F=PL syncretism and default gender in Shughni

Daniar Kasenov¹, Alexandr Sergienko², Artem Badeev^3
1,2,3HSE University / ³Institute for Linguistics Studies RAS

Abstract: This paper discusses an F=PL syncretism in Shughni. In Shughni, intransitive verbs have syncretic forms in past and perfect tenses when agreeing with a feminine singular, feminine plural, or masculine plural subject. The form when agreeing with a masculine singular subject is different. Unlike other languages with such syncretism, the default gender in Shughni is masculine. The paper suggests an analysis in the spirit of Distributed Morphology and discusses the problems that Shughni raises for more restrictive morphosyntactic theories, such as Nanosyntax.

Keywords: syncretism, grammatical gender, morphology, Shughni

For citation: Kasenov D., Sergienko A., Badeev A. F=PL syncretism and default gender in Shughni. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters. 2022. Vol. 5, iss. 2. Pp. 27–43.