Leggbo Verb Inflection: A Semantic and Phonological Particle Analysis

Abstract

The goals of this paper are to present, first, a featural analysis of the inflectional system of oppositions which are explicitly marked on Leggbo verbs, specifically, aspect, mood, polarity and clause type; and second, an account of how this system of oppositions is realized in morphological terms. It will be seen that the inflectionally marked categories are organized in terms of a fixed hierarchy of privative features or "particles" which compete for expression within the Leggbo verb paradigm.