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This article approaches defective and overabundant paradigm cells as an opportunity and pitfall for usage-based linguistics. Through reference to two production tasks involving native speakers of Czech, we show how definitions of these two categories are problematized when multiple forms per context are entrenched, or when pre-emption seems to occur in the absence of entrenchment: in other words, pre-emption occurs via entrenchment of uncertainty. We explain the results by adopting a broader, usage-based perspective. We examine the relationship between frequency (as proxy for exposure) and reference-work information (as proxy for a priori structure) to assess their connection with our experimental results. We assign a role to frequency as helping to form perceptions of "suitable" and "unsuitable" forms, but also note places where non-frequency factors predominate. "Structure" as represented by reference-work recommendations appears to have no significant connection to our experimental results; we discuss reasons for this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IE languages developed different strategies for the encoding of the passive function. In some language branches, the middle voice extended to the passive function to varying extents. In addition, dedicated derivational formations arose in a number of languages, such as the Greek -ē-/-thē- aorist and the Indo-Aryan -ya-presents. Periphrastic formations involving a verbal adjective or a participle are also widely attested, and played an important role in the building of the passive paradigm in e.g. Romance and Germanic languages. As the periphrastic passive is also attested in Hittite alongside passive use of the middle, both strategies seem to be equally ancient. Some minor strategies include lexical passives and the extensive lability of verbs. A survey of possible strategies provides evidence for the rise of a disparate number of morphemes and constructions, and for their ongoing incorporation into the inflectional paradigms (paradigmaticization) of given languages, thus adding to our knowledge about cross-linguistic sources of passive morphology and grammaticalization processes involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stem alternations contribute a unique type of morphological complexity to inflectional systems (Baerman et al. 2015), but despite the fact that they can show remarkable stability over time (Maiden 2018), the manner in which they are maintained and the types of changes they undergo are still poorly understood, in particular when it comes to understudied languages for which dia - chronic data are usually nonexistent. The verbal inflection of Chichimec (Oto-Pamean, Mexico) is characterized by intricate distributions of stem alternations, and it affords us a unique opportunity to study them from a diachronic perspective, because, unlike most other minority languages, we have a precise and detailed description of its verbal inflection system from almost a century ago (de Angulo 1933) from which we are able to reconstruct the paradigms of 170 verbs. In this article, we compare the verbal system as it was registered by de Angulo in 1930 to our own primary data recorded during two recent field trips. We show evidence that certain elements of the intricate patterns of stem alternations have been reanalyzed and redistributed by the speakers. We argue that the changes make sense only from a morphological perspective in which stem alternations are seen as involving fixed configurations of cells, or 'morphomes' (Aronoff 1994). We also show that speakers have not manipulated these configurations in isolation but in clusters, resulting in a substantial restructuring of verbal inflection at the paradigmatic level. We conclude that the changes have not resulted in a simpler system, but rather one that, while almost the same in terms of morphological complexity, has become more consistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the hypothesis that morphotactically ambiguous segment sequences should be dispreferred and selected against in the evolution of languages. We define morphotactically ambiguous sequences as sequences that can occur both within morphemes and across boundaries, such as final /nd/ or /mz/ in ModE, which occur in simple forms like wind or alms and in complex ones like sinned or seems. We test the hypothesis in two diachronic corpus studies of Middle and Early Modern English word forms ending in clusters of sonorants followed by /d/ or /t/ and /s/ or /z/. These clusters became highly frequent after the loss of unstressed vowels in final syllables and were highly ambiguous when they emerged. Our data show that the ambiguity of these final clusters was indeed reduced so that the distribution of the final clusters became increasingly skewed: clusters ending in voiceless coronals became significantly clearly indicative of simple forms, while clusters ending in voiced ones came to signal inflectional complexity more reliably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present electrophysiological study investigated irregular versus regular verb form processing in Swedish during reading. In line with previous results from other languages, overregularized verbs, i.e. incorrect irregular stem + regular past tense suffix combinations (e.g. * stjäl + de 'steal + past tense'), elicited a left-lateralized negativity (LAN) relative to correct irregulars (stal 'stole'), suggesting rule-based decomposition of regularly inflected words. Lack of a similar effect for misapplication of the irregular stem formation pattern on regular verbs (e.g. * löft 'lifted' instead of lyfte) suggests the involvement of different processing mechanisms, possibly whole word access, for irregular items, at least to some degree. A P600 showing reprocessing was seen for all incorrect forms. The results add cross-linguistic support for morphological decomposition in the verbal inflection of a language where results from previous neurolinguistic studies of nominal inflection have only suggested the use of full-form access to words. • ERPs of both overregularized and irregularized verbs in Swedish were recorded. • LAN obtained for overregularized verbs suggests rule-based decomposition. • Irregularized verbs elicited only a P600 relative to the correct variant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-linguistic studies show that languages follow clear tendencies in the ordering of morphemes inside a word that have been variously accounted for in the scholarly literature. Morphological structures, however, are not immune to change and the order of morphemes can be altered in the history of a language due to various kinds of processes, thus leading to an unusual order inside the word. The expected order of morphemes can be restored in different ways, one of which is the externalization of inflection. There are interesting examples of this type of processes in the pronominal inflection of the ancient Indo- European languages, which provide relevant information about this type of change. After revising those processes, we focus on the analysis of the *-sm-enlargement -apparently devoid of any semantic content- that appears in the oblique cases of certain Indo-European demonstrative pronouns (such as Skt. tásmai, Goth. Þamma, OPrus. stesmu, etc.) and in some cases of the 1st and 2nd plural personal pronouns (Skt. asmā́n and yuṣmā́n, Gk. hēmeîs and hūmeîs, etc.). We carry out a thorough survey of those forms and provide evidence to support the idea that this -sm-enlargement was originally an emphatic particle that has been 'trapped' between the pronominal stem and the nominal endings and we interpret the data in the light of the processes mentioned above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Papuan language Mian allows us to refine the typology of nominal classification. Mian has two candidate classification systems, differing completely in their formal realization but overlapping considerably in their semantics. To determine whether to analyse Mian as a single system or concurrent systems we adopt a canonical approach. Our criteria - orthogonality of the systems (we give a precise measure), semantic compositionality, morphosyntactic alignment, distribution across parts of speech, exponence, and interaction with other features - point mainly to an analysis as concurrent systems. We thus improve our analysis of Mian and make progress with the typology of nominal classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the problem of crosslinguistic rarity by mapping the types of diachronic factors that contribute to the rarity of a particular feature. It is proposed that a number of different diachronic factors may play a role, such as the rarity of source constructions, the rarity of particular types of change, the number of stages necessary for a particular feature to develop, and the number of pathways that can lead to a particular feature. This article looks at a rarissimum of person marking, namely, a zero-marked feminine 2nd singular person index in the Sahidic dialect of Coptic (Afroasiatic; Egypt). It is argued that such markers are rare because they presuppose rare input structures, and most processes of change would lead away from - rather than to - zero-marked 2sg. Furthermore, this study identifies a diachronic process in which a part of a morpheme is reinterpreted as a segmentable morpheme (in this case, a person index), thereby leading to the loss of a zero person marker. This is the converse of the well-known 'Watkins' Law', in which a segmentable person marker is reinterpreted as part of a base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a few linguistic and bio-futuristic musings in honor of Alan Turing and his legacy. We follow some of the connections Turing used or made between humanness, language, intelligence, deception, gender, sexual orientation, and computational modeling in his exploration of the world. We also take inspiration and continue further along some of these lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We review and discuss some issues to do with the relation between morphology and syntax which have played a prominent part in generative linguistic research in the past three decades. Focusing on verbal inflection, we first discuss the relation between inflection and verb placement, with special attention given to verb-initial languages. We then discuss the relation between pro-drop and agreement, where we articulate a partly new understanding of Huang''s (1989) generalization that pro-drop is characteristic of languages with rich agreement and languages with no agreement, but not languages that are in-between. We then present and discuss the Mirror Principle, one of the most significant findings in recent linguistic research. We pay special attention to the Mirror Principle as it applies in head-final languages, in the context of a model adopting Kayne''s (1994) Linear Correspondence Axiom. The idea is to show how fairly complex aspects of clausal syntax, including word order and the possibility of phonetically silent arguments of a predicate, may be correlated with readily observable and, in themselves, rather simple properties of verbal inflection, and to show how, given a restrictive theory of Universal Grammar, this follows from the fact that inflections are syntactic categories, albeit realized as parts of words. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The study addresses the functional distinction between the annexed and absolute states of nouns, a controversial issue in Berber linguistics. It is demonstrated that the annexed state provides the specific value for a grammaticalized meaning encoded earlier in the sentence. The absolute state carries no function within the grammaticalized domains of the language. The importance of this study for linguistic typology is that it demonstrates the existence of a coding system on noun phrases that is not related to grammatical functions, semantic functions, or information structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues, contra Hill (this volume), that mirativity is an independent linguistic category. It also argues, contra DeLancey (1997), that this category should be defined not only in terms of newsworthiness for the speaker but also in terms of newsworthiness for the addressee, and that expressions of mirativity do not necessarily have an evidential component. These claims are supported by examples of mirative expressions in a number of languages from different genetic stocks. Finally, the article suggests an explanation for the fact that in many languages evidentiality and mirativity are indeed expressed by the same linguistic means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iquito, a Zaparoan language of Peruvian Amazonia, marks a binary distinction between realis and irrealis clauses solely by means of a word order alternation. Realis clauses exhibit a construction in which no element intervenes between the subject and verb, while in irrealis clauses a phrasal constituent appears between the subject and verb. No free or bound morphology otherwise indicates whether an Iquito clause is realis or irrealis. Based on these facts and partially similar phenomena in other languages, this article argues that typologies of inflectional exponence should be expanded to include word order as an inflectional formative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Do the production and interpretation of patterns of plural forms in noun-noun compounds reveal the workings of innate constraints that govern morphological processing? The results of previous studies on compounding have been taken to support a number of important theoretical claims: first, that there are fundamental differences in the way that children and adults learn and process regular and irregular plurals, second, that these differences reflect formal constraints that govern the way the way regular and irregular plurals are processed in language, and third, that these constraints are unlikely to be the product of learning. In a series of seven experiments, we critically assess the evidence that is cited in support of these arguments. The results of our experiments provide little support for the idea that substantively different factors govern the patterns of acquisition, production and interpretation patterns of regular and irregular plural forms in compounds. Once frequency differences between regular and irregular plurals are accounted for, we find no evidence of any qualitative difference in the patterns of interpretation and production of regular and irregular plural nouns in compounds, in either adults or children. Accordingly, we suggest that the pattern of acquisition of both regular and irregular plurals in compounds is consistent with a simple account, in which children learn the conventions that govern plural compounding using evidence that is readily available in the distribution patterns of adult speech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies testing the knowledge of syntactic properties have resulted in two potentially contrasting proposals in relation to third language acquisition (TLA); the Cumulative Enhancement Model (Flynn et al., 2004), which proposes that previously learned languages will positively affect the acquisition of a third language (L3); and the ‘second language (L2) status factor’ hypothesis (Bardel and Falk, 2007), which proposes that the primacy of the L2 can block the potential positive effects that may be transferable from the first language (L1). This article attempts to extend these hypotheses to the domain of morphosyntax, in relation to the TLA of the properties of grammatical number and gender concord marking on German attributive adjectives; these properties not present in the L1 of Japanese, or the L2 of English. Two further factors are of interest in the current study; first, the performance of the learners according to their L3 and their L2 proficiency levels, a variable not discussed in the above-mentioned studies; and, second, the role that the type of task has on the performance of these learners. Three groups of Japanese native speakers (matched for proficiency within each German group), but with differing English proficiencies, completed a carefully balanced gap-filling task, together with two oral elicitation tasks in the form of games; both of these elicited tokens of adjectival inflection. Initial results offer partial support for weaker versions of the two hypotheses mentioned above. However, neither of the L3 models tested can fully account for the results obtained, which are more consistent with a feature-based account of the organization of grammar in the domain of morphosyntax, such as that of Distributed Morphology (DM) (Halle and Marantz, 1993). DM is a model for language acquisition which — coupled with a view that the Subset Principle proposed by this account is not observed by non-primary language learners — has recently been proposed to explain the optionality observed in L2 learners’ production (Hawkins et al., 2006). The data presented here suggest that it could be extended to L3 learners’ production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a selective overview of studies that have investigated how advanced adult second language (L2) learners process morphologically complex words. The studies reported here have used different kinds of experimental tasks (including speeded grammaticality judgments, lexical decision, and priming) to examine three domains of morphological processing (regular and irregular inflection, derived word forms, and morphosyntactic phenomena) in L2 learners from typologically different first language (L1) backgrounds. The results from these studies demonstrate clear differences between native and nonnative processing in all three domains, indicating that adult L2 learners are less sensitive to morphological structure than native speakers and rely more on lexical storage than on morphological parsing during processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I observe that Ossetic has a system of possessive pronouns with two features untypical for Iranian languages. First, along with genitive forms of full pronouns, it has a full paradigm of possessive proclitics. Second, while having accusative enclitics, it lacks possessive enclitics. I argue that the former trait is likely to have developed under West Caucasian influence. As for the absence of possessive enclitics, it is a nearly universal areal feature in the Caucasus. To substantiate these claims, I give an overview of possession marking in Iranian languages and in languages of the Caucasus and compare it to the Ossetic system. I suggest a possible scenario for the grammaticalization of possessive proclitics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses varieties of German with respect to noun pluralisation, with a focus on the status of final plural schwa as in Fisch-e ‘fish, pl.’. By analysing the much-discussed plural morphology of Standard German by means of both prosodic as well as morphological principles, it is argued that final schwa in plural nouns of Standard German is not, as generally assumed, an inflectional suffix. As an alternative, an optimality-theoretic constraint-based analysis of final schwa in plurals leads to the proposal that this segment in noun plurals of Standard German arises as an inserted vowel, which is in turn the result of a specific constraint interaction. In the second part of this paper, related noun plurals are studied in a sample of diverse non-standard dialects of German. Morphological and prosodic constraints, through the well-known mechanism of differences in constraint-ranking in Optimality Theory, derive the (non-)appearance of word-final plural schwas in these dialects which are minimally different from Standard German and from each other. The constraints will include those which refer to properties of whole paradigms of word forms, not just to phonological properties of individual words. As an overall descriptive result, a micro-typology of plural formation in varieties of German emerges, and the prosodic phonology of German is demonstrated to play a crucial role in the formation of word forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors compared sublexical and supralexical approaches to morphological processing with unambiguous and ambiguous inflected words and words with ambiguous stems in 3 masked and unmasked priming experiments in Finnish. Experiment I showed equal facilitation for all prime types with a short 60-ms stimulus Onset asynchrony (SOA) but significant facilitation for unambiguous words only with a long 300-ms SOA. Experiment 2 showed that all potential readings of ambiguous inflections were activated under a short SOA. Whereas the prime-target form overlap did not affect the results under a short SOA, it significantly modulated the results with a long SOA. Experiment 3 confirmed that the results from masked priming were modulated by the morphological structure of the words but not by the prime-target form overlap alone. The results support approaches in which early prelexical morphological processing is driven by morph-based segmentation and form is used to cue selection between 2 candidates only during later processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proceeding from the assumption that all languages are equally complex, there exists a corollary, widely held but poorly documented, herein referred to as the negative correlation hypothesis. It states: If one component of language is simplified then another must be elaborated. Here, this assumption is reformulated in terms of a scientific hypothesis and subjected to statistical analysis. Thirty-two geographically diverse languages representing thirty language families and two isolates are tested for syllable count and inflectional synthesis on the verb as a means of rating their phonological and morphological complexity, respectively. The correlation between these measures is found to be slightly positive (r=0.0704), but statistically insignificant (p>0.05), indicating that the negative correlation hypothesis, if it is to be retained, still awaits scientific confirmation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

in this paper I detail relationships between verb stems and the conjugation classes to which they belong in Yurok, an Algic language of northwest California. Yurok has four major conjugation classes, with one class, the oo-class, containing three subclasses defined by distinct third-person singular forms. I describe two regularities which have not been noted before. First, within the oo-class, distinct subclasses differing in third singular inflection are associated with distinctions in argument structure. Second, in one intransitive subclass of oo-class verbs, third-person singular inflections have the form and meaning of two Ritwan locative markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of four visual–visual priming experiments investigates the role of bound stem allomorphs in the representation and processing of Finnish case inflected nouns. Niemi et al. (1994) and Laine et al. (1994) argue that Finnish nouns are parsed into stem and affix in reception and that the bound stem allomorphs have separate (visual) lexical representations. Recently Ja¨rvikivi and Niemi (in press) have provided converging evidence for their claim based on a series of lexical decision experiments with Finnish stem allomorphs. The results from the present series of four follow-up experiments reported here showed that (isolated) bound stem allomorphs primed the recognition of the corresponding monomorphemic nouns significantly compared both to phonologically unrelated pseudowords and to phonologically minimally different pseudowords. Furthermore, not only did both phonologically transparent and opaque case inflected nouns prime the corresponding nominative singulars, but also there was no difference in priming between the two. The results are well in accordance and corroborate the hypotheses drawn from the earlier investigations. Moreover, they further indicate that bound stem allomorphs have representations on a purely formal level only, i.e., they serve as indices of and entering points to morphological/morphosyntactic information. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Previous studies have found that priming a target like cerr-o (“hill”) with an unmasked stem-homograph (e.g., cerr-ar, “to close”) or with an unmasked allomorph of a stem-homograph (e.g., cierr-a, “he/she/it closes”) has an inhibitory effect on target recognition. We report evidence from stem-homograph priming studies that implicate both morphological parsing and lexical selection processes at the lemma level. We argue that stem-homograph inhibition is the product of lexical selection mechanisms that are engaged just when a fully ambiguous stimulus (here, an inflectional stem) must be assigned one of its viable interpretations in order to afford conscious perception of lexical identity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]