Abstract

Syncretism occurs where two or more distinct morphosyntactic values are collapsed in a single inflected word form. In the current literature, instances of syncretism are being increasingly cited to support particular models of morphology and feature structure. This article takes a critical look at the sorts of analyses that the data actually warrant, in particular showing the limitations of an approach that treats syncretism as dependent on morphosyntactic feature structure.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00024.x