Optional multiple plural marking in Maay
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Mary Paster
Abstract
This paper presents an account of optional Multiple Exponence (ME) in the nominal morphology of Maay (Paster 2007; Comfort and Paster in press), a Cushitic language spoken in southern Somalia and closely related to Somali. In this language, all consonant-final nouns have three possible plural forms: one form with the suffix -o, one form with the suffix -yal, and a third form with both suffixes. The existence of optional ME upholds a prediction made by Optimal Construction Morphology (OCM; Inkelas et al. 2006), which is a subcategorization-based and constraint-based model of morphology. This paper proposes an OCM analysis of ME in Maay, making use of free constraint ranking to handle the optionality of the phenomenon. It concludes with a possible historical scenario for the origin of optional ME in Maay.
Abstract
This paper presents an account of optional Multiple Exponence (ME) in the nominal morphology of Maay (Paster 2007; Comfort and Paster in press), a Cushitic language spoken in southern Somalia and closely related to Somali. In this language, all consonant-final nouns have three possible plural forms: one form with the suffix -o, one form with the suffix -yal, and a third form with both suffixes. The existence of optional ME upholds a prediction made by Optimal Construction Morphology (OCM; Inkelas et al. 2006), which is a subcategorization-based and constraint-based model of morphology. This paper proposes an OCM analysis of ME in Maay, making use of free constraint ranking to handle the optionality of the phenomenon. It concludes with a possible historical scenario for the origin of optional ME in Maay.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and acknowledgements vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
- Affixation vs. conversion. 15
- The -alis/-aris allomorphy revisited 33
- French property nouns based on toponyms or ethnic adjectives 53
- Morphological variation in the construction of French names for inhabitants 75
- The invisible hand of grammaticalization 89
- Paradigmatic realignment and morphological change 107
- Areal-typological aspects of word-formation 129
- Variation and change in morphology and syntax 149
- Optional multiple plural marking in Maay 177
- Lettered words 193
- Word creation 201
- Pleonastic morphology dies hard 217
- Index of languages and terms 245
- Index of subjects and terms 247
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and acknowledgements vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
- Affixation vs. conversion. 15
- The -alis/-aris allomorphy revisited 33
- French property nouns based on toponyms or ethnic adjectives 53
- Morphological variation in the construction of French names for inhabitants 75
- The invisible hand of grammaticalization 89
- Paradigmatic realignment and morphological change 107
- Areal-typological aspects of word-formation 129
- Variation and change in morphology and syntax 149
- Optional multiple plural marking in Maay 177
- Lettered words 193
- Word creation 201
- Pleonastic morphology dies hard 217
- Index of languages and terms 245
- Index of subjects and terms 247
