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