Canonical and non-canonical conversion in Baltic

Abstract

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anonical and non-canonical conversion in Latvian and Lithuanian (Baltic, Indo-European) is discussed by applying the following criteria: (A) identity of form, (B) word-class change, and (C) the absence of dedicated derivational affixes. The absolute identity of form and the realization of (B) and (C) are found in the conversion of non-inflecting word classes, and deviations from that canon are seen in the word-class changing and word-class retaining conversion of inflecting words. They obligatorily change their inflection patterns and their base stems are optionally affected by vowel, consonant, and tone alternations as well as by truncation. The inflection patterns are altered in two ways: paradigm assignment (mostly replacement of the paradigm of the input with that of the output) and paradigm adjustment (mostly restriction of the paradigm when the output has fewer paradigm cells than the input). It is agreed with Štekauer, Valera and Körtvélyessy (2012) that due to criterion (C), conversion can be classified alongside other non-concatenative word-formation processes.