The loss and survival of inflectional morphology
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Ana R. Luís
Abstract
Although recent evidence has shown that creoles are not exempt from overt inflectional morphology, little is yet known about the exact range of inflectional categories expressed by creoles. A detailed analysis of the verbal paradigm of Korlai Creole Portuguese reveals that verbs encode conjugation classes but no subject agreement endings. The same inflectional development has taken place in two more Indo-Portuguese creoles, namely Daman and Diu Creole Portuguese, casting serious doubts on the traditional claim that creoles discard semantically dispensable units. In order to understand why creoles select purely formal inflectional categories, this paper draws on the distinction, formulated by Booij (1994, 1996), between inherent and contextual inflection. Based on this distinction, I argue that the retention of conjugation class markers vs. the loss of agreement endings can be subsumed under a wider generalisation about creole languages, namely their preference for inherent rather than contextual inflection (Kihm 2003; Arends et al. 2006; Plag 2008a). Key words: Korlai Creole Portuguese; creole inflection; theme vowels; inherent inflection; contextual inflection
Abstract
Although recent evidence has shown that creoles are not exempt from overt inflectional morphology, little is yet known about the exact range of inflectional categories expressed by creoles. A detailed analysis of the verbal paradigm of Korlai Creole Portuguese reveals that verbs encode conjugation classes but no subject agreement endings. The same inflectional development has taken place in two more Indo-Portuguese creoles, namely Daman and Diu Creole Portuguese, casting serious doubts on the traditional claim that creoles discard semantically dispensable units. In order to understand why creoles select purely formal inflectional categories, this paper draws on the distinction, formulated by Booij (1994, 1996), between inherent and contextual inflection. Based on this distinction, I argue that the retention of conjugation class markers vs. the loss of agreement endings can be subsumed under a wider generalisation about creole languages, namely their preference for inherent rather than contextual inflection (Kihm 2003; Arends et al. 2006; Plag 2008a). Key words: Korlai Creole Portuguese; creole inflection; theme vowels; inherent inflection; contextual inflection
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements ix
- List of contributors xi
- Editors’ introduction 1
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Part I. Phonetics/Phonology
- Correcting the record on Dominican [s]-hypercorrection 15
- V-to-V assimilation in trisyllabic words in French 25
- The production and provenance of palatal nasals in Portuguese and Spanish 43
- Lenition and phonemic contrast in Majorcan Catalan 63
- Alveolar laterals in Majorcan Spanish 81
- Units of speech production in Italian 95
- Pitch polarity in Palenquero 111
- Word-minimality and sound change in Hispano-Romance 129
- Multiple opacity in Eastern Regional French 153
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Part II. Syntax
- Syntactic variation in Colombian Spanish 169
- Anaphoricity, logophoricity and intensification 187
- More on the clitic combination puzzle 203
- The Spanish dative alternation revisited 217
- Romanian genderless pronouns and parasitic gaps 231
- To agree or not to agree 249
- Variation in subject expression in Western Romance 267
- A phase-based analysis of Old French genitive constructions 285
- V2 loss in Old French and Old Occitan 301
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Part III. Morphology, and interfaces
- The loss and survival of inflectional morphology 323
- Allomorphy in pre-clitic imperatives in Formenteran Catalan 337
- Preverbal vowels in wh-questions and declarative sentences in Northern Italian Piacentine dialects 353
- Pitch accent, focus, and the interpretation of non- wh exclamatives in French 369
- Detours along the perfect path 387
- Grammaticalization of commencer/cominciare “to begin” in French and Italian 405
- Index of subjects, terms and languages 423
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements ix
- List of contributors xi
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Phonetics/Phonology
- Correcting the record on Dominican [s]-hypercorrection 15
- V-to-V assimilation in trisyllabic words in French 25
- The production and provenance of palatal nasals in Portuguese and Spanish 43
- Lenition and phonemic contrast in Majorcan Catalan 63
- Alveolar laterals in Majorcan Spanish 81
- Units of speech production in Italian 95
- Pitch polarity in Palenquero 111
- Word-minimality and sound change in Hispano-Romance 129
- Multiple opacity in Eastern Regional French 153
-
Part II. Syntax
- Syntactic variation in Colombian Spanish 169
- Anaphoricity, logophoricity and intensification 187
- More on the clitic combination puzzle 203
- The Spanish dative alternation revisited 217
- Romanian genderless pronouns and parasitic gaps 231
- To agree or not to agree 249
- Variation in subject expression in Western Romance 267
- A phase-based analysis of Old French genitive constructions 285
- V2 loss in Old French and Old Occitan 301
-
Part III. Morphology, and interfaces
- The loss and survival of inflectional morphology 323
- Allomorphy in pre-clitic imperatives in Formenteran Catalan 337
- Preverbal vowels in wh-questions and declarative sentences in Northern Italian Piacentine dialects 353
- Pitch accent, focus, and the interpretation of non- wh exclamatives in French 369
- Detours along the perfect path 387
- Grammaticalization of commencer/cominciare “to begin” in French and Italian 405
- Index of subjects, terms and languages 423
