Most recent research in generative morphology has avoided the treatment                  of purely morphological phenomena and has focused instead on interface questions,                  such as the relation between morphology and syntax or between morphology and                  phonology. In this monograph Mark Aronoff argues that linguists must consider                  morphology by itself, not merely as an appendage of syntax and phonology, and that                  linguistic theory must allow for a separate and autonomous morphological                  component.Following a general introductory chapter, Aronoff examines two narrow                  classes of morphological phenomena to make his case: stems and inflectional classes.                  Concentrating first on Latin verb morphology, he argues that morphological stems are                  neither syntactic nor phonological units. Next,using data from a number of                  languages, he underscores the traditional point that the inflectional class of a                  word is not reducible to its syntactic gender. He then explores in detail the                  phonologically motivated nominal inflectional class system of two languages of Papua                  New Guinea (Arapeshand Yimas) and the precise nature of the relation between this                  system and the corresponding gender system. Finally,drawing on a number of Semitic                  languages, Aronoff argues that the verb classes of these languages are purely                  inflectional although they are partly motivated by derivational and syntactic                  considerations. Mark Aronoff is Professor of Linguistics at the State University of                  New York at Stony Brook.

Morphology by Itself: Stems and Inflectional Classes (Linguistic Inquiry Monographs) PDF

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