Some Theoretical Implications of Stem Alternations in Dutch Diminutives and Plurals

Abstract

The processes of pluralization and diminution in Dutch account for some of the more interesting problems in Dutch phonology. This paper will concern itself only tangentially with the question of which diminutive and plural suffixes are added to specific stems, the formulation of which is in itself somewhat problematic. Rather, it will concentrate on accounting for the stem changes which may be associated with the affixation of one or both of the abovementioned suffixes, and it will attempt to find a theoretical framework which will make it possible to account for these stem changes in a natural, intuitively satisfying way. As such, this paper is a further justification and elaboration of the concept of relational rules in phonology, as first laid out in Tiersma (1978), and the concomitant disjunctive lexical representations of, for example, Hudson (1974) and Hooper (1976).

I would like to express my appreciation to co-editors Frans van Coetsem and Wim Zonneveld for the valuable comments they sent to me. In addition, I have engaged in many helpful discussions and debates with Matthew Chen and Orrin Robinson on the issues addressed in this paper. I am grateful to them both. Needless to say, none of the above necessarily shares my views, and any factual errors and purely my own.