To probe or not to probe in Omani Mehri

Abstract

The gender assignment mechanism of two-gender languages offers a recurrent analytical challenge, namely the presence of two distinct subsystems. The first such subsystem produces pairs of nouns (masculine and feminine) from the same root. The other subsystem produces singleton nouns (masculine or feminine) from one and the same root. What are these two subsystems and how do they relate to each other? It is proposed that mono-gendered nouns result from a probing system connecting head Gen and the radical system. Bi-gendered nouns arise when probing is suspended. As Mehri nouns and adjectives are arguably non-distinct morphological constructions, the discussion involves both.