Distributed Morphology

Distributed Morphology is a syntactic theory of word formation on which there is no autonomous lexicon: words are assembled by the syntax from abstract feature bundles, with phonological forms inserted late.

Definition

Distributed Morphology is a framework in which the building of words is distributed across the grammar rather than confined to a lexicon: syntax combines abstract morphemes, and phonological exponents are supplied afterward by competing Vocabulary Items.

Scope

This topic covers Distributed Morphology (DM): its rejection of a generative lexicon, the assembly of words by syntactic operations, late insertion of Vocabulary Items into terminal nodes, the principle of underspecification governing competition for insertion, and post-syntactic operations such as fusion and impoverishment. It does not cover the broader lexicalism debate or other interface phenomena, which are treated in sibling topics.

Core questions

• How can words be built by the syntax rather than in a lexicon?
• What is late insertion, and how do Vocabulary Items compete to realise terminal nodes?
• How does underspecification determine the choice of exponent?
• What post-syntactic operations adjust structures before phonological realisation?

Key concepts

• no autonomous lexicon
• late insertion
• Vocabulary Item
• underspecification
• fusion and fission
• impoverishment
• roots and categorising heads

Key theories

Late insertion and the separation of features from form

The DM principle that syntactic terminals contain only abstract morphosyntactic and semantic features, with phonological content added afterward by Vocabulary Insertion, separating the pieces of a word from their exponents.

Underspecification and competition

The account on which Vocabulary Items are underspecified and compete to realise a terminal node, the most specific compatible item winning, deriving syncretism and elsewhere effects.

History

Distributed Morphology was introduced by Halle and Marantz (1993) within the broader generative programme, as a syntactic alternative to lexicalist morphology. It proposed that words are built by the syntax and realised by late insertion of underspecified Vocabulary Items. Harley and Noyer (1999) provided an overview, and Embick and Noyer (2007) systematised its treatment of the syntax-morphology interface, including post-syntactic operations.

Debates

Single engine versus separate morphology

Whether word formation uses the same syntactic engine as sentence formation, as DM claims, or requires an autonomous morphological component, as lexicalist theories maintain.

Key figures

• Morris Halle
• Alec Marantz
• Rolf Noyer
• Heidi Harley
• David Embick

Seminal works

• hallemarantz1993
• harleynoyer1999
• embicknoyer2007

Frequently asked questions

What does 'distributed' mean in Distributed Morphology?

It means the work traditionally assigned to a single lexicon is distributed across several components of the grammar: syntactic feature bundles, a Vocabulary that supplies phonological forms, and an Encyclopedia that supplies idiosyncratic meaning.

What is late insertion?

Late insertion is the idea that phonological forms are added only after the syntax has built structure. The syntax manipulates abstract features, and only at the end are Vocabulary Items inserted to give those features a pronounceable shape.