Topic
Weak inflection
About: Weak inflection is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 9 publications have been published within this topic receiving 52 citations. The topic is also known as: weak declension & weak verb.
Papers
Proceedings Article•
1 Nov 2015TL;DR: This paper investigates how the weak inflection could have grown to overthrow its competitor, the strong inflection, even if (i) theStrong inflection was still more regular and (ii) theWeak inflection had to start from a position vastly inferior in frequency to any strong ablaut class.
Abstract: The verbal weak inflection, one of the defining innovations of Proto-Germanic, currently holds a dominant position in the verbal inventory of most remaining Germanic languages. This has not always been the case, though. This paper investigates how the weak inflection could have grown to overthrow its competitor, the strong inflection, even if (i) the strong inflection was still more regular and (ii) the weak inflection had to start from a position vastly inferior in frequency to any strong ablaut class. As opposed to earlier work, which focused on language acquisition in models of iterated learning, our focus lies on language usage, which is why we have composed an agent-based model. This enabled us to test a number of minimal assumptions needed to explain an ascent of the weak inflection, of which several have been proposed in the literature. It was found that the weak inflection’s functional advantage of general applicability is sufficient by itself already. That is, the weak dental suffix is in principle applicable to all verbs, while each separate strong ablaut class is not. This is shown to put the strong inflection at a crucial disadvantage, even if (i) the strong system as a whole is applicable to all verbs, and (ii) each separate ablaut class starts out as dominant in both type and token frequency over the weak dental suffix. There is no need to assume that the strong system has irregularized for the weak inflection to get airborne; this irregularization may rather be the result and subsequent catalyst of the rise of the weak inflection.
26 citations
TL;DR: In this article, three production and acceptability experiments on nonce and existing verbs in Dutch unveil a clear hierarchy in potential productivity of inflection patterns, with weak inflection having the highest potential productivity; within strong inflection, classes I, II and III outrank the others.
Abstract: Diachronic change regarding the Germanic verb shows a tendency away from strong and towards weak inflection, although the change is not unidirectional. Three production and acceptability experiments on nonce and existing verbs in Dutch unveil a clear hierarchy in potential productivity of inflection patterns. Weak inflection has the highest potential productivity; within strong inflection, Classes I, II and III outrank the others. Speakers also regularly employ a productoriented schema based on the vowels /o/ and /ɔ/, as well as, although to a lesser extent, on /i/ and /ɪ/. We relate these findings to synchronic factors and to diachronic change.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the distribution of Icelandic adjectival inflection has been analyzed in a way that also captures a problematic case that has not been satisfactorily analyzed in the literature.
Abstract: This article attempts to account for the distribution of Icelandic adjectival inflection in a manner that also captures a problematic case that has not been satisfactorily analyzed in the literature It is argued that weak inflection is triggered if the adjective is c-commanded by a feature [definite] Strong inflection occurs precisely if weak inflection is not triggered This implementation accounts for the occurrence of strong inflection on predicative adjectives and adnominal adjectives in indefinite noun phrases, but moreover allows us to account for an unexpected pattern in Icelandic where a strongly inflected adjective occurs in a definite noun phrase It is argued that, in this case, the adjective is not c-commanded by the definite article, but, in fact, merged outside DP This rather unorthodox assumption motivated on morpho-syntactic grounds makes a number of syntactic and semantic predictions In particular, adjectives that are merged outside DP are expected to modify not simply an NP (of type $${ }$$
), but actually a referential expression/an individual of type e The discussion of four instances of that strongly inflected pattern—appositives, expressives, positional predicates and little partitives—provides various kinds of evidence and shows that these expectations are indeed borne out
11 citations
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the productivity of weak verbs (1st conjugation with present-in-ez and 4th conjugations with present in -esc) in Romanian and concludes that the competition between these two classes seems to be governed by diaphasic and phonological criteria.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the productivity of weak verbs (1st conjugation with present in -ez and 4th conjugation with present in -esc) in Romanian. The weak model originated in two derivational patterns common to all Romance languages, that developed into inflectional mechanisms only in some of them. Among its sister languages Romanian has exploited most intensively the weak inflection. It has been maintained that Modern Romanian has a single fully productive class, namely the 1st conjugation. However, there is no analysis that clearly distinguishes the productivity of the weak vs. the strong model in the 1st conjugation and that determines the domains of competition between the 1st and the 4th conjugation, which is also productive. This paper tries to fill this lacuna by a more accurate analysis of the productivity in the Romanian verb inflection. Based on an analysis of modern and historical data, and using also data from an experiment with nonce words, the conclusion is that Modern Romanian has two fully productive classes: weak verbs of the 1st conjugation and weak verbs of the 4th conjugation. The competition between these two classes seems to be governed by diaphasic and phonological criteria.
9 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the nominal inflection of the Lambeth Homilies is investigated in detail and it is shown that analogical changes within and across inflection classes do not simply lead towards a reduction of inflection.
Abstract: From Old English to Middle English inflection is gradually lost. It is assumed that this is mainly due to phonological and syntactic changes. This article, however, argues that the loss of inflection is not a linear process but new systems can emerge, and that morphological changes play an important role. The nominal inflection of the Lambeth Homilies – an Early Middle English manuscript from the southwest Midlands and dated around 1200 – is investigated in detail. It will be shown that analogical changes within and across inflection classes do not simply lead towards a reduction of inflection. The increase in syncretism and decrease in allomorphy result in a new inflectional system. This new system distinguishes singular from plural, feminine from non-feminine (in the singular and plural), and possessive from non-possessive (in the singular and plural). Additionally, the original inflection classes related to different stems are almost lost, except the weak inflection classes. The inflection classes are instead related to gender; that is, gender is the information that best predicts how a noun is inflected.
5 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
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| 2021 | 1 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2018 | 1 |
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2015 | 1 |