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On 25.01.19 11:29, Sebastian Nordhoff wrote:<br>
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<pre wrap="">On 1/25/19 10:27 AM, Martin Haspelmath wrote:
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<pre wrap="">*a welded form is one that shows segmental phonological interaction *with its neighbour.
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I can't help wondering whether "phonologically conditioned allomorphy"
would not be an existing concept which has identical properties to the
concept of "welding":
- there are two or more forms to choose from
- the choice of form depends on the shape of the "neighbour"
Best wishes
Sebastian</pre>
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<br>
Yes, a welded bound form would always exhibit "phonologically
conditioned allomorphy", but the latter notion is much broader and
not well-defined. For one thing, the "allomorph" concept depends on
the "morpheme" concept, on which there is no agreement, and much
confusion. For example, are German <i>-er</i> and <i>-en</i>
allomorphs of a single {PL} morpheme? Are English <i>-ness</i> and
<i>-ity</i> allomorphs of a single {ABSTR.NOUN} morpheme? Are French
<i>tomb(-er)</i> 'fall' and <i>chute</i> 'fall' allomorphs of a
single {FALL} morpheme?<br>
<br>
If one includes such suppletive alternants under "allomorphy" (as
almost everyone does), then one also has phonologically conditioned
allomorphs that are not welded forms according to the proposed
definition (because these must be variants of the same form) (cf.
Carstairs 1988 on "phonologically conditioned suppletion").<br>
<br>
For example, Dutch has the plural forms <i>-s</i> and <i>-en</i>,
which are distributed according to phonological conditions, and the
division of labour between the English suffixes <i>-ize</i> and <i>-ify</i>
(<i>computer-ize, French-ify</i>) is also more phonological than
anything else, it seems. There is no weldedness in Dutch <i>-s</i>
or English <i>-ize</i>.<br>
<br>
I find the notions of "form" and "form variant" (= a form with a
somewhat different shape due to a phonetically natural sound
alternation) much more viable than the traditional "morpheme" and
"allomorph" notions (the confusion of "morpheme" has not improved
since Mugdan's (1986) paper, where he traced the diverse uses of
this term since the 1880s).<br>
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cite="mid:07babd3d-f886-a256-6ae3-61292b9af633@glottotopia.de"
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Best,<br>
Martin<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Martin Haspelmath (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:haspelmath@shh.mpg.de">haspelmath@shh.mpg.de</a>)
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10
D-07745 Jena
&
Leipzig University
Institut fuer Anglistik
IPF 141199
D-04081 Leipzig
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