketplace refers to how language is used in the give-and-take of social interaction.
    Language is not just a neutral medium of exchange. Some uses are highly valued and others are not. According to Zhichang (2009), language has some values as follows:
   1. A functional value. E.g., we use it to communicate.
   2. An exchange value. E.g., certain languages are more commonly used, and people therefore make an investment in learning these languages.
   3. A symbolic value. We speak and write properly to show that we are well-educated.
   4. A sign value. We learn and speak English as a lingua franca, as a sign and a means gaining access to a wider community.
    | Yadi Supriadi, 2020

LINGUISTIC VARIABLE

1. (Semantics) A linguistic expression (one or more words) labeling an information granular. For example a membership function is labeled by expressions like hot temperature or rich customer. | Georg Peters, 2009
2. (Semantics) Is characterized by a quintuple (X,T,U,G,M) where X is the name of the variable, T is the set of terms of X, U is the universe of discourse, G is a syntactic rule for generating the name of the terms, and M is a semantic rule for associating each term with its meaning, that is, a fuzzy set defined on U. | Andreas Meier, Günter Schindler, and Nicolas Werro, 2008
3. (Semantics) A variable made up of a number of words (linguistic terms) with associated degrees of membership. | Malcolm J. Beynon, 2005
4. (Semantics) Variables in mathematics normally take numeric values, although non-numeric linguistic variables are frequently employed in fuzzy logic to make the expression of rules and facts easier. For instance, the term "Age" can be used to indicate a linguistic variable with a value such as "a child", "young", "old", and so on.
    Linguistic variables are variables with a value made up of linguistic concepts (also known as linguistic words) rather than numbers, such as "child", "young", and so on. Let's define AGE as a language variable:

   AGE = { Child, Young, Old }

    Each AGE linguistic phrase has a membership function for a specific age range. The same age value is mapped to multiple membership values in the range of 0 to 1 by each function. These membership values can then be used to identify whether a person is a child, a young person, or an elderly person. The following is the membership function with regard to each fuzzy term:
    For AGE = 11, we will get a membership value of 0.75 (roughly) in the Child set, 0.2 (approx) in the Young set, and 0 in the Old set. So, if a person's age is 11, it's safe to assume that he or she is a child, perhaps a little young but certainly not old.
    The formal definition for the linguistic variable is written as:

   ( x, T(x), U, G, M ), where:
   x - Variable name (in this case, AGE)
   T(x)- Set of linguistic terms such as {Child, Young, Old}
   U - Universe
   G - Syntactical rules which generate the modified value of the linguistic term of x
   M - Semantic rules associated with each linguistic term of x with its meaning

    Let us consider an example such as (AGE, { Child, Young, Middle-aged, Old } and U - Set of ages of all the people, G, M). The Semantic rules M give meaning to each linguistic term of AGE. Example: M for the linguistic term Old of the linguistic variable AGE is defined as:

   M = { ( x,μ_Old(x) | x∈[0,100] }
   and
   μ_Old(x) = { 0 ; ≤ 50
    = { (x - 50) / 15 ; 50 < x ≤ 65
    = { 1 ; x > 65

    The syntactical rules G that generate the modified value of the linguistic terms of x are given as :

   G = (V_n, V_T, P_r, S) where:
   V_n - Non Terminal Symbols
   V_T - Terminal Symbols
   P_r - Production Rules
   S - Start Symbol

    Example:
    
   Let S be start symbol, V_n = {A, B, C, D, E, S}
   V_T = {and, or, very, more or less, not, almost, young, ...}
   P_r = Production Rules : S → A; S → S or A; A → A and B; etc.
    
    | Sameeksha Khandelwal, 2021

LINK

1. (Information Structure) One of two types of old/given information distinguished by Vallduví (1992). The other is the tail. E.g., in Catalan, links are left detached (or topicalized); tails are detached to the right. | ?
2. (Information Structure) It is proposed that the sentence is informationally articulated into a trinomial hierarchical structure consisting of the FOCUS and the GROUND while the latter is further subdivided into the LINK and the TAIL. This partition is represented in (1).
    
   1.  S = { FOCUS, GROUND }
       GROUND = { LINK, TAIL }
   
    It reflects both the focus-background split and the fact that within the ground there often is a "special" topiclike element, the link, which appears in sentence-initial position. The informational unit comment is foregone, since it is rendered unnecessary.
    By restricting the link to be sentence-initial one can elude the problematic extension of topichood to other elements of the sentence. It was with this extension that topichood was rendered a nonoperationalizable notion. Finally, the givenness/newness paradox—how can the "focus of new information" be discourse-old—is avoided by making clear that referential status is a property of discourse entities and the phrases that encode them, and that information packaging is a relational property that constituents have by virtue of their standing in a particular relationship with the other element of the sentence. | Enric Vallduví, 1993

LOANWORD ADAPTATION

1. (Sociolinguistics; Phonology) In adapting a loan the speaker tries to remain faithful to the source word while still making the loan conform to the native language (L1) segmental inventory, phonotactic constraints, and prosodic structures. | Michael Kenstowicz and Atiwong Suchato, 2006
2. (Sociolinguistics; Phonology) A transformation that applies to words when they are borrowed into a foreign language. Words from a source language that are ill-formed in the borrowing language are thus transformed into well-formed words. The so-called repairs (Paradis and LaCharité 1997) involve general phonological processes, such as segmental (1a) and suprasegmental (1b) changes as well as epenthesis (1c) and deletion (1d). The examples in (1) concern English words borrowed into various languages.
   Repair strategies in loanwords
   a. Korean (Kenstowicz and Sohn 2001)
     [ rəntən ] < London
   b. French
     [ wɔkmán ] < walkman
   c. Japanese (Itô and Mester 1995)
     [ sɯfiŋkɯsɯ ] < sphinx
   d. White Hmong (Golston and Yong 2001)
     [ pe.si ] < pepsi
    | Sharon Peperkamp and Emmanuel Dupoux, 2003

LOCAL DISLOCATION

1. (Morphology; Syntax) A variety of Merger that occurs after Vocabulary Insertion. In Local Dislocation the relation relevant for "affixation" is not hierarchical, but rather linear precedence and adjacency. By hypothesis, linear ordering is not a property of syntactic representations but is imposed at PF in virtue of the requirement that speech be instantiated in time (see Sproat 1985). It is therefore natural to assume that linear ordering is imposed on a phrase marker at the point in the derivation when phonological information is inserted, that is, at Vocabulary Insertion. | David Embick and Rolf Noyer, 2001
2. (Morphology; Syntax) Firstly, the Local Dislocation (LD) operation is directly related to the Linearization process, which is assumed to be imposed by the insertion of phonological material in the structure (i.e. Vocabulary Insertion). Specifically, Embick and Noyer (2001) propose the Late Linearization Hypothesis, as summarized in (1).
    
   1. Late Linearization Hypothesis (Embick and Noyer 2001)
      The elements of a phrase marker are linearized at Vocabulary Insertion.
   
     Thus, since LD applies at the point in the derivation where the structure is linearized, the relevant structural relationship for LD is the relation of linear precedence and adjacency (cf. Embick and Noyer 2001). As a consequence of this structural definition, LD, as the name already suggests, is a strictly local operation. As Embick and Noyer (2001) put it, it "cannot skip any adjoined elements ... Only adjacent elements can be reordered by the operation, and an intervening (syntactic) adjunct cannot be ignored".
    Since, in the framework of Distributed Morphology, the operations assumed to occur in morphology and the operations that occur in the syntax bear certain similarities to one another, it is not surprising that LD takes on two different shapes. It can either operate on the XP level (which is defined as the Morphological Word (MWd) level), or on the X⁰ level (that is, on the Subword (SWd) level). As in syntax, SWs (like heads) can only move to similar positions, while MWds can only target corresponding MWd positions. The relevant mechanisms of LD are schematized in (2) below.
    
   2. a. [ X ∗ [ Z ∗ Y ] ]  base structure
        X immediately precedes [ Z ∗ Y ].
        Z immediately precedes Y.
      b. [ X ∗ [ Z ∗ Y ] ]  Local Dislocation
          |____↑
        LD targets the next available position.
      c. [ [ Z + Z ] ∗ Y ]  Result of LD
        X adjoins to Z to yield the complex [ Z + Z ].
        Both X and Z still precede Y.
   
    Given that LD is local, X cannot adjoin to Y, hence, (3) is an illicit configuration (indicated with "#").
    
   3.  # [ Z ∗ [Y + Y ] ]  illicit configuration
   
    | Kirsten Gengel, 2008

LOCALITY

1. (Syntax) Refers to the proximity of elements in a linguistic structure. Constraints on locality limit the span over which rules can apply to a particular structure. Theories of transformational grammar use syntactic locality constraints to explain restrictions on argument selection, syntactic binding, and syntactic movement.
    Locality is observed in a number of linguistic contexts, and most notably with:
    
   • Selection of arguments. This is regulated by the projection principle.
   • Binding of two DPs. This is regulated by binding theory.
   • Displacement of wh-phrases. This is regulated by wh-movement.
   
    | Wikipedia, 2021
2. (Syntax) Two major concepts of locality seem to be operative:
    
   1. Impenetrability, expressing the fact that certain syntactic configurations are impervious to rules (e.g., island constraints).
   2. Intervention locality, blocking movement and other processes across an intervening element.
   
    Locality is always calculated in hierarchical terms.
    If natural language syntax is unbounded because of its recursive nature, syntactic rules are typically local, in the sense that, even when the relevant elements affected by a syntactic rule are part of a very large structure, the rule applies only on a very limited portion of it. Consider the long sentence I am aware that people say that John loves Mary: the morphosyntactic rule governing verbal agreement only involves local subject–verb configurations (I am, people say, John loves), so that, e.g., the main clause subject cannot trigger agreement of the most deeply embedded verb. | Luigi Rizzi, 2013

LOCATIVE INVERSION

1. (Grammar) A common linguistic phenomenon that has been studied by linguists of various theoretical backgrounds.
    In multiple Bantu languages, such as Chichewa (Bresnan 1994), the locative and subject arguments of certain verbs can be inverted without changing the semantic roles of those arguments. Below are examples from Zulu (Buell 2005) where the numbers indicate Noun classes, SBJ = subject agreement prefix, APPL = applicative suffix, FV = final vowel in Bantu verbal morphology, and LOC is the locative circumfix for adjuncts.
    
   1. Canonical word order
      A-bantwana
      2-2.child

      ba-fund-el-a
      2.SBJ-study-APPL-FV

      e-sikole-ni.
      LOC:7-7.school-LOC

      'The children study at the school.'
   2. Locative inversion
      I-sikole
      7-7.school

      si-fund-el-a
      7.SBJ-study-APPL-FV

      a-bantwana.
      2-2.child

      'The children study at the school.' (Lit. 'The school studies the children.')
   
    In the locative inversion example, isikole 'school' acts as the subject of the sentence while semantically remaining a locative argument rather than a subject / agent one. Moreover, we can see that it is able to trigger subject-verb agreement as well, further indicating that it is the syntactic subject of the sentence. | Wikipedia, 2022
2. (Grammar) Languages with distinct degrees of word order flexibility, such as European Portuguese (EP), English and French, have one property in common: they admit so-called locative inversion (LI), which is a type of subject-verb inversion where the subject occurs postverbally, while a locative X phrase (XP), typically a prepositional phrase (PP), is preposed, as in (1).
    
   1. a. European Portuguese
         Na floresta vivia uma família de ursos.
      b. French
         Dans la forêt habitait une famille d'ours.
      c. English
         In the forest lived a family of bears.
   
    Over the last decades, research into LI has generally focused on the properties of the verbs and subjects compatible with this word order. A large number of studies have consistently shown that the subject of LIs is required to be (part of) the focus (cf., e.g., Bresnan 1994 for English and Chichêwa, Culicover and Winkler 2008 for English, Cornish 2001 and 2005 for French, Sheehan 2007 for Spanish, Italian, and European Portuguese), and that the (sub)classes of verbs permitted in this type of inversion vary across languages. | Joana Teixeira, 2016
3. (Grammar) Involves the reversing of a locative argument with the subject argument of a sentence, as represented by the following example from the Bantu language Chichewa:
    
   1. a.
       

      Chi-tsîme
      7-well

      chi-li
      7-be

      ku-mu-dzi.
      17-3-village

        'The well is in the village.'
      b.
       

      Ku-mu-dzi
      17-3-village

      ku-li
      17-be

      chi-tsîme.
      7-well

        'In the village is a well.'
   
    In addition to the linear reversal, locative inversion is often thought of as a process that reverses the grammatical relations of the participants. Evidence for this comes from agreement, as shown by the example above: After reversal, the theme tsîme no longer triggers subject agreement. It is now the preverbal locative the verb agrees with. The question of whether locative inversion involves a reversal of grammatical functions has attracted the interest of theoretical linguists for quite some time. | Martin David Salzmann, 2004

LOGOPHORIC PRONOUN

1. (Pragmatics) Refers to those referential expressions that occur in indirect discourse environments and exclusively refer to the agent of reported speech / thought. In certain languages, so-called long-distance reflexives carry the same function.
   1. Kofi said that he left.
    | Joseph Agbenyegah, 2016
2. (Grammar) Traditionally defined as an element that:
   1.  Obligatorily occurs in the scope of an attitude predicate such as believe or say.
   2.  And it is obligatorily construed as referring to the bearer of the attitude, such as the subject of believe or say.
    The logophoric pronoun in Ewe (West Africa) is yè; the language also has a plain pronoun, e, which is like the English third person pronoun in that its distribution is not confined to attitude reports. The examples below show that properties (i) and (ii) hold of yé but not of e.
    
   1.
    
   Kofi
   Kofi
   be
   say
   yè
   LOG
   dzo.
   leave
     'Kofi_i said that he_i / *j left.'
   2.
    
   * Yè
   LOG
   dzo.
   leave
   3.
    
   Kofi
   Kofi
   be
   say
   e
   3SG
   dzo.
   leave
     'Kofi_i said that he_i / j left.'
   4.
    
   E
   3SG
   dzo.
   leave
     'He left.'
   
    In some respects logophoric pronouns like yè resemble obligatorily controlled PRO: they can only occur in an embedded clause, and when they do they obligatorily refer to some designated argument of the embedding verb. | Hazel Pearson, 2015

LONG PRESENT TENSE

1. (Grammar) Ziervogel, Louw and Taljaard (1985) do not define tense but simply state that, "Tense forms may be divided into various present and various past and future tenses". They moreover distinguish between tenses that comprise single verb forms and tenses "formed by using an 'auxiliary' verb". They give the Zulu example ngibe ngibona 'I was seeing' as an example of the latter type of tense. They refer to the Zulu present tense forms containing the morpheme -ya- as the long present tense or continuous present tense. | Lionel Posthumus, 2017
2. (Grammar) Tswana (Bantu, southern Africa) syntax is governed by nominal classification and a concordial agreement system, which are reflected in the verb structure (Krüger 2006). This is illustrated by examples such as the table below, where a simple sentence in Tswana may be constructed with only a proper verb, LONG-PT denoting the long present tense form marker.

   Minimal sentence	Extended sentence
   o a raga	mosimane o a raga
   o a rag-a	mo-simane o a rag-a
   SC1 LONG-PT ROOT+VE	C+ROOT SC1 LONG-PT ROOT+VE
   he kicks	the boy kicks

    | Laurette Pretorius, Laurette Marais, and Ansu Berg, 2016

LYMAN'S LAW

1. (Phonology) Blocks rendaku (sequential voicing) when the second member already contains a voiced obstruent (/oo/ + /tokage/ → *[oo+dokage], [oo+tokage] 'big lizard'). Lyman's Law, as a constraint which prohibits a morpheme with two voiced obstruents, is also known to trigger devoicing of geminates in loanwords (e.g. /beddo/ → [betto] 'bed'). Rendaku and Lyman's Law have been extensively studied in the past phonological literature. | Shigeto Kawahara, 2018
2. (Phonology) States that sequential voicing almost never occurs in a compound in which the second element already contains a voiced consonant. For example, while sibu 'astringent' and kaki 'persimmon' form a compound sibu-gaki as in (1), ai 'match' and kagi 'key' never form a compound ai-gagi 'matching key', instead of which ai-kagi is formed, as in (2):
    
   1. sibu
      'astringent'

      +
       

      kaki
      'persimmon'

      →
       

      sibu-gaki
      'astringent persimmon'
   2. ai
      'matching'

      +
       

      kagi
      'key'

      →
       

      ai-kagi / *ai-gagi
      'matching key'
   
    | Yoshiki Ogawa, 2022
3. (Phonology) A well-known condition on rendaku that the existence of a voiced obstruent in a second element prohibits rendaku.
    
   1. a.
       

      tori
      'bird'

      +
       

      kago
      'cage'

      →
       

      tori-kago / *tori-gago
      'birdcage'
      b.
       

      naga
      'long'

      +
       

      sode
      'sleeve'

      →
       

      naga-sode / *naga-zode
      'long sleeve'
      c.
       

      oo
      'big'

      +
       

      tokage
      'lizard'

      →
       

      oo-tokage / *oo-dokage
      'big lizard'
      d.
       

      nawa
      'rope'

      +
       

      hasigo
      'ladder'

      →
       

      *nawa-hasigo / nawa-basigo
      'rope ladder'
   
    In (1a), the second element /kago/, which contains a voiced obstruent, does not undergo voicing. The compounded word is not /*tori-gago/ but /tori-kago/. Rendaku is prohibited.
    Lyman's Law is one particular case of Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) by which an identical element or feature is prohibited from repeating within a certain domain (Itô and Mester 1986, 2003, Kubozono 1999, 2005). The relevant feature here is laryngeal [+voice, −sonorant], and the domain is the second element of a compound. | Mutsuko Ihara, Katsuo Tamaoka, and Tadao Murata, 2009

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