Synchrony, diachrony, and indexicality
This paper is about the current disconnect between synchronic and diachronic linguistics and the need for
historical linguists to take the lead in addressing the big issues in morphology: how agglutination develops into fusion and
symbolism, how these techniques are maintained through time, how they devolve into agglutinative or isolating patterns. The formation
and reanalysis of allomorphy are central to these developments. The paper advocates a theory of the morphological sign by which
allomorphs form subsidiary paradigms and the individual allomorph is both symbol and index: it stands for its exponendum and points to
features of its environment. This articulate conception facilitates the detailed analysis and interpretation both of synchronic
patterns and of the gradual typological transformations of inflectional systems.
Article outline
- 1.Synchrony, diachrony and history
- 2.Word and Paradigm morphology
- 3.Morphology for communication
- 4.Morphology by itself?
- 5.Indexes in morphology
- 5.1Phonological indexes
- 5.2Stem-class indexes
- 5.3Gramcat indexes
- 5.4Lexcat indexes
- 6.The importance of morphological indexes
- 6.1Signs with zero exponenda
- 6.2Signs with zero expression
- 6.3Cumulative exponence
- 7.History and typology
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Notes
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Abbreviations
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References
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Appendix