Velar allomorphy in Ibero-Romance: roots, endings and clashes of morphomes

This article analyses the historical development of velar allomorphy in the Ibero-Romance verb and argues that the recognition of (i) autonomous morphological structures, or morphomes (Aronoff, 1994), and (ii) variation as to the morphological parsing of velar allomorphy can facilitate more convincing explanations of the evolution, spread and change of this allomorphy and the class of velar verbs which exhibit it. With regards morphomes, this study presents data, which prompts the conclusion that the allomorphy in these cells tends not only to converge upon one particular phonological form (Maiden, 2004), but also upon a particular morphological structure or type. Regarding the morphological parsing of the allomorphy, it is argued that it can correspond to root allomorphy or desinential allomorphy.