Regularities in irregular Chaha verbs

Degif Petros Banksira | University of Quebec at Montreal/Elections Canada

This paper demonstrates that the most irregular verb stems of Chaha display striking communalities, and argues that this lends support to a root-and-template based analysis of Semitic word formation. It derives the irregularities by pairing the root with the Perfective, Imperfective or Imperative patterns which, according to Prunet & Banksira (1996), can be either long or short, and their interactions with subject suffixes. It proposes a unique UR for each aspect and accounts for the alternations using four morphophonological rules dubbed A-Raising, Final y-Labialization, Final y‑Deletion, and Quadrisyllabic Shortening.

Published online: 17 December 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.12.13ban

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