The Directionality and Locality of Allomorphic Conditioning in Optimal Construction Morphology

This paper explores the conditioning of allomorphy in Optimal Construction Morphology (OCM; Caballero & Inkelas 2013), a highly lexicalist theory of morphology.∗ OCM differs from other lexicalist theories (e.g. Lexical Morphology and Phonology (LMP;, Kiparsky 1982a,b)) in having both top-down and bottom-up design features. OCM’s unique architecture generates novel predictions regarding the directionality and locality of conditioning of morphological operations. In brief, OCM predicts that allomorphy which is conditioned by arbitrary properties of other morphs in the same word will exhibit an inside-out and potentially local character, whereas allomorphy which is conditioned by properties of the meaning of the word is subject neither to directionality nor to locality considerations. These predictions differ in some interesting ways from predictions arising out of Distributed Morphology (DM; see, e.g., Bobaljik 2000, Siddiqi 2006, Embick 2010, Harley & Tubino Blanco 2013, as well as the papers in this volume by Embick; Harley, Tubino Blanco & Haugen; and Gribanova & Harizanov). Section 2 introduces the basic structure of OCM, illustrating in section 2.3 how OCM derives both morphological blocking and multiple exponence effects. Section 3 reviews suppletive allo∗Acknowledgements