English Prosodic Morphology

In the past years I have spent much of my time writing what in the end has become a very long book about very short words. What has emerged is a complex, but also a clear and empirically founded picture of the structural properties of English tr- cated words as well as an optimality-theoretic model of these properties in the research tradition of Prosodic Morphology. These will be of use to linguists int- ested in the structure of English as well as to those interested in phonological and / or morphological theory. I have deliberately kept separate the empirical analysis and the theoretical account of the data, so that the book can be used by scholars working within OT as well as by those who do not. Finally, the style as well as the structure of the text are such that the book may not only have an academic readership, but may also be recommended as supplementary reading in pertinent university courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The project had its origins in a small analysis of a few structural aspects of English truncated names that I did as part of the requirements for a graduate se- nar on Prosodic Morphology at the University of Marburg, taught by Ingo Plag and Birgit Alber.

Comprehensive empirical analysis of the major truncatory patterns in English Broad coverage of structural aspects (segmental, phonotactic, suprasegmental) Critical evaluation of pertinent theories in light of the empirical facts Optimality-theoretic implementation Systematic account of the variability within and between truncatory patterns

Klappentext

This is the first modern book-length empirical study and theoretical account of English truncatory processes. On the basis of a corpus comprising some 3000 derivatives, the book provides a systematic investigation of the structural properties of six different patterns of English name truncation and word clipping. All patterns are shown to be unique in terms of the structural requirements that they impose on their outputs.

The book presents an optimality-theoretic account of the data in the framework of Prosodic Morphology. Pertinent theoretical claims are evaluated in the light of the empirical findings from English, leading to an analysis which can successfully predict canonical form in truncation and which incorporates systematic variability in output structure. This volume is a contribution to the study of both English word-formation and English phonology, and can be used by scholars working inside and outside OT alike.

Inhalt
English Prosodic Morphology: Morphology.- English Prosodic Morphology: Prosody.- The Patterns.- The Structure of Monosyllabic Truncated Names.- The Structure of Y-Hypocoristics.- The Structure of Clippings.- Constraint Interaction: Word Structure.- Constraint Interaction: Syllable Structure.- Constraint Interaction: Cluster Phonotactics.- Constraint Interaction: Segmental Changes.