Ghost segments in Sengwer nouns

Like other Kalenjin languages, Sengwer has a complex noun morphology which makes use of an abundance of affixes as well as word-internal tone and ATR changes. In addition, its nominal inflectional paradigms are teeming with unexpected stem-final segments which appear in certain morphological conditions but are absent in others. The phonological composition of this stem-final latent material is not predictable and varies from noun to noun – C, V, CV and even CCV are all possible. In this talk, I will outline a novel analysis of their behaviour and distribution which explains much of the variation and irregularity seen in nominal inflection. In particular, I will show evidence that although some of these latent segments are part of the root, others are part of suffixes and others still are morphologically active suffixes in their own right. In a departure from earlier studies, I argue that these segments can no longer be analysed as being inserted thematic material and are better understood as deleted ghost segments instead.