Affix rivalry in French demonyms: an experimental approach

As many other languages, French uses a variety of rival suffixes to form names of inhabitants, or demonyms, out of place names, or toponyms; most prominently the suffixes -ais (Marseille > Marseillais), -ois (Lille > Lillois), -éen (Nancy > Nancéen) and -ien (Paris > Parisien). Existing literature on the topic has focused on documenting phonological and geographical factors influencing the choice of affix on the basis of examination of the established lexicon. This paper reports on an experimental study probing the preferences of speakers in nonce formations, focusing on the influence of phonological factors. Experimental results provide evidence that speakers are sensitive to phonological properties of the base when coining a demonym, but differ in subtle and interesting ways from what can be concluded from the established lexicon. Beyond studying the formation of French demonyms, this paper highlights the usefulness of experiments as complementary to the examination of the established lexicon in the study of morphological rivalry.