Blur Principle Research Articles

The No Blur Principle and Faroese conjugation

Abstract The paper presents the approach referred to as the ›No Blur Principle‹ (NBP), aka ›Vocabular Clarity‹. This approach can account for an otherwise unexpected case of diachronic productivity in Faroese verb conjugation, viz. the spreading of the suffix -i in the present tense 3rd sg., not associated with the largest class. Even if the NBP is meant as a synchronic restriction, the paper shows some consequences for diachrony – yielding the right ›predictions‹ (in a weak sense of the word). Given the NBP analysis of Old Norse, there is a good reason why the suffix -a, at first sight a much better candidate for productivity (as it is associated with a more type-frequent class than -i), could not spread – at least not without extensive ›reshuffling‹ of the affixes first; no such reshuffling was necessary for the spreading of -i, which was the ›class-default‹ affix anyway. The traditional account of the spreading of Faroese -i,which goes back to Rask (1811, p. 279), has it that this spreading is due to influence from the subjunctive. This is problematic, because one would not normally expect affixes to spread from the subjunctive to the indicative, and because a similar development in some few dialects of Norwegian cannot plausibly be accounted for along such lines. While the NBP account does not exclude Rask’s hypothesis, it can help us overcome these problems. The fact that the NBP helps us answer questions of productivity must count in its favour, and some other arguments in its favour are also marshalled. The Faroese development also shows that productivity for affixes and words need not behave in identical fashion; thus supporting a theoretical distinction. Thanks to audiences in Oslo (ICHL 21, August 2013), Zürich (Doktorierendenkolloquium Linguistik, October 2013), Copenhagen (Dano-Norwegian seminar on historical linguistics, January 2014), Tromsø (NORKOG, June 2014), Bergen (Forskergruppe nordisk språkvitenskap, September 2014), and Berlin (Freie Universität, December 2014), in particular to Tore Nesset, Helge Sandøy and Horst Simon. Very helpful comments on written versions have been given by Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, Oda Røste Odden, Arne Torp and two anonymous PBB referees. Thanks for saving me from a number of embarrassing mistakes. Remaining weaknesses are my own.

The No Blur Principle Effects as an Emergent Property of Language Systems

The No Blur Principle Effects as an Emergent Property of Language Systems

Affixes and stem alternants in Latvian nouns: implications for inflectional theory

Baerman (2012) suggests that noun inflection in Latvian presents a problem for Carstairs-McCarthy’s (1994) No Blur Principle, a successor to the Paradigm Economy Hypothesis (Carstairs 1983; 1987; Carstairs-McCarthy 2010). On closer examination, however, this turns out not to be so. Some other languages (such as Nuer) do appear to violate the No Blur Principle. However, when one takes into account the relationship between affixal inflection and stem alternation patterns, Latvian emerges as perfectly compliant. The discussion involves the distinction between patterns of stem alternation that have traditional morphosyntactic functions (such a signalling ‘plural’) and ones that are ‘morphomic’ (Aronoff 1994). The role of thematic vowels and the location of stem-affix boundaries are also relevant.

Vocabular Clarity meets Faroese noun declensions

The No Blur Principle (NBP) or Vocabulary Clarity (VC) approach (Carstairs- McCarthy 1994, 2010) is a possible restriction on the behaviour of inflectional affixes (grammatical units), originally motivated by an analogy with words (lexical units). The restriction is grounded in synonymy avoidance, in the observation that “Every two forms contrast in meaning” (Clark 1993) and in behaviour in multivocabular situations, where speakers have more than one vocabulary although they have only one grammar (e.g. Dyirbal, Javanese). There have not been many suggestions for restrictions on the behaviour of affixes in the morphological literature, so the approach deserves attention. In this article, the NBP or VC-approach is applied to Faroese noun declensions. While these Faroese data seem problematic at first, it is argued that they can be perfectly accommodated within the NBP/ VC-aproach.

Morphological theory and grammaticalisation: the role of meaning and local generalisations

In this paper, we try to see how insights from morphology and grammaticalisation can be combined. Two approaches to the semantics of inflectional affixes are contrasted. According to one, affixes have no meaning, according to another, affixes have meaning just like lexical items. Given insights from grammaticalisation, a middle way, associated with the No Blur Principle, seems more appealing than either of these extremes. The No Blur Principle is illustrated, and its predictions are shown to be tenable, also in apparent counterexamples from Scandinavian inflection classes. Inflection classes are sometimes assigned on ‘strange’ bases. This is because there are ‘local’ generalisations in inflection class assignment (as in gender, where such generalisations have been called ‘crazy’). Our view of grammaticalisation also supports the idea of a language as a ‘system’ of low-level regularities, even if this picture seems unusual.

How do words change inflection class? Diachronic evidence from Norwegian

In cases of diachronic change, do lexemes shift inflection class gradually or in one leap? Evidence is presented from Norwegian verbs and nouns. These seem to behave somewhat differently: Verbs shift more gradually, nouns more abruptly. An alternative account for the verbs, presented by Kusters [Kusters, W., 2003. Linguistic Complexity: The Influence of Social Change (LOT 77). LOT, Leiden], arguing that verbs shift class in one leap, is argued to be inadequate. The difference between verbs and nouns in Norwegian is unexpected, given Rhodes’s [Rhodes, R., 1987. Paradigms large and small. In: Aske, J. (Ed.), Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics society, vol. 13, pp. 223–234] claim that noun inflection is more ‘quirky’ than is verb inflection. Perhaps the difference has to do with the observation that, in Norwegian, the “basic form” of the verb is more inflectionally informative than that of the noun. It is shown that the diachronic changes in Norwegian do not endanger the No Blur Principle [Carstairs-McCarthy, A., 1994. Inflection class, gender and the principle of contrast. Language 70, 737–788].

Notes on paradigm economy

It is shown that assuming instances of syncretism to be systematic in the unmarked case may significantly reduce the number of possible inflection classes that can be generated on the basis of a given inventory of markers, without recourse to specific constraints like Carstairs’ (Allomorphy in Inflection, Croom Helm 1987) Paradigm Economy Principle or Carstairs-McCarthy’s (Language 70:737–787, 1994) No Blur Principle. If there is always one radically underspecified (i.e., elsewhere) marker per morphological domain, and if there is always one unique marker that is chosen in cases of marker competition, it turns out that there can be at most 2 n − 1 inflection classes for n markers, independently of the number of instantiations of the grammatical category that the markers have to distribute over. The argument relies on the notion of marker deactivation combinations.

The No Blur Principle meets Norwegian dialects*

Abstract. The No Blur Principle (NBP) is confronted with developments in Norwegian dialects. The NBP helps us explain why the suffixes of the most productive class do not become ‘super‐stable’: that would have entailed a violation of the NBP. If affixes associated with the most productive class have become super‐stable, something has been done with other suffixes, so the NBP is complied with, by and large. The NBP did not have to ‘bite’, for the suffix distribution is partly extra‐morphologically motivated. This indicates a ‘belts‐and‐braces’ strategy to ensure inflectional distinctness. The paper also presents arguments in favour of Natural Morphology.

Stem alternants as morphological signata: Evidence from blur avoidance in polish nouns

At first sight, the suffixal inflection of Polish masculine nouns violates massively the No Blur Principle proposed by Carstairs-McCarthy (1994) as a constraint on inflection class proliferation but, when stem alternation is taken into account, Polish turns out to comply with the No Blur Principle perfectly – provided that characteristics of stemalternants are permitted to be constitute part of the `meaning' of affixes, i.e., to be morphological signata. This supports the hypothesis that affixal inflection and nonaffixal inflection are subject to different constraints, and sheds new light on how the two kinds of inflection can interact.

Particle image-resolution test object.

A blur definition and measurement technique for high-subject-contrast image resolution is proposed. A new test object utilizing the blur principle has been developed and feasibility tested. In developing this new test object, tests of various sizes and concentrations of small plastic particles in a gelatin base were performed. Optimum particle sizes and concentrations were selected for the popular clinical transducer frequencies. Test images were obtained with static and real-time transducers of various focal properties. In all cases the proposed test object clearly indicated the zone (focal zone) of optimum high-subject-contrast image resolution. The advantages of the proposed blur definition and measurement technique of high-subject-contrast image resolution include: test object simplicity, ease of performing and interpreting the measurement, usefulness for all types of real-time scanners, and the need for only one scan for both axial and lateral resolution information at all image depths.