678 REMARKSANDREPLIES NavajoVerb Stem Positionand the BipartiteStructure of the NavajoConjunct Sector Ken Hale TheNavajo verb stem appears at the rightmost edge of the verb word. Innumerouscases it forms a lexicalconstituent with a preverb,occur- ringat theleftmost edge of thesurface verb word, much in themanner ofDutchand German verb-particle arrangements in verb-secondfinite clauses.In Navajothe initial and finalpositions are separated by eight morphemeorder ‘ ‘slots’’ recognizedin the Athabaskan literature (and describedin detail for Navajo in Young and Morgan 1987). A phono- logicalsolution to this and a numberof otherdeep-surface disparities isexploredhere, based on theinsights of earlierworks on theNavajo verb,including Speas 1984, 1990, McDonough 1996, 2000, and Rice 1989, 2000. Keywords: verbmorphology, morphosyntactic disparity, spell-out, Navajo,Athabaskan 1Verb Stem Position TheNavajo verb stem forms asinglelexical constituent with the prefixal, particle-like category called preverb inthe Athabaskan linguistic literature (see Rice2000). However, like particle- verbcombinations in Dutchand German verb-second clauses, the parts of thisconstituent in the Navajocounterpart are separated in the surface forms ofverbal projections in syntax. In the Navajoversion of thisarrangement, the preverb occupies the leftmost position in the verb word, andthe verb stem occupies the rightmost position. TheNavajo verb in (1) canbe used to illustrate the phenomenon. The verb is segmented intoits various parts in (2), and the components are identified in slightly greater detail in (3). (1) Sila´o t’o´o´’go´o´ ch’´õ shidinõ´daøzh.(Young and Morgan 1987:283) ‘Thepoliceman jerked me outdoors (to get me out of afight).’ (2) ch’´õ sh d n-´ daøzh PreverbObject Qualifier Mode/ SubjVoice V (stem) Iwishto dedicate thisarticle totheNavajo Language Academy, asmall groupof linguists and teachers devotedto Navajolanguage research andeducation. And I thanka numberof peoplewho have helped me inmy efforts to learn aboutAthabaskan linguistics, some ofwhomhave graciously read orlistenedto these remarks, offeringvarying measures ofcriticism andadvice, including Jonathan Bobaljik, Leonard Faltz, Theodore Fernald, Victor Golla, Tom Green, Morris Halle, SharonHargus, Ken Hiraiwa, EloiseJelinek, James Kari, Jay Keyser, MichaelKrauss, Jeff Leer, Alyse Neundorf, EllavinaTsosie Perkins, Paul Platero, Bill Poser, Keren Rice, NorvinRichards, John Ritter, Haj Ross,Leslie Saxon, CarlotaSmith, Margaret Speas,Lisa Travis,Siri Tuttle, MaryAnn Willie, and Cheryl Zoll. I regret notbeing able to reflect fullythe contributions of these peopleat thistime, butI willdo so in future work I hopeto do on the Navajo verb. Linguistic Inquiry, Volume 32, Number 4, Fall 2001 678–693 q 2001 bythe Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology REMARKSANDREPLIES 679 (3) ch’´õ Preverb ‘adverb,out horizontally’ sh Object ‘firstperson singular object’ d Qualifier ‘thematicprefix relating to arms andlegs’ n-´ Mode/Subj‘ portmanteauof n-situationaspect, perfective aspect, and thirdperson subject’ Voice ‘transitive’ dazh Stem ‘verbalroot, move in jerky manner; and momentaneous perfectivesuffixal inflection’ The preverb ch’´õ ‘outhorizontally’ belongs to thedisjunct (proclitic-like) sector of theNavajo verb,while the other elements belong to the conjunct sector, the system of nuclear elements (prevailinglyconsonantal in form) thatmake up theextended projection of the verb(see Grimshaw 1991on the concept ‘ ‘extendedprojection’ ’). 1 Allof these parts are assembled into a single phonologicalword (and so written in most cases). Theproblem addressed here consists in thecircumstance that the preverb and the verb stem form aunitin the lexicon, a factwell argued in Rice 2000, in stark contradiction to the above- notedsurface arrangement of the constituents of the verb word. Quitereasonably, in her excellent study of Athabaskan scope and morpheme order, Rice proposesa movementanalysis to account for thisdisparity. The underlying organization she assumesfor theNavajo (and general Athabaskan) verb word is shown in (4), in which Rice’ s principlesof lexical integrity and leftward semantic scope are expressed structurally. (4) Mode/Subj Qualifier Mode/Subj n-9 Object Qualifier d Voice Object sh VP Voice Preverb V ch’í daÎ zh 1 Witha few exceptions,a (monomorphemic)conjunct prefix consists of acoronalconsonant ([d, j, s, z, sh,zh, n, ,l]),an oral glide ([y, w (roundedvelar), gh 4 g (unroundedvelar)]), or alaryngeal([’ , h]).These functionas onset orcoda,depending in part on the nature of thesegment andin parton context. In the majority of cases, where theyare realized as onsets,conjunct prefixes are supportedby theNavajo default vowel [i], regarded as eitherepenthetic or basic, 680 REMARKSANDREPLIES Toderive the surface configuration, two raising operations take place. The verb ( -dazh) raises andright-adjoins to itsstructural governor, Voice. Rice argues, correctly I believe,that the Voice elementis alightverb that selects the verbal category VP and,in its productive uses, defines the transitivityof the verbal construction (see Hale2000). Subsequently the light verb Voice, now ladenwith its complement V, itselfraises and right-adjoins to the highest nuclear element, the portmanteauMode/ Subj,as shown in (5). 2 (5) Mode/Subj Qualifier Mode/Subj Object Qualifier Mode/Subj Voice d n-9 Voice Object Voice V sh daÎ zh VP Voice (trace) Preverb V ch’í (trace) Thealternative I willconsider here makes a differentclaim concerning the Qualifier and Mode/Subjnuclear elements. The first of these selects thesecond; consequently, the c-command andscope relations between these elements are opposite to those assigned to them by Rice. In addition,the functional projections of Navajoare takento beleft-headed, rather than right-headed asinRice’ s analysis.The configuration defined by these assumptions is shownin (6). dependingon the particular analysis— Iassume theformer forpresent purposes. Some conjunct prefixes are composite, assumingthe shape CVC, in which V is generallythe default [i]; a few havethe surface formC- ¢ (consonantand ‘ ‘floating hightone’ ’ dockedon anassociated neutralvowel); a few appear tocontain the long vowel [ii] as theirvocalic nucleus (e.g.,the semelfactive qualifierand the first person nonsingular subject); the optative appears tobe realized as therounded vowel,written [o] (long or short,high or low tone, depending on various factors; see Kari 1976);and the second person nonsingularsubject is [oh]in its basic form.The neutral vowel is veryoften assimilated tothe features ofan adjacent segment,giving the superficial impression that the conjunct sector permits all ofthe vowel qualities in the Navajo inventory.It is quitegenerally assumed, however,that underlyingly the conjunct sector permits onlythe default neutral vowel,whose quality is [i]when unassimilated —unlikethe disjunct sector, which allows all vowelqualities and all consonanttypes. Where [’]wouldbe expectedto occupy a codaposition at theend of aderivation,it is normallyabsorbed intothe adjacent (following)C, where itappears as ‘‘glottalization.’’ Thenotorious d-classifier neversurfaces as acoda; instead,it surfaces (a) as theso-called d-effect, or(b) as anonset to one of therare V-initialverb stems. 2 Forthe purposes of thepresent discussion, I arbitrarilyset aside here analternative conception according to which Voice enters intothe Merge relation with Mode/ Subj. REMARKSANDREPLIES 681 (6) Qualifier Qualifier Mode/Subj d Mode/Subj Voice n-9 Voice VP Preverb VP ch’í Object V sh daÎ zh Theobject is introduced as a complementto V, andthe preverb is introduced as an adjunct to thatcategory. Crucially, these are not heads (i.e., nuclear elements) in the extended projection of theverb. The heads, from lowestto highest, are as follows: V, Voice,Mode/ Subj,and Qualifier. Jointly,these define the conjunct sector of theNavajo verb word. Thequestion of interestnow ishowthesurface order of morphemes is achieved.In particular, canthe surface positions of theverb and its dependents be definedsimply and, preferably, without resortto movement (in the usually understood sense of theterm)? Ibelievethe answer to this question is positive, if we adoptthe theories of McDonough (2000)and Speas (1984) according to whichthe verb is expressed phonologically in theform of aminimaldisyllabic skeleton that must be filledout to definethe phonetic realization of aNavajo verb.3 Imaintainthat it is precisely this process of ‘ ‘fillingout the skeleton’ ’ (especiallythe receptor, orleft-hand,portion of theskeleton) that accounts for thesurface arrangement of the verb, itsdependents, and the nuclear elements in its extended projection. There is no headmovement in thetraditional sense. The processes involved are properly speaking phonological. Myproposal is this.The verb stem brings with it a structuralphonological skeleton whose right-handhalf is filled out (sometimes partially, sometimes fully) by thestem itself, as indicated in(7) byunderlining. (7) CVCCVC 3 Marginalexceptions to the minimal bipartiteskeleton exist: for example, nõ´ ‘(he/she) says’and le’‘optative,let itbe/ become’(respectively from hypothetical bipartite * dinõ´ and *wo´le’).These consistof the stem portionof theskeleton alone.It is conceivablethat they are tobe regarded as particles orenclitics inthe Navajo of today.The future auxiliary doo (avariantof the full verb form doolee ‘future,it will become’ ) consistsof thereceptor alone, historically at least. 682 REMARKSANDREPLIES McDonough’s andSpeas’ s bipartitetheory