Topics in Phonology: Phonologically-conditioned allomorphy

Graduate / Professional

Many morphemes have multiple suppletive allomorphs which cannot be derived from a single underlying representation. This seminar focuses on suppletive allomorphy which is conditioned by phonological factors like segmental or prosodic information. These cases are interesting because there are good arguments that allomorph selection is controlled by either the phonological component of grammar, the morphological component of grammar, or both. Additionally, some research suggests that this type of suppletive allomorphy should not exist, and that all cases could be reanalyzed as non-suppletive phonological alternations. We will explore the evidence for phonologically conditioned allomorphy in the literature, and whether existing case studies can be reanalyzed or not. Topics include: inward vs. outward conditioning, relationship to syntactic structure, optimizing and non-optimizing allomorphs. Prerequisite: LING 2320 and LING 2530 , or permission of instructor. The prerequisites may be satisfied by enrolling in LING 2320 and LING 2530 concurrently with this course. W 9:25am-11:20am