Morphology at the interfaces: Reduplication and noun incorporation in Uto-Aztecan. By Jason D. Haugen. (Linguistics today 117.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2008. Pp. xv, 257. ISBN 9789027255006. $165.
Reviewed by Alexandra Galani, University of Ioannina

Jason D. Haugen discusses reduplication, noun incorporation, and related derivational morphological phenomena based on comparative data from the Uto-Aztecan language family. The data aim to shed further light on issues related to the morphology-phonology interface (reduplication) and the morphology-syntax interface (noun incorporation). The theoretical claims are made within distributed morphology. H also discusses polysynthesis as a new parameter that contributes toward an analysis of the historical development of the Uto-Aztecan language family.

The book is divided into four parts (nine chapters) in addition to the preface (ix–x), the introduction (xi–xv), the references section (231–49), and the language (251–53) and subject indices (255–57).
Part 1, ‘Background’, consists of two chapters. In Ch. 1 (1–16), H offers information about the Uto-Aztecan language family classification and an overview of certain aspects related to word order, sentence structure, and subject and object clitics in Uto-Aztecan. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion on the origins of the Uto-Aztecan community. In Ch. 2 (17–32), accounts that are related to syntactic variation are presented before moving to a sketch of the principles of distributed morphology, which are adopted in this work in order to explain morphosyntactic reconstruction.

Part 2 (33–86) discusses prosodic morphology and consists of two chapters. In Ch. 3 (33–67), H explores reduplication patterns in comparative Uto-Aztecan data (Yaqui, Mayo, Guarijio, Nahuatl, Numic, Tepecano, and Tohono O’odham). He considers reduplicative morphemes to be prosodic pieces, and in Ch. 4 (69–86), he theoretically accounts for them within distributed morphology.

Part 3, ‘Derivational morphology’, consists of three chapters. In Ch. 5 (87–115), data on denominal verbs and noun incorporation into verb structures from Hopi are presented in order to support the view that noun incorporation and denominal verb formation should not be seen as two different kinds of morphological processes. This view is further supported in Ch. 6 (117–62) with data from Comanche, Cupeno, Hopi, Tohono O’oldam, Yaqui, and Nahuatl. In Ch. 7 (163–204), H theoretically accounts for the empirical data presented in Ch. 6. He takes a syntactic view on word formation where head-movement and merge are the main operations to apply.

Part 4, ‘Change in morphological type’, consists of two chapters. In Ch. 8 (205–27), H discusses the diachronic development of polysynthesis in Nahuatl. The book concludes in Ch. 9 (229–30) with an overview of the main points discussed in each chapter.

This is an interesting book on the interfaces of morphology with syntax and with phonology. The interested reader can easily follow the empirical data as well as the theoretical discussions. It nicely presents relevant literature reviews, and the author manages to connect comparative data with theoretical analyses from a diachronic and a synchronic point of view.