Properties Of Suffixes Research Articles

A Study of Vowel Deletion in English: A Foot-Based Approach

This study focuses on the deletion of base-final unstressed vowels when a base word is followed by a set of suffixes in English. The traditional analysis assumes that a schwa is inserted between consonants of the base-final syllable consisting of an obstruent followed by sonorants [r, l, m]. Contrary to this, we argue that the schwa before the [r] is underlying rather than an epenthetic. The schwa in rhythm[ðəm]~rhythmic is epenthetic while it is underlying in winter[tər]~wintry. The difference of the schwa can be observed in the realizations of the following word pairs: rhythm[ðəm]~rhythmize[ðmayz] and winter[tər]~winterize[tərayz]. If the schwa in winterize is epenthetic, there must be a proper reason to justify the presence of the schwa in winterize. Concerning the schwa deletion in wintry, we argue that the unstressed vowel deletes to achieve exhaustive syllable parsing into feet. The preservation of the same schwa in winterize is ascribed to blocking stress-class if the schwa deletes in the output. The realization of the schwa in the base-final syllable is decided by the properties of suffixes that belong to different suffix classes. It indicates that variant sets of suffixes behave differently in the base-final schwa realizations in English. A constraint-based analysis in this study tries to explain these by using two different constraint rankings.

The Word-Formation Structure of Toponyms (Examples From Rađevina)

The purpose of the present study is to demonstrate that a model of word-formation analysis used in the study of Old Serbian toponyms can also be applied in modern toponymy. This type of word-formation analysis reflects the presence of various toponomastic types in the onomasticon of Rađevina. The applicability of the word-formation analysis of toponyms in modern and historical toponymy reveals a certain kind of stability and everlastingness of word-formation patterns in toponymy. By analysing modern toponymic materials and comparing them with historical toponymy at the level of general models we learn which word-formative types were more productive in the past, which possessive types were more common than today, which suffixes involved in univerbation were used, etc. In order to discuss the properties of suffixes in the toponymy of a particular region it is necessary to observe them from a spatial and temporal distance.

The Iconicity of Lengthening and Reduplicating Suffixes in Nuuchahnulth

The Wakashan languages are well known for their prodigious array of lexical suffixes. Adding considerably to the complexity of their formal behavior is the lengthening and/or reduplication that many of them cause in the bases to which they attach. Focusing on Nuuchahnulth, I show in this paper that this is by no means arbitrary, comparable to the “hardening” or “softening” properties of suffixes, but is broadly iconic in nature. Their relationship to the aspectual templates of the language is seen to be rather indirect. Both the templates and specific semantic subgroupings of lexical suffixes form “radial categories” around a prototypical aspectual core, with more peripheral, extended meanings projected out stepwise from the core.