Morpho-syntactic Strata of Tone

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Jochen Trommer; Dr. Eva Zimmermann
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 439622645

This project is a direct continuation of the project `Morphological strata of tone'. It extends our empirical investigation of stratal effects to more tonal data and investigates 1) interstratal differences for more tonal processes, 2) innerstratal cycles, and 3) processes restricted by phrasal prosody. Empirically, it tests the *ABA-restriction against a larger and more diverse typological study and hence systematicizes whether and how tonal processes that are sensitive to morpho-syntactic domains can be combined freely within a given language. Theoretically, it will further establish Harmonic Layer Theory, the novel account to the morpho-phonology interface that we developed in the first phase of the project. This model is more restrictive than alternatives like Stratal OT since it is based on a cyclic optimization with a single grammar for each language. Interstratal differences can hence only arise from the monotonic activity decay of phonological elements; a mechanism that inherently excludes *ABA-patterns.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5175: Cyclic Optimization