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This work will focus on analyzing the Korean verb, mac ‘to be hit’, which is the suppletive passive form of ttayli ‘to hit’, within the framework of Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993). In addition, this work will demonstrate the morphology-syntax mismatch between mac and the usual i/hi/li/ki-type of passive form used in Korean: mac and the i/hi/li/ki-type of passive form show the same syntactic patterns, whereas they are realized in distinct morphological structures. With the goal of explaining this mismatch, we will provide a postsyntactic morphological operation known as fusion proposed by Halle & Marantz (1993, 1994).

This work will focus on analyzing the Korean verb, mac ‘to be hit’, which is the suppletive passive form of ttayli ‘to hit’, within the framework of Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993). In addition, this work will demonstrate the morphology-syntax mismatch between mac and the usual i/hi/li/ki-type of passive form used in Korean: mac and the i/hi/li/ki-type of passive form show the same syntactic patterns, whereas they are realized in distinct morphological structures. With the goal of explaining this mismatch, we will provide a postsyntactic morphological operation known as fusion proposed by Halle & Marantz (1993, 1994).

This paper adopts a morphological approach to the reduplication of the past-tense augment in Cypriot Greek and explores the morphotactic constraints that apply. Phonological reduplication phenomena have been addressed in morphology by developing a framework that can account for both doubling and metathesis. This phenomenon has been a focus of discussion, but less is known about the application of this mechanism to tense prefixes, known as augments. Doubling of the augment appears in verbal complexes depending on the position of its components, what I will argue are cases that support the post-syntactic morphological doubling and metathesis analysis in Distributed Morphology. The data from this non-standard variety provide a novel analysis of augments and contribute to a better understanding of their distribution by redefining this phenomenon as morphological and supporting a unified framework for the formalism designed to account for similar post-syntactic morphological phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I show that in Digor Ossetic, an agglutinative Eastern Iranian language spoken in the Caucasus, the nominal singular morpheme has a non-null allomorph -ɐ. I provide evidence that this morpheme does not cumulatively expone any other morphological features. However, it occurs with both count and non-count nouns and therefore does not express singulative semantics. I provide a Distributed Morphology analysis of number marking in Digor Ossetic and show that the morph -ɐ either spells out Num0 or is a dissociated node adjoined to Num0. I observe that overt dedicated marking of the singular and the plural also exists in Emai and k , Edoid languages of Nigeria, and, as was recently showed, in Kipsigis (Nilotic). Accordingly, overt dedicated marking of the singular is likely to be a robustly attested phenomenon, which provides an additional argument in favor of treating of the singular as one of the values of a binary feature, rather than an absence of a feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present descriptive-analytic article is aimed to study and compare the syntactic structure and linear order of Persian verbal inflectional categories within the framework of Distributed Morphology (DM) (Halle & Marantz, 1993). First we suppose the syntactic hierarchical position of functional categories and clause syntactic structure of Persian to be what Taleghani (2008) proposes. Then based on the post syntactic operations such as, "lowering" and "local dislocation" and what Embick (2015) proposes for linearization of constituents within the framework of DM, syntactic and linear position of verbal compounds in present, past and future tenses are compared. Finally, any mismatches between the two structures are explained through the two post syntactic operations. Research findings showed that "negation morpheme", compared to other morphemes, mismatches much more in the syntactic and linear structures and requires more explanations in post syntactic component. It is concluded that this morpheme at post-syntactic component, lowers and prefixes mostly to vp and in some cases to aspect and auxiliary morphemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an apparent locality condition violation observed in Standard Breton masculine human plurals ending in -où. It proposes a unique impoverishment rule deleting a syntacticosemantic feature conditioned by a specified phonological exponent. Adopting a specific architectural view of lenition, it forces a rethinking of the precise timing of various postsyntactic processes, including certain types of impoverishment rules as well as Agree-Copy in dissociated Agr nodes. It also lends support to the independent claims that syntacticosemantic features are not overridden during Spell-Out and that Vocabulary Insertion applies to a linearized structure, not a hierarchical one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using deadjectival psych verbs with -garu in Japanese, this study shows that agglutinative complex predicate formation is done by recursive application of Merge to roots and functional heads. This process creates a layered syntactic structure, with each layer providing the computational system with (i) specific semantic features, (ii) arguments, and (iii) phonetic form (PF) exponents at conceptual–intentional (CI)/sensory motor (SM) Interfaces. The whole amalgam of the root and the functional heads is interpreted as a “word” at PF. Following the general architecture of Distributed Morphology, I will show that the morpheme that derives deadjectival verbs -garu is underlyingly -k-ar-u (k-Copula-T), where k is “little” v that originates in the verbal root k-o “come” and ar- is a copula. They are now grammaticalized functional heads that extend adjectival roots. Crucially, this k is homophonous with “little” a, which makes -garu and the adjective-deriving morpheme -karu (k-Copula-T) parallel. k is voiced in -garu due to a structurally conditioned assimilation rule (Embick 2013). This analysis reveals the mechanisms of agglutinative predicate formation in a precise and detailed manner. Similarly, it gives natural solutions to some of the long-standing problems including how adjectives modify N such as utukusii dansaa “beautiful dancer,” which is ambiguous between attributive modification and a relative clause.

This paper analyzes two patterns of number marking in the DP in Nez Perce (Sahaptian) within the framework of Distributed Morphology. The first involves under-realization of plural on nouns. Number has classically been understood as a feature inherent to nouns, rather than to adjectives that modify them. In Nez Perce, however, only a small set of nouns show number morphology, whereas number morphology is highly productive on adjectival modifiers. Adjectives in fact may realize the plural more than once per word—an instance of multiple exponence. I show that the puzzle of under-realization for nouns can be solved through conditioned allomorphy, providing new evidence for the presence of gender features on n (Lowenstamm 2007; Kramer 2014). The puzzle of multiple exponence (over-realization) for adjectives can be solved through Local Dislocation (Embick and Noyer 2001) combined with very late insertion of reduplicative content (Haugen 2008, 2011), demonstrating one way the DM architecture may produce multiple exponence without recourse to dedicated mechanisms.

In this paper we aim to explain and illustrate the theory of Distributed Morphology for non-specialists. The goal is to take away any misunderstandings and to provide some illustrations of the workings of the theory, mainly on the basis of data from Dutch. Distributed Morphology is a theory of morphology that embraces the so-called Separation Hypothesis: derivation – the forming of a new word by some abstract operation – is separated from affixation – the realization or spell-out of the abstract operation by the addition of some phonologically specified element. The means used by DM to implement the Separation Hypothesis is by late (after syntax) insertion of affixes. Furthermore, Distributed Morphology claims that there is no separate component of the grammar where word-formation takes place. The operations that form new words are the same operations that may create syntactic phrases. Starting from these fundamental claims, we go into some detail of the way Distributed Morphology accounts for different morphological patterns. The paper also points at some cognate, but alternative, approaches to word-formation and inflection. In particular, we briefly address Borer's so-called exo-skeletal model, and the nanosyntactic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Distributed Morphology, the operation of Vocabulary Insertion applies a phonological exponent (Vocabulary Item) to a functional terminal morpheme. In this article, I propose that even if there is a candidate Vocabulary Item for the designated terminal node, Vocabulary Insertion may not insert a Vocabulary Item, which I dud Zero Vocabulary Insertion. Specifically, based on the fact that the light verb ha- 'do' in Korean may be elided in certain contexts, I offer a realizational, morpheme-based analysis of the phenomenon of the light verb in which the ha- ellipsis is not a bona fide syntactic constituent ellipsis. Rather, it occurs postsyntactically when the operation of Vocabulary Insertion does not apply a Vocabulary Item to the relevant functional morpheme for the verb at stake. Zero Vocabulary Insertion explains the property of the non-constituent ellipsis of the light verb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a new approach to the (re)ordering of subject and object morphemes in verb agreement of Ayacuchan Quechua. Our analysis is based on Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz 1993), which proposes operations on morphemes in the morphological component. We conclude that the addressee feature of the second-person object morpheme -nki «wins» when it comes to specificity and, therefore, it appears in a subject position, which results in the occurrence of -yki as an allomorph and the appearance of -su. Finally, we propose the occurrence of -su as a transitional defective morpheme, which cannot be considered as a third or second person pronoun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study investigates the nature and structure of Persian incorporation within the framework of Distributed Morphology (DM) as a fully synthetic approach that considers morphology as syntax. In this approach, the Root selects for an argument, and then the Root must be merged with that argument or adjunct before it merges with its category-determining feature bundle. So Roots allow being incorporated into them. They are not yet included in any category. In order to become nominal or verbal, they have to incorporate further into a category-creating head. Some linguists (Arkan, 2006; Karimi, 1997; Shaghaghi, 2007; Spencer, 1991, 1995) considered the incorporation process as a morphological phenomenon because within the framework of Baker's synthetic theory, data from their understudied languages violates Baker's syntactic principles, but DM can describe incorporated constructions inconsistent with syntactic conditions of Baker’s synthetic theory. It seems that DM, unlike previous approaches, can solve some challenges, such as combining the syntactic function of incorporated construction of concrete structures (Gerdts, 1988), changing the syntactic function of the element derived from incorporation (Baker, 1988), and some restrictions on modifier stranding for merging with verbs (Baker, 1988, 1996). The analysis made in this article shows that syntactic approaches need to be reconsidered to explain incorporation.Keywords: Incorporation, Distributed Morphology, Compounding, Argument, Adjunct, Persian IntroductionIncorporation is a process that has received much attention in the last century, and from the beginning, there has been disagreement between its nature as a structural or syntactic phenomenon. Gerdts (1988, p. 84) defines incorporation as a combination of one word (typically a verb or preposition) with another element (usually a noun, pronoun, or adverb) that combines the syntactic function of both elements. The notion given in this definition that states a compound presents a "combined syntactic function" of the components of incorporation seems vague because the compound usually has a head and a descriptive element. The head determines the category of the whole compound. Therefore, the combination of two roots cannot mean the combination of two categories because there can only be one resulting category for the combination. Mithun (1984) takes the position that while incorporation is a process that walks the line of morphology and syntax, it is a morphological process only. This is the opposition to Baker and those prescribing to the Principles and Parameters framework, who claim that the morphology patterns after the syntax and that morphology does not operate independently of syntax (Baker, 1988, p. 68; Marantz, 1985, pp. 222-23). Baker (1996, pp. 291-295) claims that the noun incorporation that involves the primary object of the verb differs significantly from all other instances of incorporation such that it is a special syntactic process and the other cases of incorporation (adjective, adverb, etc.) are a kind of compounding.In the analyses conducted in the Persian language, no theoretical agreement has been reached on this process's nature. Since DM has a purely syntactic view of morphology and incorporation and considers morphology as the syntax, it seems that this theory, unlike previous non-lexicalist approaches, provides a uniform analysis of noun incorporation and be able to explain types of incorporation (adjectives, adverbs, etc.) in the form of a syntactic approach.According to DM, the structure of incorporation in the Persian language can be divided into different types based on the roots, the target of incorporation, and the elements generated as their first-sister element. Some roots (especially those that can become verbs) have argument structure, and the first-sister element, if appropriate, can be interpreted as satisfying that argument structure, generating argumentative synthetic incorporation. Other such roots, especially those with event structure, can be modified in the same way as their corresponding verb can. In such cases, an incorporated first-sister modifier results in a modification of synthetic incorporation. Materials and MethodsIn this research, as descriptive-analytical research, the references related to the article's subject have been first studied in a library method to collect the required information and data in Persian. Also, other information needed to analyze this data, such as the information needed to introduce the types of incorporation and literature review, in the same way, were collected by referring to resources available in libraries, such as Persian and English books and articles.The present study is a kind of theoretical study and conducted in the framework of DM theory. In other words, the analysis of linguistic data is based on a theoretical framework of DM. Discussion and ConclusionContrary to Baker's syntactic theory, DM theory provides a consistent analysis of incorporation based on which other incorporations can be explained, including adjunct incorporation. Also, the problem with the analysis of incorporation in lexical approaches is that incorporation is considered equivalent to one word and the morphology output in these approaches. In addition, a new entry per incorporation is added to the Lexicon of the language, which is a kind of memory load. On the other hand, incorporation is also a productive process based on which numerous entries can be considered, but there is no need to consider a separate entry for each incorporation by providing a syntactic analysis. Different types of incorporated structures can be described by the syntactic rule. Despite Baker's syntactic theory that claims the grammatical function of lexical categories changes with their head-to-head movement and merging with the verb, the DM approach claims that in the syntactic analysis of incorporated constructions, the grammatical function does not change because its category-determining feature bundle merges with the ROOTs after merging bare ROOTs with each other. This can be realized phonologically in the form of abstract morphemes without phonetic content in the phonetic form.In the study of incorporation in different languages, many linguists, according to Baker’s syntactic principle of "Head Movement Restriction", have not accepted the syntactic analysis of the incorporation because, in the studied languages, incorporated constructions consist of elements such as Instrument, Location, and Goal that merge with the verb and violate Baker's syntactic incorporation conditions. Some argue that incorporation is a morphological construction because they believe that the syntactic approach is incapable of explaining the various types of incorporation. While the DM view can explain the adjunct merging with the verb in Persian because, according to the event structure of some verbs, the adjuncts can be in the position of the first sister and under the domination of the verb. Therefore, it seems that the DM approach can solve some challenges, such as the compounding syntactic function of incorporated constructions, changing the grammatical function of these structures, and not allowing adjuncts to merge with the verb despite the existence of this type of incorporation in many languages.

Sluicing has traditionally been analyzed as an operation involving wh-movement and deletion (Merchant 2001). French is a language that has both fronted and wh-in situ strategies; on the surface, however, it seems that French sluices do not involve (overt) movement, in spite of this being an available option. For nearly all wh-words, the in situ and moved forms are the same; the notable exception is que/quoi ‘what’— que is found in fronted wh-questions alone, while quoi is found in situ. In sluicing, only quoi surfaces, suggesting that French may be a challenge for the movement-and-deletion approach (Dagnac 2019).By formalizing an analysis within a late insertion approach to the syntax-morphology interface, I argue that not only do sluices in French involve full structure, but that these involve movement as well. I assume that the wh-word is initially represented in the syntactic derivation as an abstract feature bundle. The morphological form is determined in the mapping of syntax to morphology by locality-dependent Vocabulary Insertion (VI) rules that are sensitive to C. These rules apply only after ellipsis occurs. Additionally, following Thoms (2010), I argue that C is targeted in sluicing, and as a result sluicing destroys the context that would trigger que. In this way, French sluicing provides support for the idea that ellipsis is able to bleed morphological operations (Saab & Lipták 2016; among others). The benefit of this analysis is that it is able to capture sluicing in French, while simultaneously explaining the behavior of quoi more generally.

Traditionally taken as one of the nominals forms of the verb, infinitives in Portuguese, in spite of their morphophonological homogeneity (-r), appear in a range of morphosyntactic contexts. This paper argues that all these contexts can be reduced to three, namely, a nominal, a verbal and a “mixed” – in the sense of Chomsky (1970). Specifically, by assuming Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz, 1993), it proposes a step-by-step morphosyntactic and semantic derivation of the contexts where the /R/-morpheme appears, also addressing the issues involving tense and aspect in these forms. In summary, we argue that nominal, verbal and mixed infinitives share the same derivational path up to AspP, which – we claim – is underdetermined, thus competing with (perfective) participles and (imperfective) gerunds. Above AspP, the first bifurcation is between no and T. Projecting no generates a predicate of events. By projecting T (in verbal and mixed infinitives), the system has a three-way path: T[+tense], where T will be futurate in relation to the finite matrix verb; T[–tense], where T will be simultaneous /anaphoric in respect to the finite matrix verb; or T[ ], where there is no c-commanding T and then, as last resort, the grammar will change this phrase into a predicate of events.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, it is argued that synthetic compounds based on the passive participle in English fall into two classes, depending on whether they possess the capacity to license modifiers pointing to the presence of the external argument. Compounds such as computer-generated, pencil-drawn or home-made are typically used as eventive and resultative participles, both of which are syntactically agentive. Compounds belonging to this group are contrasted with adjectives such as action-packed, family-oriented, work-related or adultthemed, which are shown to behave syntactically like underived adjectives, with no traces of the external argument. As such, they correspond to the class of stative participles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current phasal models of words differ from one another in two main ways: which heads are phasal and whether a phase head allows higher heads to access its complement. Through an investigation of verbs in Muskogee, this paper argues that in some languages, words have functional phase heads that divide them into two domains and that block all higher heads from access to morphemes. Specifically, Muskogee verbs contain aspectual phase heads (Asp0), which separate the verb into a sub-aspectual, VP-level domain—Phase One (Φ1)—and a superaspectual, InflP-level domain—Phase Two (Φ2). As previous work on Muskogee has shown, Φ1 (the 'Stem' in previous literature) and Φ2 form separate domains both in phonology, affecting stress and tone patterns, and in temporal semantics. This paper makes the novel observation that morphemes in Φ1 and Φ2 do not interact with each other in rules of allomorphy or allosemy, despite widespread interaction within each domain. An Asp0 phase head that follows the strong PIC1 accounts for the lack of interaction between Φ1 and Φ2. Categorizers, which are typically taken to be phase heads, behave differently from Asp0 in Muskogee, though their phasal status is unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pronoun-case-only (pro-case) languages in Germanic have been under-investigated, despite exhibiting theoretically significant patterns of inter- and intra-individual case variation. The goals of this paper are thus twofold. First, it establishes a pro-case typological distinction between Oblique-Form Default (OFD) as observed in Danish and English, and Subject-Form Default (SFD), as observed in Swedish. In OFD varieties, SFs (Subject Forms) occur as subjects of finite clauses, while OFs (Oblique Forms) occur elsewhere, including as predicatives and in heterogenous other syntactic environments. OFs also appear inside coordinate and other complex DPs, where sociolinguistic variation is attested. In SFD varieties, variation inside complex DPs is unattested; SFs occur as predicatives, but variable OFs express non-deictic semantics. My second aim is to demonstrate that these patterns of variation result from distinct post-syntactic mechanisms for OFD and SFD pro-case. Following Emonds, I argue that OFD pronouns are not the phonological realization of case features; instead, pro-case forms are morphosyntactic-contextual allomorphs. SFD pro-case, in contrast, is the phonological realization of dependent Oblique and Nominative features assigned by post-syntactic rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I present an analysis of pseudo-ABA patterns of morphology found in pronominal forms. I argue that an analysis that assumes unrestricted phonologically null allomorphy or unrestricted impoverishment overgenerates, allowing all the logically possible patterns of syncretism to appear. An analysis that includes spanned portmanteau exponents generates all and only the attested patterns of syncretism. Pseudo-ABA patterns arise when the complete pronominal tree (the structure for the anaphor) is exponed by a spanned exponent for [a [d]] and an exponent for p. Spanned portmanteau exponents are compatible with an analysis in which a and d are cyclic nodes, and one in which they are not. However, the analysis in which a and d are cyclic nodes is incompatible with another morphological behaviour of pronominal forms, namely variable exponence. To provide a unified analysis of pseudo-ABA patterns and variable exponence, a and d cannot be cyclic nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a novel account for the overuse of free morphemes and underuse of bound morphemes in English as a second language (L2) based on the framework of Distributed Morphology. It will be argued that an Economy Principle 'Do everything in Narrow Syntax (DENS)' operates in the L2 learner's computational system. Consequently, derivation in Morphology becomes as limited as possible except when applying Vocabulary Items to syntactic objects (Vocabulary Insertion). This results in non-target-like use/acceptance of certain morphemes: Bound morphemes are often omitted in early L2 grammar, and alternative free morphemes may apparently be used instead. Two types of data, namely the overuse of be reported in previous research, and the preference of to- infinitives over -ing gerunds in early L2 grammar, will be presented in support of the proposal, and the plausibility of the operation of DENS will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose that feature bundles in syntactic computations coactivate subset vocabulary items in content-based access. Thus, in French, an inflectional node for the future tense bearing [Number: Plural] activates third-person singular -a underspecified for [Number: Ø] and third- person plural -ont specified for [Number: Plural]. These activations compete in externalization. [Number: Ø/Plural] defines a scale where plural-marked -ont carries more information than -a, allowing scalar inferencing in form selection. Given an activated Plural-marked -ont, -a (3ps.sg) is automatically interpreted as [–Plural] via scalar inferencing and becomes unsuitable for insertion. Thus, -ont (3ps.pl) must be selected when -a (3ps.sg) is eliminated. We tested our model assuming an interaction of cross-domain inferencing with morphological selection, using two experiments. In forced-paced reading and listening tasks, 19 native speaker subjects per task classified picture probes accompanying matching and mismatching subject-verb future tense agreement. Classification times for pictures semantically linked to the verb probed for an interaction between the processing of agreement morphology and the ongoing conceptual processing of the sentence. Classification times were modulated by the type of morphological mismatch. Singular verb form mangera (eat-fut.3ps.sg) in plural contexts slowed down picture classifications, whereas plural verb form mangeront (eat-fut.3ps.pl) in singular contexts did not. This specific interaction between purely formal agreement and conceptual-structure processing is unexplained by superset models of late insertion, or by interface relations, frequency, load of stored information, and phonological cohort activation. It suggests that domain-general principles of inference enrich domain-specific feature-based computations accessing vocabulary items through the coactivation of features.

In this paper I argue for a syntactic analysis to gender assignment in codeswitched speech. To sustain this claim, I examine gender assignment in Spanish Det(erminer)–English noun switches (i.e., el bishop ‘the.m’) in 76 sociolinguistic interviews of approximately one hour each from a bilingual community in Southern Arizona, U.S. (The CESA Corpus, Carvalho 2012). Based on the findings from this dataset, I demonstrate that the distribution of gender assignment in codeswitched speech poses a serious challenge to current models of the bilingual architecture rooted in the distinct-lexicons perspective (MacSwan 2000 et seq.). Rather, I show that biological gender (interpretable gender) plays a crucial role in the assignment mechanism and the representation of gender features in the bilingual architecture. Taking gender assignment as a case study, I outline a single-lexicon approach to the bilingual grammar compatible with a Late Insertion view of the morphosyntactic model (Halle & Marantz 1993). In particular, I highlight the crucial relevance of a theme position at the morphological module to guide the bilingual speaker to the insertion of phonological matrices (language exponents) when codeswitching.

Minimalist Morphology predicts that allomorphy is conditioned inward and locally, and that the domains of morphosyntactically and phonologically conditioned allomorphy selection are identical. Amy Rose Deal and Matthew Wolf have put forward two cases of allomorphy in Nez Perce that appear to be conditioned by an outward phonological context. I present an analysis of Nez Perce morphology and phonology which supports the conclusion that the first case is not outward-conditioned, and the second case is not allomorphy but phonology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with nominalizations derived from psychological verbs in English. Based on particular properties in their realization of argument structure, which have long been noticed in the literature, I will argue that in a syntax-based approach to word formation such as Distributed Morphology these nominals must be derived from the psychological root alone and cannot include any event structure. This contrasts with non-psych nominals, which more readily include verb event structure. I will show that this difference lies in the different ontological status of the two kinds of roots. Furthermore, psychological verbs and their special roots allow us to conclude that there is no structural difference between derived nominals (based on Latinate suffixes such as -al, -ance, -ation, -ion, and -ment) and zero-derived nominals, whose suffix is covert. A clear difference, however, is posited between these nominals and those based on -ing.

Abstract: This paper investigates the empirical properties of morphologically complex verbs of change in Brazilian Portuguese. Its main goal is to find out whether there are (not) correlations between prefix morphophonological form, root semantics and verb argument structure. All verbs analyzed denote events in which the internal argument is the undergoer of a change, and a classification in four semantic subclasses according to their root meaning is proposed: state, place, transfer of possession (either abstract or concrete) and reconfiguration. Contrary to what previous literature has suggested, fine-grained investigation within each of these classes has shown that it is not possible to exclusively associate morphological forms to specific root semantics or morphosyntactic behavior, although it is possible to observe general tendencies. To provide an analysis to account for the robust homogenous structural properties and general semantics behavior across the class, in face of the morphological variation in what regards prefix choice among the forms a-, en- and es-, it is proposed that prefixes are the phonological realizations of a functional head in the lower domain of the verb (labeled R, Relational) whose choice is given in terms of contextual allomorphy. It is shown that vocabulary insertion at R is guided by locality with the root. The theory of allomorphy proposed in Embick (2010), which is based on locality and linearity, was efficient in accounting for the selection of allomorphs of R, v and Th (Theme Vowel) heads. Keywords: complex verbs; prefixes; allomorphy; Brazilian Portuguese; Distributed Morphology. Resumo: Esse artigo investiga as propriedades empíricas de verbos de mudança morfologicamente complexos do português brasileiro. Seu objetivo principal é descobrir se há ou não correlações entre a forma morfofonológica do prefixo, a semântica da raiz e a estrutura argumental do verbo. Todos verbos analisados denotam eventos em que o argumento interno é o objeto afetado de uma mudança, e uma classificação em quatro subclasses semânticas de acordo com o significado atribuído à raiz é proposta: estado, lugar, transferência de posse (abstrata ou concreta), e reconfiguração. Contrariamente ao que foi sugerido pela literatura anterior, a investigação detalhada dentro de cada uma dessas classes mostrou que não é possível associar exclusivamente as formas morfológicas prefixais à semântica específica da raiz ou ao comportamento morfossintático do verbo, embora seja possível observar tendências gerais. Para fornecer uma análise para explicar as robustas e homogêneas propriedades estruturais e o comportamento semântico geral em toda a classe em face da variação morfológica em relação à escolha do prefixo entre as formas a-, en- e es-, propõe-se que os prefixos sejam realizações fonológicas de um núcleo funcional no domínio baixo do verbo (rotulado como R, de Relacional) cuja escolha é dada em termos de alomorfia contextual. Mostra-se que a inserção de vocabulário em R é orientada por localidade com a raiz. A teoria de alomorfia prospota em Embick (2010), baseada em localidade e linearidade, se mostra efetiva para analisar a escolha dos alomorfes dos núcleos R (relacionador), v e Th (Vogal temática). Palavras-chave: verbos complexos; prefixos; alomorfia; português brasileiro; Morfologia Distribuída.

In this squib I propose a modification to Radkevich’s (2010) analysis of the locative cases, such that the privative features [source] and [goal] replace Radkevich’s binary features [±motion] and [±source]. I argue that these changes improve Radkevich’s analysis in three ways. The first improvement is empirical; they allow her system to account for the data of Kunimaipa, a language spoken in Papua New Guinea, which it presently cannot account for. The second improvement is also empirical; the analysis now predicts the absence of the unattested Ablative-Allative syncretism, which is not explained by alternative analyses. The final improvement is theoretical; a system employing privative features is to be preferred over one with binary features, because it is simpler (Occam’s razor).

Data from the perfect in Classical Greek provide empirical evidence for inwardly– and outwardly–sensitive span–conditioned allomorphy and indicate the need for a post–Vocabulary Insertion linearization process. The data also support the extremely late computation of the phonology of reduplicants. Perfect aspect in Classical Greek is realized via three distinct exponents: a reduplicative prefix, a suffix -/k/ (for some verbs) or stem allomorphy (for others), and a dedicated set of agreement suffixes. I argue that this case of Multiple Exponence results from one direct exponent of the Aspect[perfect] head and two cases of allomorphy at other nodes conditioned by spans that include the Aspect[perfect] head. The reduplicant is a Vocabulary Item (RED) that instantiates Aspect. Its phonology is determined after both Vocabulary Insertion and linearization. The -/k/ suffix is an outwardly–sensitive allomorph of Voice[active] conditioned by the span ⟨Aspect, Tense⟩, and perfect stem allomorphy in verbs that show it is conditioned by ⟨Voice, Aspect, Tense⟩. The agreement suffixes are inwardly–sensitive allomorphs conditioned by the span ⟨Voice, Aspect, Tense, Mood⟩. When taken together, the data indicate that Vocabulary Insertion must proceed cyclically, and that linearization must happen very late – after Vocabulary Insertion – since the realizations of both Voice[active] and AGR are conditioned by spans of hierarchically adjacent, rather than surface–contiguous, heads. The Greek data are essential for our understanding of the post–syntactic order of operations.

One of the main discussions about the interaction between morphology and syntax revolves around the richness or poverty of features and wherever this richness/poverty is found either in the syntactic structure or the lexical items. A phenomenon subject to this debate has been syncretism, especially in theories that assume late insertion such as Distributed Morphology. This paper delves into the syncretism observed between the first person plural and the third person in the clitic domain in some Spanish dialects. Our analysis will lead to a revision of the distribution of person features and their relationship with plural number, while at the same time it will shed light on other morphological alternations displayed in Spanish dialects; that is, subject-verb unagreement and mesoclisis in imperatives. In order to explain the behavior of the data under discussion, I propose that lexical items are specified for all the relevant features at the moment of insertion, although the values of these features can be neutralized. I argue that the distribution proposed allows for some fundamental generalizations about the vocabulary inventories in Spanish varieties, and shows that the variation pattern exhibits an *ABA effect, i.e., only contiguous cells in a paradigm are syncretic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Romance Inter-Views are short, multiple Q&A pairs that address key issues, definitions and ideas regarding Romance linguistics. Prominent exponents of different approaches to the study of Romance linguistics are asked to answer some general questions from their viewpoint. The answers are then assembled so that readers can get a comparative picture of what’s going on in the field. For the first Inter-Views we selected (morpho-)syntactic research, and asked 8 syntacticians, representing four approaches to the study of Romance linguistics, to answer our questions. The approaches we selected are Cartography, Distributed Morphology, Minimalism, and Nanosyntax. The scholars we interviewed are listed hereafter. For Cartography: Luigi Rizzi, professor of Linguistics at the Collège de France; Norma Schifano, lecturer in Modern Languages at the University of Birmingham. For Distributed Morphology: Karlos Arregi, associate professor in Linguistics at the University of Chicago; Andrés Saab, associate researcher at CONICET, Buenos Aires and associate professor in Linguistics at the University of Buenos Aires. For Minimalism: Grant Armstrong, associate professor of Spanish Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Caterina Donati, professor of Linguistics at the CNRS Laboratoire de Linguistique formelle, Université de Paris For Nanosyntax: Karen De Clercq, CNRS researcher at the Laboratoire de Linguistique formelle (Université de Paris). Antonio Fábregas, professor of Linguistics at UIT, The Arctic University of Norway

This paper suggests an analysis of English possessives and coordination that is compatible with the treatment of Germanic pronominal case developed by Parrott within the Distributed Morphology framework. On Parrott's approach, the non-possessive pronoun case forms of English and Danish result from morphosyntactic contextual allomorphy and do not expone syntactic Case features. A wellknown phenomenon motivating the proposal is case-form variation in coordinate DPs (CoDPs); however, beyond footnotes, Parrott has provided no account of possessive forms, in CoDPs or otherwise. Citing Zwicky, Parrott succinctly describes the distribution of possessives in coordination, observing that "Possessive morphology [only] seems possible either on both conjuncts of a CoDP or on the entire CoDP", while non-possessive pronouns in possessive CoDPs behave as they do in non-possessive CoDPs. To explain these facts, this paper takes English possessives to be exponents of the functional category D with a syntactic feature [Poss] that is interpretable at both interfaces. The first-merged internal argument of D[Poss] is the possessum; the second-merged external argument of D[Poss] is the possessor. The exponence of D[Poss] depends on whether its internal argument is a full Root-containing NP or a featureless category head n, and whether its external argument is a phi-containing category head n or a full DP. Non-possessive pronouns receive exponence as usual when they are inside a CoDP external argument of D[Poss]. When both DPs inside a CoDP are possessive, Right Node Raising (RNR) is implicated. No position is taken here on the correct analysis of RNR, but it offers a plausible explanation for the facts, since the "shared" NP object of both PossDPs must be symmetrically "raised" from coordination, just as with canonical RNR.

This paper discusses verbal stem allomorphy in Romance within the framework of Distributed Morphology (DM). We will present several technical instruments provided by the framework, applying them to an analysis of Romance verbal forms, with a particular focus on stem suppletion with the verb go. We conclude that the best solution to the problem of form–function discrepancies, as they appear in suppletion (but not only), is a spanning approach. This approach operates at Vocabulary Insertion only, without any need for the assumption of further, often critically discussed, morphological processes, such as fusion or pruning.

This paper adopts a morphological approach to the reduplication of the past-tense augment in Cypriot Greek and explores the morphotactic constraints that apply. Phonological reduplication phenomena have been addressed in morphology by developing a framework that can account for both doubling and metathesis. This phenomenon has been a focus of discussion, but less is known about the application of this mechanism to tense prefixes, known as augments. Doubling of the augment appears in verbal complexes depending on the position of its components, what I will argue are cases that support the post-syntactic morphological doubling and metathesis analysis in Distributed Morphology. The data from this non-standard variety provide a novel analysis of augments and contribute to a better understanding of their distribution by redefining this phenomenon as morphological and supporting a unified framework for the formalism designed to account for similar post-syntactic morphological phenomena.

This article accounts for the traditionally-labelled Level 1/Level 2 affix distinction in English by combining the predictions of floating segmental structure (e.g. Rubach 1996) and cyclic spell-out by phase (Chomsky 1999; Marantz 2007). It offers insight not only into the different phonological patterns these affixes trigger, but importantly, explains when the same affix will trigger distinct phonological patterns (when an affix behaves sometimes as Level 1 and sometimes as Level 2). It is argued that Level 1 affixes are distinguished by an initial floating vowel in their underlying representations, and that if we combine this with the proposal that affixes that merge directly to roots are interpreted in the same phonological cycle as these roots then we can remove the reference to diacritic notions such as Level 1 and Level 2 from the grammar. This then allows for a fully modular account of English affix classes, where the phonological derivation refers solely to phonological representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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I argue that a range of morphological phenomena sensitive to features of multiple arguments in Georgian (South Caucasian)—including Anti-Superiority ef- fects (Béjar 2003), and omnivorous number effects (Nevins 2011) – receive a unified account if spellout targets contiguous spans of maximally simple heads, in a fixed hierarchy. I introduce new data from a related language, Laz, and show that a close comparison of the two languages reveals that (i) number agreement is expressed om- nivorously only if the prefix is not sensitive to number, and that (ii) this number expression covaries with Tense only if the subject is third person. I argue that both Anti-Superiority and the facts about number expression should be interpreted as fu- sional morphology being limited to third person contexts, and that a principled expla- nation for such an asymmetry can be provided, if first and second person structurally contain third person, and the matching of exponents with syntactic structure is gov- erned by Overspecification (Starke 2009), such that a lexicalized span is a candidate of spellout for its sub-spans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study highlights the morphological properties of Arabic loan nouns in Punjabi with reference to gender, number and case marking. It analyzes the inflectional processes of loan nouns in accordance with the inflectional patterns of Punjabi. Distributed Morphology provides theoretical basis during analysis. The analysis consists of two phases. In the first phase, three groups of masculine and four groups of feminine noun inflections of Punjabi are formulated. In the second phase, Arabic loan nouns are grouped accordingly. The groups are shown in the tables with examples and their morphological properties are further discussed qualitatively. The study confirms and shows contrast with various features described in the previous studies. It is a foundational study in the realm of loanword morphology of Punjabi with reference to Arabic and the application of DM for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we consider several instances of the Slovenian affix ov, which surfaces in many, apparently unrelated contexts. Here we focus on (i) ov in verbs, where it can act as an imperfectivizer or a verbalizer, (ii) ov found in possessive adjectives and kind adjectives derived from nouns, (iii) ov which precedes the adjectiviser (e)n in denominal adjectives, and (iv) ov in nominal declension (acting as a genitive case ending in dual and plural or as a dual/plural augment). Building on the observation that certain affixes function either as inflectional or as derivational (see Simonović and Arsenijević 2020), and working within a Distributed Morphology approach which postulates that derivational affixes should be analyzed as roots (e.g. Lowenstamm 2014), we argue for a single multifunctional ov. This ov is a potentially meaningless root that can take as a complement other roots (thus forming a “radical core”) or phrases, resulting in different structures and consequently different stress patterns and meanings, but can also act as an Elsewhere allomorph, whose insertion is guided by an interplay of phonological and morphological constraints.

A new account is presented of stress assignment in deadjectival and deverbal nominalizations in Slovenian, explicitly addressing both regular cases and exceptions. The analysis is an extension of the account by Marvin (2003) and is couched in the model developed by Lowenstamm (2014), which views derivational affixes as transitive roots. The main addition to Lowenstamm’s model is the proposal that parts of the structure which only contain roots with no intermediate functional structure (the ‘radical cores’) always receive default prosody. The presented analysis dispenses with lexical stress in Slovenian affixes and derives the prosodic properties of affixed words solely from their structure.

Swedish is well known for the fact that it appears to show two reflexes of definiteness in its definite nominals. The language makes use of a definite article at the beginning of the nominal and a definite suffix on the head noun. There have been a number of approaches to dealing with the distribution of these elements. Some claim that there is but one determiner in the DP structure, but these do not permit an account of how semantic features influence the independent use of the article and the suffix. Other theories posit more functional material in the nominal, but these do not provide a satisfactory syntactic account for the distribution. The theory I develop here takes the most satisfying elements of each of these kinds of theories and unifies them to provide an approach that can account for the semantic facts and provide a more theoretically sound syntax.

This article examines suppletion and feature-conditioned allomorphy in Distributed Morphology. It discusses some empirical commonalities among these kinds of allomorphy, and then examines how they could be accounted for in DM. It then moves on to a particular case of irregularity, the Japanese verbal honorific. Some of these honorifics are shown to fit the criteria for suppletion and feature-conditioned allomorphy. However, it is then shown that the common notion of the cycle within DM cannot treat these honorifics as cases of allomorphy, suggesting that the phonological cycle must be larger than the version argued for in Embick 2010.

There has been a surge of syntactic research on compounding, joining a large literature on the nature of roots and phase theory. In an attempt to probe into the syntactic domain for idiosyncratic interpretation and to account for lexical integrity effects, some recent studies on compounding have argued that root compounds are made up of two free acategorial roots directly merged in syntax, without undergoing categorization. The main goal of such an approach is to extend the phase domain in order to maintain two uncategorized roots awaiting further Merge operations. When a category head is merged on the top of this compounded structure, it will trigger its Spell-Out, and as a result, both roots will be identified as a single syntactic object for the purposes of movement and binding, and will be assigned a fixed, non-compositional interpretation. In this article, we argue that categorially non-individuated roots are not legitimate LF and PF objects, alongside Panagiotidis (2011, 2014, 2015). Consequently, any syntactic object made up of two or more uncategorized roots will induce formal crashing at the interfaces. We claim that root categorization cannot be analyzed neither as a matter of parametric variation, nor as an optional derivational step. Additionally, we propose that lexical integrity effects can be straightforwardly accounted if we assume that the unifying characteristic of compounds is the presence of a category head merged on the top of two categorized roots. Finally, we claim that non-compositional domains are not determined by categorization. Rather, non-compositionality is assigned at LF, through a set of LF instructions associated with roots in a particular syntactic environment.

In this paper, I discuss nominal compound formation in language contact situations, the question being of how compounding in language mixing can inform both theories of mixing and theories of word-hood. This contributes to our further understanding of how word formation operates in cases of language mixing and what exactly is being mixed in mixing, i.e., words vs. units smaller than words, e.g., stems or roots. Compounding is important to answer this question, as languages differ with respect to the units they employ for compound formation, i.e., phrases vs. stems. The data to be discussed will be a mixture of materials that have already been published in the literature and newly collected data and involve several mixing varieties, namely, Greek–English, Greek–Italian, Greek–Turkish, Turkish–Norwegian, Turkish–Dutch, and French–Dutch. I then offer an analysis using the tools of syntactic models of word formation (e.g., distributed morphology), assuming a decompositional approach.

In this article it is argued that the selection of allomorphs is distributed over two modules, viz. Vocabulary Insertion and Phonology. This is done on the basis of a case study of vowel length alternating allomorphs in Dutch. The data show a split pattern: some empirical domains can be fully captured by phonological principles. For these cases, the phonologically most optimal allomorph will be selected. In other empirical domains, phonological principles still account for many of the attested data. Yet, one attests lexicalised exceptions as well, which are clearly phonologically non-optimal. The data echo opposing views in the literature: some proposals attempt to reduce allomorph selection to phonology, others focus on the fact that many examples are simply not phonologically optimal and suggest that allomorph selection should not be done by Phonology. I argue that the opposing nature of these two types of data is actually indicative of the way the selection of allomorphs is organised. More specifically, both Vocabulary Insertion and Phonology can determine the selection of allomorphs. Vocabulary Insertion is responsible for stored information, Phonology is responsible for phonologically optimising patterns.

This paper addresses the classification of morphemes in a generative framework. Referring to existing theoretical models of generative morphosyntax (e.g. Distributed Morphology), it demonstrates that a traditional long-standing taxonomic distinction reflects formal, i.e. structural (and derivational) distinctions. Using the well-known examples of the English multi-functional nominalizer -ing and some parallel data in Czech, the study reinterprets morphological taxonomy in terms of three levels, namely the (i) lexical, (ii) syntactic and (iii) post-syntactic insertion of grammatical formatives. It shows that the level of insertion in a syntactic derivation results in predictable (and attested) diagnostics for the multi-morpheme exponents.