160118 PS Introductory Seminar on Morphology (2018W)

This proseminar will engage with the crosslinguistic empirical profiles of two morphological phenomena and explore their implications for linguistic theory. The first phenomenon we will take up is allomorphy, variation in the form of a morpheme depending upon its environment, and the second is infixation, the appearance of an affix inside of the stem it attaches to rather than linearly concatenated with it. These phenomena raise theoretical questions about locality, the nature of exponent choice, derivational timing, and wordhood, all of which have implications beyond just morphology. Once we have a handle on both phenomena, we will put the two together and investigate cases of allomorphy that involve infixation, e.g., allomorphy of infixes themselves, and allomorphy triggered by infixes. Along the way, we will take up the question of how best to model the interface of morphology with syntax on the one hand, and phonology on the other.

This class will be highly interactive and hands-on. Instead of a textbook, we will be reading selected original research. Students will develop tools of analysis and argumentation that are applicable in all areas of linguistics.