Somali particle clusters

Abstract

Abstract Preverbal elements are famous for triggering several “coalescence rules” in Somali (Saeed 1999: 39). A case at hand is the set of adpositions ú (destination, manner), kú (locative, instrument), ká (source, content) and lá (comitative). The combinations of two adpositions are well documented, and it has long been noticed that some of them are phonologically opaque. Such opaque forms can in principle be analysed along two general lines: i) they are the outputs of a transparent combination of morphemes, and their surface forms is accounted for by positing allomorphy rules, or ii) they are not a combination of two morphemes, but single lexicalized units. The choice between these two options is an empirical question, which I address in this article. I examine the behaviour of opaque forms in a broader context: two-adposition clusters in combination with a pronominal clitic, and with a third adposition. Based on a new empirical basis, I conclude in favour of lexicalization. This result has consequences on the general assumption of a fixed ordering of adpositions in the preverbal domain. Since all combinations of kV́ adpositions surface as syncretic kagá, we have no evidence for assuming that the occurrence of two kV́ adpositions is ordered, and if it is ordered, in which order they appear.