The syntax in Tlingit verbs ...

• Main Author: Crippen, James A.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2020
• Subjects: tlingit
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0388221; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0388221

Tlingit verbs appear to be single phonological words but they are constructed from a large number of distinct morphological elements that correspond to argument structure, event structure, aspect, mood, modality, tense, and qualia. Previous analyses have accounted for the verbal morphology of Tlingit with opaque position class template systems. These systems present the internal structure of verbs as arbitrary and do not address the many dependencies between elements. This dissertation argues that the Tlingit verb implements a regular syntax with each morpheme instantiating a syntactic terminal. Ordering within the verb word is a consequence of regular syntactic structure with all dependencies between elements reflecting selection and agreement phenomena. The verb-internal syntax requires no extraordinary theoretical mechanisms: Tlingit verb morphology is neither unique nor problematic from a theoretical perspective. To demonstrate this argument, this dissertation develops a formal theoretical model of ...