Phonological and Structural Correlates of Affix Order

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jochen Trommer
• 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 Semantic and Phonological “Correlates of Affix Order” in the first phase of the research unit with a special focus on phonological determinants of affix order. Its central goal is to further corroborate the evidence for the theoretical approach to affix order developed in the earlier project in three ways: (1) Testing the approach by in-depth applications to single languages with complex morphological systems for which we have conducted pilot studies (Sekani, Seri, Nxa'amxcin, Rarámuri, Catalan, Basque, Luganda, Karimojong, Mari, Murrinhpatha) (2) Extending the investigation of phonological ordering correlates to additional types of affixes, especially those where semantics seems to be largely irrelevant (e.g. agreement), but also to non-concatenative affixation, clitics and affixation in cases of multiple exponence (3) Integrating empirical and theoretical results of the other projects concerning the order of affixes and clitics in the research unit with our approach. The model of affix order under investigation is characterized by the following hypotheses. (1) Stratal Minimality: Languages have a small universally fixed number of strata (Stem Level, Word Level and Phrase Level). (2) Stratal Monotonicity: The changes in the alternation profiles between successive cyclic strata are monotonic (3) Lexical Primacy: Lexical morphology and phonology strictly precede syntactic structure building and phonology. Lexical cliticization precedes phrasal cliticization. (4) Phonological Primacy: Central operations and mechanisms relevant for affix ordering apply in the phonology, not the morphology.

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