Morpheme order in a lexeme/morpheme-based morphology

Abstract This paper argues that contemporary morphological theories are undermined by the concept of the linguistic sign, the morpheme or the word, which forms the basis of these theories. Instead of the sign, grammars operate on two distinct and definitionally incompatible basic units, the lexeme , which is a linguistic sign, and the (grammatical) morpheme , which is not. Grammars must contain autonomous lexical and morphological components in order to have sufficient power to explain the independence of the sets of conditions on lexical, syntactic and morphological rules. Such a model can be properly constrained to prevent these components from operating in disregard of each other by (a) discrete definitions of ‘lexeme’ and ‘morpheme’; (b) one specific principle constraining features added to underlying lexical bases by abstract (phonology-free) lexical derivations, and (c) an independently motivated markedness theory. This model also maps morphology onto abstract lexical and syntactic derivates in the proper order, accounting for what Baker has recently called the ‘Mirror Principle’ plus the exceptions to it.

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