Topics in Kaytetye phonology and morpho-syntax

Kaytetye is an Arandic language with approximately 200 speakers spoken in Central Australia. The Arandic languages are notable for proposals that: (1) the basic syllable is VC; (2) complex verbal structures are words and associate motion to a predicate; (3) certain varieties have only two vowels /a/ vs /ə/. In this thesis, I evaluate previous analyses of these patterns, and propose new analyses using quantitative and qualitative methodology, as well as insights from typological data. The thesis focuses on five areas. 1. <i>The Status of Round Vowels</i>: Kaytetye has been analysed as having either a two-vowel (/ɐ/, /ə/) or a three-vowel system (/ɐ/ /ə/, /i/). I provide quantitative and qualitative evidence supporting the occurrence of a round vowel, producing a four-vowel system: /ɐ/ /ə/, /i/, /u/. 2. <i>Associated Path</i>: The current analysis of Associated Motion proposes that Associated Motion constructions are complex words, which are composed of a verb root and a motion morph: <i>arenke</i> ‘see’, <i>arey-alpenke</i> ‘see after going back’. In this analysis I propose that Associated Motion constructions are auxiliary verb constructions, in which an auxiliary verb expresses a path configuration in relation to its complement VP (hence ‘Associated Path’). The previous analysis raised serious challenges to understandings of the word and the semantic content a single word conveys. In the new analysis, I show that word structure in Kaytetye is comparatively simple. 3. <i>The Minimal Root</i>: Word minimality is standardly analysed as a constraint on word forms based on prosodic structure. I show evidence that Kaytetye has a second type of minimality effect, the ‘minimal root’, in which the forms of roots are constrained by lexical patterns. 4. <i>Reduplication</i>: I show that Kaytetye has two types of reduplication which are not analysable under a single approach to reduplication. ‘Total reduplication’ reduplicates a stem and forms a phrase, which results in a scalable interpretation of the base. ‘Partial reduplication’ only occurs in Associated Path constructions and has a path or distributive meaning depending on its position in the Associated Path construction. 5. <i>Syllable Structure</i>: The Arandic languages have been analysed with a basic VC syllable structure. I provide evidence that: (i) the VC analysis makes incorrect predictions in Kaytetye; (ii) the facts of syllabification favour a standard CV analysis; (iii) the data which appear in favour of VC syllabification are explained by the historical loss of initial consonants, and a VCV minimal root. In these areas, I show that Kaytetye shows congruency with standard analyses of phonological and morpho-syntactic structures, and also challenges existing theories.