Mobile affixation within a modular approach to the morphology-phonology interface

Huave, a language isolate of Oaxaca State, Mexico, has the phenomenon of mobile affixation, where the same affix may surface as a prefix or as a suffix depending at least partly on phonological context. In light of Paster’s (2009) claim that the modular architecture of grammar precludes phonological and morphological constraints from operating in tandem, I reassess Kim’s (2010) analysis of Huave mobile affixation in which phonological constraints outrank morphological ones. An empirically superior generalization in terms of phonological subcategorization frames is formulated, although the fine line between nonmodular and modular analyses of the same phenomenon serves to highlight the unstable relationship between typology and theory, and emphasizes the need to cast an inclusive net in the cross-linguistic study of phonological influences on affix ordering.