[t]-epenthesis revisited. The case of Apurucayali

This paper proposes a new deletion analysis of [t]-zero alternations in Ajyíninka Apurucayali (often cited as 'Axininca Campa'). It is argued that the analysis assuming /t/-deletion fares better than an insertion analysis in two respects. First, the insertion analysis predicts an unattested stem type for verbs. Second, the insertion analysis fails to capture a generalization about hiatus resolution whereby vowel sequences undergo deletion, shortening, long vowel formation, or diphthong formation in a set of morphologically unrelated environments. The deletion analysis relies on the notion of preservation of the marked (de Lacy, 2006) and utilizes an independently motivated stratal organization of Apurucayali phonology in accounting for restrictions on verbal stems. The proposed analysis has important implications for the typology of epenthesis.