Foot-based allomorphy in Tlapanec (Mè’phàà)

Tlapanec (Mè’phàà), an Otomanguean language spoken in Mexico, has several allomorphic alternations which are sensitive to the number of syllables of the stem (monosyllabic vs. disyllabic). We argue that these alternations are motivated by the foot structure which consists of two syllables, and that...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Uchihara Hiroto, Tiburcio Cano Gregorio
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2022-01-01
Series:Linguistics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2020-0108
Description
Summary:Tlapanec (Mè’phàà), an Otomanguean language spoken in Mexico, has several allomorphic alternations which are sensitive to the number of syllables of the stem (monosyllabic vs. disyllabic). We argue that these alternations are motivated by the foot structure which consists of two syllables, and that such alternations can be captured by subcategorization frames. An alternative, P » M analysis is also provided, where the allomorphic alternations are motivated by markedness constraints, namely *(tV.ˈσ), which avoids [t] in the weak position of the foot. These two approaches will be compared, and it will be argued that a subcategorization approach is more adequate than a P » M analysis.
ISSN:0024-3949
1613-396X