Catalan Journal of Linguistics (Dec 2005)

Expressing Inflection Tonally

  • Marcel van Oostendorp

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/catjl.115
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1

Abstract

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In Limburg Dutch, the difference between neuter and feminine agreement on adjectives is expressed by a difference in lexical tone. This paper argues that this distinction is due to a difference in underlying representations and not to a paradigmatic antifaithfulness effect. In particular, it argues for a specific version of REALIZE-MORPHEME, the constraint demanding every underlying morpheme to be present in phonological surface representations. The key argument is that a schwa suffix turns up whenever the tonal change from neuter to feminine is not possible.

Keywords