A palatalizer uncovers root sizes of Ukrainian verbs

Abstract

Abstract This paper investigates the interaction between roots and suffixes in the present tense of Ukrainian verbs. Using Nanosyntax, we propose an analysis based on root size to show how different roots select the correct class markers, giving rise to two distinct conjugation classes. Our analysis also accounts for the 1sg, where the class markers are absent. We show that, despite their absence, the two classes remain distinguishable through the presence versus absence of an additional morpheme, a palatalizer. The palatalizer is identified by observing systematic root alternations in one of the two classes. We decompose palatalization into ingredients and examine how they are stored in the lexicon, showing that one of the two palatalizers is an independent morpheme. The discovery of this additional morpheme helps uncover the root sizes of the two classes.