Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T07:50:37.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The tension between “combinatorial” and “class-default” regularity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 1999

Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New [email protected] www.ling.canterbury.ac.nz/adc-m.html

Abstract

Clahsen shows that “combinatorial” inflection is processed differently from “irregular” inflection. However, combinatorially regular affixes need not coincide with “class-default” affixes, that is, affixes shared by more than one inflection class and all of whose rivals are peculiar to one class. This creates a tension that may help to explain the persistence of inflection class systems.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)