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SUMMARY:Linguistics Colloquium: Dr. Joyce McDonough
DESCRIPTION:The units in a polysynthetic word: a paradigm-driven approach to Dene verb structure
Dr. Joyce McDonough, University of Rochester
Polysynthetic languages pose acute problems to theories of word  formation and phonology / syntax interfaces because of the sheer amount  of information encoded inside the verb complex, combined with the  difficulty of encoding paradigmatic variation into models  which use analytic units as primes. Many researchers working on  polysynthetic languages have pointed out the compromised nature of terms  like 'morpheme', which is atheoretically understood to be a  'sound-meaning unit' but has no formal definition in the grammar.   In this talk, a ground-up approach to the internal structure of the  Dene verb will be taken. Evidence from instrumental phonetics,  phonological, phonotactic patterns and behavorial studies will be used  to delineate elements in the speech stream that are likely  to emerge as units of word formation in the verbal complex. A very  different view of the verb structure emerges that eschews the classic  template approach and aligns itself with  studies on the role of  paradigms and conjugations in word formation processes.
LOCATION:Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6
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