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Chapter 2. Making sense of morphology

Foxes, hedgehogs and a calculus of infinitesimals
  • Farrell Ackerman
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All Things Morphology
This chapter is in the book All Things Morphology

Abstract

Aronoff (2016) argues for the value of interpreting different approaches to the analysis of morphology as reflecting the sensibilities of foxes and hedgehogs as characterized in Berlin (1997). It is argued that Berlin also provides a way to go beyond these oppositional sensibilities and the morphological theories they develop by exploring a complex systems perspective on morphological organization of the sort adumbrated by certain late 19th century and early 20th century linguists: systems that arise from the dynamic co-activity of surprisingly many factors. The kind of view they envisioned is now quantitatively and computationally practicable and can benefit from research on complex behaviors within the developmental sciences. A view of this sort is motivated by two types of empirical evidence, one concerning implicative paradigm organization in Māori and Baale, the other concerning the dynamic relation between diachrony and synchrony as attested in Mari and Beserman Udmurt.

Abstract

Aronoff (2016) argues for the value of interpreting different approaches to the analysis of morphology as reflecting the sensibilities of foxes and hedgehogs as characterized in Berlin (1997). It is argued that Berlin also provides a way to go beyond these oppositional sensibilities and the morphological theories they develop by exploring a complex systems perspective on morphological organization of the sort adumbrated by certain late 19th century and early 20th century linguists: systems that arise from the dynamic co-activity of surprisingly many factors. The kind of view they envisioned is now quantitatively and computationally practicable and can benefit from research on complex behaviors within the developmental sciences. A view of this sort is motivated by two types of empirical evidence, one concerning implicative paradigm organization in Māori and Baale, the other concerning the dynamic relation between diachrony and synchrony as attested in Mari and Beserman Udmurt.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. All things morphology 1
  4. Part I. Paradigms
  5. Chapter 2. Making sense of morphology 17
  6. Chapter 3. A formal restriction on gender resolution 41
  7. Part II. Words, stems, and affixes
  8. Chapter 4. Signs and words 57
  9. Chapter 5. Leaving the stem by itself 81
  10. Chapter 6. Stem constancy under the microscope 99
  11. Chapter 7. Major lexical categories and graphemic weight 117
  12. Chapter 8. Word formation in the brain 127
  13. Chapter 9. The suffixing preference 147
  14. Part III. Competition, inheritance, and defaults
  15. Chapter 10. Feature-based competition 171
  16. Chapter 11. Competition in comparatives 199
  17. Chapter 12. Multi-layered default in Ripano 215
  18. Part IV. Morphomes
  19. Chapter 13. Morphomes all the way down! 239
  20. Chapter 14. Conditional exponence 255
  21. Chapter 15. My favorite morphome 279
  22. Chapter 16. In further pursuit of the adjective 289
  23. Chapter 17. Two-suffix combinations in native and non-native English 305
  24. Part V. Interfaces
  25. Chapter 18. A short history of phonology in America 327
  26. Chapter 19. Realization Optimality Theory 349
  27. Chapter 20. A-prefixing in the ex-slave narratives 377
  28. Chapter 21. Trajectory of children’s verb formation in Hebrew as a heritage language 395
  29. Chapter 22. A primer for linguists on the reading wars 415
  30. Index of languages 431
  31. Index of names 433
  32. Index of terms 435
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.353.02ack

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. All things morphology 1
  4. Part I. Paradigms
  5. Chapter 2. Making sense of morphology 17
  6. Chapter 3. A formal restriction on gender resolution 41
  7. Part II. Words, stems, and affixes
  8. Chapter 4. Signs and words 57
  9. Chapter 5. Leaving the stem by itself 81
  10. Chapter 6. Stem constancy under the microscope 99
  11. Chapter 7. Major lexical categories and graphemic weight 117
  12. Chapter 8. Word formation in the brain 127
  13. Chapter 9. The suffixing preference 147
  14. Part III. Competition, inheritance, and defaults
  15. Chapter 10. Feature-based competition 171
  16. Chapter 11. Competition in comparatives 199
  17. Chapter 12. Multi-layered default in Ripano 215
  18. Part IV. Morphomes
  19. Chapter 13. Morphomes all the way down! 239
  20. Chapter 14. Conditional exponence 255
  21. Chapter 15. My favorite morphome 279
  22. Chapter 16. In further pursuit of the adjective 289
  23. Chapter 17. Two-suffix combinations in native and non-native English 305
  24. Part V. Interfaces
  25. Chapter 18. A short history of phonology in America 327
  26. Chapter 19. Realization Optimality Theory 349
  27. Chapter 20. A-prefixing in the ex-slave narratives 377
  28. Chapter 21. Trajectory of children’s verb formation in Hebrew as a heritage language 395
  29. Chapter 22. A primer for linguists on the reading wars 415
  30. Index of languages 431
  31. Index of names 433
  32. Index of terms 435
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