Towards a theory of morphology-driven marking in the lexicon: The case of the state

TL;DR

This paper introduces a formal model called morphology-driven marking to explain how noun forms vary across languages, linking morphological patterns to syntactic functions and proposing a broader concept of state in synthetic languages.

Contribution

It presents a novel formal model organizing nouns into cognitive sets with morphological templates, extending the concept of state to syntactic inflections across languages.

Findings

The model explains variations in noun marking within and across languages.

Reassesses markedness and state in the context of syntactic functions.

Proposes extending the concept of state to all synthetic languages.

Abstract

All languages have a noun category, but its realisation varies considerably. Depending on the language, semantic and/or morphosyntactic differences may be more or less pronounced. This paper explores these variations, using Riffian as a reference point before extending the analysis to other languages. We propose a formal model termed morphology-driven marking. Nouns are organised into modular cognitive sets, each with its own morphological template and unmarked form. This approach helps explain differences in marking among noun types within and across languages. By situating these patterns within syntactic functions, we also reassess the notions of markedness and state. It is proposed that the concept of state be extended to all synthetic languages and analysed a novel subcategory of syntax-based inflection like agreement and grammatical case.