Değişken Altbiçimlenmeye Çizgilesellik-dışı Engeller

Abstract

It has been widely observed that suppletive allomorphy (e.g., better blocking *good+er in English) respects some form of locality; however, it is still debated if the relevant metric of locality needs to be stated in linear terms or structural terms (Embick, 2010; Bobaljik, 2012; cf. Moskal and Smith, 2015). This study contributes to this debate by investigating the root allomorphy patterns in Laz, an endangered South Caucasian language spoken primarily in Turkey. In each case of root allomorphy in Laz, the root is required to be linearly adjacent to the morpheme that conditions the allomorphy. Moreover, Laz exhibits (what will be called) non-linear blocking effects on allomorphy: Some prefixes can prevent a suffix from conditioning allomorphy on the root. Importantly, this case constitutes evidence that linear adjacency is not a sufficient condition on suppletive allomorphy and is at odds with the view that the domain of grammar responsible for selecting exponents operates on linearized structures (cf. Embick, 2010).