142
ciple stem’ only b e c a u s e it occurs in a participle. Furthermore, since
ablaut is a relational phenomenon it is, in general, not possible to determine a
stem form’s membership in a functional category such as ‘participle stem’ on
the basis of its expression related properties alone. A formal determination
would have to include reference to properties of stem lexemes.57
The present morphological approach avoids a vicious circle, based as it is
on morphological categories that are determined in formal (expression-related)
terms. The present section will be devoted to a demonstration of how func-
tional categorisations of verb forms relate to formal categorisations of stem
forms. To this end I shall fit together the major components of the account of
ablaut that have been developed in the preceding. Discussion focuses on a
single example, which, however, should suffice to illustrate how the proposed
‘item-and-paradigm-model’ works.
quality
complexity
quantity
I-form
A-form
U-form monophthongal diphthongal
short
long
Figure 2.
Expression types o f forms o f stems o f strong verbs
In Section 2, I have established a system of classifications of forms of stems
(of strong verbs) that is based on the forms’ vocalism (cf. Table 2, page 110);
it may be represented by means of a classificatory tree as in Figure 2. The
basic set strong is the set of forms of stems of strong verbs. There are three
simultaneous classifications on strong that supply the expression types (such
as I-form etc.) that have been discussed. On this basis, categorisations, i.e.,
sets of morphological categories, may be assigned to stem forms. The primary
forms of the stem lexeme
VERSPRECHL
are categorised as follows:
(versprech, {I-form, monophthongal, short, ...})
(versproch, {U-form, monophthongal, short, ...})
(versprach, {A-form, monophthongal, long, ...})
57 For example, the set of stem forms that occur in participles of strong verbs is the union
of (i) the set of ablaut forms of stems of CLASS I, (ii) the set of o-ablaut forms, and (iii) the
set of base forms of stems of
cla ss
v
,
v i
, and vn. This complex roundabout identification
presupposes both the classification systems for stem forms and for stem lexemes. —
Similarly, the class of ‘past stems’ could not be construed as a ‘pure form class’ (in the
sense of Blevins 2003): there is more than one ‘form class’ that includes ‘past stems’.
143
These are three pairs of morphological units and sets of categories that contain
the respective units. The morphological paradigm of the stem
VERSPRECHL
is a
set of such pairs. To complete the paradigm, pairs that account for ‘secondary
stems’ would have to be added; the classification system would have to be
extended in order to take care of their specific characteristics. Hence addi-
tional categories would have to be incorporated into the categorisations as
indicated by the dots. As these are not relevant to ablaut, they have been
omitted.
In Section 4, I have established a
system o f classifications of stem lex-
emes of strong verbs that is based on the types of alternations among stem
forms (cf. Table 6, page 133); it may be represented by means of a classifica-
tory tree as in Figure 3.™ The basic set
STRONG
is the set of stem lexemes of
strong verbs. There are two simultaneous classifications on
STRONG
that
supply the classes (such as
o
-
a b l
,
etc.) on which ablaut classes
(
c l a s s
i
, etc.)
are based. The example stem
v e r s p r e c h l
belongs to the classes
o
-
a b l
and
o-ABL
and thus, by definition, to
CLASS
lll/iv. The set
{o-ABL, o-ABL, . . . )
provides a morphological characterisation of the stem
VERSPRECHL.
s t ro n c
;
o-ablaul
full ablaut
NO-O-ABL
O-ABL
NO-FULL-ABL
O-ABL
i-ABL
O-ABL
Figure 3. Types of stem lexemes of strong verbs
Derivatively, the characterisation of the stem
v e r s p r e c h l
also provides for a
characterisation of its forms. As
VERSPRECH1'
is a stem of
CLASS
lll/iv, so ver-
sproch is a form of a stem of
CLASS
lll/iv. There are, then, two sets of catego-
ries that have to be taken into account to obtain a complete morphological
characterisation of the stem form versproch, viz. (i) the set of categories that it
is contained in (viz. (U-form, monophthongal, short, ...)) and (ii) the set of
categories that the lexeme of which it is a form is contained in (viz. {
o
-
a b l
,
o-ABL,
...}). The pair of these sets provides the starting point for determining 58
58 The classification systems displayed in figures 2 and 3 are assumed to be part of the
morphological unit ordering of German idiolect systems and the lexeme ordering of
German idiolect systems, respectively (cf. Lieb 1983: 168, 171).