The Complexities of Morphology

Edited by Peter Arkadiev and Francesco Gardani

Brings together a wide range of approaches to morphological complexity
Based on rich empirical data, including from lesser-known languages
Explores both structural and sociolinguistic parameters of morphological complexity

The Complexities of Morphology

Edited by Peter Arkadiev and Francesco Gardani

Description

This volume explores the multiple aspects of morphological complexity, investigating primarily whether certain aspects of morphology can be considered more complex than others, and how that complexity can be measured. The book opens with a detailed introduction from the editors that critically assesses the foundational assumptions that inform contemporary approaches to morphological complexity. In the chapters that follow, the volume's expert contributors approach the topic from typological, acquisitional, sociolinguistic, and diachronic perspectives; the concluding chapter offers an overview of these various approaches, with a focus on the minimum description length principle. The analyses are based on rich empirical data from both well-known languages such as Russian and lesser-studied languages from Africa, Australia, and the Americas, as well as experimental data from artificial language learning.

The Complexities of Morphology

Edited by Peter Arkadiev and Francesco Gardani

1. Introduction: Complexities in morphology, Peter Arkadiev and Francesco Gardani
Part I: The language-specific perspective
2. Irregularity, paradigmatic layers, and the complexity of inflection class systems: A study of Russian nouns, Jeff Parker and Andrea D. Sims
3. Demorphologization and deepening complexity in Murrinhpatha, John Mansfield and Rachel Nordlinger
4. Overabundance resulting from language contact: Complex cell-mates in Gurindji Kriol, Felicity Meakins and Sasha Wilmoth
5. Derivation and the morphological complexity of three French-based creoles, Fabiola Henri, Gregory Stump, and Delphine Tribout
6. Simplification and complexification in Wolof noun morphology and morphosyntax, Michele Loporcaro
Part II: The crosslinguistic perspective
7. Canonical complexity, Johanna Nichols
8. The complexity of grammatical gender and language ecology, Francesca Di Garbo
9. Morphological complexity, autonomy, and areality in western Amazonia, Adam J. R. Tallman and Patience Epps
Part III: The acquisitional perspective
10. Radical analyticity as a diagnostic of adult acquisition, John H. McWhorter
11. Different trajectories of morphological overspecification and irregularity under imperfect language learning, Aleksandrs Berdicevskis and Arturs Semenuks
12. Where is morphological complexity?, Marianne Mithun
13. Morphological complexity and the minimum description length approach, Östen Dahl

The Complexities of Morphology

Edited by Peter Arkadiev and Francesco Gardani

Author Information

Peter Arkadiev, Senior Researcher, Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Francesco Gardani, Professor of Romance Linguistics, University of Zurich

Peter Arkadiev is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Assistant Professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities. His research interests include language typology and areal linguistics, morphology, case and alignment systems, tense and aspect, and Baltic and Northwest Caucasian languages. He is the co-editor of Contemporary Approaches to Baltic Linguistics (with Axel Holvoet and Björn Wiemer) and Borrowed Morphology (with Francesco Gardani and Nino Amiridze), both published by De Gruyter in 2015

Francesco Gardani is Professor of Romance Linguistics at the University of Zürich. He is co-Editor-in-Chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Romance Linguistics.

Contributors:

Peter Arkadiev, Russian Academy of Sciences
Aleksandrs Berdicevskis, University of Gothenburg
Östen Dahl, Stockholm University
Francesca Di Garbo, University of Helsinki
Francesco Gardani, University of Zurich
Patience Epps, University of Texas at Austin
Fabiola Henri, University of Kentucky
Michele Loporcaro, University of Zurich
John Mansfield, University of Melbourne
John H. McWhorter, Columbia University
Felicity Meakins, University of Queensland
Marianne Mithun, University of California, Santa Barbara
Johanna Nicholas, University of California, Berkeley
Rachel Nordlinger, University of Melbourne
Jeff Parker, Brigham Young University
Arturs Semenuks, University of California, San Diego
Andrea D. Sims, The Ohio State University
Gregory Stump, University of Kentucky
Adam J. R. Tallman, University of Lyon II
Delphine Tribout, University of Lille
Sasha Wilmoth, University of Melbourne