Explaining tense marking changes in Swedish verbs
An application of two analogical computer models
This study investigates the role of analogy in the changes in inflectional classes of Swedish verbs from the Old Swedish to Modern Swedish period. Verbs in the Germanic languages are generally classed as either weak or strong according to their type of inflection, but closer examination reveals interesting subtleties and exceptions to this general picture. Furthermore, changes in inflectional class go in different directions: not only from strong to weak, but also the other way around, and between strong classes and weak classes. Two analogical computer models — Analogical Modeling (Skousen 1989) and Minimal Generalization (Albright & Hayes 2002) — are used to model a selection of 80 such changes in the history of Swedish verbs. Taking only phonological descriptions of present tense verb stems paired with their original past tense stems as input, the models attempt to predict the most likely past tense forms based on analogy. In the cases where the new outcome matches the actual changes in Swedish, the predictions are considered correct. In this way, both models predicted roughly half of all changes correctly, but 83% of the changes where a weak verb became strong. I conclude that analogy modeled in this way may play a moderate to strong role in inflection class change in general, but a particularly strong role in the case of new strong verbs. Based on these results, analogy is deserving of a revaluation as an explanatory force in diachronic linguistics.
References (51)
Albright, Adam. 2008. Explaining Universal Tendencies and Language Particulars in Analogical Change. Linguistic Universals and Language Change ed. by Jeff Good, 144–181. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Albright, Adam & Bruce Hayes. 2002. Modeling English Past Tense Intuitions with Minimal Generalization. Proceedings of the Sixth Meeting of the ACL Special Interest Group in Computational Phonology, Philadelphia, July 2002 ed. by Michael Maxwell, 58–69.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Albright, Adam & Bruce Hayes. 2003. Rules vs. Analogy in English Past Tenses: A Computational/Experimental Study. Cognition 901.119–161. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Anttila, Raimo. 1977. Analogy. The Hague: Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Anttila, Raimo. 2003. Analogy: The Warp and Woof of Cognition. In Brian D. Joseph & Richard D. Janda, eds., 425–440.
Baayen, R. Harald & Fermín Moscoso del Prado Martín. 2005. Semantic Density and Past-tense Formation in Three Germanic Languages. Language 81:3.666–698. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bittner, Andreas. 1996. Starke “schwache” Verben, schwache “starke” Verben. Deutsche Verbflexion und Natürlichkeit. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Borin, Lars & Markus Forsberg. 2012. KORP. Available at [URL]![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bybee, Joan. 2003. Mechanisms of Change in Grammaticization: The Role of Frequency. In Brian D. Joseph & Richard D. Janda, eds., 602–623.
Chambers, J.K. 1998. Social Embedding of Changes in Progress. Journal of English Linguistics 26:1.5–36. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chandler, Steve & Royal Skousen. 1997. Analogical Modeling and the English Past Tense: A Reply to Jaeger et al. 1996. Unpublished manuscript. Available at [URL]
Croft, William. 2000. Explaining Language Change: An Evolutionary Approach. Harlow: Longman.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Daelemans, Walter. 2002. A Comparison of Analogical Modeling to Memory-Based Language Processing. In Royal Skousen, Deryle Lonsdale & Dilworth B. Parkinson, eds., 157–179.
Dammel, Antje. 2009. How—and Why—Do Inflectional Classes Arise? A Case Study on Swedish and Norwegian Conjugation. Selected Proceedings of the 6th Décembrettes ed. by Fabio Montermini, Gilles Boyé & Jesse Tseng, 12–21. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Delsing, Lars-Olof. 2006. Fornsvenska Textbanken. Available at [URL]![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eddington, David. 2000. Analogy and the Dual-Route Model of Morphology. Lingua 110:4.281–298. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eddington, David & Deryle Lonsdale. 2007. Analogical Modeling: An Update. Unpublished manuscript. Available at [URL]
van Haeringen, C.B. 1940. De taaie levenskracht van het sterke werkwoord. De Nieuwe Taalgids 341.241–255.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hare, Mary & Jeffrey L. Elman. 1995. Learning and Morphological Change. Cognition 56:1.61–98. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hellquist, Elof. 1922. Svensk etymologisk ordbok. Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hock, Hans Henrich. 2003. Analogical Change. In Brian D. Joseph & Richard D. Janda, eds., 441–460.
Hock, Hans Henrich & Brian D. Joseph. 1996. Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship: An Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hogg, Richard M. 1988. Snuck: The Development of Irregular Preterite Forms. An Historic Tongue: Studies in English Linguistics in Memory of Barbara Strang ed. by Graham Nixon & John Honey, 31–40. London: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hooper, Joan B. 1976. Word Frequency in Lexical Diffusion and the Source of Morphophonological Change. Current Progress in Historical Linguistics: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Tucson, Arizona, 12-16 January 1976 ed. by William M. Christie, Jr., 95–105. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hultman, Tor G. 2003. Svenska akademiens språklära. Stockholm: Svenska Akademien.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Itkonen, Esa & Jussi Haukioja. 1997. A Rehabilitation of Analogy in Syntax (and Elsewhere). Metalinguistik im Wandel: die kognitive Wende in Wissenschaftstheorie und Linguistik ed. by András Kertész, 131–177. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jaeger, Jeri J., Alan H. Lockwood, David L. Kemmerer, Robert D. van Valin, Brian W. Murphy & Hanif G. Khalak. 1996. A Positron Emission Tomographic Study of Regular and Irregular Verb Morphology in English. Language 72:3.451–497. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Johansson, Christer. 1997a. A View from Language: Growth of Language in Individuals and Populations. Lund: Lund University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Johansson, Christer. 1997b. Connecting Swedish Verb Forms. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 201.3–30. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Johnsen, Lars G. & Christer Johansson. 2005. Efficient Modeling of Analogy. Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Intelligent Text Processing and Computational Linguistics ed. by Alexander Gelbukh, 681–690. Berlin: Springer. (= Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3406. 694 – 703). ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Joseph, Brian D. & Richard D. Janda, eds. 2003. The Handbook of Historical Linguistics. Malden, MA: Blackwell. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Karlsson, Fred & Åsa Sahlquist. 1974. Starka verb i förvandling. Nysvenska Studier 541.44–84.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Karlsson, Susanna. 1999. Svaga och starka verb—vilken styrka har de? Göteborg: Göteborgs Universitet.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lieberman, Erez, Jean-Baptiste Michel, Joe Jackson, Tina Tang & Martin A. Nowak. 2007. Quantifying the Evolutionary Dynamics of Language. Nature 4491.713–716. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mailhammer, Robert. 2007. Islands of Resilience: The History of the German Strong Verbs from a Systemic Point of View. Morphology 17:1.77–108. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Marslen-Wilson, William & Lorraine K. Tyler. 1998. Rules, Representations, and the English Past Tense. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2:11.428–435. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
McClelland, James L. & Karalyn Patterson. 2002. Rules or Connections in Past-Tense Inflections: What Does the Evidence Rule Out? Trends in Cognitive Sciences 6:11.465–472. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Noreen, Adolf. 1904. Altschwedische Grammatik mit Einschluss des Altgutnischen. Halle: Max Niemeyer.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pinker, Steven. 1999. Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language. London: Phoenix.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pinker, Steven & Michael T. Ullman. 2002. The Past and Future of the Past Tense. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 6:11.456–463. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Seebold, Elmar. 1970. Vergleichendes und Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Germanischen Starken Verben. The Hague: Mouton. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Skousen, Royal. 1989. Analogical Modeling of Language. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishing.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Strik, Oscar. 2012. Analogical Patterns in the Oslo Norwegian Verb System. Language for Its Own Sake: Essays on Language and Literature Offered to Harry Perridon ed. by Muriel Norde & Henk van der Liet, 33–57. Amsterdam: Scandinavisch Instituut. (= Amsterdam Contributions to Scandinavian Studies 8).![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van den Bosch, Antal & Walter Daelemans. 2013. Implicit Schemata and Categories in Memory-based Language Processing. Language and Speech 56:3.309–328. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wessén, Elias. 1958. Svensk Språkhistoria I: Ljudlära och Ordböjningslära. 5th ed. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)