The notion of language development refers to
i. language growth in the context of language acquisition and
ii. language evolution in the context of historical change.
In this course we will study morphological development in these two contexts.
What’s on the menu?
a. A general introduction, with reference to types of morphological phenomena, inflection vs. derivation, word-based vs. root-based approach, item-and-arrangement vs. item-and-process.
b. The formal aspects of Optimality Theory with respect to morphology, development, and variation.
c. Specific issue in the light of light of language acquisition and language change (partial list): word innovation, • regular vs. irregular morphology, analogy, overregularization and irregularization

Course requirements (all mandatory): Class participation, reading, presentation of articles, final paper.