<OT> New Posting: ROA-659

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 659-0504

Infixation and segmental constraint effects: UM and IN in Tagalog, Chamorro, and Toba Batak

Thomas Klein <tklein at georgiasouthern.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=659


Abstract:
The proper understanding of infixation continues to be a
matter of debate among linguists. The data presented in
this paper show that infixation in Austronesian languages
is not exclusively due to prosodic morphology, but instead
is significantly influenced by the segmental phonology as
well. Specifically, infixation may be blocked if it would
create dissimilation environments in the first bimoraic
foot of the morphological base. To capture this asymmetric
effect, it is proposed that OCP-type markedness constraints
may be sensitive to positional domains. The analysis also
accounts for the alternatives to infixation that individual
languages employ. Blocking creates a morphological gap in
Tagalog. In contrast, infixation in Chamorro competes with
prefixation plus metathesis, whereas prefixation with assimilatio
n is observed in Toba Batak. The investigation of Chamorro
also uncovers the phonological conspiracy that infixation
and metathesis are both driven by the prosodic requirement
that syllables must have onsets.

Comments: In press in Lingua (2004)
Keywords: infixation, positional markedness, metathesis
Areas: Phonology,Morphology
Type: Journal Article

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=659