Morphophonemics of Nisgha Plural Formation: A Step towards Proto-Tsimshian Reconstruction
To the purely descriptive linguist the Nisghal system of plural formation appears to be of great complexity. On the other hand, a generative phonological analysis of that system, carried as far as the data will allow, recovers an underlying morphological simplicity which has often been buried under...
| Published in: | Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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University of Kansas, Department of Linguistics
1983
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| Online Access: | https://journals.ku.edu/kwpl/article/view/17874 https://doi.org/10.17161/KWPL.1808.481 |
| Summary: | To the purely descriptive linguist the Nisghal system of plural formation appears to be of great complexity. On the other hand, a generative phonological analysis of that system, carried as far as the data will allow, recovers an underlying morphological simplicity which has often been buried under a multiplicity of morphophonemic rules and obscured by reformation. The depth of reconstruction possible in some cases gives promising hints of the possibilities for further internal and comparative reconstruction of Proto-Interior Tsimshian (underlying Nisgha and Gitksan) and ultimately Proto-Tsimshian, leading eventually to a much surer foundation for the tracing of areal and genetic relationships between the Tsimshianic and other language families. |
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