Class features as probes

In this article, we adress (i) the form and (ii) the function on inflection class features in minimalist grammar. The empirical evidence comes from noun inflection systems involving fusional markers in German, Greek, and Russian. As for (i), we argue (based on instances of transparadigmatic syncretism) that class features are not privative; rather, class information must be decomposed into more abstract, binary features. Concerning (ii), we propose that class features qualify as the very device that brings about fusional infection: They are uninterpretable in syntax and actas probes on stems, with matching inflection markers as goels, and thus trigger morphological Agree operations that merge stem and inflection marker before syntax is reached.

Metadaten
Author:	Artemis Alexiadou ORCiD GND, Gereon Müller
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-1108458
URL:	http://www.uni-leipzig.de/%7Emuellerg/mu55.pdf
Document Type:	Preprint
Language:	English
Date of Publication (online):	2008/09/24
Year of first Publication:	2008
Publishing Institution:	Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:	2008/09/24
GND Keyword:	Deutsch; Französisch; Russisch; Flexion
First Page:	101
Last Page:	155
Note:	auch in: Inflectional identity, hrsg. v. Bachrach, Asaf, Nevins, Andrew (2008), S. 101-155
Source:	http://www.uni-leipzig.de/%7Emuellerg/mu55.pdf ; Inflectional identity, hrsg. v. Bachrach, Asaf, Nevins, Andrew (2008), S. 101-155
HeBIS-PPN:	20549658X
Dewey Decimal Classification:	4 Sprache / 40 Sprache / 400 Sprache
Sammlungen:	Linguistik
Linguistik-Klassifikation:	Linguistik-Klassifikation: Morphologie / Morphology
Licence (German):	Deutsches Urheberrecht

Open Access