Regularities in irregular Chaha verbs

This paper demonstrates that the most irregular verb stems of Chaha display striking communalities, and argues that this lends support to a root-and-template based analysis of Semitic word formation. It derives the irregularities by pairing the root with the Perfective, Imperfective or Imperative patterns which, according to Prunet & Banksira (1996), can be either long or short, and their interactions with subject suffixes. It proposes a unique UR for each aspect and accounts for the alternations using four morphophonological rules dubbed A-Raising, Final y-Labialization, Final y‑Deletion, and Quadrisyllabic Shortening.