A new contribution to linguistic theory, this book presents a formal framework for the analysis of word structure in human language. It sets forth the network of hypotheses constituting Paradigm Function Morphology, a theory of inflectional form. The book differs from other recent works on the same subject in that it treats inflectional morphology as an autonomous system of principles rather than as a subsystem of syntax or phonology and it draws on evidence from a diverse range of languages in motivating the proposed conception of word structure.

Gregory T. Stump is Associate Professor of English and Linguistics in the Department of English at the University of Kentucky. He is the author of The Semantic Variability of Absolute Constructions (1985) and has published numerous articles in such journals as the Journal of Linguistics, Language, Linguistic Analysis, Linguistics, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory and the Yearbook of Morphology.

Acknowledgments; List of abbreviations; 1. Inferential-realizational morphology; 2. Paradigm functions; 3. Rule competition; 4. Headedness; 5. Rule blocks; 6. Stem alternations; 7. Syncretism; 8. Conclusions, extensions and alternatives; Notes; References; Index.