Visible verbal morphology: Morpheme constancy in Germanic and Romance verbal inflection

Abstract

In different spelling systems, different grades of morpheme constancy can be found: German has a high degree of morpheme constancy (especially stem constancy, for example rennen – rennt both forms with <nn>), while English has comparatively less (running – run, only the disyllabic form with <nn>). This paper investigates the interaction between stems and verbal inflectional suffixes in terms of constancy in three Germanic languages (Dutch, English, German) and five Romance languages (French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish). Verbal inflection is always the most widespread inflection, so it is a well-defined area for getting an idea of how spelling systems may function. For the Germanic languages, this analysis will primarily focus on the alternation between monosyllabic and disyllabic forms. For the Romance languages, it will focus on the <c>/ <g>-alternations in interaction with the following vowel. The aim is to describe a scale of morphological spelling: The alternation of <c> and <ç> is not an instance of constancy, but of similarity, something between constancy and non-constancy. Morpheme constancy is no longer a binary feature. Comparing verbal inflection takes us another step towards the development of typological parameters for visible morphology.