Explorations In Nominal Inflection (Interface Explorations)

This book is a collection of new articles that focus on nominal inflection markers in different languages. The studies are concerned with the morphological inventories of markers, their syntactic distribution, and, importantly, the interaction between the two. As a result, the contributions shed new light on the morphology/syntax interface, and on the role of morpho-syntactic features in mediating between the two components. Issues that feature prominently throughout are inflection class, case, gender, number, animacy, syncretism, iconicity, agreement, the status of paradigms, the nature of morpho-syntactic features, and the structure of nominal projections. Recurrent analytical tools involve the concepts of competition (optimality, specificity), underspecification, and economy, in various theoretical frameworks.

Explorations in Nominal Inflection is a collection of new articles that focus on nominal inflection markers in different languages. The studies are concerned with the morphological inventories of markers, their syntactic distribution, and, importantly, the interaction between the two. As a result, the contributions shed new light on the morphology/syntax interface, and on the role of morpho-syntactic features in mediating between the two components. Issues that feature prominently throughout are inflection class, case, gender, number, animacy, syncretism, iconicity, agreement, the status of paradigms, the nature of morpho-syntactic features, and the structure of nominal projections. Recurrent analytical tools involve the concepts of competition (optimality, specificity), underspecification, and economy, in various theoretical frameworks.

James P. Blevins: Inflection Classes and Economy
Bernd Wiese: Categories and Paradigms. On Underspecification in Russian Declension

Main description: Explorations in Nominal Inflection is a collection of new articles that focus on nominal inflection markers in different languages. The studies are concerned with the morphological inventories of markers, their syntactic distribution, and, importantly, the interaction between the two. As a result, the contributions shed new light on the morphology/syntax interface, and on the role of morpho-syntactic features in mediating between the two components. Issues that feature prominently throughout are inflection class, case, gender, number, animacy, syncretism, iconicity, agreement, the status of paradigms, the nature of morpho-syntactic features, and the structure of nominal projections. Recurrent analytical tools involve the concepts of competition (optimality, specificity), underspecification, and economy, in various theoretical frameworks. James P. Blevins: Inflection Classes and EconomyBernd Wiese: Categories and Paradigms. On Underspecification in Russian Declension Contents......Page 5 Introduction......Page 7 Inflection Class, Gender and DP Internal Structure......Page 27 Inflection Classes and Economy......Page 56 Left of Number. Animacy and Plurality in German Nouns......Page 103 Feature Sharing in DPs......Page 127 A Topological Schema for Noun Phrases in German......Page 167 On Decomposing Inflection Class Features: Syncretism in Russian Noun Inflection......Page 195 A Factorial Typology of Number Marking in Noun Phrases: The Tension between Economy and Faithfulness......Page 235 Feature Checking, Case, and Agreement in German DPs......Page 275 Feminine vs. Non-Feminine Noun Phrases in German......Page 306 Categories and Paradigms. On Underspecification in Russian Declension......Page 327 Is There Any Need for the Concept of Directional Syncretism?......Page 378 Index......Page 403 "'Explorations in Nominal Inflection' is a collection of new articles that focus on nominal inflection markers in different languages. The studies are concerned with the morphological inventories of markers, their syntactic distribution, and the interaction between the two. As a result, the contributions shed new light on the morphology/syntax interface, and on the role of morpho-syntactic features in mediating between the two components."--BOOK JACKET In this paper I discuss (a) the relation between nominal features such as gender and inflectional class, and (b) the question of whether these project a functional projection in the extended projection of the noun or not. Edited By Gereon Müller, Lutz Gunkel, Gisela Zifonun. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.