Same suffix different endings: paradigm-sensitive spell-out

Boban Arsenijevi

University of Potsdam / University of Ni

Claim: the spell-out of a morphological form
depends not only on the features that the
morphological form involves, but also on the spellout of other forms within the paradigm.
In the case of Serbo-Croatian (S-C) nouns in a,
the same feature Pauc receives a Sg spell-out if the
paradigm does not already contain Sg forms, or a
Pl spell-out if it does.
Empirical data
In S-C, FSg, NPl, paucal (Pauc) and collective
(Coll) forms all display homophonous nominative
suffixes, surfacing as -a.

and

Analysis

Marko Simonovi
Utrecht University

Coll forms, decline as FSg, also allow for a

morphosyntactic Sg agreement.

The paucal a is the same across the board.

All these nouns have both the Sg ad the Pl
semantics.

Coll shares the Pl semantics of Pauc and NPl,

licensing Pl agreement, but its singular
declension licenses morpho-syntactic Sg
agreement.

The difference between the declension of Coll

vs. NPl+Pauc is conditioned by the respective
paradigms.

(3)

NPl and Paucals belong to paradigms which

have singular forms the Sg declension is
taken, and they are forced into the Pl
declension.

a.
b.

c.

The MPl declension comes as the default.

(1) FSg, Coll, NPl and Pauc in a through case forms
Nom
Gen
Dat, Loc
Acc
Inst
Gloss

FSg
bub-a
bub-e:
bub-i
bub-u
bub-o:m
bug-FSg

Coll
gospod-a
gospod-e:
gospod-i
gospod-u
gospod-o:m
lord-Coll

NPl
Pauc
sel-a
sel-a
se:l-a:
se:l-a:
sel-ima sel-ima
sel-a
sel-a
sel-ima sel-ima
village-NPl/Pauc

Two of these classes take the FSg inflection,

while the other two take plural default MPl
endings.
Three of the four are semantically plural: Coll,
NPl and Pauc.
Arsenijevi (2016): NPl is actually Coll, and Coll
ivolves a paucal classifier all three involve a
paucal classifier.

d.
Coll nouns do not have a singular denoting
form within the paradigm (they either lack
singular denoting forms within the paradigm or
derive singulatives in in): their paradigm still
has available the Sg declension, and they take it
as the more default one FSg.
(2)

a. gospod-a
lord-Coll
b. stok-a
cattle-Coll

gospod-in
lord-Sgtv
grlo (stoke)
head (of cattle)

Buba
leti/*lete.
bug.FSg fly.3Sg/3Pl
The bug is flying.
Gospoda jede/jedu.
gentry
eat.3Sg/3Pl
The gentlemen are eating.
Sela
*gori/gore.
village.NPl burn.3Sg/3Pl
The villages are burning.
Dva sela
*gori/gore.
2
villages
burn.3Sg/3Pl
Two villages are burning.

2. Suffix -a is a rare stress-attracting inflection suffix

in S-C, spreading its prosodic shape across the
declension, except in the structural accusative case.
It shows this behavior in all four classes: FSg,
Coll, NPl and Pauc, in both declensions FSg
and MPl.
(4) The prosodic shape imposed by the suffix -a

Evidence
1.While FSg nouns which lack any plural semantics
never trigger plural agreement, the Pl Coll, NPl
and Pauc may induce Pl on the verb.

Nom
Gen
Dat, Loc
Acc
Inst

FSg
vod+aH > voHdaH
voHde:H
voHdiH
voHdu (base-prosody)
voHdo:mH

NPl
ramen+aH > rameHnaH
rame:Hna:H
rameHnimaH
rameHnaH
rameHnaH