Relativized Locality: Phases and Tiers in Long-Distance Allomorphy in Armenian

Abstract

Abstract Linguistic processes tend to respect locality constraints. In this paper, we analyze the distribution of conjugation classes in Armenian verbs. We analyze a type of Tense allomorphy which applies across these classes. On the surface, we show that this allomorphy is long-distance. Specifically, it is sensitive to the interaction of multiple morphemes that are neither linearly nor structurally adjacent. However, we argue that this allomorphy respects ‘relativized adjacency’ (Toosarvandani 2016) or tier-based locality (Aksënova, Graf, and Moradi 2016). While not surface-local, the interaction in Armenian verbs is local on a tier projected from morphological features. This formal property of tier-based locality is substantively manifested as phase-based locality in Armenian (cf. Marvin 2002). In addition to being well-studied computationally, tier-based locality allows us to capture superficially non-local morphological processes while respecting the cross-linguistic tendency of locality. We speculate that tier-based locality is a cross-linguistic tendency in long-distance allomorphy, while phase-based locality is not necessarily so.