Journal Articles by Sam Zukoff
Submitted. Ms., Leipzig University, 2020
As codified by Baker's (1985) "Mirror Principle", the linear order of morphemes within a morpholo... more As codified by Baker's (1985) "Mirror Principle", the linear order of morphemes within a morphologically complex word generally correlates with hierarchical syntactic structure (see also Muysken 1981). Broadly speaking, morphological derivations must directly reflect syntactic derivations. While Baker uses morphological ordering as a means of demonstrating the inseparability of syntax and morphology, he does not explore in great detail the question of the formal means by which compliance with the Mirror Principle is enacted in the grammar, tacitly assuming a cyclic morphological concatenation-based system. This paper develops a new framework for morpheme ordering that derives the Mirror Principle while avoiding some of the shortcomings of cyclic morphological concatenation. The core of the proposal is an algorithm that applies at the morphology-phonology interface, called the Mirror Alignment Principle (MAP). The MAP is an algorithm that takes the hierarchical structure of morphosyntactic terminals (in the form of asymmetric c-command relations) generated by the syntax-and potentially operated on by the morphology-and dynamically translates it into a ranking of Alignment constraints (McCarthy & Prince 1993a, Prince & Smolensky [1993] 2004) in con in the phonological component. All possible morpheme orders (and phonological modifications thereof) are generated by gen, and the optimal surface order is selected by eval. Even though morpheme order in this system is computed in the phonology, the driving force behind this order resides in the syntax/morphology. This link between grammatical components generates Mirror Principle-compliant surface morpheme orders. This paper explores two case studies of classical morpheme ordering problems, demonstrating how the MAP is consistent with each case and provides new insights into various aspects of these problems. First, it will show how the MAP is consistent with the complex interaction between Mirror Principle-satisfaction and the so-called "CARP template" in the Bantu languages (Hyman 2003). Second, it will show that the MAP framework can explain ordering alternations within Arabic's nonconcatenative verbal system. This will demonstrate that Mirror Principle-behavior can indeed be identified even in nonconcatenative morphology. Lastly, the paper situates the MAP proposal within the broader debates surrounding the phonology-morphology interface, with special attention to the MAP's ramifications for the theory and typology of infixation.
Indo-European Linguistics , 2018
In this paper we develop a synchronic and diachronic analysis of the phonology of partial redupli... more In this paper we develop a synchronic and diachronic analysis of the phonology of partial reduplication in the Anatolian branch of Indo-European. We argue that the reduplicative patterns of Hittite and Luwian differ from Proto-Anatolian, which exhibited an asymmetric treatment of verbal stems with initial consonant clusters: full copying of sibilant-stop clusters, but partial copying of stop-sonorant clusters. We contend that the phonological constraint driving this asymmetry, NO POORLY-CUED REPETITIONS (Zukoff 2017a), was demoted within the separate prehistories of Hittite and Luwian due to independent phonological changes eliminating the distinction between these cluster types. Furthermore, we show that the proposed set of diachronic constraint re-rankings in Hittite and Luwian can be explained under Maximally Informative Recursive Constraint Demotion, a minor reformulation of the Recursive Constraint Demotion algorithm (RCD; Tesar 1995, Tesar and Smolensky 1998, 2000) that favors the high ranking of maximally informative winner-preferring constraints.
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 2017
This paper focuses on languages that exhibit processes of copy epenthesis, specifically those whe... more This paper focuses on languages that exhibit processes of copy epenthesis, specifically those where the similarity between a copy vowel and its host extends to prosodic or suprasegmental resemblance. We argue that copy vowels and their hosts strive for identity in all prosodic properties, and show that this drive for prosodic identity can cause misapplication in the assignment of properties such as stress, pitch, and length. To explain these effects, we argue that any successful analysis of copy epenthesis must involve a correspondence relation (following Kitto and de Lacy 1999). Our proposal successfully predicts the extant typology of prosodic identity effects in copy epenthesis; alternative analyses of copy epenthesis relying solely on featural spreading (e.g. Kawahara 2007) or gestural realignment (e.g. Hall 2003, 2006) do not naturally capture the effects discussed here.
Linguistic Inquiry, 2017
The Ancient Greek perfect tense poses an interesting empirical puzzle
involving reduplication. Wh... more The Ancient Greek perfect tense poses an interesting empirical puzzle
involving reduplication. While consonant-initial roots display a phonologically
regular alternation based on cluster type, vowel-initial roots
display two distinct patterns whose distribution is not phonologically
predictable. The reduplicative grammar that generates the consonantinitial
patterns is directly compatible with the productive vowel-initial
pattern, vowel lengthening. The minority vowel-initial pattern, ‘‘Attic
reduplication,’’ both its shape and its distribution, can be explained
as a phonotactic repair that operated at a prior stage of the language.
This pattern was later reanalyzed, such that Attic reduplication is retained
not as a phonotactic repair but through lexical indexation.
Proceedings, Working Papers, and Manuscripts by Sam Zukoff
Proceedings of NELS 50, 2020
NELS 47: Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society, 2017
Supplemental Proceedings of the 2016 Annual Meetings on Phonology, 2017
Papers in Morphology (MITWPL 81), 2017
Proceedings of CLS 51
This paper investigates a class of misapplication effects arising in reduplication and copy-epent... more This paper investigates a class of misapplication effects arising in reduplication and copy-epenthesis, specifically those relating to the assignment of phonological properties related to prominence. We argue that extensions of Correspondence Theory (McCarthy & Prince 1995) can explain these effects, given a grammar that contains: (1) a correspondence relation between surface segments, arising when multiple output segments correspond to a single input segment (also Struijke 2000, McCarthy 2002); and (2) faithfulness constraints requiring identity among these correspondents for suprasegmental properties. We show that a grammar with these properties provides a unified account of a range of prosodic misapplication effects.
Proceedings of NELS 45, 2015
Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Meetings on Phonology, 2016
Proceedings of the 25th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, 2014
MA Thesis, University of Georgia, Aug 2012
UGA Working Papers in Linguistics 1, Oct 2012
Dissertation by Sam Zukoff
MIT dissertation, 2017
The reduplicative systems of the ancient Indo-European languages are characterized by an unusual ... more The reduplicative systems of the ancient Indo-European languages are characterized by an unusual alternation in the shape of the reduplicant. The related languages Ancient Greek, Gothic, and Sanskrit share the property that root-initial consonant clusters exhibit different reduplicant shapes, depending on their featural composition. Moreover, even though the core featural distinction largely overlaps across the languages, the actual patterns which instantiate that distinction are themselves distinct across the languages. For roots beginning in stop-sonorant clusters (TRVX– roots), each of these languages agrees in displaying a prefixal CV reduplicant, where the consonant corresponds to the root-initial stop: TV-TRVX–. These three languages likewise agree that roots beginning in sibilant-stop clusters (STVX– roots) show some pattern other than the one exhibited by TRVX– roots. However, each of the three languages exhibits a distinct alternative pattern: V-STVX– in the case of Ancient Greek, STV-STVX– in the case of Gothic, TV-STVX– in the case of Sanskrit. This dissertation provides an integrated synchronic and diachronic theoretical account of the morphophonological properties of verbal reduplication in the ancient Indo-European languages, with its central focus being to explain this core alternation between TRVX– roots and STVX– roots. Set within Base-Reduplicant Correspondence Theory, a framework for analyzing reduplication in Optimality Theory, the comprehensive synchronic analyses constructed in service of understanding this distinction and other interrelated distinctions allow us to probe complex theoretical questions regarding the constraints and constraint interactions involved in the determination of reduplicant shape. This dissertation seeks not only to develop in depth, consistent accounts of both the productive and marginal/archaic morphophonological aspects of reduplication in the Indo-European languages, it aims to understand the origins of these patterns—from a historical and comparative perspective, and from the perspective of morphophonological learning and grammar change — and attempts to motivate the conditions for the onset, development, and retention of the changes that result in the systems observed in the attested languages. As such, these analyses constitute a valuable set of case studies on complex systemic change in phonological grammars.
Talks by Sam Zukoff
Talk presented at Zoom Phonology, Sep 10, 2020
Talk presented at LSA 2020, 2020
Talk presented at NYU Phonetics & Experimental Phonology Laboratory, Mar 29, 2019
Talk presented at Grinnell Linguistics Colloquium, 2017
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Journal Articles by Sam Zukoff
involving reduplication. While consonant-initial roots display a phonologically
regular alternation based on cluster type, vowel-initial roots
display two distinct patterns whose distribution is not phonologically
predictable. The reduplicative grammar that generates the consonantinitial
patterns is directly compatible with the productive vowel-initial
pattern, vowel lengthening. The minority vowel-initial pattern, ‘‘Attic
reduplication,’’ both its shape and its distribution, can be explained
as a phonotactic repair that operated at a prior stage of the language.
This pattern was later reanalyzed, such that Attic reduplication is retained
not as a phonotactic repair but through lexical indexation.
Proceedings, Working Papers, and Manuscripts by Sam Zukoff
Dissertation by Sam Zukoff
Talks by Sam Zukoff
involving reduplication. While consonant-initial roots display a phonologically
regular alternation based on cluster type, vowel-initial roots
display two distinct patterns whose distribution is not phonologically
predictable. The reduplicative grammar that generates the consonantinitial
patterns is directly compatible with the productive vowel-initial
pattern, vowel lengthening. The minority vowel-initial pattern, ‘‘Attic
reduplication,’’ both its shape and its distribution, can be explained
as a phonotactic repair that operated at a prior stage of the language.
This pattern was later reanalyzed, such that Attic reduplication is retained
not as a phonotactic repair but through lexical indexation.