Hindi root allomorphy: Insights from phonological and morphosyntactic theory
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Paroma Sanyal
Abstract
For any systematic process of phonological reduction, the context where reduction applies is a priori designated as a marked position. In the case of Hindi verb roots, such a phonological neutralization process has been observed to systematically occur in a specific morphosyntactic context. Is this because this particular morphosyntactic context is a “marked” location in the derivation or is it simply possible that a language chose to mark a derivational cycle in a particular syntactic configuration with systematic phonological reduction? This paper shows that: (a) the phonological reduction process in Hindi is driven by the relatively higher weight of sonority-hierarchy-based stringency constraints in the derived roots √R2, and (b) the phonological reduction process that derives √R2 from √R1 root forms corresponds to the Spell-Out of the Voice head during lexicalization. This Voice head, being a cyclic head, is ordinarily outside the cyclic domain of the root, and therefore cannot access anything more than the spelled-out phonological form of the root for reduction. Thus, this process applies without root-specific allomorphy. In contrast, the *Voice head of anticausatives, being non-cyclic, can access the root. Thus, the phonological reduction associated with derived intransitives in Hindi is conditioned by root-specific allomorphic rules. Both the regular Spell-Out of Voice as well as of *Voice in anticausatives apply the same process of phonological reduction.
Abstract
For any systematic process of phonological reduction, the context where reduction applies is a priori designated as a marked position. In the case of Hindi verb roots, such a phonological neutralization process has been observed to systematically occur in a specific morphosyntactic context. Is this because this particular morphosyntactic context is a “marked” location in the derivation or is it simply possible that a language chose to mark a derivational cycle in a particular syntactic configuration with systematic phonological reduction? This paper shows that: (a) the phonological reduction process in Hindi is driven by the relatively higher weight of sonority-hierarchy-based stringency constraints in the derived roots √R2, and (b) the phonological reduction process that derives √R2 from √R1 root forms corresponds to the Spell-Out of the Voice head during lexicalization. This Voice head, being a cyclic head, is ordinarily outside the cyclic domain of the root, and therefore cannot access anything more than the spelled-out phonological form of the root for reduction. Thus, this process applies without root-specific allomorphy. In contrast, the *Voice head of anticausatives, being non-cyclic, can access the root. Thus, the phonological reduction associated with derived intransitives in Hindi is conditioned by root-specific allomorphic rules. Both the regular Spell-Out of Voice as well as of *Voice in anticausatives apply the same process of phonological reduction.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Preface vii
- Contents xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- On the syntax of comparative clauses in Vedic Sanskrit … like someone eating the foam off the water 1
- Some questions about yád in Vedic 23
- A statistical model of syntactic and nonsyntactic factors affecting relative clause placement in Hindi 43
- Optionality and variation in agreement in some participles in Hindi-Urdu 77
- A cross-linguistic approach to sentential subjects in Kannada 119
- Relation between animacy and case marking in Eastern Indo-Aryan languages 173
- Participles with a semantic void in Koints 191
- Competition between vectored verbs and factored verbs in Hindi-Urdu, Marathi and Gujarati 207
- How similarly do Hindi rakhnā and Japanese oku PUT behave as a V2? A corpus-based comparative analysis 243
- The use of vector verbs in early modern Tamil 261
- Reflexive and reciprocal marking in Mising 291
- Reciprocals in Kokborok — A Case of Syntactic Convergence 311
- A cognitive semantic analysis of locative and spatial constructions in Bangla 339
- Revisiting Pāṇini’s generative power 361
- Hindi root allomorphy: Insights from phonological and morphosyntactic theory 381
- Lexeme and speech syllables in English and Hindi. A case for syllable structure 415
- List of contributors 463
- List of contributors 469
- Index of languages 477
- Index of subjects 479
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Preface vii
- Contents xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- On the syntax of comparative clauses in Vedic Sanskrit … like someone eating the foam off the water 1
- Some questions about yád in Vedic 23
- A statistical model of syntactic and nonsyntactic factors affecting relative clause placement in Hindi 43
- Optionality and variation in agreement in some participles in Hindi-Urdu 77
- A cross-linguistic approach to sentential subjects in Kannada 119
- Relation between animacy and case marking in Eastern Indo-Aryan languages 173
- Participles with a semantic void in Koints 191
- Competition between vectored verbs and factored verbs in Hindi-Urdu, Marathi and Gujarati 207
- How similarly do Hindi rakhnā and Japanese oku PUT behave as a V2? A corpus-based comparative analysis 243
- The use of vector verbs in early modern Tamil 261
- Reflexive and reciprocal marking in Mising 291
- Reciprocals in Kokborok — A Case of Syntactic Convergence 311
- A cognitive semantic analysis of locative and spatial constructions in Bangla 339
- Revisiting Pāṇini’s generative power 361
- Hindi root allomorphy: Insights from phonological and morphosyntactic theory 381
- Lexeme and speech syllables in English and Hindi. A case for syllable structure 415
- List of contributors 463
- List of contributors 469
- Index of languages 477
- Index of subjects 479
