An apparent case of outwardly-sensitive allomorphy in the Armenian definite

Abstract

Cross-linguistically, it is rare to find cases of phonologically-conditioned allomorphy where the trigger morpheme lies external to the target morpheme. At first sight, the Armenian definite suffix seems to be such a case. The definite suffix uses various surface forms. The choice of surface form is conditioned by the preceding segment, the following clitic, and/or the following word. However, we argue that this outward sensitivity is epiphenomenal and not actual allomorphy. We derive the surface forms by using an abstract underlying representation that uses floating segments or ghost segments. These segments go through rigid cycles of spell-out and phonological strata. Constraint re-rankings of autosegmental docking, phrasal resyllabification, and cluster avoidance explain a range of dialectal variation. In sum, the Armenian definite suffix is one case of an apparent case of outwardly-sensitive allomorphy that is reducible to latent segments.