Understanding Allomorphy - Perspectives from Optimality Theory - Eulàlia Bonet
Phonologically Conditioned Suppletive Allomorphy: Cross-linguistic Results and Theoretical Consequences
Understanding Allomorphy - Perspectives from Optimality Theory - Eulàlia Bonet
Mary Paster [+]
Pomona College
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Description
Our understanding of phonology-morphology interface is still incomplete with respect to two important questions: What phonological effects are possible in morphology? And how should they be modeled? Some types of phonological effects in morphology have already been subjected to studies involving large cross-linguistic surveys, e.g., reduplication, infixation, affix ordering, and ordering in coordinate compounds. However, phonologically conditioned suppletive allomorphy (PCSA), although it has received some attention in the literature, was not previously the subject of a broad cross-linguistic study. This paper presents an overview of the results of an extensive survey of cases of PCSA in the world’s languages, and it considers how the range of attested examples of PCSA informs the choice among competing theoretical models of the phonology-morphology interface.