Abstract
Abstract Dutch simplex nouns ending in schwa have two regular plural forms, e.g. bode-s/bode-n ‘messengers’. This means that neither of the two allomorphs -s and -n is blocked. Such regular non-blocking is non-existent in the closely related languages German and Afrikaans. To identify the reasons for this divergence, the history of plural marking in the three languages is compared. Based on the historical observations it is argued that the doublets in Dutch are retained due to the output principle of plurals ending in a trochaic foot, according to which both -s and -n may apply without preference on stems with non-final stress.
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