Inflectional Defectiveness

Paradigmatic gaps ('missing' inflected forms) have traditionally been considered to be the random detritus of a language's history and marginal exceptions to the normal functioning of its inflectional system. Arguing that this is a misperception, Inflectional Defectiveness demonstrates that paradigmatic gaps are in fact normal and expected products of inflectional structure. Sims offers an accessible exploration of how and why inflectional defectiveness arises, why it persists, and how it is learned. The book presents a theory of morphology which is rooted in the implicative structure of the paradigm. This systematic exploration of the topic also addresses questions of inflection class organization, the morphology-syntax interface, the structure of the lexicon, and the nature of productivity. Presenting a novel synthesis of established research and new empirical data, this work is significant for researchers and graduate students in all fields of linguistics.

Author: Andrea D. Sims
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 05/09/2019
Pages: 331
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.98lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d
ISBN: 9781107623712

About the Author
Sims, Andrea D.: - Andrea D. Sims is Assistant Professor in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures at Ohio State University. Her research interests include theoretical morphology, the morphology-syntax interface, the organization of the lexicon, and the relationship between lexical processing and morphological structure.

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