What learning Latin verbal morphology tells us about morphological theory

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11292564
AutoresJordan Kodner (0000-0001-8632-9859, Stony Brook University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen41
Número2
Páginas733-792
Fecha de publicación2023-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNatural Language and Linguistic Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0167-806X • E-ISSN: 1573-0859
EditorialSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s11049-022-09553-2
OpenAlexW4303427410
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas70

The Classical Latin verb has featured prominently in theoretical morphology. In particular, the notoriously unpredictable forms of the past participles that nevertheless show reliable syncretism with a semantically diverse set of deverbals challenge our notions about the relationship between form and meaning. The various treatments of this system disagree not only in their theoretical building blocks but also in their basic assumptions about what ought to be explained, which makes it difficult to properly evaluate them against one another. This paper aims to empirically motivate the prior assumptions about productivity and arbitrariness that drive these accounts. In applying insights developed for child language acquisition to a large Latin corpus, the theoretical frameworks are compared on equal footing. It becomes clear that the productive past participle forms do not line up well with the frequency-based assumptions of prior accounts and instead mirror the diachronic developments that the system underwent on its path to Romance. A new treatment is proposed to incorporate the acquisition results and to conform with diachronic outcomes. The methods developed here reveal explanatory gaps in the theories that had not previously been appreciated and emphasize the importance of quantitative evidence from a range of sources in future morphological analysis

Arbitrariness · Epistemology · Linguistics · Metaphysics · Morpheme · Participle · Philosophy of language · Sociology · Verb · Computer Science · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation