The type Tánicc in the Old Irish glosses: affix ordering, frequency and phonotactics

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper I investigate OIr. lexical compound verbs with the basic deuterotonic (deut.) shape CV·VC‐, of the type of expected *do·ánicc ‘he, she came’ or ‘who came’ which actually occurs in the prototonic (prot.) form tánicc. On the basis of the notions of affix ordering, frequency and junctural phonotactics developed in recent works on experimental psycholinguistics, the OIr. forms of the type tánicc are explained as relatively late innovations in which the deut. are replaced by prot. forms. The extension of the prot. form in those lexical compound verbs at the expense of the deut. form is due to the phonotactically problematic hiatus of the latter and depends mainly on grammatical (in leniting relative clause forms) and lexical (in the most frequent verbs) criteria.