Allomorphy without Context: An MaS Alternative

Abstract: Caha et. al. (2024) give an interesting account of the forms of adjectives in Czech. They propose that the different forms of the positive and comparative can be accounted for by a system of portmanteau lexical items, formalized in the Nanosyntax framework. In this squib, I give a alternative account of the data in the MaS (‘Morphology as Syntax’) framework (see Collins and Kayne 2023) without invoking portmanteau or Late Insertion. Rather, the account developed makes crucial use of the licensing of empty elements.

Allomorphy without Context: An MaS Alternative

A Very Short History of Mas (Morphology as Syntax)

December 2020

First version of “Towards a Theory of Morphology as Syntax” posted to Lingbuzz.

(published in 2023)

August 2018

Collins’ “The Logical of Contextual Allomorphy” posted to Linguzz. “I explore ways of analyzing contextual allomorphy that eschew reference to competition and blocking.”

December 2016

Kayne’s “What is Suppletive Allomorphy? On ‘went’ and ‘*goed’ in English’ posted to Lingbuzz (published in 2019). “These analyses do not invoke late insertion. It may be that late insertion is systematically unavailable.”

September 28, 2015

The name “Morphology as Syntax (MAS)” is proposed for first time.

December 13, 2012

Considering names for approach:

syntax-based morphology, Merge-based morphology, minimalist morphology

January 14-19, 2012

Long e-mail discussions about English past tense morphology.

January 14, 2012

Long e-mail discussion of “contextual allomorphy” with the conclusion that there is no contextual allomorphy.

Two Allomorphy Models without Late Insertion (Morphology as Syntax)

 Here is a handout from my seminar with Richard Kayne (Morphology as Syntax). On this handout, I outline two approaches to allomorphy not involving late insertion. This list is not meant to be exclusive. In fact, in the very same class period (September 23 2023), I presented yet another completely different model of allomorphy based on autosegmental phonology.