Stem internal morphology and its meanings: A typological survey
Hannah Sande, Professor
Linguistics
Applications for Spring 2026 are closed for this project.
Some morphology is affixal, appearing sequentially before or after roots to add derivational or inflectional meanings. In other cases, morphology is stem-internal: it affects the identity of vowels or consonants in the base, changes the tone or stress of the base, or even removes segmental content from the base. The literature on morphological typology predicts that derivational morphology will typically appear closer to roots than inflectional morphology, and since stem-internal morphology is as close to the root as any morpheme can get, one might predict that stem-internal morphology is more likely to be derivational than inflectional. While there is a study on derivational versus inflectional stem-internal morphology in signed languages (Aronoff et al 2005), no systematic study has been done on the meanings of stem-internal morphology in spoken languages, whether they are derivational or inflectional, and whether bases with stem-internal morphology in spoken languages can also take derivational or inflectional affixes (sequential morphemes). This collaborative typological study will address that gap, surveying the meanings and distributions of stem-internal morphology across languages based on existing descriptive linguistic resources.
Role: The undergraduate researchers involved in this project will be responsible for 1) scouring online and in-person library resources for descriptive linguistic materials, 2) carefully searching those materials for instances of stem-internal morphology, and 3) filling out a survey (a Google Form) for each instance of stem-internal morphology they encounter in order to systematically record the meanings and distributions of stem-internal morphology across languages. As a group, we will meet weekly to discuss our findings, brainstorm about how to categorize any confusing examples, and start to make sense of the results. There is a chance that this project will result in a collaborative presentation or publication.
Qualifications: Students should be familiar with basic descriptive linguistic terminology. As a bare minimum, students should have taken Ling 100, but even better if they have also taken any of Ling 111, 115, or 120 (phonology, morphology, or syntax).
Hours: to be negotiated
Social Sciences