Vowel alternatives in the present of verbs in "-ir". An analysis from autonomous morphology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54166/rhle.2011.06.04Keywords:
Vocalic alternations, Radical changing verbs, Morphome, Autonomous morphology, Spanish verbsAbstract
This article analyses the historical development of the vocalic alternations in the present tense of Spanish -ir verbs. The diachronic problem which these alternations present is how to explain (a) the different types of root vowels and (b) their paradigmatic distribution on the basis of their Latin etyma. I evaluate a number of previous analyses and conclude that they provide a less than satisfactory account because of their recourse to at least one of the following: (i) unconvincingly evoked, controversial and poorly documented sound changes; (ii) paths of analogy which can be considered abnormal and seem to be motivated merely retrospectively, and in an ad-hoc manner; (iii) contradictory justifications and explanations which apply only to an otherwise arbitrary sub-set of verbs. I present my own analysis based on the recognition of autonomous morphological structures, or morphomes (cf. Aronoff 1994, Maiden 2004), within the verbal paradigm. These morphomes display an interesting type of sideways analogy which here has been referred to as morphomic leveling/coherence whereby, for a selection of verbs, the inflectional forms which occupy the cells of the morphome come to resemble each other phonologically. I draw upon comparative evidence from other Romance varieties to argue that a particular type of morphome, the N-pattern morphome, is dominant in Spanish and the recognition of this morphome offers a more cogent explanation for the development of vocalic alternations in this language.
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