What is an inflectional paradigm?

Example The inflection of French ALLER ‘go’ F i n i t e f o r m s Present sg sg sg pl pl pl

Indicative vais vas va allons allez vont



Subjunctive aille ailles aille allions alliez aillent

N o n - f i n i t e f o r m s

Imperfect

Indicative allais allais allait allions alliez allaient



Subjunctive allasse allasses allât allassions allassiez allassent



Preterite allai allas alla allâmes allâtes allèrent

Future irai iras ira irons irez iront

Conditional Imperative irais Infinitive aller irais va Present participle allant irait irions allons Past allé participle iriez allez iraient

Ingredients The inflection of French ALLER ‘go’ F i n i t e f o r m s Present sg sg sg pl pl pl

Indicative vais vas va allons allez vont



Subjunctive aille ailles aille allions alliez aillent

N o n - f i n i t e f o r m s

Imperfect

Indicative allais allais allait allions alliez allaient



Subjunctive allasse allasses allât allassions allassiez allassent



Preterite allai allas alla allâmes allâtes allèrent

Future irai iras ira irons irez iront

Conditional Imperative irais Infinitive aller irais va Present participle allant irait irions allons Past allé participle iriez allez iraient

Ingredients The inflection of French ALLER ‘go’ F i n i t e f o r m s Present sg sg sg pl pl pl

Indicative vais vas va allons allez vont



Subjunctive aille ailles aille allions alliez aillent

N o n - f i n i t e f o r m s

Imperfect

Indicative allais allais allait allions alliez allaient



Subjunctive allasse allasses allât allassions allassiez allassent



Preterite allai allas alla allâmes allâtes allèrent

Future irai iras ira irons irez iront

Conditional Imperative irais Infinitive aller irais va Present participle allant irait irions allons Past allé participle iriez allez iraient

Ingredients The inflection of French ALLER ‘go’ F i n i t e f o r m s Present sg sg sg pl pl pl

Indicative vais vas va allons allez vont



Subjunctive aille ailles aille allions alliez aillent

N o n - f i n i t e f o r m s

Imperfect

Indicative allais allais allait allions alliez allaient



Subjunctive allasse allasses allât allassions allassiez allassent



Preterite allai allas alla allâmes allâtes allèrent

Future irai iras ira irons irez iront

Conditional Imperative irais Infinitive aller irais va Present participle allant irait irions allons Past allé participle iriez allez iraient

walk, walks, walked, walking

Lexeme

has

intransitive verb ‘ambulā re’

Morphosyntactic property Word form

pairs

realizes

Inflectional category:

TENSE

Value: past, present, future Lexeme Morphosyntactic property set

walk, walks, walked, walking

Lexeme

has

intransitive verb ‘ambulā re’

Morphosyntactic property Word form

pairs

realizes

Inflectional category:

TENSE

Value: past, present, future Lexeme Morphosyntactic property set

( ) les musées museum.MASC.PL the.PL ‘the national museums’ ( ) *le musées the.MASC.SG museum.MASC.PL

nationaux national.MASC.PL nationales national.FEM.PL

( )

Feminine Masculine Singular nationale national Plural nationales nationaux





walk, walks, walked, walking

Lexeme

has

intransitive verb ‘ambulā re’

Morphosyntactic property Word form

pairs

realizes

Inflectional category:

TENSE

Value: past, present, future Lexeme Morphosyntactic property set

w

Example The inflection of French ALLER ‘go’ F i n i t e f o r m s Present sg sg sg pl pl pl

Indicative vais vas va allons allez vont



Subjunctive aille ailles aille allions alliez aillent

N o n - f i n i t e f o r m s

Imperfect

Indicative allais allais allait allions alliez allaient



Subjunctive allasse allasses allât allassions allassiez allassent



Preterite allai allas alla allâmes allâtes allèrent

Future irai iras ira irons irez iront

Conditional Imperative irais Infinitive aller irais va Present participle allant irait irions allons Past allé participle iriez allez iraient

Paradigm of French ALLER ‘go’ { 〈ALLER, { sg prs ind} : vais 〉

〈ALLER, { pl ipfv ind} : alliez 〉

〈ALLER, { sg fut ind} : ira〉

〈ALLER, { sg prs ind} : vas 〉

〈ALLER, { pl ipfv ind} : allaient 〉

〈ALLER, { pl fut ind} : irons〉

〈ALLER, { sg prs ind} : va 〉

〈ALLER, { sg cond} : irais〉

〈ALLER, { pl fut ind} : irez〉

〈ALLER, { pl prs ind} : allons 〉

〈ALLER, { sg cond} : irais〉

〈ALLER, { pl fut ind} : iront〉

〈ALLER, { pl prs ind} : allez 〉

〈ALLER, { sg cond} : irait〉

〈ALLER, { sg ipfv sbjv} : allasse〉

〈ALLER, { pl prs ind} : vont 〉

〈ALLER, { pl cond} : irions〉

〈ALLER, { sg ipfv sbjv} : allasses〉

〈ALLER, { sg pst ind} : allai 〉

〈ALLER, { pl cond} : iriez〉

〈ALLER, { sg ipfv sbjv} : allât〉

〈ALLER, { sg pst ind} : allas 〉

〈ALLER, { pl cond} : iraient〉

〈ALLER, { pl ipfv sbjv} : allassions 〉

〈ALLER, { sg pst ind} : alla 〉

〈ALLER, { sg prs sbjv} : aille 〉

〈ALLER, { pl ipfv sbjv} : allassiez〉

〈ALLER, { pl pst ind} : allâmes〉

〈ALLER, { sg prs sbjv} : ailles 〉

〈ALLER, { pl ipfv sbjv} : allassent〉

〈ALLER, { pl pst ind} : allâtes 〉

〈ALLER, { sg prs sbjv} : aille 〉

〈ALLER, { sg imp} : va〉

〈ALLER, { pl pst ind} : allèrent〉

〈ALLER, { pl prs sbjv} : allions 〉

〈ALLER, { pl imp} : allons〉

〈ALLER, { sg ipfv ind} : allais 〉

〈ALLER, { pl prs sbjv} : alliez 〉

〈ALLER, { pl imp} : allez〉

〈ALLER, { sg ipfv ind} : allais 〉

〈ALLER, { pl prs sbjv} : aillent 〉

〈ALLER, {inf} : aller〉

〈ALLER, { sg ipfv ind} : allait 〉

〈ALLER, { sg fut ind} : irai〉

〈ALLER, {prs ptcp} : allant〉

〈ALLER, { pl ipfv ind} : allions〉

〈ALLER, { sg fut ind} : iras〉

〈ALLER, {pst ptcp} : allé〉

}

Are inflectional paradigms theoretically significant, or are they an epiphenomenon? paradigm-free morphology vs paradigm-based morphology

Are inflectional paradigms theoretically significant, or are they an epiphenomenon? morpheme-based morphology vs paradigm-based morphology

Morpheme-based morphology

In morpheme-based morphology, it is assumed that a word’s form and content may be represented in parallel as a combination of morphemes. A theorem of this assumption is The representational determinism (RD) hypothesis: An inflected word form’s grammatical and semantic content are fully determined by its representation. The most familiar expression of this hypothesis is the morpheme theory:

In morpheme-based morphology, it is assumed that a word’s form and content may be represented in parallel as a combination of morphemes. A theorem of this assumption is The representational determinism (RD) hypothesis: An inflected word form’s grammatical and semantic content are fully determined by its representation. A word’s form and content may be represented in parallel as a combination of morphemes.



Swahili

n-geni a-li-ki-sukuma ki-kapu. GEND.NUM-stranger SBJ.CONC-TNS-OBJ.CONC-push GEND.NUM-basket The stranger pushed the basket.

The hierarchical structure of alikisukuma ‘s/he pushed it’ under the RD hypothesis

a- : {SBJ:{m/wa sg}} li- : {past} ki- : {OBJ:{ki/vi sg}}

The hierarchical structure of alikisukuma ‘s/he pushed it’ under the RD hypothesis

a- : {SBJ:{m/wa sg}} li- : {past} ki- : {OBJ:{ki/vi sg}}

The hierarchical structure of alikisukuma ‘s/he pushed it’ under the RD hypothesis (incremental approach)

V, {SBJ:{m/wa sg}, past, OBJ:{ki/vi sg}} V, {past, OBJ:{ki/vi sg}} {SBJ:{m/wa sg}} V, {OBJ:{ki/vi sg}} {past} {OBJ:{ki/vi sg}}

V

The hierarchical structure of alikisukuma ‘s/he pushed it’ under the RD hypothesis (realizational approach)

{SBJ:{m/wa sg}} {past} {OBJ:{ki/vi sg}} a- {SBJ:{m/wa sg}}

li{past}

ki{OBJ:{ki/vi sg}}

sukuma V

Six phenomena that exclude a paradigm-free approach to inflectional morphology

Underdetermination Finite forms of Bulgarian KRAD ‘steal’ Singular

Plural

Present Imperfect

Aorist

krad-ǝ́ krad-’á-x krad-é-š krad-é-š-e krad-é krad-é-š-e krad-é-m krad-’á-x-me krad-é-te krad-’á-x-te krad-ǝ́ t krad-’á-x-a

krád-o-x krád-e krád-e krád-o-x-me krád-o-x-te krád-o-x-a

Overt form/content conflict Imperfective indicative forms of two Latin verbs MONERE ‘warn’

Active

sg sg sg pl pl pl Passive sg sg sg pl pl pl

Present Imperfect Future moneō monēbam monēbō monēs monēbās monēbis monet monēbat monēbit monēmus monēbāmus monēbimus monētis monēbātis monēbitis monent monēbant monēbunt moneor monēbar monēbor monēris monēbāris monēberis monētur monēbātur monēbitur monēmur monēbāmur monēbimur monēminī monēbāminī monēbiminī monentur monēbantur monēbuntur

VERERI ‘fear’

Present Imperfect Future vereor verēbar verēbor verēris verēbāris verēberis verētur verēbātur verēbitur verēmur verēbāmur verēbimur verēminī verēbāminī verēbiminī verentur verēbantur verēbuntur

Extended exponence The inflection of the Noon adjective YAK ‘big’ Indefinite Nondiminutive Inanimate sg

pl Animate Diminutive

sg pl sg pl

-

wi-yak fi-yak mi-yak ki-yak pi-yak ji-yak ci-yak ti-yak yi-yak ɓi-yak ji-yak ti-yak

Proximal wi-yak-w-ii fi-yak-f-ii mi-yak-m-ii ki-yak-k-ii pi-yak-p-ii ji-yak-j-ii ci-yak-c-ii ti-yak-t-ii yi-yak-y-ii ɓi-yak-ɓ-ii ji-yak-j-ii ti-yak-t-ii

Definite Medial wi-yak-w-um fi-yak-f-um mi-yak-m-um ki-yak-k-um pi-yak-p-um ji-yak-j-um ci-yak-c-um ti-yak-t-um yi-yak-y-um ɓi-yak-ɓ-um ji-yak-j-um ti-yak-t-um

Distal wi-yak-w-aa fi-yak-f-aa mi-yak-m-aa ki-yak-k-aa pi-yak-p-aa ji-yak-j-aa ci-yak-c-aa ti-yak-t-aa yi-yak-y-aa ɓi-yak-ɓ-aa ji-yak-j-aa ti-yak-t-aa