The Morphology-Phonology Interface in Cognitive Linguistics: The Case of Russian Softening

This project addresses the interaction of phonological and morphological information in linguistic analysis from the point of view of cognitive linguistics. The object of study is the so-called transitive and plain softening alternations in Russian, which arose from phonetically motivated regular sound change, but was then at least in part morphologized. The working hypotheses of the project are that morphology and phonology are tightly interwoven (rather than separate modules), and that morphology takes precedence over phonology. The project will be carried out in collaboration with professor Laura A. Janda at the University of North Carolina at Chapel hill - the world's leading expert in the field of Slavic cognitive linguistics. Both the Universities o f North Carolina and Tromsø will benefit from the project, which is planned to be the first in a series of joint projects conducted by professor Janda and myself.