<OT> New Posting: ROA-1030

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 1030-0509

The Root-and-Prosody Approach to Arabic Verbs

Matthew Tucker <matucker at ucsc.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=1030


Abstract:
This article argues from data motivating the existence of
the consonantal root in Nonconcatenative Templatic Morphologies
(NTM) and the derivational verbal system of Iraqi Arabic
for an approach to such root-and-pattern behavior called
the “Root-and-Prosody” model. Based upon work in Kramer
(2007), this model claims that root-and-pattern behavior
arises from the necessary satisfaction of prosodic markedness
constraints at the expense of the faithfulness constraints
Contiguity and Integrity. Additionally, this article shows
that a solution exists to the problem of NTM languages within
Generalized Template Theory (McCarthy and Prince, 1995)
which does not need Output-Output Correspondence (Benua,
2000; Ussishkin, 2005). In doing so, this work also argues
for the extension of indexed markedness constraints Pater
(To Appear) to prosodic alternations. Prosodic augmentation
is shown to follow from particular rankings of such indexed
prosodic markedness constraints, eliminating the need for
prosodic material in the input. Finally, discussion of difficulti
es faced by the Fixed-Prosodic analyses of such systems
(Ussishkin, 2000; Buckley, 2003; Ussishkin, 2005) motivates
the necessity of the Root-and-Prosody approach.

Comments: 
Keywords: prosodic morphology, root-and-pattern morphology, Arabic
Areas: Phonology,Morphology
Type: Manuscript

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=1030