David Embick

This book presents an analysis of argument indexation, the process by which arguments in a clause are coindexed with grammatical markers that bear their features. The main case study is based on varieties of Sorani Kurdish (in the Iranian language family), whose indexation properties interact with an alignment split of the type often called 'split Ergative.' From this, the authors develop a more general theory that can be applied to many other languages. A key line of argument is that agreement and clitic movement operations target specific cases, in a process called 'Case Targeting'. The approach further hypothesizes that case labels like 'Nominative', 'Ergative', and so on are shorthand for decomposed feature bundles. It is these features that are targeted by syntactic operations (agreement and movement). In addition to requiring Case Targeting, the analysis of Sorani implies that syntactic operations (agreement, clitic movement) and their morphophonological reflexes may be mismatched: agreement and movement can both produce affixes and clitics, contrary to many views of morphosyntax/morphophonology relations. The book offers a detailed exploration of the implications of this approach, particularly for theories of case assignment.

From 1999-2004, David Embick and the late Morris Halle developed a compelling analysis of the Latin conjugation using the framework of Distributed Morphology. Though not finished during Halle’s lifetime, it remains remarkably relevant to ongoing research. Aspects of the Latin Conjugation makes this work available for the first time, and includes a preface and supplementary material putting the volume in its historical and theoretical context.

This book develops a theory of the morpheme in the framework of Distributed Morphology. Particular emphasis is devoted to the way in which functional morphemes receive their phonological form post-syntactically, through the operation of Vocabulary Insertion. In addition to looking closely at syncretism, the primary motivation for Vocabulary Insertion, the book examines allomorphy, blocking, and other key topics in the theory of the morpheme.

This book develops a theory of the morpheme in the framework of Distributed Morphology. Particular emphasis is devoted to the way in which functional morphemes receive their phonological form post-syntactically, through the operation of Vocabulary Insertion. In addition to looking closely at syncretism, the primary motivation for Vocabulary Insertion, the book examines allomorphy, blocking, and other key topics in the theory of the morpheme.