Defective Paradigms : Missing Forms and What They Tell Us

Matthew (Research Fellow Baerman

ISBN 10: 0197264603 / ISBN 13: 9780197264607

Published by Oxford University Press Mai 2010, 2010

About this Item

Neuware - This is the first volume devoted to the theory and typology of gaps in inflectional paradigms. Such gaps have been recognised since the days of Classical grammarians, but they remain poorly understood. This volume addresses these issues from historical, statistical and theoretical approaches, and by using studies from a range of languages.

Seller Inventory # 9780197264607

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Defective Paradigms : Missing Forms and What They Tell Us
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Mai 2010
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0197264603
• ISBN 13: 9780197264607
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 241W x 164H x 21D millimeters 241 millimeters width by 164 millimeters height by 21 millimeters depth
• Weight: 542 grams

About this title

Synopsis

An important design feature of language is the use of productive patterns in inflection. In English, we have pairs such as 'enjoy' ~ 'enjoyed', 'agree' ~ 'agreed', and many others. On the basis of this productive pattern, if we meet a new verb 'transduce' we know that there will be the form 'transduced'. Even if the pattern is not fully regular, there will be a form available, as in 'understand' ~ 'understood'. Surprisingly, this principle is sometimes violated, a phenomenon known as defectiveness, which means there is a gap in a word's set of forms: for example, given the verb 'forego', many if not most people are unwilling to produce a past tense. Although such gaps have been known to us since the days of Classical grammarians, they remain poorly understood. Defectiveness contradicts basic assumptions about the way inflectional rules operate, because it seems to require that speakers know that for certain words, not only should one not employ the expected rule, one should not employ any rule at all. This is a serious problem, since it is probably safe to say that all reigning models of grammar were designed as if defectiveness did not exist, and would lose a considerable amount of their elegance if it were properly factored in. This volume addressed these issues from a number of analytical approaches - historical, statistical and theoretical - and by using studies from a range of languages.

About the Author

Matthew M. Baerman is a Research Fellow at the University of Surrey.
Greville G. Corbett is Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and Russian Language, University of Surrey.