Lexical Morphology

Lexical Morphology is a theoretical model first proposed in Pesetsky (1979), and elaborated in Kiparsky (1982). Although it is impossible to say that there is a single model of Lexical Morphology (also known as Lexical Phonology), all theories have in common that the word formation rules and the phonological rules both apply in a single component of the grammar, viz. the Lexicon. 

We will present here a brief outline of Kiparsky's (1982) model, and next refer to a number of publications in which this model has undergone more or less significant changes. Siegel's (1974) Level Ordering Hypothesis and the Kiparsky-Mascaró theory of Cyclic Phonology lie at the heart of the development of Kiparsky's (1982) model of Lexical Morphology/Phonology. Within Cyclic Phonology it is assumed that cyclicity is a stipulated property of rules, and that cyclic application is a mode of application which is not an inherent property of the grammar. The basic idea of Kiparsky's (1982) paper is that the cyclic application of phonological rules should follow from the organization of the lexicon.