Contents

MA dissertation abstract

An analysis of the Spanish conjugation system in the framework of Paradigm Function Morphology

This dissertation aims to provide an analysis of the Spanish conjugation system in the framework of Paradigm Function Morphology (PFM) (Stump, 2001), focusing on a morphomic approach to stems. The number of alternations is limited to heteroclisis found in the theme vowel and the vowel gradations found in both the theme vowel and the penultimate vowel in the lexeme and its inflected forms. A discussion of literature referring to the Spanish conjugation system is discussed, followed by an explanation of PFM, concentrating on the rules that apply to stem formation.

The data itself, the Spanish verb system, is described in terms of the tenses, moods and so on. Alternations found in the system are described, in particular, those found in the theme vowel in different moods and tenses, and in vowel grades, such as those found in sentir 'to feel'. The inflectional forms are segmented into stems plus endings. There were many difficulties to overcome in this task, for example, in the preterite and imperfect tenses. It is felt that these were handled satisfactorily. Once the forms had been segmented, it was possible to successfully devise a set of rules by applying PFM that describe the Spanish conjugation system described earlier. It was found that some problems of other inflectional theories, such as Distributed Morphology, were overcome, and some problems found were not problems at all in PFM.