Inflectional Defectiveness by Andrea D Sims

Inflectional Defectiveness by Andrea D Sims

Paradigmatic gaps ('missing' inflected forms) have traditionally been considered to be the random detritus of a language's history and marginal exceptions to the normal functioning of its inflectional system. Arguing that this is a misperception, Inflectional Defectiveness demonstrates that paradigmatic gaps are in fact normal and expected products of inflectional structure. Sims offers an accessible exploration of how and why inflectional defectiveness arises, why it persists, and how it is learned. The book presents a theory of morphology which is rooted in the implicative structure of the paradigm. This systematic exploration of the topic also addresses questions of inflection class organization, the morphology-syntax interface, the structure of the lexicon, and the nature of productivity. Presenting a novel synthesis of established research and new empirical data, this work is significant for researchers and graduate students in all fields of linguistics.

'Sims' study is an important contribution to our understanding of inflectional systemsIt is a very wide-ranging survey of defectiveness and makes a compelling case for treating it as an important and often very systematic property of inflectional systems. At the same time the book provides a clear and readable survey of the key features of the information-theoretic word-and-paradigm model, and shows how defectiveness can provide a strong motivation for that model.' Andrew Spencer, University of Essex
'In Inflection Defectiveness, Andrea D. Sims shines a light on a specific, controversial, problematic, and therefore often ignored aspect of many of the world's languages. In doing so, the author describes a number of paradigmatic gaps in multiple languages.' Daniel Walter, The Linguist List

Andrea D. Sims is Assistant Professor in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures at Ohio State University. Her research interests include theoretical morphology, the morphology-syntax interface, the organization of the lexicon, and the relationship between lexical processing and morphological structure.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781107623712
ISBN 10	1107623715
Title	Inflectional Defectiveness
Author	Andrea D Sims
Series	Cambridge Studies In Linguistics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2019-05-09
Number of pages	331
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.