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In:Morphology by Serial Optimization
Edited by Gereon Müller
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 289] 2025
► pp. 306–343

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Multiple exponence in Finno-Ugric personal pronouns

Published online: 27 November 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/la.289.09pri
Abstract
This paper presents a study of personal pronouns in Finno-Ugric languages. Personal pronouns in these languages show a curious phenomenon of possessive exponents that duplicate φ-features of the pronominal root. While such duplication is attested in a vast majority of Uralic languages, it does not apply to all pronominal forms. The paper investigates the distribution of possessive marking within the paradigms and shows that it is governed by the case hierarchy (Blake 1994, Caha 2009). I suggest that the pattern instantiates partially superfluous extended exponence and requires a morphological analysis. I show that the data are straightforwardly derived under the harmonic serialist approach to inflectional morphology by employing the MinSat constraint proposed in Müller (2020) and the observable variation within Uralic can be accounted for by invoking harmonic alignment of scales and subsequent constraint conjunction, as proposed by Aissen (1999, 2003).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data
    • 2.1Overview
    • 2.2nom < acc …
    • 2.3… acc < gen …
    • 2.4… gen < dat …
    • 2.5… dat < others
    • 2.6Generalization
  • 3.Analysis
    • 3.1Proposal
    • 3.2Derivations
    • 3.3Restrictions on multiple exponence in Finno-Ugric languages
    • 3.4Affix order
  • 4.Alternative analyses
  • 5.Summary
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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