Wordhood Typology: ms-words vs p-words #

@cite{kalin-bjorkman-etal-2026}

@cite{kalin-bjorkman-etal-2026} (§3.2) argue that solving the wordhood problem requires distinguishing at minimum two notions of "word":

ms-word (morphosyntactic/grammatical word): a constituent containing one or more morphemes, contained in a morphosyntactic phrase. Identified by cohesiveness, fixed internal order, selectivity, and domainhood for morphological operations (§3.2.1).
p-word (phonological/prosodic word): a constituent containing one or more syllables grouped into feet, contained in a phonological phrase. Identified by phonotactic bounding and edge phenomena (§3.2.2).

Crossing ms-boundedness (bound vs free) with p-boundedness yields a four-way typology of morpheme attachment (Table 3):

	ms-free	ms-bound
p-free	canonical word	non-cohering affix
p-bound	simple clitic	canonical affix

This classification connects Morphology.Diagnostics (Zwicky & Pullum's clitic-vs-affix criteria, which diagnose ms-boundedness) with Phonology.ProsodicWord (PrWd structure, which diagnoses p-boundedness).

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inductive Core.Morphology.Wordhood.MSBoundedness :

Type

Morphosyntactic boundedness: whether an element must be internal to a (complex) ms-word.

ms-bound elements are diagnosed by cohesiveness (the ms-word they belong to cannot be interrupted), fixed order (their position within the ms-word is rigid), and selectivity (they are picky about what they attach to). @cite{kalin-bjorkman-etal-2026} §3.2.1.

ms-free elements are independent ms-words: they can be reordered with respect to other ms-words, separated from them, etc.

free : MSBoundedness
bound : MSBoundedness

Instances For

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@[implicit_reducible]

instance Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instDecidableEqMSBoundedness :

DecidableEq MSBoundedness

Equations

Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instDecidableEqMSBoundedness x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

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@[implicit_reducible]

instance Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprMSBoundedness :

Repr MSBoundedness

Equations

Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprMSBoundedness = { reprPrec := Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprMSBoundedness.repr }

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def Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprMSBoundedness.repr :

MSBoundedness → Nat → Std.Format

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One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

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inductive Core.Morphology.Wordhood.PBoundedness :

Type

Phonological/prosodic boundedness: whether an element must be internal to a (complex) p-word.

p-bound elements are diagnosed by participating in p-word-bounded phonological processes (vowel harmony, stress assignment, nasal assimilation) and not exhibiting independent p-word edge phenomena. @cite{kalin-bjorkman-etal-2026} §3.2.2.

p-free elements form their own p-word: they satisfy minimal word constraints independently, trigger p-word edge phenomena, and block cross-boundary processes.

free : PBoundedness
bound : PBoundedness

Instances For

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@[implicit_reducible]

instance Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instDecidableEqPBoundedness :

DecidableEq PBoundedness

Equations

Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instDecidableEqPBoundedness x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

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@[implicit_reducible]

instance Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprPBoundedness :

Repr PBoundedness

Equations

Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprPBoundedness = { reprPrec := Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprPBoundedness.repr }

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def Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprPBoundedness.repr :

PBoundedness → Nat → Std.Format

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One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

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structure Core.Morphology.Wordhood.WordhoodProfile :

Type

A morpheme's wordhood profile: its boundedness on both the morphosyntactic and phonological/prosodic dimensions. @cite{kalin-bjorkman-etal-2026} Table 3.

ms : MSBoundedness
Morphosyntactic boundedness.
p : PBoundedness
Phonological/prosodic boundedness.

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def Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instDecidableEqWordhoodProfile.decEq (x✝ x✝¹ : WordhoodProfile) :

Decidable (x✝ = x✝¹)

Equations

Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instDecidableEqWordhoodProfile.decEq { ms := a, p := a_1 } { ms := b, p := b_1 } = if h : a = b then h ▸ if h : a_1 = b_1 then h ▸ isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

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@[implicit_reducible]

instance Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instDecidableEqWordhoodProfile :

DecidableEq WordhoodProfile

Equations

Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instDecidableEqWordhoodProfile = Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instDecidableEqWordhoodProfile.decEq

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@[implicit_reducible]

instance Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprWordhoodProfile :

Repr WordhoodProfile

Equations

Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprWordhoodProfile = { reprPrec := Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprWordhoodProfile.repr }

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def Core.Morphology.Wordhood.instReprWordhoodProfile.repr :

WordhoodProfile → Nat → Std.Format

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One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

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inductive Core.Morphology.Wordhood.WordhoodClass :

Type

The four-way classification of morpheme attachment from Table 3. @cite{kalin-bjorkman-etal-2026} §3.2.3.

canonicalWord : WordhoodClass
ms-free, p-free: an independent word by both criteria. Example: English cat.
simpleClitic : WordhoodClass
ms-free, p-bound: syntactically independent but phonologically dependent. Requires prosodic incorporation (e.g., Clitic Group). Example: English possessive -'s, Romance clitics. @cite{zwicky-1977}
nonCoheringAffix : WordhoodClass
ms-bound, p-free: morphosyntactically part of a word but phonologically independent (forms own p-word). Example: Dutch non-cohering prefixes.
canonicalAffix : WordhoodClass
ms-bound, p-bound: part of a word by both criteria. Example: English plural -s, past tense -ed.