Imagining Life without Rules of Exponence and the Elsewhere Condition

An Evaluation of a Morphology as Syntax approach to Latin Noun Declension

Abstract

The notion that there are Rules of Exponence, that they compete, and that their competition is regulated by the Elsewhere Condition, is a point of consensus that unites many approaches to morphology which otherwise differ significantly in their core tenets, forming the cornerstone of the family of theories dubbed realizational. Recent work in the Morphology as Syntax (MaS) framework seeks to undermine this cornerstone. In its place, MaS proposes a non-realizational theory in which all allomorphy and morphotactics are captured using mechanisms which are familiar from syntactic theory, leaving no room for competition via the Elsewhere Condition. This paper describes a fragment of a grammar for Latin noun declension which I have developed in the MaS framework. The fragment highlights a number of interesting properties of MaS, including at least one which I will suggest weighs heavily against it: eschewal of the Elsewhere Condition comes at a steep price in the overall complexity of the system, and in particular in the amount of accidental homophony the account must assume.