Systematic Syncretism or Accidental Homophony The verb kloppen in the MAND

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Systematic Syncretism or Accidental
Homophony?The verb kloppen in the MAND

• Suzanne Aalberse
• s.p.aalberse_at_uva.nl

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Attestations of kloppen in MAND(Morphological
Atlas of Dutch Dialects)

• 364 Dutch ?
• 58 Frisian ?
• (179 Belgian)
• (10 French) dialects

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Kloppen in Standard Dutch

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Kloppen in Middle Dutch

Ik klop
Jij klopt
Jullie kloppen
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What type of variation is possible?

• Everything is possible. There is no constraint on
  variation in inflection that cannot be countered.
  
• (cf. Cysouw 2003)

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What type of variation is possible?

• Although any kind of variation is possible, not
  all types of variation are equally likely.
• Statistical predominance of certain patterns
• (Brown, Baerman Corbett 2005)

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Two sources for syncretisms(Baerman, Brown
Corbett 2005)

• Morphology internal Feature hierarchy
• Morphology external factors

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Kloppen in Middle Dutch

Ik klop
Jij klopt
Jullie kloppen
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Morphology external factors Kloppe? Klop

• Sjwa-deletion
• Sone (son) ?Zoon
• Ic kloppe (I knock)? Ik klop

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Morphology external factors Politeness

• The fate of the 2sing inflection is really part
  of the pronoun storyit falls away with the
  you/thou opposition(Lass 1999 162)
• Gi/Ji kloppet (Ye knock) VOUS
• Du klops (thou knockest) TU

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Morphology internal factors one plural

• Gi/ji klopt
• Jullie kloppen (lt Jij lie(den) you people)

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Stage 1 julliejij

• Default word order
• Jij klopt
• Jullie klopt
• Inverted word order
• KlopØ jij?
• KlopØ jullie?

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Stage IIInversion differentiates

• Default word order parallel
• Jij klopt
• Jullie klopt
• Inverted word order differentiate
• KlopØ jij?
• Kloppen jullie?

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Stage III Jullieplural ?2s

• Default word order
• Jij klopt
• Jullie kloppen
• Inverted word order
• Klopø jij?
• Kloppen jullie?

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Kloppen in Middle Dutch

Ik klop
Jij klopt
Jullie kloppen
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Expected variation in MAND

• Different effects phonological rules
• Different effects politeness
• Continuation variation Middle Dutch
• Different level of morphology internal motivated
  deflection (language contact)

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Variation in Phonological Rules

• Sjwa deletion
• -N deletion
• -T deletion

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Variation in effects politeness

• Loss second person singular
• If plural replaces singular inflectional marker
  plural

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Middle Dutch variation

• Eastern dialects all plurals marked with (e)t
• Northern dialects all plurals marked with e(n)

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Feature hierarchy Number features neutralize
person features and not vice versa (cf. Pinker
1984, Aikhenvald Dixon 1998)

• YES NO

1s.A
1p.D
1s.A
1p.D
2s.B
2p.D
2s.B
2p.B
3s.C
3p.D
3s.C
3p.F
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Full overlap finite non finite ok

V? en
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First step Finite versus non-finite
FIN? -t
V?-en
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Partial overlap finite vs. Non finite forms
accidental
FIN,SG? -t
V? -en
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Person versus number syncretism

• 1p2p3p 295/403
• 1s1p 43/403
• 2s2p 115/403
• 3s3p 47/403

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3s3pMiddle Dutch variation
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2s2p115/403? alot?Politeness nb. 288x 2sV
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1s1pphonology sjwa deletion -n deletion
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PROBLEM?
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PROBLEM?
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Extension of en/-e alternation
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Extension of en/-t alternation
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-en/-e alternation
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-en/-t alternation
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History, geopgraphical distribution and frequency

• 115/403 dialects neutralize number features in
  second person ? 288 dialects have a V pronoun
• 1st person-en (neighbouring dialects 1st
  person-e, plural e/-en)
• 3rd person-en (neighbouring dialects 2nd person
  and plural en/-t)

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Thank you!