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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 Zealanda.c-mcc@ling.canterbury.ac.nz 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

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