Movement in Mobile Affixation: a view from Balto-Slavic Milena Šereikait˙ e * Princeton University April 28th, 2023 1 Introduction • This study explores how movement - in particular, movement below the word level - works in the grammar. • This question is pertinent to mobile affixes that can appear either as prefixes or suffixes depending on the morphological shape of the stem. One example of that is a reflexive marker in Baltic and Slavic languages (thus Balto-Slavic). The following patterns are taken from Korostenskien˙ e (2017:454-455). Pattern 1: The reflexive marker is always a suffix as in (1). We find this pattern in Standard Latvian, Russian, and some dialects of Lithuanian. 1 (1) a. runa-tie-s talk-INF- RFL ‘to talk to’ b. sa-runa-tie-s PVB-talk-INF- RFL ‘to talk to’ Standard Latvian Pattern 2: The reflexive marker 2 is a suffix in unprefixed verbs in (2a) and a prefix in prefixed verbs in (2b). This pattern also exists in dialectal Latvian i.e., in the Middle dialect, Curonian subdialects, and the High Latvian Dialect, and Latgalian. 3 (2) a. sl˙ ep-ti-s hide-INF- RFL ‘to hide oneself’ b. pa-si-sl˙ ep-ti PVB- RFL -hide-PST.1. SG ‘have hidden oneself’ Standard Lithuanian Pattern 3: In some dialects of Latvian, the Curonian subdialects of the Middle Dialect, and in the High Latvian Dialect, the reflexive marker is a suffix and a prefix. The following examples are taken from Kalnaˇ ca and Lokmane 2012:233-234, glosses adjusted. * m.sereikaite@princeton.edu, www.sereikaite.com Acknowledgements: I am very grateful to Laura Kalin and Nikita Bezrukov for their comments and suggestions. I would also like to thank David Embick and the audiences at WCCFL 34 and Princeton Phonology Forum 2022. 1 Andra Kalnaˇ ca (pc) mentions that there are a few instances in Standard Latvian where s appears between a prefix and a root. Though s is not treated like a reflexive marker: (i) sa-s-tap-t ’to meet’, (ii) iz-s-alk-t ’to get hungry’ (iii) ap-s-kais-tie-s ’to get angry’ 2 For a discussion whether the Lithuanian -si- is an affix or a clitic see Nevis and Joseph 1993. They argue that it behaves more like a second position affix. 3 Nau 2011:48–49 reports that in Latgalian, if the verb has no prefix, the reflexive marker appears as a suffix, it “amalgamates with the personal ending of 1st, 2sg, and 3rd person.” If there is a prefix, the reflexive marker also appears as a prefix. 1