Lowest theme vowels or highest roots? An ‘unaccusative’ theme-vowel class in Slovenian

This paper focuses on the e/i theme vowel class of verbs in Slovenian to bring together two seemingly unrelated debates; (i) the debate on the status of derivational affixes as roots within the framework of Distributed Morphology and (ii) the debate on the correlation between theme vowel classes with certain argument structures in Slavic. Focusing on Slovenian, our core data will come from active l-participles that are used adjectivally as an unaccusativity diagnostic. We take these l-participles to create a list of 109 unaccusative verbs. We show that (i) no unaccusative verbs belong to the two largest theme vowel classes in Slovenian (a/a and i/i), whereas (ii) the two big theme vowel classes tend to get accusative arguments quite frequently. Most importantly, (iii) the e/i-class stands out since more than one half of the unaccusative sample falls into. The e/i-class is furthermore the only theme vowel class whose theme vowel surfaces in adjectival l-participles, the theme vowel class to which inchoatives belong and behaves uniformly with respect to stress. Based on the uniform behavior of the e/i-class which sets it apart from other theme vowel-classes, we will argue that the vowel of this class is better analyzed as a root.

The role of phonology in Vata adjectival agreement

In realizational theories of morphology, different opinions exist on the relationship between phonology and Vocabulary Insertion. On the one hand, there are separational theories like Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993), which assume that Vocabulary Insertion does not interact with the phonological component of the grammar. These theories predict that the properties of a language's regular phonology never play a role when vocabulary items (VIs) are inserted. The opposite view is held by integrational theories as, for instance, proposed in Wolf (2008). These theories assume that the general phonology of a language can influence Vocabulary Insertion. Based on adjectival agreement in the language Vata, I propose an integrational model that assumes that Vocabulary Insertion applies in an Optimality-Theoretic (Prince & Smolensky 1993) phonology, where regular phonological constraints are active. I propose that the phonology consists of two levels: one level where VIs are inserted and one level for regular phonology.

A morphosyntactic analysis of nominal expressive suffixes in Russian and Greek

This work investigates and compares nominal expressive suffixes in Russian and Greek within the framework of Distributed Morphology. It shows that, although the suffixes under investigation share the same expressive meaning, they differ significantly in their syntactic structure, namely in the manner and place of attachment in the syntactic tree. More specifically, in both languages expressive suffixes can attach either as heads or as modifiers and, furthermore, they may occupy various syntactic positions. This illustrates that, despite their uniformity at semantic level, expressive suffixes exhibit variation with respect to their syntactic structuring both within and across languages.

Relativized Prosodic Domains: A Late-Insertion Account of German Plurals

In late-insertion, realizational models of morphology such as Distributed Morphology (DM), the insertion of Vocabulary Items (VIs) is conditioned by cyclic operations in the syntax. This paper explores whether an isomorphic relationship can be established between cyclic operations such as phases and prosodic domains. In the spirit of D’Alessandro and Scheer’s (2015) proposal of a Modular Phase Impenetrability Condition (MPIC), we strive to provide an analysis in which prosodic boundaries in even smaller, word-level-like syntactic structures—the ‘lexical domain’—can be identified solely within the syntax. We propose a DM-account for the distribution of nominal plural exponency in German, which reveals a dominant trend for a trochaic-foot structure for all but -s-plural exponents (Wiese 2001, 2009). Inspired by Gouskova’s (2019) and Svenonius’ (2016) work concerning the prosody–morphology interface, we argue that the index of a Prosodic Word ω in non-s-plurals is associated with a specific feature configuration. We propose that only a n[+pl(ural)] configuration, in which the nominalizing head n hosts the SynSem-feature Num(ber)[+pl(ural)], rather than a general cyclic categorizing phase head such as n, indexes a Prosodic Word ω for nominal plural exponents in (Standard) German. Based on this empirical evidence from German plural exponency, we argue that (i) prosodic boundaries can be established directly by syntactic structures, (ii) these prosodic boundaries condition VI insertion during the initial stages of Spell-Out, and (iii) prosodic domains are based on individual languages’ syntactic structures and feature configurations, and are thus relativized and language-specific in nature.

Size, allomorphy and guttural-final stems in Modern Hebrew

There is a tendency for syncretism between future and infinitive stems in Modern Hebrew. Verbs with final orthographic gutturals do not follow this trend in one verbal type. In another, they do follow it, but their exponent is different from that of regular verbs. Previous studies have claimed that (i) gutturals are represented in Modern Hebrew as a vowel /a/ (Faust, Noam. 2005. The fate of gutturals in Modern Hebrew. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University MA Thesis); (ii) Infinitives are derived in two cycles (Faust, Noam & Vered Silber-Varod. 2014. Distributed Morphology and prosody: The case of prepositions. In Burit Melnik (ed.), Proceedings of IATL29 (MITWPL 72), 71–92. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press); and (iii) stems seek to be no shorter than two syllables (e.g. Bat-El, Outi. 2003. The fate of the consonantal root and the binyan in Optimality Theory. Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes 32. 31–60.). Relying on these claims, an analysis is proposed involving two allomorphs with a priority relation. Phonological considerations of multiple correspondence, word size and cyclicity may nevertheless override the effect of priority, leading to the selection of the non-default allomorph. In the last section I briefly discuss two alternatives to the priority relation: the autosegmental alternative and the gradient alternative.

Memory for affixes in a long-lag priming paradigm

Psycholinguistic research on the processing of morphologically complex words has largely focused on debates about how/if lexical stems are recognized, stored and retrieved. Comparatively little processing research has investigated similar issues for functional affixes. In Word or Lexeme Based Morphology (Aronoff, 1994), affixes are not representational units on par with stems or roots. This view is in stark contrast to the claims of linguistic theories like Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz, 1993), which assign rich representational content to affixes. We conducted a series of eight visual lexical decision studies, evaluating effects of derivational affix priming along with stem priming, identity priming, form priming and semantic priming at long and short lags. We find robust and consistent affix priming (but not semantic or form priming) with lags up to 33 items, supporting the position that affixes are morphemes, i.e., representational units on par with stems. Intriguingly, we find only weaker evidence for the long-lag stem priming effect found in other studies. We interpret this asymmetry in terms of the salience of different morphological contexts for recollection memory.

A novel argument for PF operations: STAMP morphs in Gã

A key question facing piece-based syntactic morphological frameworks is whether morphophonological structure may be read directly from syntactic structure, as in Spanning, or if postsyntactic operations mediate this relationship, as in Distributed Morphology. Additionally, it is necessary to determine whether linear order is relevant for determining locality. This paper brings new data from STAMP portmanteaux in Gã (Kwa, Ghana) to bear on this question. I demonstrate that STAMP portmanteaux are composed of terminal nodes which do not form a syntactic constituent, and thus are incompatible with syntax-only morphological frameworks like Spanning. PF operations which are sensitive to linear locality, like Fusion in DM, are necessary to generate the portmanteaux. Instrumental adjuncts are additionally demonstrated to block portmanteaux formation, confirming that linear locality is crucial for calculating portmanteaux. Gã STAMP portmanteaux thus provide empirical support for PF operations that are sensitive to linear locality.

The possessive enclitics with kinship nouns in Italo-Romance and the possessive determiners in the Francoprovençal of Faeto

This paper deals with the possessive constructions in Italo-Romance dialects compared with the possessive constructions of one Francoprovençal (Gallo-Romance) variety spoken in Faeto (Foggia, Apulia). Francoprovençal possessive constructions are at a first glance distinct from Central and Southern Italian possessive constructions, mainly since in Francoprovençal (as in French) possessive forms (clitics) are prenominal. In Central and Southern Italian dialects, we find instead a split possession: 1) postnominal enclitic possessives (weak possessive markers) associated with parental kinship nouns distinct from 2) prenominal possessives associated with common nouns and postnominal strong possessive forms. Crucially, I claim that enclitic possessives are inflexional affixes, that receive a structural word-internal linearization from the same external (syntactical) linearization identified for proclitic possessive markers (in Faeto). I retain that the distinction between postnominal weak enclitics in Italian dialects and Francoprovençal weak prenominal possessive constructions is based on the inalienability (parental kin nouns + enclitics in DP). All possessive clitics (proclitics and enclitics) show a common syntactic configuration and differ only in Distributed Morphology, according to a “late” feature insertion and operations after syntax. Indeed, the possessive determiners represent three different morphological spells out of the same syntactic object: the bundle of features [Person], [(Gender) Number], [Definite], generated in functional heads.

Serial verb constructions and the syntax-prosody interface

Rolle (2020) identifies an apparent morphophonological conspiracy in serial verb constructions (SVCs) in Degema. He argues that it constitutes evidence for a partly-unified postsyntactic module, in which morphology and prosody are built in parallel (by ‘Optimality-Theoretic Distributed Morphology’). We argue that the pattern Rolle identifies in Degema SVCs instead results from the simultaneous interaction of two independently-attested syntax-prosody phenomena: (1) the pressure for adjacent verbs in an SVC to form a single prosodic unit, and (2) the suppression of redundant agreement within a single prosodic word (a.k.a. ‘Kinyalolo’s Generalization’). Thus the Degema SVC conspiracy can be localized to the syntax-prosody interface, and there is no need to adopt a unified postsyntactic morphology-prosody module like Rolle’s. We offer some further conceptual critiques of his model.

Greek derivational affixes roots or categorizers?

In this paper, I am concerned with the status of derivational affixes in Distributed Morphology: are these roots or categorizers? I will compare Greek to English and Dutch, as some derivational affixes in these two languages have been claimed to be roots. I will show that Greek derivational affixes are categorizers, and I will offer an explanation that capitalizes on the stress properties of Greek derivational affixes.