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A prosodic-cyclic theory of circumfix linearization

Evidence from abstract nominalizations in Indonesian

 | Universität Leipzig
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Leipzig University. The work in this paper was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation, grant 439622645).

Published online: 22 September 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.24043.teb
Abstract
This paper proposes a theory of circumfix linearization in Distributed Morphology. The core of the proposal is that circumfixation arises whenever one of two exponents of the same morphosyntactic feature has a prosodic subcategorization frame. This will be exemplified with data from Indonesian ke- -an nominalizations where facts regarding stress placement, the domain of nominalization and other grammatical processes point towards a prosodic-cyclic analysis. The analysis is extended to mode ɩP-circumfixes in Meskwaki, circuminfixes in Tlahuitoltepec Mixe, and prosodically conditioned circumfixes in German past participles.
Article outline
  • 1.The problem of circumfix linearization
  • 2.Nominalizing circumfixes in Indonesian
    • 2.1Domain of nominalizations
    • 2.2Exceptional extrametricality
    • 2.3Other processes
    • 2.4Problems of ordering
  • 3.A prosodic-cyclic analysis
    • 3.1Cyclic prosodification
    • 3.2Repositioning
    • 3.3Postcyclic reprosodification
    • 3.4A prosodic-cyclic theory of circumfixes
  • 4.Discussion of alternatives
    • 4.1Compounding, lexicalism and head movement
    • 4.2Bimorphemic alternatives
  • 5.Indonesian again
    • 5.1Abstract nominalizations of complex VPs
    • 5.2Peripherality and the suffix -nya
    • 5.3Concrete nominalizing suffix -an
    • 5.4Nominalizing nouns and adjectives with ke- -an
  • 6.Circumfixes in other languages
    • 6.1Meskwaki mode circumfixes attach to ιPs
    • 6.2Circum-infixes in Tlahuitoltepec Mixe
    • 6.3German participle circumfixes and head foots
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (89)
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