Navajo Degree Constructions and the Decompositional Analysis of Gradable Predicates

Swatrhmore Colledge; LSA 2009, San Francisco; January 10, 2009. — 9 с.Outline:
I. Demonstrate that two derivational prefixes marking Navajo gradable predicates are (a) degree morphemes and (b) determine the semantic type of gradable predicate: ⟨d,et⟩ or ⟨et⟩.
II. Sketch a decompositional approach to Navajo gradable predicates.
III. Discuss how this view of degree morphology is precedented in previous, alternate analyses.Definitions and assumptions:
gradable predicates denote properties that hold to a greater or lesser extent for a given object
degrees adopted as semantic type ⟨d⟩
degree constructions are morphosyntactic constructions that refer to a degree of gradability and
contain a degree morpheme.