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The development of “junk”. Irregularization strategies of have and say in the Germanic languages

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Yearbook of Morphology 1999

Part of the book series: Yearbook of Morphology ((YOMO))

Abstract

Although it is a wellknown fact that the most frequent verbs are the most irregular ones (if not suppletive), it is rarely asked how they became irregular. This article deals with the irregularization process of two originally regular (weak) verbs, HAVE and SAY in the Germanic languages, e.g. have, but has/’s and had/’d (instead of regular *haves/*haved) or say [sei], but says [sez] and said [sed] in English. Other verbs, such as DO, GO, STAND, BE, COME, and so on, also tend to irregularizations again and again without any apparent reason. In contrast to HAVE and SAY these verbs have always been rather irregular, at least dating from their first written records.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Mainz, Germany

    Damaris Nübling

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  1. Damaris Nübling
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculteit der Letteren, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Geert Booij

  2. Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Jaap van Marle

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Nübling, D. (2001). The development of “junk”. Irregularization strategies of have and say in the Germanic languages. In: Booij, G., van Marle, J. (eds) Yearbook of Morphology 1999. Yearbook of Morphology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3722-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3722-7_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5582-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-3722-7

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