Work

Either templatic or harmonic

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: In addition to the common concatenative morphological system of Hungarian, there is a smaller portion of word forms that are templatic. These words satisfy requirements on their phonological shape. We here examine constraints on the number of syllables in templatic word forms. We observe that while the vowels in concatenative forms typically harmonize in backness (and in a more limited way also rounding), the vowels in nominal templatic forms often do not. On the other hand, the vowels in verbal templatic forms do harmonize. Furthermore, truncation is applied to satisfy the limit on word size in nominals, but truncation is generally not available as a repair for templatic verbal forms. We model our observations by a subsumption hierarchy of morphological layers: a concatenative layer, a (vowel) harmony layer, and a (stem) integrity layer.

Source: Acta Linguistica Academica

DOI: 10.1556/2062.2024.00857

Authors: Péter Rebrus, Péter Szigetvári

Institution: Eötvös Loránd University

Language: English

Topic: Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

Subfield: Language and Linguistics

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Nemzeti Kutatási Fejlesztési és Innovációs Hivatal

Award: G2977495464