Kalin et al. (2026): The Morphology/Syntax Interface #
This file formalizes Kalin, Bjorkman et al.'s map of the morphology/syntax interface. Section 2 sets
out the dimensions along which theories vary: whether the morphology is a component separate from
the syntax, lexicalism; the timing of the two computations, an architecture that is parallel or
pre-syntactic exactly in the lexicalist theories and syntactic or post-syntactic in the
non-lexicalist ones, (4); whether complex forms arise from pieces or from processes, which
implicates lexicalism; and whether exponents are independent of the features they realize,
realizational, or built up with them, incremental. Table 2 places seven theories in the space of
lexicalism, mapping and exponence, and its two empty cells are exactly the non-lexicalist
process-based ones (unattested_iff), the four representative theories' architectures agreeing with
their lexicalism (architecture_lexicalism). Section 3 separates the morphosyntactic word,
diagnosed by cohesiveness, fixed order, selectivity and domainhood, from the phonological word, and
crosses the two kinds of boundness into Table 3's cells (WordhoodProfile.classify, rows_cells);
Zwicky and Pullum's diagnostics place the English plural affix in the canonical-affix cell and the
auxiliary clitic in the simple-clitic cell (plural_s_canonicalAffix). Section 4 distinguishes
seven form-meaning mappings and Table 4 records how each representative theory treats each; the
theories that treat some non-one-to-one mapping as genuine are exactly the realizational ones
(handlesNatively_iff_realizational), the purely syntactic Morphology as Syntax reanalyses every
one (mas_reanalyses), and no theory treats morphological gaps natively (no_theory_handles_gaps).
Implementation notes #
- Table 4 is the Element's own classification of the theories, carried as data; the theorems over it are the Element's readings of the table, and the cross-table theorem relates it to Table 2.
- The p-boundness of an element is not derived; the wordhood rows carry both boundnesses and the cell, and only the morphosyntactic side of the English affix and clitic is read off Zwicky and Pullum's profiles.
References #
The dimensions of the interface (Section 2.1) #
Whether the morphology is a component separate from the syntax, Section 2.1.1.
- lexicalist : Lexicalism
- nonLexicalist : Lexicalism
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqLexicalism x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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The timing of morphology and syntax, (4).
- syntactic : Architecture
- parallel : Architecture
- preSyntactic : Architecture
- postSyntactic : Architecture
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqArchitecture x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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An architecture's lexicalism, Section 2.1.2: the parallel and pre-syntactic architectures are inherently lexicalist, the syntactic and post-syntactic ones inherently not.
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Architecture.parallel.lexicalism = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Lexicalism.lexicalist
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Architecture.preSyntactic.lexicalism = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Lexicalism.lexicalist
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Architecture.syntactic.lexicalism = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Lexicalism.nonLexicalist
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Architecture.postSyntactic.lexicalism = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Lexicalism.nonLexicalist
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Whether complex forms arise from the concatenation of stored pieces or from processes applied to a stem, Section 2.1.3.
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqExponence x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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Whether exponents realize features given in advance or are built up with them, Section 2.1.4.
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqMapping x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instReprCell = { reprPrec := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instReprCell.repr }
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqTheory x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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Table 2.
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Table 2's empty cells are exactly the non-lexicalist process-based ones, Section 2.4: a process-based morphology computes unlike the syntax, Section 2.1.3.
Distributed Morphology and Nanosyntax share a cell; they differ in mechanism, phrasal against terminal spellout, not in these dimensions.
The four theories Sections 2.2 and 2.3 present in detail and Table 4 compares.
- pfm : Representative
- mas : Representative
- nanosyntax : Representative
- dm : Representative
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqRepresentative x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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The theory a column of Table 4 names.
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.pfm.theory = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Theory.paradigmFunctionMorphology
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.mas.theory = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Theory.morphologyAsSyntax
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.nanosyntax.theory = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Theory.nanosyntax
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.dm.theory = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Theory.distributedMorphology
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The architectures of Sections 2.2 and 2.3: Paradigm Function Morphology is parallel, Morphology as Syntax syntactic, Distributed Morphology and Nanosyntax post-syntactic.
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.pfm.architecture = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Architecture.parallel
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.mas.architecture = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Architecture.syntactic
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.nanosyntax.architecture = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Architecture.postSyntactic
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.dm.architecture = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Architecture.postSyntactic
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Each representative theory's architecture has the lexicalism of its Table 2 cell.
Wordhood (Section 3.2) #
Morphosyntactic boundness, Section 3.2.1: necessarily internal to a morphosyntactic word.
- free : MSBoundness
- bound : MSBoundness
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqMSBoundness x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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Phonological boundness, Section 3.2.2: necessarily internal to a phonological word.
- free : PBoundness
- bound : PBoundness
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqPBoundness x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.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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The cells of Table 3.
- canonicalWord : WordhoodClass
- simpleClitic : WordhoodClass
- nonCoheringAffix : WordhoodClass
- canonicalAffix : WordhoodClass
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqWordhoodClass x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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Table 3: crossing the two boundnesses.
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- { ms := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.free, p := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.PBoundness.free }.classify = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.canonicalWord
- { ms := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.free, p := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.PBoundness.bound }.classify = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.simpleClitic
- { ms := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.bound, p := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.PBoundness.free }.classify = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.nonCoheringAffix
- { ms := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.bound, p := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.PBoundness.bound }.classify = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.canonicalAffix
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The boundnesses of a cell.
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.canonicalWord.profile = { ms := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.free, p := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.PBoundness.free }
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.simpleClitic.profile = { ms := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.free, p := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.PBoundness.bound }
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.nonCoheringAffix.profile = { ms := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.bound, p := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.PBoundness.free }
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.canonicalAffix.profile = { ms := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.bound, p := KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.PBoundness.bound }
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Table 3 is a bijection between profiles and cells.
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A morphosyntactic status of [ZP83]'s diagnostics is a boundness, Section 3.2.3: a clitic is a morphosyntactically free element, an affix a bound one.
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.msBoundness Morphology.Diagnostics.MorphStatus.freeWord = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.free
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.msBoundness Morphology.Diagnostics.MorphStatus.simpleClitic = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.free
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.msBoundness Morphology.Diagnostics.MorphStatus.specialClitic = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.free
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.msBoundness Morphology.Diagnostics.MorphStatus.inflAffix = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.bound
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.msBoundness Morphology.Diagnostics.MorphStatus.derivAffix = KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.bound
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The English plural is a canonical affix and the auxiliary clitic a simple clitic: their morphosyntactic side from [ZP83]'s profiles, both phonologically bound.
A row of Table 3: the two boundnesses and the cell.
- profile : WordhoodProfile
- cell : WordhoodClass
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.msOf "free" = some KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.free
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.msOf "bound" = some KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MSBoundness.bound
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.msOf x✝ = none
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.pOf "free" = some KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.PBoundness.free
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.pOf "bound" = some KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.PBoundness.bound
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.pOf x✝ = none
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.cellOf "canonicalWord" = some KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.canonicalWord
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.cellOf "simpleClitic" = some KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.simpleClitic
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.cellOf "nonCoheringAffix" = some KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.nonCoheringAffix
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.cellOf "canonicalAffix" = some KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.WordhoodClass.canonicalAffix
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.cellOf x✝ = none
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A row from the paper's features.
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The Element's printed examples of three of the four cells: cat, plural -s and possessive -s; the fourth, the non-cohering affixes, it describes in prose only.
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Each example sits in the cell its boundnesses give.
Form-meaning mappings (Section 4) #
The seven descriptive form-meaning mappings of Section 4: abundance on the form side, allomorphy and multiple exponence; on the meaning side, syncretism and portmanteaux; and absence on either, gaps and empty morphs.
- oneToOne : MappingType
- allomorphy : MappingType
- multipleExponence : MappingType
- syncretism : MappingType
- portmanteau : MappingType
- morphologicalGap : MappingType
- emptyMorph : MappingType
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqMappingType x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableEqCoverage x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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Table 4, a list where the subcases of a mapping receive different verdicts.
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.oneToOne x✝ = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.yes]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.allomorphy KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.dm = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.yes]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.allomorphy x✝ = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.no]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.multipleExponence KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.pfm = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.yes]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.multipleExponence x✝ = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.no]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.syncretism KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.pfm = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.yes, KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.extra]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.syncretism KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.dm = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.yes]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.syncretism KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.mas = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.no]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.portmanteau KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.pfm = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.yes, KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.extra]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.portmanteau KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.nanosyntax = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.yes]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.portmanteau KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.mas = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.no]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.morphologicalGap x✝ = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.no]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.emptyMorph KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.pfm = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.yes, KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.no]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.emptyMorph KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Representative.dm = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.no, KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.extra]
- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.MappingType.emptyMorph x✝ = [KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.no]
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A theory treats a mapping natively when some subcase is a genuine mapping for it.
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- KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.instDecidableHandlesNatively m r = { decide := decide (List.elem KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.Coverage.yes (KalinBjorkmanEtAl2026.table4 m r) = true), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Morphology as Syntax denies every non-one-to-one mapping, reanalysing each, Section 4.6.
No theory treats a morphological gap natively.
The theories that treat some non-one-to-one mapping as genuine are exactly the realizational ones of Table 2: separating exponents from features is what makes a mismatch possible, Section 4.6.
Distributed Morphology alone treats allomorphy natively, by contextual Vocabulary Insertion, and Paradigm Function Morphology alone multiple exponence, by independent rule blocks, Sections 4.1 and 4.2.