Paradigmatic Uniformity and Markednes s
This chapter surveys a set of levelings and extensions affecting verb paradigms in two languages: English and Ancient Greek. It shows that pure leveling does not exist and that the emergence of paradigm uniformity is always the imposition of an existing (uniform) pattern on a non-uniform paradigm. It identifies a systematic difference between English and Ancient Greek in the directionality of paradigmatic changes. In English (and other languages), present-tense verb forms influence preterites; in Ancient Greek, presents are influenced by non-presents (aorists). This finding is not readily accommodated by theories invoking frequency or form predictability as the major factors influencing paradigmatic directionality, and a more complex theory is needed that also takes account of the semantics of morphological categories.
Keywords: Ancient Greek, English, levelings, verb paradigms, paradigm uniformity, present tense
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .