Non-inflectional Multiple Exponence in Nuu-chah-nulth: The Case of Multiple Occurrences of Alternation-accompanying Affixes

Abstract

This study examines word-internal base modifications (i.e., vowel lengthening/ shortening and/or reduplication) accompanied with non-inflectional suffixes in Nuu-chah-nulth (Wakashan), focusing on multiple occurrences of the alternation-accompanying suffixes. When more than one such suffix occurs on any given word, the base modification occurs just once, regardless of vowel length adjustment or reduplication. This phenomenon is problematic to Templatic approaches in that the Template satisfaction condition of prosodic morphology is violated. This study provides a formal analysis within the framework of Word-and-Paradigm (WP), by expanding the WP approach to derivational morphology. By applying more than one Word Formation Rule to the same base, the lack of double reduplication/triple-long vowel is elegantly accounted for.