ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a morphological Word Formation Rule of nominal derivation in Dakota and illustrates its explanatory value in accounting for various problematic phonological phenomena which hitherto have appeared essentially anomalous. It identifies the basic conditions governing stem-final vowel alternation in various nominal forms. At a number of points throughout their comprehensive grammar, Boas and Deloria explicitly note the occurrence of a stem-final vowel alternation in morphologically related noun-verb pairs. Carter's generative analysis makes only passing reference to the vowel alternation in derived nominals; he states: "Verb stems are subject to ABLAUT, while noun and particle stems, with exceptions, are not. The claim that NOM DER and verbal ABLAUT are two independent processes has certain consequences in terms of a theory of exceptions. In terms of perceptual decoding, the grammatical slot which occurs before morphemes such as wa, ki, and la is ambiguous since it may be filled by either a verb in clause-final position or a noun.
