119
with forms due to A—»U-altemation, which are /u:/-forms.28 The special regu-
lation that requires ablaut forms to be o-forms in case of I—»U-alternation
(apart from NC-stems, which, in their turn, allow only short ablaut forms)
serves to contribute to the sharp contrast between the two types of ablaut. As
summarised in Table 3 (next page), there is a linkage between I—»U-alter-
nation, shortening, and non-default ablaut vowels on the one hand side, and
between the remaining changes of quality type, lengthening, and default ablaut
vowels on the other hand side. The combined effect of opposite regulations
concerning ablaut vowels’ quality and quantity results in a clearly distin-
guished vocalism of ablaut forms of stems with monophthongal bases: the sets
of ablaut vowels found with simple and full ablaut are disjoint. Thus the two
types of ablaut may be conveniently identified by reference to the ablaut vow-
els involved: simple ablaut is o-ablaut, ablaut forms being o-forms in the
regular case. It is to be understood that cases where Vu/ substitutes for /o/’ are
included. As for full ablaut, three subcases are to be distinguished in terms of
ablaut vowels, viz. i-ablaut, a-ablaut, and u-ablaut, ablaut forms being IvJ- or
/i/-forms, /a:/- or /a/-forms, and /u:/-forms, respectively.
The distinction simple ablaut vs. full ablaut is drawn in terms of formal
properties of stem form alternations; on the other hand, it is functionally rele-
vant: as will be shown in Section 3, these two types of ablaut correspond to
two distinct functions of ablaut. Consequently, simple and full ablaut may
combine, i.e., there are stems like
s p r e c h l
that show both simple and full
ablaut ( sprech^sproch, sprech—*sprach). On the other hand, /-ablaut, u-
ablaut, and a-ablaut, being varieties of full ablaut, cannot combine. Of the five
changes of quality type that are covered by full ablaut, A—»U-alternation is
found with a severely restricted group that comprises only nine stems (cf.
Section 4.5, infra), U—»A-altemation is found with one stem only
(KOMML).
Apart from these, given the quality type of the base, the distribution of varie-
ties of full ablaut is fixed (by the general rule that requires change of quality
type): a-ablaut is found only with I-bases (I—»A-altemation), /-ablaut is found
with other bases (A—»I-altemation, U—»I-altemation).
28 Ablaut forms formed by A—»U-alternation cannot but be long owing to a restriction on
the form of the bases concerned; cf. Section 4.5, infra. (On ERSCHALLL see Section 2.7,
infra.)
120
simple
ablaut
full
ablaut
Ablaut as applied to stems that have diphthongal bases differs from ablaut as
found with stems that have monophthongal bases only in one respect: usually,
there is no change of quality type. Apart from this, the characterisations of
simple and full ablaut given above carry over to stems with diphthongal bases.
As for stems with monophthongal bases, simple ablaut has been charac-
terised as combining I—>U-altemation with shortening. As regards diphthongal
bases, in the absence of a change of quality type, there are two cases of simple
ablaut to be distinguished, (i) The base is an I-form, as usual; the ablaut form
belongs to the same type. This is I—d-alternation. (ii) The ablaut form is a
U-form, as usual; the base form belongs to the same type. This is U—*U-
altemation. Type (i) is the majority case, type (ii) is the minority case. As is
characteristic of simple ablaut, length alternation is shortening, i.e., ablaut
forms are short if possible, and again ablaut forms that are U-forms are re-
forms. Of course, if quantitative ablaut is not applicable, ablaut forms are long,
diphthongal bases being long. Cf.:
— REISSl ,
I-base, subject to quantitative ablaut, the ablaut form is a short /-
form (reiß—>riss /ris/),
—
r e ib
l ,
I-base, not subject to quantitative ablaut, the ablaut form is a long
/-form (reib—>rieh /ri:b/),
— SAUFl ,
U-base, subject to quantitative ablaut, the ablaut form is a short
o-
form (sauf—*soff /zof/),
— SAUGl ,
U-base, not subject to quantitative ablaut, the ablaut form is a
long «-form (saug—*sog /zo:g/).
With monophthongal bases, simple ablaut is «-ablaut, and, naturally, ablaut
found with
SAUFL
and
SAUGL
can be subsumed under this type. As regards
qualitative ablaut
quantitative ablaut
ablaut vowels
1—U
shortening
if applicable
/o/, /o:/
(/u/)
A—U
I—A, U—A
A—*1, U—l
lengthening
if applicable
/i:/, /a:/, /a/, /u:/
(/i/)
( ): occurs only in ablaut forms of NC-stems
Table 3. Simple vs. full ablaut (monophthongal bases)
121
I—»I-altemation, a second variety of simple ablaut has to be recognised, which
may be referred to as i-monophthongisation. The two subtypes of simple
ablaut are in complementary distribution: /-monophthongisation is restricted to
e/-bases; otherwise simple ablaut is o-ablaut.
Stems that have diphthongal bases rarely show full ablaut: there are only
two or three such stems. They are recognisable by having long ablaut forms
while being subject to quantitative ablaut. Change of quality type is possible.
HEISS
l
(ablaut form: hieß /hits/) and
LAUF1'
(ablaut form: lief/ li:f7) are cases in
point. (Of course, the ablaut forms cannot be due to simple ablaut, as they had
to be short in this case.) As for
LAUFl ,
ablaut is full ablaut also on account of
the change of quality type (U—H-alternation).29 In both cases, it is /-ablaut.
In sum, diphthongal bases may show ablaut formations familiar from
stems that have monophthongal bases, viz. o-ablaut and /-ablaut. But the
majority of stems with diphthongal bases show neither o-ablaut nor a variety
of full ablaut, but i-monophthongisation (that is, I—>I-alternation coupled with
shortening).30
2.7 Special present tense formations
As has been pointed out, there are a few cases of o- and /-ablaut where bases
belong to the quality type that is characteristic of the corresponding ablaut
forms, e.g.,
SAUF
l
and
HEISSl .
However, this is attached to the condition that
there be a change of complexity type and the formation of ablaut forms is in
conformance with the general patterns. The base forms are peculiar but the
alternations still fit into the system of ablaut.
There are a few more cases that show, traditionally speaking, ‘special
present tense formation’ (“besondere Art der Präsensbildung”, Paul 1917:
200; cf. also Wurzel 1970). Consider the traditional fifth class. As a rule,
bases are e-forms and there is o-ablaut; in addition, there are ‘secondary
stems’ formed by ^//-alternation and umlaut, respectively; cf., e.g.,
t r e t
l :
tret—>trat, tret—stritt, trat—*trät. The ‘secondary present tense stems’ formed
by ^//-alternation occur in verb forms of the 2nd/3rd person singular present
indicative and in the imperative; this conforms to the standard use of
29 Another case is HAU
l
provided its choice-language past form hieb is still considered
standard. It has been widely replaced by the weak form haut (Paul 1917: 241).
30 This is reflected in the usual classification of strong verbs, where verbs that show /-
monophthongisation make up the first class while verbs like
sa u fe n
" and
l a u fe n
" are put
into the second and seventh class, respectively. SCHEIDL, formerly also in the seventh class
(compare the adjective BESCHEIDEN;, is not subject to quantitative ablaut. Hence, in this
case, length of the ablaut form (/Ji:d/) fails to signal full ablaut. Consequently, it is now
treated as a case of /-monophthongisation, and accordingly
sc h e id e n
" is in the first class.
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