Reduplication in Russian verbs and adjectives: motivating form with morphosyntactic constraints

In this paper, I argue that the Russian verbal suffix '-iva 'and the adjectival suffix '-Vj(V) 'result from a unique morphological process. To this end, I point out that '-iva 'and '-Vj(V) 'are complex items where '-i- 'and '-j- '(respectively) play an unclear role. As a first step, I focus on the representation of '-iva'. I take up the hypothesis of Coats (1974) where '-iva 'is assumed to be the reduplication of an imperfectivizing suffix '-(v)a'. Second, I show that '-Vj(V) 'results from a similar phenomenon: it involves the repetition of a gender suffix. From this perspective, both '-i- 'and '-j- 'are conditioned by a reduplication process. Finally, I propose a derivation of these segments based on an identity avoidance constraint. I argue that these are realizations of an 'expletive root '√I licensing sequences of two identical syntactic heads