Syncretism at the phonology-syntax interface

Abstract This paper offers an analysis of a case of syncretism at the phonology-syntax interface, based primarily on empirical data from Kabyle, as well as other Berber languages. Specifically, while the imperfective aspect, the middle, and the passive are analyzed separately in the literature, it will be empirically argued that they all constitute a case of syncretism, as they are all realized by a common morphological exponent, /t s -/. Theoretically, it will be argued that this syncretism can be explained by the fact that all three functions are underlyingly identical and are realized under a single projection in the syntactic structure: AspectP. The theoretical contribution of this study is to show that this case of syncretism can be accounted for by an approach that links syntax directly to phonology, without any intermediate module, thereby contributing to the modeling of the syntax-phonology interface.