Using Model-Theoretic Approaches to Uncover Linguistic Organization
This work addresses the challenge of identifying underlying linguistic structures for linguists, though it is incremental as it builds on existing approaches.
The paper tackled the problem of uncovering hidden linguistic organization by applying model-theoretic approaches to analyze pluractional markers in Kaqchikel, Karuk, and Yurok, demonstrating that these methods can reveal patterns not apparent on the surface.
In this paper, we consider pluractional markers in Kaqchikel, Karuk, and Yurok. Like Balinese, each of these languages marks one type of pluractionality via reduplication, and a different type of pluractionality via non-reduplicative affixation. This paper serves as a proof-of-concept for applying model-theoretic approaches to language as a lens that can help us to recognize linguistic organization that is not apparent on the surface.