OThe history of a Dutch past tense marker

Remco KnooihuizenOscar Strik

35th TABU-dagGroningen, 12 June 2014

OUTLINE

our experiment

historicalparallels

jocularlanguage

useconclusion

DUTCH VERBAL INFLECTION

› Past-tense formation in Dutch:

› weak — maken, maakte, gemaakt› strong — kijken, keek, gekeken

› Weak forms supposedly default or productive

› problematic concepts› not unambiguously true

OUR PREVIOUS WORK

› Three experiments

› past-tense formation of nonce verbs (re-run in Oct 2013)› acceptability judgment of strong/weak past forms› forced strong past forms of existing weak verbs

› Main conclusions

› more strong forms than expected (39%)› various constraints (stem vowel, consonants)› frequent use of o as strong past tense marker

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN TENSE

› Past-tense decision tree for Dutch

Is this a strong verb?

Does the stem end in a voiceless sound?

Does the stem contain the vowel ij?

Stick -te onto the stem to make a past tense

Stick -de onto the stem to make a past tense

Change the stem vowel to ee to make a past

Change the stem vowel to oo to make a past

WHERE DOES THIS COME FROM?

› Frequent occurrence in Dutch strong in!ection, seemingly irrespectiveof stem vowel

› Past tense: Class II, IIIb› Perfect: Class II, IIIa, IIIb, IV› Classes II and III have high type frequencies

› Facilitates reanalysis as general-purpose past-tense marker

HISTORY LESSON 1: IE-SPREAD

› General-purpose past tense marker ie in Dutch (from Class VII)

› Levelling to ie in Class VII (reduplicating) in Pre-Dutch

› First spread to Class VI

› Middle Dutch period

› Examples:

› bakken ~ boek > biek > bakte› wassen ~ woes > wies > waste› wasschen ~ woesch > wiesch > waste› heffen ~ hoef > hief› scheppen ~ schoep > schiep

HISTORY LESSON 1: IE-SPREAD

› General-purpose past tense marker ie in Dutch (from Class VII)

› Also spread to Class IIIb

› Early Modern Dutch period (van den Berg 1957)

› Examples:

› sterven ~ starf > stierf› helpen ~ halp > hielp

HISTORY LESSON 2: OU-SPREAD

› General-purpose past tense marker ou in Luxembourgish (from Class II)

› All 12 (!) remaining strong verbs (Werner 1990, Nowak 2010)

› bleiwen ~ blouf ~ bliwwen ‘stay’› stiechen ~ stouch ~ gestach ‘sting’› kommen ~ koum ~ komm ‘come’› gesinn ~ gesouch ~ gesinn ‘see’› ginn ~ gouf ~ ginn ‘give’› leien ~ loug ~ geleen ‘lie’› setzen ~ souz ~ gesiess ‘sit’› stoen ~ stoung ~ gestanen ‘stand’› fanken ~ foung ~ gefaangen ‘catch’› goen ~ goung ~ gaang ‘go’› halen ~ houl ~ gehalen ‘hold’› hanken ~ houng ~ gehaangen ‘hang’

LESSONS FROM HISTORY

› General-purpose past tense markers have happened before

› Generally not good news

› Dutch ie-spread

› Class VI verbs with ie have become weak› Class VI is moribund anyway

› Luxembourgish ou-spread

› ‘ideale Analogie oder vergeblicher Rettungsversuch?’

› Reason to worry?

DOMAINS FOR O

› Pops up predominantly in non-neutral language use

› next-best option (our experiment)› taboo contexts (genoken, gepopen)› jocular language use (gesnopen, gerolen, verhozen)

› What is the role of non-serious language in language change?

LANGUAGE ON HOLIDAY

› Battus’ Opperlandse Taal- en Letterkunde

› Als iets leuk is, dan is het goed. En wat leuk is, mag iedereen zelf weten. Wat kan dat mag, en wat niet kan dat mag helemaal. (Battus 1981)

› suspension of rules (Daniëls, Onze Taal, 2014)

› defeatist work on jocular language use — why?

› The play spirit is so diverse and uninhibited that any attempt to !nd ‘underlying principles’ would be forcing it into a Procrustean bed. Yes, there are tendencies and devices that can be catalogued; but we can best enjoy the "owering of the play spirit by leaving it in its untrammeled, untidy state. (Read 1982)

LANGUAGE ON HOLIDAY

› Examples of jocular language use with rules

› smurf language

› is it a cork smurf or a smurf screw? (Peyo 1973)

› internet memes

› different names for Benedict Cumberbatch (McCulloch 2013)

› Bandicoot Cabbagepatch, Angler!sh Gigglesnort, Wimbledon Tennismatch, Boobytrap Crimpysnitch, *Umbrella Falafel

› syntax, semantics and pragmatics of Harry Potter spells (Diesing & McConnell-Ginet 2012)

FEATURES OF LANGUAGE PLAY

› linguistic form› patterning of forms› emphasis on exact wording› repetition

› semantics› indeterminate meaning› vital or important subject-matter› reference to an alternative reality› inversion of language/reality relation

› pragmatics› focus upon performance / speaker/writer› use in congregation / intimate interaction› creation of solidarity / antagonism

› no direct usefulness› preservation/inversion of social order› enjoyment and/or value

(Cook 2000)

JOCULAR VERB FORMS

› From what linguistic aspects do these forms derive their special status?

› morphological variation as a source of jocularity› non-standard forms grab attention› non-standard forms make speaker stand out

› Part of relation between ‘conspicuous’ linguistic form and subjectivity/emotion

› Interaction of jocularity with morphological rules/patterns

JOCULAR VERB FORMS

› Roughly three patterns for past tense in Dutch

› weak (voiced and voiceless)› strong with ee› strong with oo

› In jocular language use...

› standard in!ection will not do, because standard› for strong verbs, weak in!ection will not do, because ‘standard’

SOME FORMALISM FOR GOOD MEASURE

› To illustrate the point (grain of salt)

snappen+PERF . WEAKVERB STRONGIJ ICONICITY DUTCH

gesnapt .

gesnappen . * * *

gesnopen . * *

gesnepen . * *!

capito . *!

☞

SOME FORMALISM FOR GOOD MEASURE

› To illustrate the point (grain of salt)

snappen+PERF . FUN WEAKVERB STRONGIJ ICONICITY DUTCH

gesnapt . *!

gesnappen . * * *

gesnopen . * *

gesnepen . * *!

capito . *!

☞

SO... CONCLUSIONS?

› On Dutch verbal in!ection

› oo appears as a (sub-optimal) past tense marker› no immediate danger for strong verb system› oo restricted to domain of jocular language

› On jocular language use

› despite defeatism, there are linguistic and pragmatic rules› by removing default, different view on what is also possible in

language

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TALK ABOUT IT?

› Remco Knooihuizen

› R.M.Knooihuizen@rug.nl› @remcoknooi› rug.academia.edu/RemcoKnooihuizen

› Oscar Strik

› O.Strik@rug.nl› @qwallath› rug.academia.edu/OscarStrik