Suffix Reclassification and Consonant Cluster Simplification of English

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reclassify English suffixes into two groups in order to explain the phenomenon of English consonant alternation more adequately. English suffixes are divided into two classes depending on their phonological behavior both in stress shift and segmental alternation. Class 1 suffixes were claimed to induce both stress shift and segmental alternation, whereas Class 2 suffixes were believed to play no role in both areas. However, this traditional classification encounters a serious challenge due to Affix Ordering Paradox and incompatibility of stress shift with segmental alternation. One of the solutions Kim (2015) proposes is to separate the issue of stress shift from that of segmental alternation. Kim (2015) takes a tonal and metrical approach to the stress in derived words without reliance on the traditional suffix classification. Leaving the stress issue to this approach, we are still required to explain the remaining issues, i.e., Affix Ordering Paradox and segmental alternation. To resolve these remaining issues, this paper aims to reclassify suffixes into two types depending solely upon their behavior in consonant alternation. This new approach never evokes Ordering Paradox, and explains segmental alternation by way of two Output-to-Output Constraints more appropriately.