Analogy in Contact: Modeling Maltese Plural Inflection

TL;DR

This study uses computational and information theoretic methods to analyze how phonology and etymology influence Maltese plural formation, revealing phonological pressures' significant role in shaping morphological patterns in contact languages.

Contribution

It introduces a novel computational approach to quantify the influence of phonology and etymology on Maltese plural morphology, highlighting phonological pressures' predictive power.

Findings

Phonology significantly predicts plural forms beyond etymology.

Phonological pressures influence the organization of Maltese lexicon.

Results support analogical theories of language change in contact contexts.

Abstract

Maltese is often described as having a hybrid morphological system resulting from extensive contact between Semitic and Romance language varieties. Such a designation reflects an etymological divide as much as it does a larger tradition in the literature to consider concatenative and non-concatenative morphological patterns as distinct in the language architecture. Using a combination of computational modeling and information theoretic methods, we quantify the extent to which the phonology and etymology of a Maltese singular noun may predict the morphological process (affixal vs. templatic) as well as the specific plural allomorph (affix or template) relating a singular noun to its associated plural form(s) in the lexicon. The results indicate phonological pressures shape the organization of the Maltese lexicon with predictive power that extends beyond that of a word's etymology, in line with analogical theories of language change in contact.