Where Morphological Complexity Matters

It has been long observed that Latinate verbs in English cannot appear in verb-particle constructions, resultative constructions, and double object constructions. Recent research has revealed that, despite persistent counterexamples, the hypothesis invoking the morphological complexity of verbs is the most promising in dealing with the Latinate/native asymmetry (Coppock, 2009; Harley, 2008; Punske 2012, 2013). This paper aims to show two more cases of the asymmetry in favor of the morphological complexity hypothesis. Moreover, in an attempt to refine the hypothesis, an analysis will be provided within Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz, 1993). Specifically, it argues that the asymmetry can be reduced to the selectional properties of the acategorial roots involved. Some roots are obligatorily specified for a particular morpheme and combine with it to form a complex root, while others are not necessarily specified as such and they can either stand alone as a simple root or form a complex root.