Within “word-based”, “paradigm-based” or “abstractive” models of inflectional systems ( Blevins 2006 , 2016 ), only full inflected wordforms are considered primitives; subword strings are treated not as distinct entities, but as abstract generalisations inferred by speakers across multiple inflected forms. These models stand in contrast to “constructive” approaches, which proceed from individual, distinct subword units to full words. An argument consistently adduced in favour of abstractive approaches is that they afford a descriptive advantage regarding “fusional” systems characterised by pervasive non-canonical exponence, such as cumulative exponence, extended exponence, and morphomic structure ( Stump 2016 : 17–30). Via an exploration of inflectional phenomena including non-canonical exponence and arbitrary distributional regularities in the verb inflection of standard Swahili, a language usually described as exemplifying “agglutinating” inflection and amenable to constructive, morpheme-based, analyses, this paper will argue that abstractive systems are equally applicable to “agglutinating” inflection, offering greater empirical plausibility and in some cases descriptive advantage.
{"title":"Swahili verbs and the value of abstractive accounts for agglutinating inflection","authors":"Louise Esher","doi":"10.3366/word.2022.0204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2022.0204","url":null,"abstract":"Within “word-based”, “paradigm-based” or “abstractive” models of inflectional systems ( Blevins 2006 , 2016 ), only full inflected wordforms are considered primitives; subword strings are treated not as distinct entities, but as abstract generalisations inferred by speakers across multiple inflected forms. These models stand in contrast to “constructive” approaches, which proceed from individual, distinct subword units to full words. An argument consistently adduced in favour of abstractive approaches is that they afford a descriptive advantage regarding “fusional” systems characterised by pervasive non-canonical exponence, such as cumulative exponence, extended exponence, and morphomic structure ( Stump 2016 : 17–30). Via an exploration of inflectional phenomena including non-canonical exponence and arbitrary distributional regularities in the verb inflection of standard Swahili, a language usually described as exemplifying “agglutinating” inflection and amenable to constructive, morpheme-based, analyses, this paper will argue that abstractive systems are equally applicable to “agglutinating” inflection, offering greater empirical plausibility and in some cases descriptive advantage.","PeriodicalId":43166,"journal":{"name":"Word Structure","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44748374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this reply to a paper by Nóbrega and Panagiotidis in Word Structure 13, I consider some of the remarks they make about exocentric compounds, and compare them with the generally accepted view of such structures. I conclude that their view of hyponymy seems to be unduly restrictive, that their use of empty heads leads to potential analyses which might not be considered useful, and that their suggested criteria for exocentricity lead to their restricting the notion of exocentricity in compounds to those which are marginal members of the exocentric category. I propose some lines for future research.
{"title":"Exocentricity yet again: A response to Nóbrega and Panagiotidis","authors":"Laurie Bauer","doi":"10.3366/word.2022.0203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2022.0203","url":null,"abstract":"In this reply to a paper by Nóbrega and Panagiotidis in Word Structure 13, I consider some of the remarks they make about exocentric compounds, and compare them with the generally accepted view of such structures. I conclude that their view of hyponymy seems to be unduly restrictive, that their use of empty heads leads to potential analyses which might not be considered useful, and that their suggested criteria for exocentricity lead to their restricting the notion of exocentricity in compounds to those which are marginal members of the exocentric category. I propose some lines for future research.","PeriodicalId":43166,"journal":{"name":"Word Structure","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44629250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Overlapping suppletion, where two or more lexemes share identical forms taken from one of them, interacts in surprising ways with periphrasis. Based on evidence from dialectal data from Gallo-Romance varieties, the paper aims to study the interaction between the two. The first four sections describe the patterns of overlapping suppletion found to occur between the verbs ‘be’, ‘have’ and ‘go’ in Gallo-Romance varieties. Some theoretical conclusions are drawn, which show that incursion is directional for good historical reasons, on which semantics plays an important role, in particular paradigmatically local synonymy (see Maiden 2014 ). By examining periphrastic forms, a distinction can be made between overlapping suppletion that only targets the stem, that which only targets a wordform (participle), and that which targets the whole inflectional cell. All three situations are shown to be possible. A number of splits within periphrasis in these varieties call for considering periphrastic tenses as part of the paradigm in their whole extensions, not only as far as their lexical part (here the participle) is concerned.
{"title":"Overlapping suppletion and periphrasis: On HAVE, BE, and GO in Gallo-Romance","authors":"Xavier Bach","doi":"10.3366/word.2022.0202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2022.0202","url":null,"abstract":"Overlapping suppletion, where two or more lexemes share identical forms taken from one of them, interacts in surprising ways with periphrasis. Based on evidence from dialectal data from Gallo-Romance varieties, the paper aims to study the interaction between the two. The first four sections describe the patterns of overlapping suppletion found to occur between the verbs ‘be’, ‘have’ and ‘go’ in Gallo-Romance varieties. Some theoretical conclusions are drawn, which show that incursion is directional for good historical reasons, on which semantics plays an important role, in particular paradigmatically local synonymy (see Maiden 2014 ). By examining periphrastic forms, a distinction can be made between overlapping suppletion that only targets the stem, that which only targets a wordform (participle), and that which targets the whole inflectional cell. All three situations are shown to be possible. A number of splits within periphrasis in these varieties call for considering periphrastic tenses as part of the paradigm in their whole extensions, not only as far as their lexical part (here the participle) is concerned.","PeriodicalId":43166,"journal":{"name":"Word Structure","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44913080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
One instantiation of the well-known suffixing preference is the strong predominance of suffixes over prefixes in nominal-plural marking. Plurality may also be expressed by (partial) reduplication. In contradistinction to the rightward bias of affixes, reduplication in general exhibits a leftward bias. These opposite effects lead to a notable prediction regarding the directionality of reduplicative plurals, which are expected to show a compromise between the rightward bias of affixing and the leftward bias of reduplication. This prediction is not borne out in a sizeable sample of languages with reduplicative plurals. Almost all these languages put the reduplicant in word-initial position. That is, the leftward bias in reduplicative plurals is even more pronounced than that in reduplication generally. The explanation of this striking set of results revolves around a conspiracy of several factors which render the occurrence of word-final reduplicative plurals extremely unlikely. Thus, word-initial and word-final sites are much more unequal competitors in reduplicative plurality than prefixes and suffixes are in affixal plural marking.
{"title":"The directionality of reduplicative plurality","authors":"T. Berg","doi":"10.3366/word.2022.0197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2022.0197","url":null,"abstract":"One instantiation of the well-known suffixing preference is the strong predominance of suffixes over prefixes in nominal-plural marking. Plurality may also be expressed by (partial) reduplication. In contradistinction to the rightward bias of affixes, reduplication in general exhibits a leftward bias. These opposite effects lead to a notable prediction regarding the directionality of reduplicative plurals, which are expected to show a compromise between the rightward bias of affixing and the leftward bias of reduplication. This prediction is not borne out in a sizeable sample of languages with reduplicative plurals. Almost all these languages put the reduplicant in word-initial position. That is, the leftward bias in reduplicative plurals is even more pronounced than that in reduplication generally. The explanation of this striking set of results revolves around a conspiracy of several factors which render the occurrence of word-final reduplicative plurals extremely unlikely. Thus, word-initial and word-final sites are much more unequal competitors in reduplicative plurality than prefixes and suffixes are in affixal plural marking.","PeriodicalId":43166,"journal":{"name":"Word Structure","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42292815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
It is proposed that the alternations ā ∼ a and a ∼ Ø in the stem-final syllable of Sanskrit nominals such as rā´jān- ‘king’ and dātār- ‘giver’ are due to rules of shortening and syncope. If so, those alternations provide no support, contrary to claims in the literature, for a framework in which stem alternants are associated with “morphomic indices” by stem-indexing rules and, more generally, no support for a purely morphological level of representation mediating between morphosyntax and morphophonology. To the contrary, it is claimed, postulation of such a level in the Sanskrit case both complicates the grammatical architecture needlessly and obstructs the statement of phonological generalizations.
{"title":"Sanskrit nominal stem gradation without morphomes","authors":"Brent de Chene","doi":"10.3366/word.2022.0198","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2022.0198","url":null,"abstract":"It is proposed that the alternations ā ∼ a and a ∼ Ø in the stem-final syllable of Sanskrit nominals such as rā´jān- ‘king’ and dātār- ‘giver’ are due to rules of shortening and syncope. If so, those alternations provide no support, contrary to claims in the literature, for a framework in which stem alternants are associated with “morphomic indices” by stem-indexing rules and, more generally, no support for a purely morphological level of representation mediating between morphosyntax and morphophonology. To the contrary, it is claimed, postulation of such a level in the Sanskrit case both complicates the grammatical architecture needlessly and obstructs the statement of phonological generalizations.","PeriodicalId":43166,"journal":{"name":"Word Structure","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43008998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates what kinds of meanings are expressed by circumfixes cross-linguistically, with an eye toward explaining this rare formal phenomenon. Based on the study of several hundred languages, it shows that circumfixes express negation relatively more often than other functions, followed by a wide array of TAME and derivational meanings and some more specific functions such as adjectival degree or the formation of ordinal numerals. While circumfixes are found in many unrelated languages and in all macro-areas, they nevertheless cluster in specific families, which suggests that it is their diachronic emergence that is rare rather than their synchronic distribution per se. The semantic contributions of circumfixes are explained by different diachronic mechanisms. Negative circumfixes are argued to ultimately follow from the negative cycle, whereas circumfixes encoding other functions are claimed to emerge from the cumulation of functionally compatible morphs, as in the case of certain aspectual and temporal markers. In addition, there is also some evidence that empty morphs may be reinterpreted as parts of circumfixes. All these processes are further constrained by the fact that one half of the developing circumfix has to be a prefix. Since prefixes are relatively rare overall, this necessary condition for circumfixation often is not met. On the other hand, prefixes express negation relatively frequently, and this helps to further explain why circumfixes have strong ties to this particular semantic domain.
{"title":"Circumfixation: A semasiological approach","authors":"Tim Zingler","doi":"10.3366/word.2022.0199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2022.0199","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates what kinds of meanings are expressed by circumfixes cross-linguistically, with an eye toward explaining this rare formal phenomenon. Based on the study of several hundred languages, it shows that circumfixes express negation relatively more often than other functions, followed by a wide array of TAME and derivational meanings and some more specific functions such as adjectival degree or the formation of ordinal numerals. While circumfixes are found in many unrelated languages and in all macro-areas, they nevertheless cluster in specific families, which suggests that it is their diachronic emergence that is rare rather than their synchronic distribution per se. The semantic contributions of circumfixes are explained by different diachronic mechanisms. Negative circumfixes are argued to ultimately follow from the negative cycle, whereas circumfixes encoding other functions are claimed to emerge from the cumulation of functionally compatible morphs, as in the case of certain aspectual and temporal markers. In addition, there is also some evidence that empty morphs may be reinterpreted as parts of circumfixes. All these processes are further constrained by the fact that one half of the developing circumfix has to be a prefix. Since prefixes are relatively rare overall, this necessary condition for circumfixation often is not met. On the other hand, prefixes express negation relatively frequently, and this helps to further explain why circumfixes have strong ties to this particular semantic domain.","PeriodicalId":43166,"journal":{"name":"Word Structure","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46632563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
What kind of object is ‘left behind’ when part of an established paradigmatic distribution pattern splits away as a positively identifiable morphome? Drawing on comparative data from modern Occitan, French and Catalan, this study explores the wide range of paradigmatic distributions involving imperfect indicative forms (the ‘remnants’ of the erstwhile Latin infectum distribution, following the differentiation of the N- and L-pattern cells). While robust relationships are found to exist amongst imperfect indicative forms, there is little consistency in relationships between imperfect indicative forms and other paradigm cells, including other infectum reflexes. Furthermore, there is scant evidence for the modern distributions acting as productive templates for analogy. The study identifies distinctive lexical type frequency as a salient factor underlying observed contrasts in behaviour between individual distributions of inflectional exponents; and offers a means of reconciling the theoretical claim that all paradigmatic distributions are morphomic with the empirical observation that not all paradigmatic distributions are equally productive or resilient.
{"title":"Gallo-Romance imperfects betwixt multiple morphomic patterns","authors":"Louise Esher","doi":"10.3366/word.2021.0192","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2021.0192","url":null,"abstract":"What kind of object is ‘left behind’ when part of an established paradigmatic distribution pattern splits away as a positively identifiable morphome? Drawing on comparative data from modern Occitan, French and Catalan, this study explores the wide range of paradigmatic distributions involving imperfect indicative forms (the ‘remnants’ of the erstwhile Latin infectum distribution, following the differentiation of the N- and L-pattern cells). While robust relationships are found to exist amongst imperfect indicative forms, there is little consistency in relationships between imperfect indicative forms and other paradigm cells, including other infectum reflexes. Furthermore, there is scant evidence for the modern distributions acting as productive templates for analogy. The study identifies distinctive lexical type frequency as a salient factor underlying observed contrasts in behaviour between individual distributions of inflectional exponents; and offers a means of reconciling the theoretical claim that all paradigmatic distributions are morphomic with the empirical observation that not all paradigmatic distributions are equally productive or resilient.","PeriodicalId":43166,"journal":{"name":"Word Structure","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44529657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates reduplication in Kodi, an under-documented and understudied language spoken in Sumba Island, Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, eastern Indonesia. Reduplication in Kodi shows various patterns that fall under two major types: full reduplication and partial reduplication. Full reduplication mostly involves reduplication of the entire disyllabic base. In partial reduplication, the salient patterns that are copied are initial parts (a syllable and a foot), an internal part (a syllable), or final parts (foot) of the base. Furthermore, the reduplication process serves to express salient semantic properties, such as verbal number or pluractionality, indirect noun pluralization, attenuation or numeral distributivity. It is argued that (i) stress determines the reduplication process in Kodi in that the syllable or foot which is reduplicated is predictable from the stress patterns, (ii) semantic context triggers reduplication processes, and (iii) the framework of the theory of (Generalized) Paradigm Function Morphology ((G)PFM) ( Stump 2001 , 2016 ; Stewart & Stump 2007 ; Spencer & Stump 2013 ; Spencer 2013 ; Nikolaeva & Spencer 2019 ) can satisfactorily capture how stress determines the reduplication of the base and how semantic context triggers the reduplication process. This study provides additional evidence in support of the (G)PFM theory, which can arguably be extended to handle complex reduplicative patterns beyond Kodi.
{"title":"Reduplication in Kodi: A Paradigm Function Account","authors":"Yustinus Ghanggo Ate","doi":"10.3366/word.2021.0193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2021.0193","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates reduplication in Kodi, an under-documented and understudied language spoken in Sumba Island, Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, eastern Indonesia. Reduplication in Kodi shows various patterns that fall under two major types: full reduplication and partial reduplication. Full reduplication mostly involves reduplication of the entire disyllabic base. In partial reduplication, the salient patterns that are copied are initial parts (a syllable and a foot), an internal part (a syllable), or final parts (foot) of the base. Furthermore, the reduplication process serves to express salient semantic properties, such as verbal number or pluractionality, indirect noun pluralization, attenuation or numeral distributivity. It is argued that (i) stress determines the reduplication process in Kodi in that the syllable or foot which is reduplicated is predictable from the stress patterns, (ii) semantic context triggers reduplication processes, and (iii) the framework of the theory of (Generalized) Paradigm Function Morphology ((G)PFM) ( Stump 2001 , 2016 ; Stewart & Stump 2007 ; Spencer & Stump 2013 ; Spencer 2013 ; Nikolaeva & Spencer 2019 ) can satisfactorily capture how stress determines the reduplication of the base and how semantic context triggers the reduplication process. This study provides additional evidence in support of the (G)PFM theory, which can arguably be extended to handle complex reduplicative patterns beyond Kodi.","PeriodicalId":43166,"journal":{"name":"Word Structure","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49585758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The formation of French agent nouns (ANs) involves a large variety of morphological constructions, and particularly of suffixes. In this study, we focus on the semantic counterpart of agentive suffix diversity and investigate whether the morphological variety of ANs correlates with different agentive subtypes. We adopt a distributional semantics approach and combine manual, computational and statistical analyses applied to French ANs ending in -aire, -ant, -eur, -ien, -ier and -iste. Our methodology allows for a large-scale study of ANs and involves both top-down and bottom-up procedures. We first characterize agentive suffixes with respect to their morphosemantic and distributional properties, outlining their specificities and similarities. Then we automatically cluster ANs into distributionally relevant subsets and examine their properties. Based on quantitative analysis, our study provides a new perspective on agentive suffix rivalry in French that both confirms existing claims and sheds light on previously unseen phenomena.
{"title":"Distributional semantics insights on agentive suffix rivalry in French","authors":"R. Huyghe, Marine Wauquier","doi":"10.3366/word.2021.0194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3366/word.2021.0194","url":null,"abstract":"The formation of French agent nouns (ANs) involves a large variety of morphological constructions, and particularly of suffixes. In this study, we focus on the semantic counterpart of agentive suffix diversity and investigate whether the morphological variety of ANs correlates with different agentive subtypes. We adopt a distributional semantics approach and combine manual, computational and statistical analyses applied to French ANs ending in -aire, -ant, -eur, -ien, -ier and -iste. Our methodology allows for a large-scale study of ANs and involves both top-down and bottom-up procedures. We first characterize agentive suffixes with respect to their morphosemantic and distributional properties, outlining their specificities and similarities. Then we automatically cluster ANs into distributionally relevant subsets and examine their properties. Based on quantitative analysis, our study provides a new perspective on agentive suffix rivalry in French that both confirms existing claims and sheds light on previously unseen phenomena.","PeriodicalId":43166,"journal":{"name":"Word Structure","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47760948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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