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Abstract
In this dissertation, I consider the role of syntactic phases in mediating domain effects in the morphology and phonology of Telugu. This investigation is motivated by the predictions of the Cyclic Spell-Out by Phase hypothesis within a Minimalist/Distributed Morphology-based theoretical framework. I find that phase-correlated domains in Vocabulary Insertion (VI) and phonology are not epiphenomenal of cyclic Spell-Out: instead, phase heads mediate global, representational constraints. At VI, rules mediating insertion conditioned across a phase head have a different distribution than rules mediating insertion not conditioned across a phase head. In the phonology, phasal domains are mapped to prosodic stems whose boundaries affect phonological computation. VI and word-internal phonology are not cyclic by phase; instead, they are cyclic by insertion. Telugu, despite exhibiting phase-correlated domains, is compatible with a view on which cyclic Spell-Out by phase does not apply to Vocabulary Insertion or phonology. With respect to phonology, my investigation focuses mainly on regressive and progressive harmony in Telugu nouns and verbs, with some consideration of other phonological effects like syncope which interact with harmony. In both nouns and verbs, reference to a representational, persistent prosodic stem is required to explain regressive harmony even under the assumption of cyclicity by insertion. With respect to morphology, my investigation focuses on outward-sensitive suppletive allomorphy in nouns and verbs. I find that suppletion at the root is subject to different constraints than suppletion at higher functional heads. I show that this is due to the root being within the complement of the n and v phase heads, such that rules of exponence targeting the root and conditioned across the phase heads must satisfy a constraint I dub Rule Support. The dissertation provides insight into the role of phases in the morphology and phonology: while there is an assumption in much work that cyclic Spell-Out in the syntax means cyclic Spell-Out in the morphology and phonology, I show that phases and phase heads may play an entirely different kind of role in defining domains in the morphology and phonology than they do in the syntax. Additionally, I argue for a specific implementation of Vocabulary Insertion within a DM framework which not only captures the Telugu facts but also address many wider debates about the properties of suppletive allomorphy crosslinguistically.