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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Mouton October 22, 2014

Relative productivity potentials of Dutch verbal inflection patterns

  • Remco Knooihuizen EMAIL logo and Oscar Strik
From the journal Folia Linguistica

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.

Published Online: 2014-10-22
Published in Print: 2014-10-1

© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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