Navajo verb stem position and the bipartite structure of the Navajo conjunct sector

The Navajo verb stem appears at the rightmost edge of the verb word. In num erous cases it forms a lexical constituent with a preverb, occurring at the leftmost edge of the surface verb word, much in the manner of Dutch and Ge rman verb-particle arrangements in verb-second finite clauses. In Navajo th e initial and final positions are separated by eight morpheme order "slots" recognized in the Athabaskan literature (and described in detail for Navaj o in Young and Morgan 1987). A phonological solution to this and a number o f other deep-surface disparities is explored here, based on the insights of earlier work's on the Navajo verb, including Speas 1984, 1990, McDonough 1 996. 2000, and Rice 1989 2000.