LING 80.08 Nonconcatenative Morphology
The field of morphology investigates word structure: How are complex words built up from their component parts? Arguably the most common kind of morphology, affixation and compounding are concatenative: two or more separable morphemes are combined to create a complex word. This course focuses on the more challenging set of phenomena known as nonconcatenative morphology: those cases where a clean line cannot be drawn between morphemes. We will explore a range of data patterns included under this heading, including Semitic root-and-pattern morphology, grammatical tone, reduplication, ablaut, truncation, and consonant mutation. We will then evaluate formal approaches to nonconcatenative morphology, which pushes most theoretical frameworks of morphology to their limits.
Instructor
McPherson