The Morphology of the Modern French Verb 9783110905267, 9789027925046

Table of contents :
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
Part One. INFLECTION
INTRODUCTION
1. The Regular Verb
2. The Irregularly Regular Verb
3. The Regular or Irregular Verb
4. The Regularly Irregular Verb
5. The Irregular Verb: Vocalic Alternation and Radical Truncation
6. The Irregular Verb: Consonant Modification and Suppletion
7. A Note on Defective Verbs
8. The Regularized Verb: Colloquial French
Part Two. DERIVATION
Introduction
9. Derivational Suffixes
10. Derivational Prefixes
Works Cited
Appendix A. Verb Rules
Appendix B. The Irregular Verbs
Appendix C. Index Verborum
Index of Names and Terms

Citation preview

JANUA LINGUARUM STUDIA

MEMORIAE

N I C O L A I VAN W I J K endeuda

C. H. V A N

curat

SCHOONEVELD

Indiana

Series

DEDICATA

University

Practica,

204

THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE MODERN FRENCH VERB by M I C H A E L H.

GERTNER

University of Cincinnati

1973 MOUTON T h e H a g u e - Paris

© C o p y r i g h t 1973 in The Netherlands. M o u t o n & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague.

No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any from, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers.

Printed in T h e N e t h e r l a n d s

TABLE O F CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

6

Abbreviations and Symbols

7

Part One.

INFLECTION

Introduction 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

The Regular Verb The Irregularly Regular Verb The Regular or Irregular Verb The Regularly Irregular Verb The Irregular Verb: Vocalic Alternation and Radical Truncation . . The Irregular Verb: Consonant Modification and Suppletion . . . A Note on Defective Verbs The Regularized Verb: Colloquial French

Part Two.

14 26 34 44 49 59 70 73

DERIVATION

Introduction 9. Derivational Suffixes 10. Derivational Prefixes Works Cited Appendix A. Appendix B. Appendix C.

11

87 89 107 117

Verb Rules The Irregular Verbs Index Verborum

Index of Names and Terms

Π9 128 134 148

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This b o o k is based on my doctoral dissertation at Columbia University in 1971. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Professor Robert Austerlitz, my dissertation sponsor, for constantly expecting and insisting on only the best f r o m me. Professor Lawton P.G. Peckham, my second reader, provided m u c h needed reassurance and useful suggestions. I am also grateful to Professors Joseph Malone, Robert Allen, and Carl Bayerschmidt, members of the defense c o m m i t t e e , for their pointed questions and c o m m e n t s . Research for this work was supported by grants f r o m the US D e p a r t m e n t of Health, Education, a n d Welfare ( N D E A Title IV), the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship F o u n d a t i o n , and Columbia University. The T a f t Faculty C o m m i t t e e of the University of Cincinnati has helped to defray part of the publication costs. I am grateful to all of t h e m for their generosity. Michael H. Paris, July 1972

Gertner

ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

a C CF cond fut impf ind inf

rule supplanter consonant Colloquial French conditional future imperfect indicative infinitive

L Ν n/a OF

liquid (/l/, h / ) nasal ( / m / , /n/, /ñ/) noun or adjective Old French

part pi près Q R SLF sg sjn U V W X

participle plural present marker of past participle rule Standard Literary French singular subjunctive any vowel but /i/, /e/ vowel any consonant but /r/ any vowel but schwa

1, 2, and 3 refer to first, second, and third person, respectively. I, II, and III refer to regular verbs of the first, second, and third conjugations, respectively, 0 = zero. > < * *

becomes (in derivation) comes f r o m (in derivation) is changed to (in a rule) (before a linguistic f o r m ) hypothetical (after a rule number) irregular rule

Brackets [ ] indicate a phonetic transcription, and slashes / / a phonemic or morphophonemic transcription. Parentheses ( ) enclose an optional element. Suspension points ... indicate that some element (or zero) is present, but it is being ignored at that moment. A hypen - indicates morpheme boundaries between roots and endings. A plus sign + (used only when necessary) indicates morpheme boundaries between tense markers and person markers or between prefixes and roots. The sign # indicates word boundaries. A brace j in rules encloses items to be treated identically. A single slash / in rules, to be read 'in the environment o f , introduces the conditions in which the rules apply. A line _ in rules indicates the position in the above-mentioned environment of the element to the left of the arrow ->.

PART

ONE

INFLECTION

INTRODUCTION

It is an axiom of linguistics that every language is a system, constructed in such a way that one may expect the inflection of a given word to parallel that of another word from the same class. It is likewise well known that every natural language has numerous words within a given class whose behavior is by no means totally predictable by appealing to the principle of analogy. In previous years grammarians were content simply to list some or all words whose inflection was in some way unpredictable and call them 'irregular'. More recently, some scholars have suggested that the anomalous words were often considered irregular only because traditional concepts of regularity had been too superficial. On closer scrutiny and with more sophisticated rules one could indeed predict the morphology of many supposedly irregular words. The morphology of the French verb is one of the best known examples of large-scale irregularity. Any traditional grammar with any pretentions to thoroughness will list several hundreds of verbs as irregular, and millions of students the world over, both foreign and French, will testify to the unfathomable capriciousness of French verb conjugation. Can they all be wrong? In the past few years several works have appeared on the subject of the French verb. The most important of these is Sanford A. Schane, French Phonology and Morphology (Cambridge: the M.I.T. Press, 1968), hereafter abbreviated FPM. This was the first detailed study of French according to the methods of generative grammar. While one could criticize various minor aspects of this extremely important work, the only serious criticism which can be leveled at it is that by extending himself over such a broad domain Schane was not able to cover it as thoroughly as it deserved. François Dell has followed Schane's footsteps with "Règles phonologiques tardives et morphologie dérivationnelle du français" (Unpubl. Diss., M. I. T., 1970). Altho he contributed many new points, Dell unfortunately did not treat verb inflection and dealt with only a few aspects of verb derivation. Carolyn Zull's "A Formal System for Generating French Verb Paradigms: A study in Distinctive Features" (Unpubl. Diss., University of Wisconsin, 1966), is an interesting work, but more concerned with distinctive features and the mechanics of computer programming than with the morphology of the verb. O.W. Rolfe has provided us with valuable statistics in "A Quantitative Comparison of the French and Spanish Verbal Systems" (Unpubl. Diss., Stanford University, 1967). However, his classificatory approach is based only on the orthography and docs not consider the phonology of the verb forms.

12

INTRODUCTION

Altho all four writers have studied some French verbs, it may be said that not one of them (except perhaps the last) has studied the French verb. This part of speech, which has been the object of interest for centuries, is far too complex to be treated by reference to only a few examples. Only by dealing with a vast corpus can one hope to arrive at valid and meaningful generalizations. Of course, not even the most comprehensive dictionary can contain all the verbs in a living language, but such an exhaustive list is not really necessary for a study of inflection, provided that one's sampling is sufficiently large. For the sampling to be used in this work I have chosen Bescherelle, L 'art de conjuguer: Dictionnaire des huit miñe verbes usuels (Paris: Hatier, 1966). To illustrate a point, I have occasionally used a verb not found in Bescherelle, but in general one may assume that a sampling of eight thousand verbs is sufficient for most purposes. A generative approach must deal with words at various levels, from the phonetic surface to the morphophonemic deep structure. Because this work is not a study of French phonology per se, we will start by accepting the traditional stock of French sounds: p b f v m w

t d s z η 1 j

k g s 7. ñ r w

i y u

e

0 o

ε à

œ ó

ε œ o a (a) α

We need not comment on the pure consonants. However, it can be shown that the semiconsonants [w] and [w] (and in some positions [j]) are not phonemes in themselves, but only allophones of the high vowel phonemes /u/ and /y/ (and often /i/), respectively. (See Gertner, "On the French Semiconsonants", Linguistics 82 [1972].) Since we can always predict whether they will be phonetically realized as consonants or vowels according to the morphophonemic environment, we need not consider the semiconsonants as phonemes here. Inasmuch as most Parisians do not consistently distinguish two phonemes /a/ and /a/, we will assume only one phoneme here, transcribed /a/. However, the phonemic distinction between the open and close midvowels /e/ : / ε / , Ip/ : /œ/, and especially /o/ : /o/ is still commonly observed. All of these distinctions will be recognized here, even if in some environments they are neutralized. The status of schwa in French has generated much controversy. In this work I accept it as a phoneme, basing my decision on the following sources : Jeanne Varney Pleasants, Etudes sur l'e muet (Paris: Klincksieck, 1956); Schane, "On the Abstract Character of French Έ Muet' " , Glossa 2: 2 (1968), 150-68; and Dell, "Règles phonologiques" 1-44. For a consideration of dissenting views, see W. Zwanenburg, "Quelques remarques sur le statut phonologique du e muet en français", Word 24 (1968), 508-18. By recognizing schwa as a phoneme, we can predict the occurrence of the nasal vowels. A phonetic syllable-final [n] can be rendered phonemically as /na/; syllable-final /n/ indicates that the previous vowel is nasalized, and the /n/ itself is not pronounced: /an/ = [a], leni or /in/ = [ε ], /œn/ = [œ], /on/ = [δ]. In order to explain certain apparent exceptions to liaison and elision we will recognize the so-called h aspire as a phoneme /h/, altho it does not in itself have any phonetic

INTRODUCTION

13

realization. (Roman Jakobson and John Lötz, " N o t e s on the French Phonemic Pattern", Word 5 [1949], 155, suggest that aspirate h and schwa are both variants of a single phoneme.) This work follows the approach of generative grammar. Given only the stock of French phonemes and a list of French verb roots (in phonemic form), we will formulate a series of rules that will generate all forms of all the verbs correctly and will not generate any incorrect forms. As we shall see, the rules will be of three kinds. First, there will be regular or general rules, which can apply to all verbs without exception. Of course, some rules may apply with no effect on most verbs. For example, a rule concerning a root ending in a nasal element is irrelevant to all verbs with no nasal at the end of the root, but the rule will not generate any incorrect forms for such verbs. Secondly, there will be irregular or special rules, restricted to a small number of verbs. We will mark all such rules with an asterisk. Finally, we will find four rules which are unique: they will serve to supplant four regular rules. In order to indicate the special nature of these four rules, we will give each one the same number as that of the regular rule which it supplants, and we will add the letter a after the number. In the course of this work we will frequently use tables of verb paradigms, generally in morphophonemic transcription. In all such tables we will assume that all rules have applied through R 4 3 , in the order given in Appendix A.

1 THE REGULAR VERB

In order to account for the seemingly unpredictable features of the irregular verb, we must first have a clearer understanding of the regular verb. It is interesting to note that grammarians are not in total agreement on the meaning of regularity and therefore do not always agree on which verbs to call regular and which irregular. In this work regularity will be understood to mean predictability on the basis of the smallest number of rules. We need not become involved here with questions of simplicity criteria. By 'smallest number of rules' I mean the commonly accepted principle in all fields of knowledge that the preferred way of expressing an idea is in the fewest words possible. Special areas of study, like distinctive feature analysis, may require different definitions of simplicity. However, distinctive features, while of great importance to general linguistics, create problems of their own and offer no advantages to a study of morphology. According to the usual analyses, proposed definitions of regularity involve the number of verbs in or the productivity of each conjugation type. 1 In Modern French the -er and to a lesser extent the -ir conjugations are by far the commonest and the only productive ones. (Grevisse, Bon usage, 598-600, classifies all others as conjugaison morte.) Obviously, if a conjugation is productive, i.e. if new verbs are formed on its pattern, then it must be predictable, at least in the mind of the speaker, if not yet in the grammar of the linguist. Equating frequency with regularity is perhaps natural to human thinking, according to which if there is an abundance of something it must be normal. Only Dubois ("Essai", passim) clearly suggests that regularity implies a consistent root throughout the paradigm, except for predictable phonemic alternations. He does not attempt to predict morphophonemic alternations, but he looks to transformational grammar (p. 209) to systematize the paradigms. It is important to notice that none of these definitions excludes the possibility of more than one regularity: there could be two or more sets of rules, each predictable in itself, and each independent of the others. This, after all, is the traditional system of classifying French verbs into two, three, or more conjugations, depending on the individual grammarian's conception of regularity. Such a position is still tenable with reference to the theme vowel of each conjugation (cf. Schane, FPM, especially pp. 93-112). Traditionally, 1 This is the opinion of Maurice Grevisse, Le bon usage, 8 e éd. (Gembloux: Duculot, 1964), 600 # 663. His definition is rejected by Jean Dubois, "Essai d'analyse distributionnelle du verbe",Le Français moderne 34: 3 (1966), 188.

15

THE R E G U L A R V E R B

the theme vowel was no more than a marker for classifying a verb. Here, however, I will treat it as part of the root, in order to recognize only one conjugation, and thus reduce the total number of endings. The French verb has three persons, two numbers, and seven tenses, yielding forty-two conjugated forms, as well as an infinitive and two participles, each participle occurring in four forms: a total of fifty-one forms. 2 Only simple forms — including literary tenses — are considered. Compound forms such as perfect tenses and the passive voice will not be dealt with here, except for the form of the individual words. The rules for gender and number agreement are syntactic matters; they, too, will be left out of consideration here. The French verb can be divided into several morphemes. First, there is the stem, carrying the lexical meaning of the verb. The stem with the theme vowel combine to form the root, to which are added the endings. In all conjugated forms of the verb we can further divide the endings into a tense marker and a person marker. In the non-conjugated forms the participles have not only the present or past ending but also gender and number endings. We may represent the structure of the French verb in the following diagram:

Structure (root) verb = stem + t h e m e +

T A B L E 1. of the French

verb

(ending) tense + person \ inf ending près part ending \ + (feminine) + (plural) (past part ending f

We can indicate the categories of the French verb paradigm formally in terms of rules as follows: R1

verb

R2

ending

R3

tense

root + ending j tense + person ( non-conjugated Í près impf fut cond past près sjn past sjn

R4

person

R5

non-conjugated

lsg 2sg 3sg lpl 2pl 3pl [ inf Jprès part past part

2 The three forms of the imperative are identical to the corresponding forms of the present indicative, except in the case of three verbs, where they are identical with the corresponding forms of the present subjunctive. (See Chapter 6.) Therefore, they need not be considered separate morphological categories.

16

THE REGULAR VERB

Let us take two regular verbs, parler 'to speak ' of the first conjugation (I), and finir 'to finish' of the second conjugation (II), and compare their inflections phonemically: T A B L E 2. Parler (I)

lsg 2sg 3sg lpl 2pl 3pl

Pres

Impf

Fut

Cond

Past

Pres Sjn

Past Sjn

parla parle parla parlón parle parla

parle parle parle parlion parlie parle

parlare parlara parlara parlaron parlare parlaron

parlare parlare parlare parlarion parlerie parlare

parle parla parla parlama parlata parlera

parla parla parla parlion parlie parla

parlasa parlasa parla parlasion parlasie parlasa

Pres Part

parlan

Past Part

parle

Inf

parle

T A B L E 3. Finir (II)

lsg 2sg 3sg lpl 2pl 3pl

Pres

Impf

Fut

Cond

Past

Pres Sjn

Past Sjn

fini fini fini finispn finise finisa

finise finise finise finision finisie finise

finire finira finira finirò η finire finiron

finire finire finire finirion finirle finire

fini fini fini finirne finita finira

finisa finisa finisa finision finisie finisa

finisa finisa fini finision finisie finisa

Inf finir

Pres Part finisan

Past Part fini

One of the inadequacies of a conventional phonemic transcription is its failure to account for the phenomenon of liaison. When two words are in certain syntactic relationships (whose specifications need not concern us here) and the second word begins with a vowel, a consonant will often be inserted before that vowel: ils parlent /il parla/, but parlent-ils Iparla t i l l \ ( v o u s ) en parlez /an parle/, but parlez-en /parle z an/, etc. Since the particular consonant ([t] or [ζ]) can always be predicted by the morphological category of the first word, we know that the consonant must be morphophonemically a part of the first word, even if it is phonetically realized only under certain conditions. We must therefore indicate that consonant at the morphophonemic level. Schwa also is conditioned, but by strictly phonetic rather than morphological and syntactic criteria. Conveniently, phonetic [t] and [z] when they are not liaison consonants do not occur finally except before a phonemic schwa, which is often not realized phonetically. Thanks to these distributional facts, in a morphophonemic notation final /t/ and /z/ can be used to indicate (usually unpronounced) liaison consonants, while final /ta/ and /za/ indicate that the consonants are always pronounced. Special rules associated with schwa govern its retention or deletion. For example, it is always deleted when immediately following or preceding another vowel. Every verb is traditionally divided into root 4- ending. It is, of course, the ending which

17

THE R E G U L A R VERB

concerns

us h e r e , s i n c e t h e r e g u l a r v e r b i n F r e n c h n o r m a l l y u n d e r g o e s n o a l t e r n a t i o n

the

We

root.

The

theme

can

d i v i d e parler

vowel

T h e r o o t o f finir

schwa

will

i n t o /parta-/ ( t h e r o o t ) + be

whatever follows (the

in

ending).

r e t a i n e d o r d e l e t e d in a c c o r d a n c e w i t h the usual

rules.

w i l l be /fini-/.

N o w , b y i n c l u d i n g t h e l i a i s o n c o n s o n a n t s m e n t i o n e d a b o v e , l e t us c o m p a r e t h e e n d i n g s o f I and

II:

TABLE

4.

/parla-/ ( I ) Pres

Impf

Tut

Cond

Past

Pres Sjn

Past Sjn

lsg

-0

-εζ

-re

-rez

-e

-ζ

-εζ

-raz

-Γεζ

-az

-0 -ζ

-asa

2sg 3sg

-ta

-εί

-rat

-rEt

-at

-t

-at

ι pi 2pl

-onz

-ionz

-ronz

-rionz

-ama ζ

-ionz

-asionz

-ez

-iez

-rez

-riez

-ataz

-iez

-asiez

3pl

-t

-8t

-ront

-rEt

-8rat

-t

-asat

Inf

Pres Part - a n t ( a ) ( z )

-erb

TABLE

Past Part

c

-asaz

-e(a)(z)

5.

/fini-/ ( I I ) Pres

Impf

Fut

Cond

Past

Pres Sjn

Past Sjn -sa

lsg

-ζ

-SEZ

-re

-ΓΕΖ

-ζ

-S3

2sg

-ζ

-SEZ

-raz

-ΓΕΖ

-ζ

-saz

-saz

3sg

-t

-SEt

-rat

-rEt

-t

-sat

-t -sionz

lpl

-sonz

-sionz

-ronz

-rionz

-maz

-sionz

2pl

-sez

-siez

-rez

-riez

-taz

-siez

-siez

3 pl

-S3t

-SEt

-ront

-r8t

-rat

-sat

-sat

Inf -r

Pres Part - s a n t ( a ) ( z )

Past Part

- 0 (a) ( ζ )

A c c o r d i n g t o T a b l e s 4 a n d 5 the c o n j u g a t i o n s have o n l y f o u r t e e n endings in

common:

t w o in t h e p r e s e n t , a n d all f o r m s o f t h e f u t u r e a n d c o n d i t i o n a l , o r less than o n e t h i r d o f t h e t o t a l . H o w e v e r , in n i n e t e e n o t h e r f o r m s ( t h e plural o f t h e p r e s e n t i n d i c a t i v e , all o f t h e imperfect

and

present

subjunctive,

and

the

present

participle)

the

only

difference

b e t w e e n I a n d I I is t h e p r e s e n c e o f /s/ i n I I . T h e e x t r a s c h w a in t h e p r e s e n t s u b j u n c t i v e

a

A l t h o the liaison consonant is usually indicated in the traditional o r t h o g r a p h y , sometimes it is not.

T h e 3sg o f the present indicative and subjunctive and past indicative in I verbs and o f the future in all verbs must have /t/ t o account f o r liaison when verb and subject p r o n o u n are inverted. T h a t the /t/ does n o t appear in other syntactic environments when other liaison consonants are p r o n o u n c e d is o f n o m o r p h o l o g i c a l significance. b

T h e /r/ o f the I infinitive is p r o n o u n c e d o n l y in the highest style o f p o e t r y recitation, but despite

its rarity w e must accept it. c

T h e ¡t/

o f the present participle is necessary n o t only f o r liaison, but also to a l l o w f o r the phonetic

[ t ] in the f e m i n i n e f o r m when a schwa ending is added.

18

THE REGULAR VERB

and 3pl present indicative of II is no problem: we can assume that there is a schwa in the ending in I also, but schwa is deleted when adjacent to another vowel, including the theme vowel schwa. The /s/ appears only before a vowel; and temporarily setting aside the past forms and the infinitive, whenever a vowel is the first element of an ending in I, /s/ precedes that ending in II. By formulating the simple rule R6

i- -> is- / _ -V

(i.e., /i-/ in the root is changed to /is-/ whenever it precedes the initial vowel of an ending) we can show two-thirds of the endings of I and II to be identical. In the past subjunctive the only difference between the two conjugations is the presence of /a/ in I. By comparing forms phonetically, we see an interesting parallelism: [par'las] : [fi'nis], etc. Perhaps we have cut the morphs in the wrong place: instead of /parla-ass/ : /fini-sa/, it seems preferable to assume /parla-sa/, giving identical endings. However, we now have two different forms of the root in I: /parla-/ and /parla-/. We must discover what causes the change from schwa to /a/. In five out of the six forms the /a/ is followed by /s/. 3 The past indicative of I also has /a/ in four forms. 4 We will therefore posit an underlying /s/ in all ten forms which have /a/, in order to account for the change of theme vowel from schwa: R7 R8

a- -»• a / _ -s. -s ^ 0 / _ C.

The lsg ending of the past indicative is anomalous in more than the vowel: II has a liaison consonant /z/. The same consonant appears in the lsg present indicative of I I , a n d again it is absent in I. In order t o achieve harmony, first we must opt either for /z/ as in II or zero as in I, and then we must introduce a rule to allow for the correct result in the other conjugation. Since the lsg of the present and past indicative of all other verbs but I have Iz/, it is more reasonable to opt for /z/. We can further justify this analysis in terms of the structure of I, since /z/ occurs in the lsg of the imperfect and conditional. We can eliminate the /z/ in I with the rule R9

-z —> 0 / près and past lsg I.

We have yet to explain the unusual vowels of the lsg and 3pl in the past indicative of I. Instead of the expected schwa we find /e/ a n d / ε / . The second vowel is just a variant of the first, since [r] automatically lowers the immediately preceding close vowel. Two other endings of I, the infinitive and the past principle, also have /e/. 5 Comparing them with 3 Historically, we know that there once was a(n) /s/ in the sixth form, the 3sg, as well. See Pierre Fouché, Morphologie historique du français: Le verbe (Paris: Klincksieck, 1967), 3 3 9 ff.; hereinafter referred to as Morphologie historique. t Once again, we find that Old French had /s/ in at least some of these forms. See Fouché, Morphologie historique, 2 4 4 ff. 5 The [e] of the infinitive remains closed despite /-r/ because the /r/ is almost never pronounced. When the /r/ is phonetically realized the /e/ is opened to [ε].

19

THE R E G U L A R VERB

the corresponding forms of II, we see that where I has /e/, II has zero. Like /a/, /e/ seems t o parallel the t h e m e vowel /a/. If we can discover some c o m m o n conditioning factor, we will be justified in calling /e/ also a m o r p h o p h o n e m i c variant of /a/. Since there is no p h o n e m i c point in c o m m o n , the four f o r m s may have a m o r p h o p h o n e m e in c o m m o n , which is realized phonetically only in its effect on the schwa. Because the change f r o m schwa t o /e/ is of questionable origin, I will use the symbol /Q/ to indicate the morphophoneme:6 R I O se / _ -Q. R l l -Q-> 0 . (We will save this last rule until later.) I and II n o w share the same set of endings. In accordance with our original principle of predictability on the basis of the smallest n u m b e r of rules, it is surely preferable to have 51 endings a n d 6 rules (R 6-11) rather than 102 endings. (I am of course counting only those rules that concern verb conjugation; specifically phonetic rules which apply to the language as a whole are not counted here.)

Regular

1 sg 2sg 3sg lpl 2pl 3pl Inf

Pres -ζ -ζ

Impf -ε ζ -ε ζ

-t

-et

-onz -ez

-ionz -iez

-3t

-et

-Qr

T A B L E 6. Verb Endings (I and II)

Fut -re -raz -rat -ronz -rez -ront

Cond -rez -rez -ret -rionz -riez -ret

Past -Qz -sz -St -smaz

Pres Sjn -3 -3Z -3t

-St37.

-ionz -iez

-Qrat

-3t

Pres Part -ant(a)(z)

Past Sjn -S3 -S3 Ζ -St -sionz -sicz -sat

Past Part ••Q(3)

(Z)

Rules

R6 R7 R8

i- -> is- / _. - v . a- -> a- / _ -s. -s 0 / _ -C.

R9 RIO Rll

-Z 3-

φ / près, past lsg I. -y e-/

-Q.

-Q-» 0.

In comparing Table 6 with Tables 4 and 5 we see that the adjusted set of endings is closer t o II than t o I. In other words, II m a y in some sense be considered a more regular conjugation than I. Previously, we had examined definitions of regularity based on productivity and the n u m b e r of verbs in a class. I is more productive and has more verbs t h a n II (Grevisse, Bon usage, 5 9 8 # 662a estimates that I verbs a m o u n t to nine tenths of all French verbs), but according t o our criterion of regularity based on the smallest n u m b e r of rules, II is more regular than I. 6 Inasmuch as / Q / is not a real sound, but only a m o r p h o p h o n e m i c device, we need not consider it either a vowel or a consonant. We see that it is not a vowel, because R6 does not generate /s/ in the past participle of II verbs. In Chapter 6 we will find it useful to consider /Q/ a consonant.

20

THE REGULAR VERB

A closer look at Table 5 reveals still more regularity, which has not yet been considered. This regularity is evident in two dimensions: vertically, within each tense, and horizontally, within each person. First, vertically we notice that altho the endings change for nearly every person, there is usually some constant element in each tense. In the future, for example, every form has /-r/; in the past subjunctive every form has /-s/; /-ε/ appears in four out of six forms of the imperfect, etc. Horizontally we notice that each person also has a constant in almost every tense: in the 2sg, /z/ in every f o r m ; i n the 3sg /1/ in every form, in the lpl /onz/ in six out of seven tenses, etc. We can assume that every person and every tense has its own marker, which may consist of one or more phonemes: R12 R13 R14 R15 R16 R17 R18 R19 R20 R21 R22 R23 R24 R25 R26 R27

-p. près impf - > -ε. fut -r. cond - > -Γε. past - > -s. près sjn -> -a. past sjn -S3. " . . . ζ. lsg 2sg -> " . . . ζ. " . . . t. 3sg -. . . onz lpl 2pl ·. . .ez. -. . . at. 3 pi - > · -Qr. inf près part -ant(a)(z). past part -> -Q(a)(z).

As always when one makes convenient generalizations, one must eventually deal with the refractory details. The sixteen person and tense markers do not generate all the correct verb forms when appended to the root. Let us begin with the plural person markers. Of the seven tenses, only in the past indicative are the 1 and 2pl markers unsatisfactory. We can obtain the correct forms with two simple rules: R 2 8 -sonz -> -smaz. R29 -sez ->· -staz.

Notice the hyphen before the /s/ to indicate that this consonant is part of the ending. The morpheme boundary prevents the rules from applying to II forms where /s-/ is part of the root. Thus the lpl present indicative of finir is /finis-onz/, but in the past indicative it is /fini-sonz/, which by R 2 8 becomes /fini-smaz/. The 3pl form is exceptional only in the future: R 3 0 -rat -»· -ront.

THE REGULAR VERB

21

In the singular, /z/ and /t/ appear in all tenses for the second and third persons, respectively. Only the lsg presents certain problems. In R19 we assigned /z/ as the ending of both 1 and 2sg. However, the ending of the lsg clearly does not have the same form as the ending of the 2sg and therefore should be identified by a different marker. Inasmuch as the 2sg is always /z/, we will propose a new marker for the lsg: R31 (to replace R19) lsg -> -. . . Z. In the future tense /Z/ does not appear; the ending for lsg is /e/: R32 -rZ.

-re.

In the present and past subjunctive there is no consonantal ending for the lsg. Furthermore, in I the lsg ending does not appear in the present indicative. In all three cases the /Z/ follows a schwa, but in the subjunctive the schwa is part of the ending, whereas in the past indicative of I the schwa is part of the root. By not indicating a morpheme boundary we can cover all three cases with one general rule : R33 (to replace R9) -. . . Ζ -> 0 / We find that /Z/ is missing also in the past indicative of I. Earlier, we had used a /Q/ to explain the form, but now we can delete /Z/ and generate the proper vowel, without resorting to an otherwise useless /Q/, by means of one rule: R34 -sZ ->

-e / a- _ .

Finally, it is necessary to account for the identical phonetic realization of /Z/ and /z/: R35 Ζ

-z.

In the imperfect and conditional the expected /-ε/ does not appear in the 1 and 2pl, where instead we find /-i/. Similarly, the schwa of the present and past subjunctive is replaced in the 1 and 2pl by /-i/. The change f r o m /-ε / to /-i/ could be justified phonetically as a raising of the vowel in hiatus before the vowels of the 1 and 2pl endings. The second change cannot be justified on phonetic grounds, since an ordinary schwa phoneme would simply be deleted before another vowel. Of course, this schwa is not an ordinary phoneme, but a morphophoneme, serving to mark the subjunctive mode. We need not indicate it by a special symbol, because the morpheme boundary marker /-/ clearly sets it off f r o m all other schwas. Both cases can be described in one rule, because no other vowels appear in the endings before other vowels. Inasmuch as the change to /-i/ does not occur before the schwa of the 3pl, we must specify the environment as a non-schwa vowel. For the sake of convenience, we will use the symbol /X/ to indicate any vowel but schwa: R36 - . . . V

i/ _ X.

22

THE REGULAR VERB

In t h e f u t u r e an e p e n t h e t i c v o w e l is i n s e r t e d b e t w e e n t h e tense m a r k e r /-r/ a n d t h e 2 a n d 3sg m a r k e r s : R37

-rz

-raz.

R38

-rt

-rat.

T h e 3pl past e n d i n g is still a n o m a l o u s . H o w e v e r , b e f o r e we set u p rules t o c o r r e c t t h e e n d i n g , we m u s t

take

n o t e of an i m p o r t a n t f a c t a b o u t t h e e n d i n g . T h e 3 p l past /-sat/,

c o m p o s e d of t h e past m a r k e r /-s/ a n d t h e 3pl m a r k e r /- ... a t / , is a p p a r e n t l y identical t o t h e 3sg past s u b j u n c t i v e /-sat/, c o m p o s e d of t h e p a s t s u b j u n c t i v e m a r k e r /-sa/ a n d t h e 3sg m a r k e r /-...t/. N o w , we k n o w , of c o u r s e , t h a t t h e r e is really a m o r p h e m e b o u n d a r y t o distinguish t h e 3pl past /-s+at/ f r o m t h e 3sg past s u b j u n c t i v e / - s a + t / . U n t i l n o w w e h a v e f o u n d n o n e e d t o insert a m o r p h e m e b o u n d a r y b e t w e e n t e n s e a n d p e r s o n m a r k e r s , j u s t as we have f o u n d n o n e e d t o insert a b o u n d a r y b e t w e e n t h e b a r e s t e m ( c o n t a i n i n g t h e lexical i n f o r m a t i o n ) a n d t h e t h e m e v o w e l . I n d e e d , t h e r e is a l m o s t never a n e e d t o i n s e r t t h e b o u n d a r y , a n d we will t h e r e f o r e n o t i n d i c a t e t h e u n n e c e s s a r y b o u n d a r i e s . We will d o so o n l y w h e n it is necessary t o distinguish 3sg s u b j u n c t i v e f r o m 3pl indicative f o r m s ( p r e s e n t or p a s t ) . T h e rules R 3 9 a-

e / _

-s+at

R 4 0 - s + a t -> rat will g e n e r a t e t h e 3pl e n d i n g of t h e p a s t a n d s i m u l t a n e o u s l y e l i m i n a t e t h e n e e d f o r a / Q / . N o t i c e t h a t R 3 9 will n o t i n c o r r e c t l y g e n e r a t e / - r a t / as t h e 3pl of t h e p a s t s u b j u n c t i v e , w h i c h n o w has t h e e n d i n g /-saat/. T h e e x t r a s c h w a will b e e l i m i n a t e d b y t h e usual r u l e w h e n t h e w o r d is c o n v e r t e d t o a p h o n e t i c r e p r e s e n t a t i o n , b u t a t t h e m o r p h o p h o n e m i c level every e l e m e n t is s i g n i f i c a n t . Since we have d i s p e n s e d w i t h / Q / in t h e p a s t t e n s e , is it w o r t h w h i l e t o c i r c u m v e n t it in its t w o o t h e r o c c u r e n c e s , t h e i n f i n i t i v e a n d t h e past p a r t i c i p l e ? Let us recall t h a t t h e purpose of e l i m i n a t i n g / Q / in t h e p a s t tense was t o e n s u r e t h a t R 16, 19, a n d 2 4 ( m a r k e r s of t h e past t e n s e , lsg, a n d 3pl, r e s p e c t i v e l y ) have n o e x c e p t i o n s . It w o u l d have r e q u i r e d t w o e x t r a rules t o p u t / 0 / in t h e l s g a n d 3pl p a s t , as well as a rule t o g e n e r a t e / e / in these f o r m s : a t o t a l of t h r e e rules, w h i c h are s u p e r f l u o u s f o r all n o n - I verbs. I n s t e a d , w e f o r m u l a t e d t w o rules ( R 3 4 a n d 3 9 ) t o a c c o m p l i s h t h e s a m e p u r p o s e . H o w e v e r , t h e infinitive a n d past p a r t i c i p l e are n o n - c o n j u g a t e d f o r m s , a n d we n e e d n o t p o s i t a d d i t i o n a l rules t o e l i m i n a t e / 0 / e l s e w h e r e . Is it t h e n to o u r a d v a n t a g e t o r e t a i n / Q / ? We s h o u l d have a d i s t i n c t m a r k e r f o r t h e p a s t p a r t i c i p l e , r a t h e r t h a n j u s t z e r o , since we have a l r e a d y u s e d z e r o as a m a r k e r f o r a n o t h e r e n d i n g ( t h e p r e s e n t i n d i c a t i v e ) . T h e i n f i n i t i v e , h o w e v e r , a l r e a d y has /-r/ as a m a r k e r a n d d o e s n o t n e e d / Q / , w h i c h in a n y case is of use o n l y f o r I verbs. We can retain / Q / as a distinctive m a r k e r f o r t h e p a s t p a r t i c i p l e a n d e l i m i n a t e it in t h e i n f i n i t i v e : R 4 1 ( t o replace R 2 5 ) inf -» -r. R 4 2 ( t o replace R I O ) a-

e- /

23

THE R E G U L A R V E R B

O n l y o n e o t h e r e n d i n g requires m o d i f i c a t i o n : the 3sg past subjunctive. Instead o f the e x p e c t e d f o r m /-sat/, g e n e r a t e d b y the tense and person markers, w e again, w e

find

find

/-st/. O n c e

it necessary t o distinguish b e t w e e n the 3sg subjunctive and the 3pl past

indicative b y i n c l u d i n g the e x t r a m o r p h e m e b o u n d a r y b e t w e e n tense and person markers:

R43

- s a + t -»• -st.

Notice

that w i t h

becomes

the a p p l i c a t i o n

identical

with

o f this rule the ending o f the 3sg past subjunctive

the ending

of

the

3sg past i n d i c a t i v e . T h e

t w o endings

p h o n e t i c a l l y identical in all verbs in the language, a l t h o the o r t h o g r a p h y

are

distinguishes

t h e m b y n o t i n d i c a t i n g t in the indicative e n d i n g o f I verbs and b y a d d i n g a c i r c u m f l e x t o the v o w e l o f the subjunctive endings o f all verbs. W e n o w have 3 9 rules ( R l - 4 3 , w i t h R 9 , 10, 19, a n d 25 e l i m i n a t e d ) : a m a j o r i m p r o v e m e n t o v e r the traditional listing o f 102 f o r m s f o r I and I I . A l t h o in m o s t cases each rule is s e l f - c o n t a i n e d , s o m e rules are d e p e n d e n t u p o n others and must be o r d e r e d . M o s t o f the ordering applies t o the 3 p l . F o r e x a m p l e , R 3 0 -rat -> -ront must a p p l y b e f o r e R 4 0 -s+at

-rat,

lest w e trigger the sequence in the 3pl past i n d i c a t i v e : /fini-sst/ ->· /fini-rat/ -»· /fini-ront/. In f a c t , it seems wise

to delay

R 4 0 until the e n d , so that all past tense f o r m s will

u n i f o r m l y have /-s/, and o n l y f u t u r e and c o n d i t i o n a l f o r m s w i l l have /-r/. L i k e w i s e ,

R 3 9 s- -»· e- / _

-s+st

w i l l have t o p r e c e d e R 4 0 -s+at

-rat

In o r d e r t o generate /parla-s+at/ ->• /parle-s+at/ -> /parle-r at/, instead o f /parla-s+at/-*• /parla-rat/, w h i c h b y R 3 0 w o u l d b e c o m e identical w i t h the f u t u r e . R 3 4 -sZ -+ -e / a- _ must a p p l y b e f o r e R7

a- -> a- / _

-s,

so that the t h e m e v o w e l in I verbs will n o t change t o /a/ in the l s g o f the past i n d i c a t i v e . A s I have said, m o s t o f the rules n e e d n o t be o r d e r e d w i t h respect t o one a n o t h e r . F o r esthetic

reasons w e m a y

h o w e v e r , must be o r d e r e d .

as w e l l put the rest in numerical o r d e r . Certain o t h e r rules,

24

THE REGULAR VERB

R8

-s -» 0 / _

Rll

Q

C,

0,

and R33

Ζ ->· 0 / a _

are deletion rules, requiring the t o t a l disappearance o f a m o r p h o p h o n e m i c e l e m e n t . T h e m o r p h o p h o n e m e i t s e l f has n o p h o n e t i c realization a n d m u s t be deleted w h e n its f u n c t i o n has b e e n p e r f o r m e d . D e l e t i o n rules are m o s t c o n v e n i e n t l y placed at the e n d o f the list o f rules, in order t o ensure that t h e m o r p h o p h o n e m e s have discharged their f u n c t i o n

at

every possible p o i n t . R35

Ζ

ζ

is a m o r p h o p h o n e m e - t o - p h o n e m e conversion rule. Like a m o r p h o p h o n e m e deletion rule, it brings a f o r m f r o m a deeper level t o the p h o n e m i c level and t h e r e f o r e m u s t be placed at the end. We have then several d i f f e r e n t categories o f rules: ( A ) verb s t r u c t u r e rules, w h i c h indicate the f o r m a t o f verbs, with tense a n d person m a r k e r s ; ( B ) specific rules, some o f which

must

be

ordered

with

respect

to

one

another

or

before

later

rules;

(C)

m o r p h o p h o n e m e deletion rules; ( D ) m o r p h o p h o n e m e - t o - p h o n e m e c o n v e r s i o n rules; and finally, o f course, ( E ) basic p h o n e t i c rules, c o n c e r n i n g the deletion o f schwa or liaison consonants,

the nasalization

o f vowels, t h e change o f vowels to s e m i c o n s o n a n t s , t h e

opening o f close midvowels in c h e c k e d syllables, e t c . ( B e c a u s e rules o f t h e last t y p e apply t h r o u g h o u t the language, a n d n o t o n l y t o the verb, we will n o t discuss t h e m at l e n g t h , b u t will simply refer t o t h e m when n e c e s s a r y . ) As we add m o r e rules, t h e y m u s t be assigned t o one o f the above categories. T h e order o f the categories c a n n o t change, a n d e x c e p t f o r the u n o r d e r e d rules o f ( B ) , the relative order o f the rules c a n n o t c h a n g e . F o l l o w i n g in T a b l e 7 are all rules, in their proper order, up t o the present state o f our investigation.

25

THE REGULAR VERB T A B L E 7.

The Regular Verb (A)

V e r b s t r u c t u r e rules R 1 verb R 2 ending

R 3 tense

R 4 person

R5 n o n - c o n j u g a t e d

r o o t + ending tense + person non-conjugated près impf fut cond past près sjn } past sjn Isg l2sg 3sg lpl 2 pl 3pl inf 'près part

fut

R15

cond

R16

past

-s.

R17

près sjn

-8.

R18

past sjn

-*• -ss.

R31

lsg

- » · - . . . Ζ.

R20

2sg

ζ.

R21

3sg

" . . . t.

R22

lpl

- » • - . . . onz.

R23

2pl

- > - . . . ez.

-r. ->· -re

R24

3pl

- > • - . . . at.

R 1 2 près

R41

inf

-»· -r.

R I 3 impf

R26

près part ->· -ant(a)(z).

R27

past part

R32 R36 R37 R38 R42 R43

-rZ - > - r e . -. . . V - H / _ X . -rz -raz. -rt - » - r a t . a- - > e - / . -sa+t ->· -st.

past part

(B)

R14

Specific rules R6 ¡--Ms-/_-V. R 3 4 -sZ - > - e / a - _ . R 3 9 a- - > e - / _ -s+et. R7 a- - > a - / _ -s. R28 -sonz -> -smaz. R29 -sez -staz. R30 rat -ront.

(C)

M o r p h o p h o n e m e deletion rules R8 -s -»• 0 / _ C. R I 1 Q -> 0 . R33 - . . . Ζ -> 0 / a - .

(D)

M o r p h o p h o n e m e - t o - p h o n e m e conversion rules R35 Ζ -»· ζ. R 4 0 -s+at -»• rat.

-Q(a)(z).

2 THE IRREGULARLY REGULAR VERB

We have now reduced the regular French verb conjugation to its simplest form by means of thirty-nine rules. There remain, however, many I verbs which are classified as regular but require special remarques in grammars. Verbs of the type mener, céder, and payer follow the rules for the endings but undergo certain vocalic alternations within the root. Many I verbs have schwa in the stem (Table 8). TABLE 8. /. . . 3C(C)3-/ acheter achever agneler aiguilletcr amener amonceler anneler appeler assener atteler banqueter baqueter bateler becqueter bégueter biqueter bosseler botteler bourreler bretteler breveter briqueter cacheter cailleter canneler capelcr caqueter carreler celer champlever chanceler cha peler

chevroter ciseler claquetcr claveter cliqueter colleter congeler coquctcr cordcler corseter craqueler craqueter créneler crever crocheter cureter cuveler débosseler décacheter décapeler décarreler déceler déchevcler déchiqueter décliqueter décolleter déficeler dégeler dégraveler dégrever déjeter démanteler

d é m e n e r (se) démoucheter démuseler déniveler denteler dépaqueter dépecer désempeser désengrencr dételer écarteler échcvelcr égrener élever embrever emmener empaqueter empeser encasteler (s') enchifrener cncliqucter engrener engrumeler (s') enjaveler enlever ensorceler épanneler épelcr épinceter épousseter étinceler étiqueter

feuilleter ficeler fileter forjeter fureter fuseler gangrener geler gobeter greneler grener grever grivcler grommeler grumeler (se) guillemeter haleter harceler hoqueter interjeter javeler jeter jumeler lever loqueter louveter malmener marqueter marteler mener modeler morceler

moucheter mugueter museler nickeler niveler oiseler pailleter panteler parachever parqueter parsemer peler pelleter peser piqueter p o m m e l e r (se) préacheter prélever projeter promener racheter ramener rappeler râteler recacheter recarreler receler reccper regclcr rejeter relever remener

27

THE IRREGULARLY REGULAR VERB T A B L E 8.— remmener rempaqueter rengrencr renouveler ressemeler

ressemer riveter ruisseler sauteler saveter

Continued

semer sevrer souffleter soulever soupeser

a

surélever surgeler surjeter surmener

tacheter taveler trompeter valeter voleter

Mener and verbs like it have only one pecularity: the first schwa alternates with / ε / ; see Table 9. T A B L E 9.

Mener1

PresInd

Fut

mena ιτιεηθ mena mana mana mena

Ζ ζ t onz

ηιεηβ ιτιεηβ ηιεηβ mena

ez at

m e n a rez mena ront

Pres Sj η

Cond re raz rat ronz

ηιεηβ ηιεηβ mena mena

τεΖ τεζ ret rionz

m e n a riez mena reat

ηιεηβ mena mena mana

βΖ az at ionz

mana iez m e n a aet

In all other f o r m s only schwa appears. We must first decide whether to choose schwa or / ε / as the underlying vowel of the root, which will change by a rule to the other vowel in the appropriate forms. Schwa occurs in thirty-one f o r m s and / ε / in t w e n t y : on the basis of this numerical distribution, we should choose schwa. On the basis of simplicity of rules, however, it may be preferable to choose / ε / . If we recognize schwa in the underlying f o r m , our rule will have t o generate / ε / in two different environments: when the ending begins with a schwa or with a consonant. If, however, we recognize /ε / in the underlying f o r m , we can generate schwa in only one environment: when the ending begins with a vowel other than schwa. We can see at this point that our simple notion of simplicity may be insufficient. There is one other factor to take into consideration, which should swing the balance in favor of an underlying schwa. If we accepted / ε / in the underlying f o r m , we could give n o p h o n e t i c justification for a change to schwa: unlike English, French does n o t usually reduce vowels in unstressed position. However, a change f r o m an underlying schwa to / ε / is phonetically motivated. Stress in French falls on the last vowel of a word (or breath group); if, however, the last vowel is a schwa, the stress is shifted to the penultimate vowel. It is a fact of F r e n c h that no polysyllable can contain only schwa in the last t w o syllables, because in such a hypothetical word the only vowel t o be stressed would be schwa. (It is extremely rare for a monosyllable to be stressed if it has n o vowel b u t schwa.) We n o w see that our rule a

Not listed in Beschcrelle. In this a n d all s u b s e q u e n t tables all f o r m s are at the m o r p h o p h o n e m i c level as t h e y w o u l d appear 1 a f t e r all verb s t r u c t u r e a n d specific rules (Rules A and Β of Table 7) have applied, b u t b e f o r e m o r p h o p h o n e m i c deletion rules, m o r p h o p h o n e m c - t o - p h o n e m e conversion rules, and p h o n e t i c rules. With respect t o Table 7, all rules have applied e x c e p t R8, R H , R 3 3 , R 3 5 , and R 4 0 . For t h e sake of convenience, in this and all s u b s e q u e n t tables, instead of a h y p h e n we will use a space t o separate r o o t s f r o m endings.

28

THE IRREGULARLY REGULAR V E R B

R44 ...a...-

ε I _ C(C>-

{ f

simply states that in a position where schwa would be stressed it is changed to / ε / . The second schwa in the rule (the first in the conditioning environment) restricts the application of R44 to I verbs. The rule cannot apply to past tense forms before /-s/, because R7, R34, and R39 change the theme vowel schwa to /a/ or /e/. Therefore the three rules must precede R44. Likewise, in all other forms where the rule does not apply, the first element of the ending or the theme vowel is a vowel other than schwa. The present indicative 1 and 2pl have the vowels of the person markers, the present subjunctive 1 and 2pl have l'i/, 3 , the imperfect has / ε / or /i/, the present participle has /a/, and the infinitive and past participle have /e/. There is one other possible application of R44. We might wish to allow the rule to apply exceptionally across word boundaries when the following word is je, to allow for the unusual inversion parlé-je = *parle-je. (Despite the acute accent Grevisse, Bon usage, 5 6 7 # 638,1 assures us that the vowel must be [ε].) However, besides the question of word boundaries, the schwa to be changed in this case is the theme vowel rather than a schwa preceding it, so that the environment is different: R45

9

ε / _ Ζ # 2s4 .

Numerous I verbs have /e/ in the stem (Table 10). TABLE

10.

/. . . e C ( C ) 3 / abeéder abréger acceder accélérer acérer aciérer adhérer adultérer aérer affréter agglomérer agréger aléser aliéner allécher alléger alléguer 2

altérer anhéler appéter arpéger arriérer assécher assiéger avérer (s') baréter blasphémer blatérer blézer caréner céder célébrer chronométrer commérer

déféquer déférer dégénérer déléguer délibérer déposséder dépoussiérer dérégler désagréger désaltérer désespérer déshydrogéner désintégrer dessécher dieser différer digérer

compléter concéder concréter confédérer conférer conglomérer coopérer coposséder crémer créncr déblatérer décéder décélérer décolérer décompléter déconsidérer décréter

T h e c o n s o n a n t in p a r e n t h e s e s a l l o w s for t h e possibility of a c o n s o n a n t cluster. Bescherelle lists

o n l y o n e verb like mener

w i t h a c o n s o n a n t cluster in that p o s i t i o n :

sevrer.

3

Therefore R 3 6 changing the subjunctive schwa to /i/ must precede R44.

4

S c h a n c , "La p h o n o l o g i e du g r o u p e verbal français", Langages

7

o n l y o n e w h o p o i n t s o u t the parallelism b e t w e e n the alternation mener R 4 5 also applies t o non-I verbs: dussé-je,

etc.

( S e p t e m b e r 1 9 6 7 ) , 127, is the ~ mène

and je parle

~

parlé-je.

29

THE IRREGULARLY REGULAR VERB T A B L E 10.— Continued dilacérer disséquer ébréchei écrémer émécher emmétrer empiéter empoussiérer enfiévrer enténébrer énumérer espérer exagérer exaspérer excéder excréter exécrer exhéréder exonérer exulcérer fédérer flécher fréter galéjer gérer hébéter héler hydrogéner hypothéquer impétrer imprégner incarcérer incinérer Céder

inférer ingérer inquiéter insérer intégrer intercéder interférer interpénétrer (s') interpréter invétérer (s') jachérer kilométrer lacérer lécher légiférer léguer léser libérer lisérer macérer manéger mécher métrer modérer morigéner obérer oblitérer obséder obtempérer opérer oxygéner pécher pénétrer

perpétrer persévérer péter piéger piéter pondérer posséder pourlécher précéder préférer procéder proférer proliférer prospérer protéger rapiécer rasséréner réaléser recéder recéper reconsidérer récupérer référer refléter refréner réfrigérer régénérer régler régner réincarcérer réintégrer réitérer reléguer

rempiéter rémunérer rengréner repérer répéter reposséder reséquer rétrocéder révéler réverbérer révérer rouspéter sécher sécréter sidérer siéger stérer subdéléguer succéder suggérer télémétrer tempérer téter tolérer transférer transverbérer ulcérer végéter vénérer vitupérer vociférer zébrer

and similar verbs also have a single peculiarity; the r o o t v o w e l / e / changes t o / ε / in

certain f o r m s (Table 1 1 ) . T A B L E 11. Céder Present Indicative seda seda seda seda seda seda

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

Present Subjunctive seda seda seda seda seda seda

aZ az at ionz iez aat

A t first w e m a y w i s h t o f o r m u l a t e a rule parallel t o R 4 4 . U n f o r t u n a t e l y , h o w e v e r , céder n o t e x a c t l y parallel t o mener,

is

because the r o o t v o w e l d o e s n o t change t o / ε / in the f u t u r e

and c o n d i t i o n a l . We c a n n o t use / C / in t h e c o n d i t i o n i n g e n v i r o n m e n t o f the e n d i n g , b e c a u s e / C / i n c l u d e s /r/. We will t h e r e f o r e use a n e w s y m b o l /W/, w h i c h will represent all c o n s o n a n t s b u t /r/.

30

THE IRREGULARLY REGULAR VERB

R46 ...e...- -> ε / _

C(C)a-j^

Many I verbs have yod as the last element of the root before the schwa. In general these verbs present no problem and follow the usual rules. However, in certain classes of verbs yod will appear in some forms and be absent in others. Grammars usually give three classes of verbs, typified by aboyer, payer, and essuyer. Let us examine the three classes of verbs. In the case of aboyer, we must understand that only verbs with a root in /uaa-/ (-oyer) undergo these changes. Verbs like fouailler have a root in / uaja-/, with a consonantal yod phoneme, and never lose the yod. Verbs of the latter type are rare; most are like aboyer (Table 12). 5 T A B L E 12. / . . . uaa-/ aboyer apitoyer atermoyer bornoyer broyer charroyer chatoyer choyer convoyer corroyer côtoyer coudoyer

degravoyer déployer dévoyer employer éployer festoyer flamboyer fossoyer foudroyer fourvoyer giboyer grossoyer

guerroyer hongroyer jointoyer larmoyer louvoyer nettoyer noyer octroyer ondoyer ployer poudroyer réemployer

rejointoyer remployer renvoyer reployer rougeoyer rudoyer soudoyer tournoyer tutoyer verdoyer vouvoyer

We can see the alternation in aboyer (Table 13). T A B L E 13. Aboyer Fut

Pres lnd abuaa abuaa ab uaa abuaia abuaia abuaa

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

abuaa abuaa abuaa abuaa abuaa abuaa

ic raz rat ronz rez ront

Past lnd

Pres Sjn

abuaia abuaia abuaia abuaia abuaia abuaie

abuaa abuaa abuaa abuaia abuaie abuaa

e sz st smaz staz sat

aZ az at ionza iez aat

The four tenses are only a sample. We find that the yod appears elsewhere throughout the imperfect and the past subjunctive, as well as in the two participles. It is absent from the conditional. Our first problem is in deciding whether to recognize the /i/ in the underlying form and delete it by rule in the appropriate forms, or to posit a root without /i/ a

The first /i/ is f r o m the root, and the second f r o m the ending. There are no geminates in French except across m o r p h e m e boundaries, and many speakers simplify t h e m even there. Those w h o d o p r o n o u n c e geminates may hold the yod longer, for extra clarity. 5

Bescherelle does n o t list merdoyer

and vousfsjoyer,

which are also conjugated like

aboyer.

31

THE I R R E G U L A R L Y R E G U L A R V E R B

and generate it by rule where necessary. If we judge by the number of forms in which /i/ is present, we must accept it: yod appears in thirty-one out of the fifty-one forms. However, by not placing /i/ in the underlying form we have a simple environment for generating it (before /X/), whereas we would have a more complicated environment for deleting an underlying /i/ (schwa plus anything but X). Moreover, we have phonetic justification for inserting /i/: the general avoidance of hiatus, which would result whenever the /ua/ of the root comes into contact with the non-schwa vowels of the endings. The /i/ automatically becomes a semiconsonant yod and separates the two vowels. Furthermore, related noun forms without yod (aboyer ~ aboi) have no schwa following the root vowel, and the phonetic combination [wa+X] does not occur in French: 6 whenever one would expect such a combination a yod intervenes. We therefore will not place /i/ in the underlying f o r m : 7 R47 ...ua...- -> uai / _(a)X. The case of payer is almost exactly parallel to that of aboyer. Once again, however, we must be sure to specify the class of verbs about which we are talking. Words like émerveiller and conseiller may have the same phonetic shape as payer, all ending in [ε 'je]; but the first two have a phonetic yod /j/ in all forms of the root, whereas payer has a vowel phoneme Iii which is phonetically realized as yod when it appears at all. 8 Many verbs are conjugated like payer (Table 14). T A B L E 14. /. . . (i)3-/ aiguayer balayer bégayer brayer cartayer déblayer débrayer défrayer

délayer dérayer désembrayer désenrayer effrayer égayer embrayer enrayer

essayer étayer frayer layer monnayer pagayer payer rayer

relayer remblayer repayer ressayer surpayer zézayer

inverse de la langue française (The Hague: Mouton 1965) gives 6 Alphonse Juilland, Dictionnaire brouhaha [brua a] ,which is clearly d i f f e r e n t , because / h / prevents /u/ f r o m becoming [w], 7 Edouard Pichón, Les principes de la suffixation en français (Paris: Artrey, 1942), 67, gives an example where R 4 6 applies outside the verb system: sassoyoir / s a s u a - u a r / = [saswa'jwa:r]', f r o m s'asseoir. George Träger, " F r e n c h Morphology: Verb Inflection", Language 31 (1955), 518, treats the yod as part of the root which is d r o p p e d " e x c e p t b e f o r e vowels", with no c o m m e n t on schwa, altho he recognizes its phonemic status. Jean Dubois, "Grammaire transformationnelle et morphologie", Le Français Moderne 33 (1965), 90, treats yod as a derivational suffix for changing n o u n s into verbs. He admits that yod does not appear in all forms of the verb b u t does not a t t e m p t to solve the problem. Only Schanc ( F P M , 150, n. 29) recognizes that the yod is predictable and therefore not inherent in the stem. 8 Grasseyer and langueyer, altho spelled with y, have / j / in all forms. Nowadays many speakers p r o n o u n c e yod in all forms of payer; but since my older i n f o r m a n t s preferred t o drop the yod in certain forms, I will accept theiT pronunciation and deal with the consistent yod in Chapter 8 below, on Colloquial French. All prescriptive grammars associate t h e yod pronunciation with the spelling -aye- and t h e yodless pronunciation with the spelling -aie-, both of which are officially accepted. So

32

THE IRREGULARLY REGULAR VERB

Let us examine the conjugation of payer (Table 15). T A B L E 15. Payer Pres Ind ρε3 ρε3 ρε3 ρεί3 ρε is pea

Ζ ζ t οηζ ez St

Fut

Past Ind

ρε3 re ρεβ raz ρε9 rat ρε8 ronz psa rez ρεβ ront

ρε ¡a peía

P8ia peia

P8ia

ρείε

e sz st smsz stsz sat

Pres Sjn ρε8 ρε a ρε3 ρεί3 ρε is ρε3

SZ

SZ st ionz iez 33t

We can say the same things about payer that we said about aboyer. Yod appears in the majority of the forms, but it is simpler to generate the yod by rule than to delete it. Related noun forms (balayer ~ baiai) lack yod, and the phonetic combination [ε + X] does not exist. 9 We therefore will not accept /i/ in the underlying form but generate it by R48 ...ε...

εί / _(s)X. 1 0

We can include with appuyer only those verbs where /i/ is sometimes realized phonetically as yod and sometimes does not appear at all. A verb like aiguiller has a phonemic yod lì /, which appears in every form of the paradigm. Only four other verbs are conjugated like appuyer', désennuyer, ennuyer, essuyer, and ressuyer (Table 16). T A B L E 16. Appuyer Pres Ind apyi3 apyis apyis apyiis apyiis apyis

Ζ ζ t οηζ ez 3t

Fut apyis apyis apyis apyis apyis apyis

Past re raz rat ronz rez ront

apyiie apyiia apyiia apyiia apyiia apyiie

Ind e sz st smez stsz S3t

Pres Sjn apyis apyis apyis apyiis apyiis apyis

sZ sz 3t ionz iez sst

At first glance one may believe that we are dealing with the same phenomenon. (Bescherelle does not even give a separate table for verbs in -uyer, but refers the reader to the table in -oyer.) Upon closer consideration, major differences become apparent. Is it only a coincidence that the root vowel is /i/, the vocalic counterpart of yod? Of course,

far as I know, only Jeanne Varney Pleasants (in a private conversation, 29 July 1969) makes a functional distinction between the yod and yodless pronunciations and uses/'e paie [ρε], etc., for the indicative and que je paye [pej], etc. for the subjunctive. 9 Juilland transcribes abbaye as [abei], but all other authorities give [abe'i] . 10

In order to allow R47 and R48 to generate yod in all possible environments, we will order them to follow all other rules.

THE IRREGULARLY REGULAR V E R B

33

y o d appears in appuyer in exactly the same environments as those of aboyer and p a v e r ; but appuyer has [i] or [ij] where the other t w o have zero or yod. We need n o morphological rule to explain the addition of y o d t o /i/ before a non-schwa vowel: this is one of the basic semiconsonant rules. Appuie [a'pwi] and appuyons [apwi'jö] are parallel to crie [ k r i ] and crions [kri'jö ]. The simple p h o n e m e /i/ changes to [ij]. We can see that appuyer and aiguiller, altho phonetically identical in the ending [wi'je], must have different p h o n e m i c forms, in order to explain appuie [a'pwi]: aiguille [e'gwij]. The difference is that appuyer has the root /apyia-/, but aiguiller has the r o o t /εgyija-/. We have n o w examined I verbs and shown t h e m to be regular, all following the same rules. 1 1

il

Aller, envoyer,

and renvoyer

are the only exceptions to the regularity of I verbs. They will be

treated separately in Chapters 5 and 6, below.

3 THE REGULAR OR IRREGULAR VERB

Grammarians are in considerable disagreement about vendre and other verbs in its class (Table 17). 1 T A B L E 17.

/. . . C-/ abattre appendre attendre battre combattre condescendre confondre contre-battre convaincre correspondre corrompre débattre défendre démordre dépendre descendre

détendre détordre distendre distordre ébattre (s') embat(t)re entendre épandre étendre fendre fondre interrompre mévendre mordre morfondre (se) parfondre

pendre perdre pondre pourfendre prétendre rabattre rebattre redescendre refendre refondre remordre rendre répandre rependre reperdre répondre

retendre retondre retordre revendre rompre sourdre sous-entendre sous-tendre surtondre suspendre tendre tondre tordre vaincre vendre

Some authorities treat these verbs as the third regular conjugation (which we will call III for convenience), while others classify them as partly or totally irregular. We can see the reason for such diversity of opinion in Table 18. The root has two different allomorphs: /van-/ and /vand-/. Which is to be the underlying form? The root-final consonant is absent only from the singular of the present indicative. Obviously, these three forms should also have an underlying /d/. However, if the consonant is present at the morphophonemic level, why is it not realized at the phonetic level? Let us recall for a moment the idiosyncrasies of the liaison consonant. It appears in the underlying form but is realized phonetically only when followed by a vowel. Such a consonant is influenced not only across word boundaries, but also within the word. Indeed, the phenomenon is general to French phonology, and liaison is only one applica1 To the best of my knowledge, the only verb of this class omitted by Bescherelle is foutre. Later in this chapter we will discuss verbs with a root-final consonant other than a stop. Sourdre is generally considered defective. See Chapter 7.

35

THE R E G U L A R OR I R R E G U L A R V E R B T A B L E 18. Vendre Pres Ind

Past Ind

Pres Sjn

Past Part

van van van vand vand vand

vandi vandi vandi vandi vandi vandi

vand vand vand vand vand vand

vand y

Ζ ζ ta onz cz at

sZ sz st smaz staz sat

aZ az et ionz iez 33t

tion of it. 2 Reexamining the conjugation of vendre, we see that the [d] occurs everywhere but in the singular of the present indicative, which is the only environment where it is followed by a consonant. The c o n s o n a n t of the ending acts like the consonant of a word which follows a liaison c o n s o n a n t : at the phonetic level the second consonant causes the deletion of the first. Past endings normally begin with a consonant /s/, but here a theme vowel /i/ has been added, preventing the phonetic deletion of Id/. Likewise in the past participle a vowel / y / maintains the consonant / d / . The only other forms in which the first element of the ending is a consonant are the f u t u r e , conditional, and infinitive. All of t h e m have /-r/, which will not prevent the phonetic realization of the consonant. We can then posit a u n i f o r m r o o t /vand-/· Since the / d / is n o t in word-final position, we c a n n o t refer to its deletion or retention in terms of liaison. We will instead use the term cluster reduction to indicate that certain consonants at the m o r p h o p h o n e m i c level will be deleted at the phonetic level when followed by certain other consonants. This simple explanation for the root-final c o n s o n a n t in III verbs is comparatively recent (see Schane, FPM, passim). In pregenerative grammar the standard solution was to speak of different allomorphs and simply to list their distribution. Trager 3 distinguished between "Regular and a u t o m a t i c alternations" (p. 132) a n d irregular " n o n a u t o m a t i c altern a t i o n s " (p. 133). Dubois ("Essai", 190) likewise spoke of "les simples variantes des m ê m e s r a d i c a u x " , but in b o t h cases only the superficial phonetic alternations were recognized as alternations. Most writers did n o t even make these distinctions and simply spoke of verbs with " d e u x t h è m e s " or more. Rolfe ("Quantitive Comparison", 175ff.) has carried the traditional classificatory m e t h o d to its ultimate by speaking of raono-

a

Notice the / t / . Traditional grammarians, relying only on the orthography which has no t (vend), explain the [t] in liaison as coming f r o m the d. Altho it may well be useful to devise a rule that underlying / d / is devoiced in liaison (see note 2), such a rule is unnecessary here, because the regular ending is /1/. When the root-final consonant is not /t/ or / d / , the orthography and grammarians must fall back on t h e t ending, which the orthography may indicate at all times (rompt) or may indicate only when the f o r m is in liaison (il vaine : vainc-t-ίΠ). See Grevisse, Bon usage, 571-72. 2 Schane, " T h e Morphophonemics of the French Verb", Language 4 2 : 4 (1966), 747-48, analyzes the subject at greater length. In liaison the rule has not only certain syntactic restraints, but morphophonemic peculiarities as well. For example, within the word /r/ is always maintained before a consonant: / p e r d Z / , / p a r b Z / . Across word boundaries, however, /-r/ of I is deleted before consonants /parler/ [par'le], but /-r/ of II is maintained /finir/ [fi'ni:r]. Similarly, we assume f r o m feminine grande [grä:d] t h a t the underlying masculine form is /grand/. However, in liaison the usual masculine [gra] becomes [grat]. But these involve syntactic matters, outside the scope of this study. 3

George Trager, " T h e Verb Morphology of Spoken F r e n c h " , Language

20 (1944), 131-41.

36

THE R E G U L A R OR I R R E G U L A R V E R B

alternants (verbs with one root allomorph throughout the paradigm), bialternants (two root allomorphs), etc., up through hexalternants. Beyond six variants he simply calls them multialternants. Ill verbs are the first verbs that we have seen with a root ending in a consonant. We do, however, find a theme vowel in the past /vandi-/ and /vandy/. We do not want to include /i/ in the underlying form of the root, because vendre clearly does not behave like II verbs. One may be tempted to consider the possibility of recognizing /vandy-/ as the root. We could formulate rules for deleting /y/ in some forms and changing it to /i/ in others. However, /vandy/ appears in only four forms out of fifty-one, and those four are not conjugated. Moreover, we will discuss other verbs later which, unlike vendre, make use of l y ¡ in some tenses; it might be preferable to retain underlying /y/ for them. Under the circumstances, the simplest solution is to start with an underlying root-final consonant and generate /i/ or /y/ in the appropriate forms: R49 ...C-

Ci- /

-s.

R50 ...C-

Cy- / _ -Q.

There remains one form of vendre which deserves special comment: the infinitive. Until now, /-r/ was a sufficient marker for all infinitives, but in verbs such as vendre a schwa follows the /-r/. Must we write another rule to generate schwa in the infinitive? No, because there is an obstruent + liquid preceding it, and schwa is predictable after every final obstruent + liquid. The schwa is produced by a phonetic rule (in those styles which have schwa in that position) and has no place in the morphophonemic representation. Of course, every III infinitive has an obstruent 4- liquid (the root-final consonant and the infinitive /-r/), so that the schwa is always predictable in III verbs. We see, then, that III verbs are as regular as I and II verbs. Some III verbs, however, present certain variations on the model of vendre, depending on the nature of the last phoneme of the root. The largest class of such verbs are conjugated like craindre (Table 19). T A B L E 19.

/. ,.εη-/ astreindre atteindre aveindre ceindre contraindre craindre

dépeindre déteindre empreindre enceindre enfreindre épreindre

éteindre ctreindre feindre geindre peindre plaindre

repeindre restreindre reteindre retreindre teindre

These verbs undergo modifications which may seem irregular; see Table 20. The first thing to notice is the alternation between /n/ and /ñ/. We find that /ñ/ occurs before vowels and /n/ before consonants. However, the /n/ is never phonetically realized, but serves only to nasalize the preceding vowel. Since syllable-final /fi/ is phonetically impossible without a following schwa, it behaves exactly like / n / ( a n d / m / , too) and can serve morphophonemically to nasalize the preceding vowel at the phonetic level. We therefore may recognize /krefi-/ as the root in all forms but the future, conditional, and infinitive, which have /kreñd-/. We cannot place /d/ in the underlying form, because it

37

THE R E G U L A R OR I R R E G U L A R V E R B T A B L E 20. Craindre Pres Ind

Fut

kren krsn kren kreñ kreñ kreñ

krsnd krend krsnd krend krsnd krsnd

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

re raz rat ronz rcz ront

Pres Sjn

Past Part

krsfi krsñ kreñ krsñ kreñ kreñ

kren t

aZ az at ionz iez aat

would be phonetically realized before vowels. We need a rule to generate the /d/: R51 ...N-

Nd-/_-r.

The rule has some phonetic justification: /d/ is an excrescent consonant, homorganic with the nasal (as well as the /r/ in some dialects). The only form still to be explained is the past participle. Instead of the expected */kr6fiy/ by R50, we have /krsñt/. Here, too, we can give some phonetic justification, since /t/ also is homorganic with the nasal, and devoicing in final position is by no means a rare phenomenon in language: R52 -Q ^ -t / fi- _ . Until now we have avoided the criterion of productivity as an indicator of regularity. We shall continue to accept our more formal criterion based on rule application, but we should not totally ignore the question of numbers. Whereas I verbs are counted in thousands and II verbs in hundreds, we find only sixty-three verbs in Table 17 and only twenty-three in Table 19. As we examine the remaining verb classes of French, we will find even smaller numbers. We may take note of the marginal nature of these regular verbs, not only on the basis of their number, but also on the basis of their morphology. The roots of I and II verbs end in vowels, but the roots of other regular verbs generally end in consonants. The past participles of I and II verbs end in vowels, but the past participles of other regular verbs often end in consonants. Again, there is no need to call these verbs irregular, since all of their forms are predictable by a few general rules. However, they are morphologically distinct from the vast majority of regular verbs. We can refer to these special classes of regular verbs as marginally regular. One other class of verbs has a root-final /ft-/, as typified by joindre. Only seven other verbs are in this class: adjoindre, conjoindre, disjoindre, enjoindre, oindre, poindre, and rejoindre. Joindre is similar to craindre. It has /ñ/ in the underlying form, /d/ in the future aspect, and /1/ in the past participle. However, in some forms the root vowel is /ua/ instead of j u z j (Table 21). Since there are thirty-one forms in /ua/ and only twenty in /UE/, it seems more appropriate to posit /ua/ as the root vowel. Another good reason for making this choice is that we can now distinguish between joindre and craindre not only by the addition of a rule, but by a difference in the root. We see that whenever /fi/ is not phonetically realized

38

THE REGULAR OR IRREGULAR VERB T A B L E 21. joindre Pres Ind

Impf

zuen ζιιεη

zuañ zuañ zuañ zuañ zuañ zuañ

Ζ ζ

ZU8ñ

t

zuañ zuañ zuañ

onz cz at

εΖ εζ εί ionz iez Eat

Past Ind

Pres Sjn

zuañi zuañi zuañi zuañi zuañi zuañi

zuañ zuañ zuañ zuañ zuañ zuañ

sZ sz st smaz staz sat

aZ az at ionz iez aat

b u t serves o n l y t o nasalize t h e p r e c e d i n g v o w e l , t h e n t h e v o w e l c h a n g e s t o /UE/: R 5 3 ...uañ- -> u e ñ / _ - C . We have seen t h a t t h e s c h w a in t h e infinitive of vendre

is due t o t h e p r e s e n c e of a

c o n s o n a n t p r e c e d i n g t h e /-r/. B u t w h a t of verbs s u c h as cuire,

w h i c h have n o p r e c e d i n g

c o n s o n a n t b u t still have s c h w a in t h e infinitive? Can t h e y t o o have an u n d e r l y i n g c o n s o n a n t b e f o r e /-r/? Until n o w , c o n s o n a n t s d e l e t e d e l s e w h e r e have b e e n m a i n t a i n e d b e f o r e / r / . If /r/ is causing c o n s o n a n t d e l e t i o n , we m u s t e x a m i n e f o r m s w i t h n o i n t e r f e r i n g c o n s o n a n t in t h e e n d i n g ( T a b l e 2 2 ) . T A B L E 22. Cuire Pres

Ind

Impf

kyi kyi kyi kyiz kyiz kyiz

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

kyiz kyiz kyiz kyiz kyiz kyiz

εΖ εζ Et ionz iez 83t

Pres

Sjn

kyiz kyiz kyiz kyiz kyiz kyiz

aZ az at ionz iez aat

W h e n e v e r t h e e n d i n g starts w i t h a vowel, [z] a p p e a r s in t h e r o o t . It is o b v i o u s l y d e l e t e d b e f o r e o b s t r u e n t s in t h e e n d i n g s . It m u s t also be d e l e t e d b e f o r e / r / , b e c a u s e t h e c o m b i n a t i o n [zr] b e f o r e s c h w a or in t h e same syllable is n o t possible in F r e n c h . By r e c o g n i z i n g a r o o t - f i n a l c o n s o n a n t in t h e u n d e r l y i n g f o r m , we can j u s t i f y t h e s c h w a in t h e i n f i n i t i v e . B e f o r e establishing a rule t o g e n e r a t e /1/ as t h e p a s t p a r t i c i p l e m a r k e r a f t e r / z - / , w e m u s t t h i n k of f o r m s like cousu

/ k u z y / , w i t h a r o o t - f i n a l /z-/, f o l l o w i n g t h e usual III rule. T h e

key f a c t o r is t h e v o w e l p r e c e d i n g t h e / z - / : R 5 4 - 0 ->-t / iz- „ . T h e g r o u p of verbs c o n j u g a t e d like cuire is t h e largest subclass of III verbs w i t h a r o o t n o t e n d i n g in a s t o p ( T a b l e 2 3 ) . 4

4 l or some undisclosed reason Bcscherelle (Art de conjuguer, 100-01) gives separate paradigms for roots in /...iz-/ and /...yiz-/, altho their conjugations are exactly alike. Circoncire, luire, nuire, suffire,

39

THE REGULAR OR IRREGULAR VERB T A B L E 23.

/. . . iz-l conduire confire construire cuire déconfire

déduire détruire éconduire enduire frire

reconstruire recuire réduire réintroduire renduire

induire instruire introduire produire reconduire

reproduire retraduire séduire traduire

Once again, there is phonetic justification for what might seem to be an arbitrary change. Moudre, émoudre, and remoudre are an interesting case (Table 24). TABLE

24.

Moudre Pres

Ind

Fut

mu mu mu mul mul mul

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

mud mud mud mud mud mud

re raz rat ronz rez ront

Past

Ind

Pres

Sjn

muly muly muly muly muly muly

sZ sz St smaz sta ζ sat

mul mul mul mul mul mul

aZ az at ionz iez aat

By far the most common allomorph is /mul-/. The past participle is regular /muly/, by R50. The other forms of the past, however, must be generated by R55 ...1- -> ly- / _-s, which is ordered before R49. In the present indicative singular, if /I/ is the root-final consonant, it is apparently deleted before the endings, as in cluster reduction. However, there do exist French words where /I/ is maintained before a consonant. Moreover, /r/ in that position is maintained, and it is not desirable to have the two liquids behaving differently in such an environment. Since we will need a rule to change /I/ to /d/ to explain forms like the future tense, we may take advantage of the opportunity and extend the rule to the present tense as well: R56 ...1- -> d- / _ -C. This rule must follow R55. The /d/ will automatically be deleted before the consonant endings in the present indicative. Again, we find phonetic motivation for R56: /d/ is homorganic with /l/, phonetically more in accordance with French sound patterns before

l-rl. Abstraire, braire, distraire, extraire, retraire, and soustraire are conjugated like traire.5 In many ways they are exceptional (Table 25).

and their derivatives have irregular past participles and will be e x a m i n e d later in this c h a p t e r . Frire is generally considered defective; see C h a p t e r 7. 5 For an explanation of the /s/ in some derived forms of traire, see below, Chapter 10, R 1 2 4 .

40

T H E R E G U L A R OR I R R E G U L A R V E R B T A B L E 25. Traire Pres Ind

Impf

tre tre tre tre tre tre

tre tre tre tre tre tre

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

Pres Sjn

Fut εΖ ez et ionz icz est

tre tre tre tre tre tre

re raz rat ronz rez ront

tre tre tre tre tre tre

aZ az at ionz iez aat

Since there is a y o d before non-schwa vowels, predictable by R 4 8 , we m u s t recognize t h e root of traire t o be / t r e - / · However, such a r o o t is d i f f e r e n t f r o m all o t h e r III r o o t s t h a t we have e x a m i n e d until n o w , in t h a t the last element is n o t a c o n s o n a n t . (We c a n n o t r e i n t e r p r e t the r o o t as * / t r e j - / , because the p h o n e m e ¡\¡ is p r o n o u n c e d b e f o r e a schwa, cf. abeille / a b e j a / = [ a ' b e j ] . ) If we wish t o c o n t i n u e t o i d e n t i f y III verbs b y their root-final c o n s o n a n t , we may do so; b u t there is n o reason t o consider traire an irregular verb. All c o n j u g a t e d f o r m s of traire are generated by the usual rules; 6 only the infinitive a n d past participle require special c o m m e n t . Since there is n o underlying root-final c o n s o n a n t , we c a n n o t j u s t i f y the schwa of t h e infinitive in the usual w a y . T h e presence of t h e u n c o m m o n vowel /e-/ serves as an a p p r o p r i a t e e n v i r o n m e n t f o r generating t h e schwa: We will use t h e symbol / U / t o indicate any vowel b u t /í/ or / e / . R57. - r #

-ra / U- _ .

The past participle of traire is / t r e t / . There is n o p h o n e t i c m o t i v a t i o n f o r t h e /1/, and only seven verbs have it a f t e r /ε-/- However, inasmuch as these seven are the only ones with a root-final / ε - / , the rule R 5 8 -Q

-t / ε - _

remains w i t h o u t e x c e p t i o n and is general at least in a restricted sense. Conclure in some ways is like traire. With the r o o t / k o n k l y - / it, t o o , e n d s in an unusual vowel and requires R 5 7 t o generate the schwa of the infinitive. All o t h e r f o r m s are generated by the usual rules. There is n o rule, old or n e w , f o r the past participle / k o n k l y / , and n o rule is n e e d e d : / k o n k l y - Q / will remain / k o n k l y - ( a ) ( z ) / w h e n the / Q / is deleted by R l l . Exclure, c o n j u g a t e d exactly like conclure, also has the past participle identical t o its r o o t / e k s k l y / . However, inclure, occlure, and reclure, otherwise c o n j u g a t e d in the same way as conclure a n d exclure, have a past participle in / y z / : inclus, occlus, reclus. We c a n n o t f o r m u l a t e a general rule f o r t h e / z / . (Notice t h a t this is n o t a simple instance of orthographical variation, because the /z/ is actually p r o n o u n c e d in liaison a n d a f t e r the feminine schwa.) We are f o r the first time c o n f r o n t e d with the necessity of

6 These verbs are normally t r e a t e d as defective, not having c o n j u g a t e d past f o r m s . Grevisse (Bon usage, 644, n. 2) q u o t e s a past subjunctive f o r m trayassent (with t h e wrong t h e m e vowel). F o r a critique of the entire classification of defective verbs, see below, C h a p t e r 7, " A N o t e on Defective Verbs".

41

THE REGULAR OR IRREGULAR VERB

f o r m u l a t i n g a rule w h i c h c a n n o t a p p l y t o all verbs in t h e language w i t h o u t g e n e r a t i n g t h e wrong forms. This, o b v i o u s l y , is t h e basic d e f i n i t i o n of an irregular v e r b : o n e w h o s e p a r a d i g m c a n n o t be p r e d i c t e d s t r i c t l y on t h e basis of general rules w h i c h are f r e e t o a p p l y t o all verbs in t h e l a n g u a g e . Of c o u r s e , m a n y of t h e rules w h i c h w e h a v e f o r m u l a t e d u n t i l n o w in f a c t a p p l y t o o n l y s o m e of t h e verbs in F r e n c h ; R 5 8 , w i t h p r a c t i c a l a p p l i c a t i o n t o o n l y seven verbs, is an e x a m p l e . H o w e v e r , all rules u n t i l n o w , i n c l u d i n g R 5 8 , a p p l i e d t o all F r e n c h verbs, s o m e w i t h e f f e c t , a n d s o m e w i t h o u t e f f e c t . In o t h e r w o r d s , we c o u l d t a k e t h e c o m p l e t e list of rules a n d m e c h a n i c a l l y a p p l y every o n e of t h e m t o every v e r b in t h e language, w i t h o u t g e n e r a t i n g a single w r o n g f o r m . T h e r e a s o n f o r this is t h a t t h e c o n d i t i o n i n g e n v i r o n m e n t was so c o n s t r u c t e d t h a t e a c h rule w o u l d a f f e c t o n l y t h o s e r o o t s or e n d i n g s t h a t w o u l d g e n e r a t e t h e c o r r e c t f o r m s . Of c o u r s e , b y b e i n g e x t r e m e l y specific we c o u l d f o r m u l a t e a rule ini -Q

-z /

ra > kly-,

in o r d e r t o be c e r t a i n t h a t t h e rule w o u l d n o t a p p l y t o conclure

a n d exclure

and generate

i n c o r r e c t f o r m s . H o w e v e r , s u c h a rule w o u l d in e f f e c t be t h e s a m e as t h e t r a d i t i o n a l listing of irregular f o r m s , albeit in a m o r e f o r m a l m a n n e r . I n s t e a d , we will w r i t e a m u c h s i m p l e r rule, still irregular (since it c a n n o t a p p l y f r e e l y t o ALL general t h a n t h e ad hoc

verbs in t h e l a n g u a g e ) b u t m o r e

rule p r o p o s e d a b o v e , b e c a u s e it m a y a p p l y in m a n y d i f f e r e n t

(unpredictable) environments: R 5 9 * -Q -> -z. In o r d e r t o d e m o n s t r a t e t h e m a j o r d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n t h e general rules ( i n c l u d i n g all rules w h i c h we have f o r m u l a t e d until n o w ) a n d special ( o r irregular) rules w h i c h m u s t a p p l y u n p r e d i c t a b l y o n l y t o c e r t a i n verbs, I will place an asterisk b e f o r e special rules. It m a y be o b j e c t e d t h a t at this p o i n t I m u s t a d m i t m y failure t o p r o v e t h a t every single f o r m of every single verb in F r e n c h can be g e n e r a t e d b y a single, c o n s i s t e n t set o f rules. H o w e v e r , linguists have n e v e r m a i n t a i n e d t h a t a n o m a l i e s d o n o t exist in language. Every n a t u r a l language h a s s o m e deviant f o r m s . It is t h e t a s k of t h e linguist t o p r e s e n t as e x h a u s t i v e l y a n d concisely as possible

t h e general rules r e g u l a t i n g t h e language, a n d t o

i n d i c a t e ( w h e r e v e r feasible) t h a t even a p p a r e n t irregularity is e x t r e m e l y l i m i t e d a n d , w h a t is m o r e i m p o r t a n t , o f t e n q u i t e s y s t e m a t i c .

Coudre, découdre,

and recoudre are a variation on cuire. From the imperfect and other

f o r m s , we k n o w t h a t t h e r o o t of coudre

m u s t be / k u z - / . H o w e v e r , t h e u n d e r l y i n g r o o t -

final /z-/ is n o t d e l e t e d b e f o r e / - r / , as in cuire. We n e e d a special rule R 6 0 * ζ—> ά - 1

-r

t o e x p l a i n t h e a n o m a l o u s / d / . Since t h e r o o t has /uz-/ i n s t e a d of /iz-/ like cuire, t h e past p a r t i c i p l e of coudre

is f o r m e d like t h a t of a n y regular III v e r b w i t h a r o o t e n d i n g in a n y

other consonant: /kuzy/.

THE REGULAR OR IRREGULAR VERB

42

Clore a n d its derivatives déclore, cuire1

éclore,

enclore

, a n d forclore

are a n o t h e r v a r i a t i o n o n

B e f o r e /-r/ t h e r o o t - f i n a l /z-¡ is t r e a t e d like t h e d e l e t e d c o n s o n a n t in cluster

r e d u c t i o n , as in cuire.

O n l y t h e past p a r t i c i p l e is u n p r e d i c t a b l e . I n s t e a d o f t h e e x p e c t e d

* / k l o z y / it h a s a final / z / . R a t h e r t h a n f o r m u l a t e a n o t h e r a d h o c rule t o g e n e r a t e / k l o z / in t h e past p a r t i c i p l e , we can a l l o w R 5 9 * t o a p p l y , g e n e r a t i n g t h e f o r m / k l o z - z / . T h e first / z / will be d e l e t e d b e f o r e t h e s e c o n d / z / b y t h e general principle of cluster r e d u c t i o n . 8 Clore

is t h e first a r c h a i c v e r b t h a t we have e n c o u n t e r e d in this s t u d y . M a n y irregular

verbs are classified as a r c h a i c . T h e language u n d e r c o n s i d e r a t i o n h e r e is s t a n d a r d l i t e r a r y F r e n c h , a n d a l i t e r a r y language o f t e n m a k e s use (even in s p e e c h ) of a r c h a i c f o r m s . We are obliged t o e x a m i n e a r c h a i c verbs or verb f o r m s h e r e w h e r e v e r t h e a u t h o r i t i e s i n d i c a t e t h a t t h e f o r m s are still u s e d . S i m p l y labeling a w o r d archaic

d o e s n o t give us t h e right t o ignore

it. Suivre,

s'ensuivre,

a n d poursuivre

are regular III verbs e x c e p t in t h e p a s t p a r t i c i p l e

/syivi/, w h i c h r e q u i r e s t h e special rule R 6 1 * y- -M-. N o t i c e t h a t w e n e e d n o t state a special e n v i r o n m e n t s u c h as / Q / , b e c a u s e / y - / will a u t o m a t i c a l l y be g e n e r a t e d in t h e p a s t p a r t i c i p l e b y R 5 0 . By s t a t i n g t h e e n v i r o n m e n t as ly-l, t h e result of R 5 0 , we can o r d e r t h e special R 6 1 * a f t e r t h e general R 5 0 . Several verbs are c o n j u g a t e d like écrire ( T a b l e 2 6 ) . 9 T A B L E 26. Ecrire and derivatives eirconscrire décrire écrire Ecrire

inscrire prescrire proscrire

récrire réinscrire retranscrire

souscrire transcrire

o b v i o u s l y has t h e r o o t /ekriv-/, b u t t h e /ν-/ is e x c e p t i o n a l l y d e l e t e d b e f o r e j-xj. We

c a n n o t t r e a t t h e /v-/ as in c l u s t e r r e d u c t i o n , b e c a u s e t h e p h o n e t i c c o m b i n a t i o n [vr] is permitted

in F r e n c h , cf. devrai : écrirai.

Since t h e d e l e t i o n of /v-/ is n o t a t t h e p h o n e t i c

level, we n e e d a special rule f o r i t : R 6 2 * ν- - > 0 / -r. With /v-/ e l i m i n a t e d a t t h e m o r p h o p h o n e m i c level, it will n o t be p r e s e n t at t h e p h o n e t i c level t o f o r m an o b s t r u e n t + liquid c o m b i n a t i o n w i t h t h e /-r/ a n d r e q u i r e a schwa in t h e infinitive. We t h e r e f o r e m u s t f o r m u l a t e a rule t o e x p l a i n t h e s c h w a : R 6 3 * - r # -* -rs # . i Redore and renclore, not listed in Bescherelle, are conjugated like clore. 8 Similarly, circoncire is a regular verb, conjugated like all other verbs in /...-iz/, except for the past participle, generated by R59*. 9 For an explanation of the initial /s/ instead of /e/ in most derived verbs, see below, Chapter 10. R123.

43

THE RECiULAR OR IRREGULAR V E R B

Finally, the past participle écrit must be explained: R 6 4 * -Q -> -t. The resultant f o r m will be /ekriv-t/. In that environment the /v/ will be the first consonant in cluster reduction, u n p r o n o u n c e d before the /1/. Thus we see that écrire, requiring three special rules, is the most irregular verb that we have yet studied. Suffire is a regular verb, conjugated like all other verbs in /...iz-/, except in the past participle, where it lacks the /-t/ of R54, as well as the /z/ of the root. Its actual past participle f o r m /syfi-/ can be generated by R 6 5 * z-t(a)(z) -> 0 . Luire, nuire, and their derivatives entre-luire, s'entre-nuire, and reluire are conjugated similarly. Luire has an optional abridged f o r m /lyiz/, etc. in the past tense, besides regular /lyiziz/, etc: ( R 6 6 * lyiz- -> ly / _ i-s). Finally, a verb which must be considered at this time is courir,

with the seven verbs

conjugated like it: accourir, concourir, discourir, encourir, parcourir, recourir, and secourir (Table 27). TABLE

27.

Courir Pres Ind

Fut

kur kur kur kur kur kur

kur kur kur kur kur kur

Ζ ζ t onz ez 3t

rc raz rat ronz rez ront

Past Ind

Pres Sjn

kury kury kury kury kury kury

kur kur kur kur kur kur

sZ sz st srraz stsz set

aZ 3z st ¡onz icz 331

Altho the infinitive may lead one t o classify courir as II, /i/ appears nowhere else in the paradigm. We can account for the /i/ by a special rule: R67*

...C-^Ci-/_-r#.

With the r o o t /kur-/ courir appears to be an ordinary III verb now. The root-final /r-/ is maintained before consonants and may be geminate in the f u t u r e and conditional for those who p r o n o u n c e geminates. The /y/ of the past participle is regular, but the /y/ in other past f o r m s must be generated by a special rule: R 6 8 * ...Ci- -> Cy- / _ -s.

4 THE REGULARLY IRREGULAR VERB

Every French grammar provides a list of II verbs which lack the theme vowel in certain forms (Table 28). 1 T A B L E 28. Irregular II Verbs bouillir consentir débouillir démentir départir

desservir dormir endormir mentir partir

pressentir rebouillir redormir rendormir repartir repentir (se)

ressentir resservir ressortir sentir servir sortir

A typical example is partir (Table 29). T A B L E 29. Partir Pres

Ind

Impf

part part part part part part

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

part part part part part part

εΖ εζ 6t ionz iez 83t

Pres

Sjn

Pres

Part

part part part part part part

aZ

part

ant

3Z 3t

ionz iez 33t

As in the case of the III verbs, the root-final consonant is not phonetically realized in the present indicative singular. The other forms of partir in Table 29 indicate that the only deviation from finir is the absence of /is/. Indeed, grammarians tell us that partir is a typical II verb except that /is/ is lacking. However, they seem to have ignored the present indicative singular, where /i/ is lacking before consonants. Confronted with so many forms which have no /i/, we may wonder whether partir is in fact a II verb. We are faced 1 Asservir, assortir, impartir, répartir, ressortir, and sortir (the last t w o with d i f f e r e n t meanings f r o m t h o s e of their h o m o n y m s in Table 28) are all regular II verbs. Bouillir and its derivatives are not usually included in this list.

45

THE REGULARLY IRREGULAR VERB

with t w o possible analyses. On the one h a n d we could say that partir has the root /parti-/, and then f o r m u l a t e a rule that /i/ is deleted in the present indicative and subjunctive, the imperfect, a n d the present participle. A n o t h e r possibility would be t o assign the root /part-/ to partir and give a rule to generate /i/ in the f u t u r e , conditional, infinitive, and past participle. (It would have /i/ in the past tenses by R 4 9 ) . We are n o w obliged t o choose between t w o analyses, each of which involves the addition of only one rule. On what basis may we prefer one analysis over the other? One obvious difference between the two is that the second analysis would give us a r o o t /part-/, with a root-final consonant. Virtually all irregular verbs in French have a rootfinal consonant, whereas the regular verb r o o t generally ends in /i-/ or schwa. One may wish to preserve the purity of II, which, as we have seen, is in some ways more regular than I. Our principal criterion for choosing one analysis over another has been general simplicity of presentation. Which of the t w o analyses can be considered simpler? In the first case we would have to delete /i-/ in t w e n t y - t w o f o r m s , and in the second case we would generate it in seventeen forms. In terms of numbers the second analysis /part-/ is preferable. However, it is generally considered better t o delete an element f r o m the underlying f o r m than t o generate it out of the whole cloth. Moreover, despite the n u m b e r of forms, the n u m b e r of categories (and therefore the conditioning environment) is smaller in a rule based on a root /parti-/. Schane ( F P M , 66) classifies the seven tenses and three non-conjugated forms of the verb i n t o three groups, which he calls aspects. In Table 30 I place the tense markers beside each f o r m t o show the morphological relationships. T A B L E 30. Schane's 'Aspects' Future

Unmarked près ind impf près sjn près part

/-0/ /-ε/ /-s/ /-ant/

fut cond inf

Past hi /-re/ h¡

p r e t e r i t e (= past ind)

hi

- - -

past sjn past p a r t

/-sa/ l-QI

Needless to say, ASPECT does not have its usual meaning here but is simply a term for classifying the verb endings according t o morphological similarities. The tripartite division of French verb morphology is quite transparent, and by n o means original to Schane. Every school grammar speaks of present stems, f u t u r e stems, and past stems. Slight variations on this table are possible. Hall 2 does n o t name the three categories, but refers simply to Stems A, B, a n d C. He places the preterite in line with the imperfect and conditional. 3 For our purposes we need be concerned only with the tripartite division,

2 R o b e r t Hall, Jr., French (=Language M o n o g r a p h 24, Structural Sketch 1), Language 24: 3 (Supplem e n t , 1948), 27; h e r e i n a f t e r this w o r k is cited as Structural Sketch. 4 2 : 4 (1969), 5 5 9 , divides t h e verb 3 E. Mayer, " S t e m s in t h e F r e n c h V e r b " , French Review paradigm into a d i f f e r e n t set of stems, all based o n t h e present indicative. P-stems come f r o m t h e 1 and 2 pi, T-stems f r o m t h e 3pl, and S-stems f r o m t h e singular f o r m s .

46

THE REGULARLY IRREGULAR VERB

not the horizontal correlation of forms. In the unmarked aspect are the present indicative, imperfect, present subjunctive, and present participle: the very forms in which partir deletes /i-/. If we accepted the root /part-/, we would be obliged to generate /i/ in two aspects. We can now formulate a special rule (because it cannot be applied to all roots in /i-/) to generate all forms of partir: R69* ...i(s)->0 I unmarked aspect. Another possible form of the rule would have been to ignore the aspects and say that /i-/ is deleted before either /-V/ or /+C/. The plus sign, referring to person markers, would restrict the change before consonants to the present indicative singular. Even if this proposed alternative has two conditioning environments instead of one as in R69*, it still would be simpler than the corresponding rule based on a root /part-/. Such a rule would require three conditioning environments for generating /i/: /-r/, /-si, and /Q/. In any case R69* is simpler and takes advantage of an important fact of French verb morphology, the tripartite division of endings. Many other verbs follow the example of partir. Among them is bouillir, with its derivatives débouillir and rebouillir. The verb is conjugated exactly like partir in all forms and follows the same R68*. It merits no special comment except for the fact that the verb is generally not recognized to be of this common type and is usually listed by itself as a unique case. Probably the reason for its special treatment is that the last consonant of the root is yod: /buji-/. Many wish to give yod a special status as a semivowel or semiconsonant, i.e. neither vowel nor consonant. However, since yod is the only semiconsonant phoneme in French, it need not be isolated in a special category of semiconsonants. If we regard yod as an ordinary consonant phoneme, there is no problem. In the present indicative singular the yod is deleted like any first consonant in cluster reduction before the consonants of the endings. However, there is a group of irregular verbs in /...ji-/ which are somewhat different from bouillir. Assaillir, défaillir,4 and tressaillir follow bouillir except in the present indicative singular, where a schwa is added: R70* . . . C - - * C a - / _ + C . The plus sign will restrict the environment of the rule to the present indicative. Altho the root of these words has the theme vowel /i-/, R69* has already applied, so that there is no li/ in R70*. Cueillir and its derivatives accueillir and recueillir are more complicated; see Table 31.

4

Défaillir also has archaic forms, based on the pattern of faillir. See Chapter 6.

47

THE REGULARLY IRREGULAR VERB TABLE 31. Cueillir Pres

Ind

Fut

kœja Ζ kœja ζ kœja t kœj onz kœj ez kœj at

kœja kœja kœja kœja kœja kœja

rc raz rat ron ζ rez ront

Past

Ind

kœji kœji kœji kœji kœji kœji

sZ sz st smaz sta ζ sat

This is truly a hybrid verb: the present indicative is like assaillir or even I; the rest of the u n m a r k e d aspect, the past aspect, and the infinitive are like bouillir', and the f u t u r e and conditional are like I verbs. One may well hesitate whether to classify cueillir as I or as II like assaillir. Comparison by simple numerical count of forms is somewhat complicated, since in m a n y cases either of the two analyses would generated the correct forms. Let us instead consider only those f o r m s which can be generated by only one analysis. In favor of /kœja-/ are the f u t u r e a n d conditional - twelve forms. In favor of /kœji-/ are the past aspect and the infinitive — seventeen forms. The difference is small indeed. We are n o w faced with an unusually intriguing problem of judging criteria: is it better to posit an underlying root /kœja-/ and have t o explain seventeen irregular forms with one ad hoc special rule, or should we accept the r o o t /kœji-/ and explain twelve irregular f o r m s by t w o special rules that are needed elsewhere and by one special ad hoc rule? In favor of /kœji-/ is a smaller n u m b e r of f o r m s to be explained; in favor of /kœja-/ is the need for only one special rule. Since an appeal t o mere numbers will not solve our dilemma, let us examine the nature of the t w o possible ad hoc rules. If we accept /kœja-/ as the root, we will have t o generate all f o r m s in /i/ by

\Q

R 7 1 a * ...ja--* }i-l _ i

r#. ( S

On the other hand, with /kœji-/ as the r o o t the rule is R 7 1 b * ...ji- HC ja- / _-rV... Notice t h e / V / to prevent the rule f r o m applying to the infinitive. Since R 7 1 b * is simpler than R71a*, we will accept /kœji-/ as the root. Several verbs f o r m a special class similar t o that of partir (Table 32). TABLE 32. Irregular / . . . VCri-/ couvrir découvrir

entrouvrir offrir

ouvrir recouvrir

rentrouvrir rouvrir

souffrir

These verbs may at first seem t o be of the same type as partir, with R 6 9 * , but they have certain additional idiosyncrasies; see Table 33.

48

THE REGULARLY IRREGULAR VERB T A B L E 33.

Ouvrir Pres

Ind

Impf

uvra uvra uvra uvr uvr uvr

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

uvr uvr uvr uvr uvr uvr

Fut εΖ εζ Et ionz iez Eat

uvri uvri uvri uvri uvri uvri

Past Part rc raz rat ronz rez ront

uver

The first difference between ouvrir and partir is the presence of schwa in the singular of the present indicative. Notice that we cannot invoke a phonetic rule to produce schwa automatically after the obstruent + liquid here. This schwa must be in the underlying morphophone mie representation in order for R33 to delete the /Z /. R70* will generate the schwa long before morphophoneme deletion R33 is applied. The other anomalous form of ouvrir is the past participle, which must be explained by a special rule: R72* ...riQ -»• ert. Fuir and its derivatives s'enfuir and refuir are always recognized as II, with a root /fyi-/Grammarians tell us that fuir is similar to partir, since it contains no /s/, as do regular II verbs. However, fuir is clearly different from partir, because it never deletes /i/. How then do we explain the unusual behavior of fuir'1. The answer is quite simple. Fuir is a perfectly regular verb; it follows all the regular rules for adding tense and person markers, etc. Only in one way is it unique: R6, which generates /s/ before vowels, does not apply. Inasmuch as fuir does not follow all the regular rules, we are compelled to formulate a special rule for it R6a cancel R6 and call fuir an.irregular verb; but it is exceptional in being irregular by the subtraction, rather than the addition, of a rule. Rire and sourire are conjugated like fuir, except in the infinitive. The schwa of the infinitive is generated by R63*. 5 Bruire,6 too, is identical to fuir except in the infinitive and past participle. It requiresR63* for the infinitive and R64* for the past participle. Vêtir and its derivatives dévêtir and revêtir follow the pattern of partir except for the past participle in /y/: R73* . ..i- ->y- / _ -Q.

The past participles of rire and sourire are supposedly invariable. See C h a p t e r 7, " A N o t e o n Defective V e r b s " . 113) 6 I a m following Grevisse ( B o n usage, 632, # 7 0 1 . 1 1 ) here. Bescherelle ( A r t de conjuguer, rejects this " a n c i e n n e c o n j u g a i s o n " and r e c o m m e n d s a regular II verb e x c e p t for t h e infinitive; he does n o t m e n t i o n t h e past participle. See C h a p t e r 8.

5 THE IRREGULAR VERB: VOCALIC ALTERNATION AND RADICAL

TRUNCATION

The structure of the regular French verb paradigm is that of a constant root to which various endings are added. Of the fifty-four general rules ( R l - 5 8 . with R9, 10, 19, and 25 eliminated) only fifteen apply to the root (R6, 7, 39, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, and 56). Moreover, it is important to notice that most of these rules affect the theme vowel; only seven general rules (R44, 4 6 , 4 7 , 4 8 , 51, 53 and 56) apply to the stem, i.e. the segment which precedes the theme vowel and carries the lexical meaning. Of the sixteen special rules formulated thus far (R59*-73* and R6a), only four (R60*, 62*, 66*, and 72*) deal with the stem. French is clearly not like the Germanic or Semitic languages, in which internal modification of the stem is an inflectional device. However, a few French verbs do systematically display stem modification as part of their inflection. The stem modification is of two general types: vocalic alternation and radical truncation. We will begin by examining the first device. Hair undergoes vocalic alternation. With the root /hai-/ it is a regular II verb except in the present indicative singular: / h e Z / , / h e z / , / h e t / . The special rule needed here is obvious: R74*

hai-

he- / _ +C.

Gésir has the root /ziz-/ except in the infinitive, where the vowel of the stem is changed, and a theme vowel is added: R75* ziz-r -> zezi-r. 1 Apparoir has a change of vowel in the present indicative: R76* ar- -> er- / _ +C.

ι Since no a u t h o r i t y gives f u t u r e or conditional f o r m s for this defective verb, there is no reason to c o m p l i c a t e t h e rule by adding a w o r d - b o u n d a r y m a r k e r / # / a n d t h u s restrict R 7 4 * to t h e infinitve. See below, C h a p t e r 7, " A N o t e o n Defective V e r b s " .

50

THE IRREGULAR VERB

Fleurir is a regular II verb except in the imperfect and the present participle, where some believe there is an optional change of stem vowel, from /ce/ to /o/. There is reason to suspect that we are dealing with two separate verbs here. Grevisse (Bon usage, 564 # 6 3 0 ) explains that the vowel remains /ce/ in the meaning "produire des fleurs", etc., but changes to /o/ in the more figurative meaning "prospérer", etc. Then in a footnote he gives examples of other tenses in /o/, concluding that there may be an alternate root. Envoyer and renvoyer are regular I verbs except in the future and conditional R77* ua...- ->• ε / _ - rV... Ouir is irregular only in the present and imperfect (Table 34). 2 T A B L E 34. Ouïr Pres Ind

Impf

Fut

ua ua ua oi oi ua

oi oi oi oi oi oi

uhi uhi uhi uhi uhi uhi

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

εΖ εζ et ionz icz est

Pres Sjn re raz rat ronz rez ront

ua ua ua oi oi ua

aZ az at ionz iez aat

The vowel change takes place only in the unmarked aspect, including the present participle /oiant/. Since /oi/ appears only in one environment (before non-schwa vowels) and /ua/ in two (before schwa and consonants), it is more convenient t o start with /ua/: R 7 8 * uhiua - / unmarked aspect. R79* ua- ->· ai- / _ -X. The largest class of irregular verbs is conjugated like tenir: T A B L E 35. Tenir, venir, and Derivatives abstenir (s') advenir appartenir circonvenir contenir contrevenir convenir

détenir devenir disconvenir entretenir intervenir maintenir obtenir

obvenir parvenir prévenir provenir redevenir ressouvenir (se) retenir

revenir soutenir souvenir (se) subvenir survenir tenir venir

2 The future and conditional forms accepted here are according to Bescherelle, Art de Conjuguer, 56. Alternate forms foirai, etc, and j'orrai, etc., he rejects as archaic. Grevisse (Bon usage, 640 #701.33), on the other hand, prefers them and calles j'ouïrai, etc., "formes faussement archaïques faites (généralement par badinage ou par fantaisie) sur le modèle de la conjugaison de finir". The / h / prevents /u/ from becoming [w].

51

THE I R R E G U L A R V E R B

T h e s e verbs o f f e r c o n s i d e r a b l e vocalic a l t e r n a t i o n : T A B L E 36.

Tenir.

Here we

Pres Ind

Fut

tien tien tien tan tan tien

tiend tiend tiend tiend tiend tiend

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

re raz rat ronz rez ront

Past Ind

Pres Sjn

ten ten ten ten ten ten

tien tien tien tan tan tien

sZ sz st smaz staz sat

aZ sz at ionz iez aat

have a triple a l t e r n a t i o n , a n d we m u s t decide w h i c h vowel t o c h o o s e as t h e

u n d e r l y i n g o n e . A l t h o / ί ε / is t h e c o m m o n e s t ( w i t h t w e n t y f o r m s ; schwa has n i n e t e e n a n d / ε / t w e l v e ) , we c o u l d give little p h o n e t i c j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r its c h a n g i n g t o schwa or / ε / . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , an u n d e r l y i n g s c h w a o f t e n c h a n g e s t o a n o t h e r vowel in stressed p o s i t i o n . F u r t h e r m o r e , we w o u l d n e e d c o m p l i c a t e d rules t o describe t h e e n v i r o n m e n t s w h e r e / i e / w o u l d c h a n g e t o s c h w a a n d t o / ε / . S t a r t i n g w i t h s c h w a simplifies t h e e n v i r o n m e n t s c o n s i d e r a b l y . H o w e v e r , f o r t h e t w o p a s t t e n s e s a vowel change a l o n e is n o t s u f f i c i e n t , since by R 4 9 t h e t h e m e vowel /i/ is a d d e d b e f o r e t h e e n d i n g s . We m u s t t h e r e f o r e a p p l y a rule-canceling rule t o p r e v e n t t h e /i/ f r o m a p p e a r i n g : R 4 9 a cancel R 4 9 . N o w we can g e n e r a t e t h e p r o p e r r o o t vowels: R 8 0 * an- -> ίεη- / _ j ^ R81 * ien

e n - / _ -s.

In this w a y past t e n s e f o r m s r e q u i r e t w o rules t o g e n e r a t e t h e c o r r e c t r o o t vowel. It was n o t n e c e s s a r y t o have w r i t t e n t h e rules as we d i d . I n s t e a d , we c o u l d have w r i t t e n an- ->• e n - / _ -s a n d p l a c e d t h i s rule b e f o r e R 8 0 * , t o g e n e r a t e t h e p r o p e r r o o t vowel in o n e rule i n s t e a d of t w o . One m a y argue t h a t t h e f o r m of R 8 0 * a n d 8 1 * is u n e c o n o m i c a l f o r t h e past tenses. H o w e v e r , we w o u l d have n e e d e d t w o rules f o r t h e verb as a w h o l e in a n y case, a n d we m i g h t as well t a k e a d v a n t a g e of t h e similarity of t h e t w o vowels. With / t a n - / as t h e r o o t , b o t h participles are g e n e r a t e d b y t h e regular rules. T h e /i/ of t h e infinitive is e x p l a i n e d by R 6 6 * , w h i c h , of c o u r s e , m u s t be o r d e r e d b e f o r e R 8 0 * . T h e / d / of t h e f u t u r e a n d condit i o n a l is regularly g e n e r a t e d b y R 5 1 , w h i c h m u s t f o l l o w R 6 7 * . Mourir

also has an i n t e r e s t i n g vocalic a l t e r n a t i o n ; see Table 3 7 .

Since o n l y eight of t h e f i f t y - o n e f o r m s have / œ / , we will set u p / m u r - / as t h e u n d e r l y i n g r o o t a n d g e n e r a t e /moer-/ w h e r e n e c e s s a r y : R82*

...uC- -> œC-

52

THE IRREGULAR VERB T A B L E 37. Mourir Pres Ind

Fut

moer moer moer mur mur moer

mur mur mur mur mur mur

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

re raz rat ronz rez ront

Past Ind

Past Part

rnury mury mury mury mury mury

mor

sZ sz st smaz staz sat

The /i/ of the infinitive is generated by R 6 6 * , a n d the / y / of t h e past tenses b y R 6 7 * . T h e past participle requires R 6 4 * f o r the / t / and a new rule f o r the vowel change: R 8 3 * m u r t -»· m o r t . Besides vocalic a l t e r n a t i o n , t h e m a j o r t y p e of verb stem m o d i f i c a t i o n in F r e n c h is radical t r u n c a t i o n . By this process all elements of t h e root a f t e r a certain c o n s o n a n t or conson a n t cluster are deleted in all past f o r m s :

This rule must be o r d e r e d b e f o r e R 4 9 , so t h a t the t h e m e vowel will n o t be t r u n c a t e d along with the rest of the r o o t . A l t h o this process is nearly as c o m m o n as vocalic a l t e r n a t i o n , the latter is o f t e n discussed, while the f o r m e r is almost never m e n t i o n e d or even recognized as a special t y p e of r o o t m o d i f i c a t i o n . D u b o i s 3 speaks of a "racine réduite de la base v e r b a l e " ; b u t a l t h o he gives e x a m p l e s of nine t r u n c a t e d verbs, every one of t h e m in the past, he does n o t c o m m e n t . Trager, " V e r b M o r p h o l o g y " , 138, refers t o " s t e m loss in t h e past p a r t i c i p l e " (in this s t u d y he does n o t treat t h e past tenses), b u t he does n o t seem t o recognize its i m p o r t a n c e e x c e p t in verbs ending in -oir ( p . 140). Only Mayer sees a general principle when he refers ( " S t e m s " , 5 6 1 - 6 2 ) t o an ' a t t e n u a t e d ' stem in t h e past participle (he, t o o , does n o t s t u d y past tenses). Croître, with its derivatives accroître, décroître, and recroître, is a typical case of radical t r u n c a t i o n . F r o m the i m p e r f e c t a n d subjunctive we k n o w t h a t t h e r o o t is /kruas-/. The / t / of the f u t u r e aspect is generated by R85 s — 1 - /

-r.

Notice t h a t this is a regular rule, applying t o all verbs w i t h a root-final /s-/. All f o r m s of croître are regular, e x c e p t those of the past. T h e r o o t /kruas-/ b e c o m e s /kr-/ by radical t r u n c a t i o n , and the past tenses have / y / , generated by R 6 8 * . Plaire, complaire, and déplaire f o l l o w the same p a t t e r n . T h e r o o t / ρ ΐ ε ζ - / is regular e x c e p t in the past, where it is t r u n c a t e d a n d receives lyl by regular R 5 5 . Taire with the

3

Jean Dubois, Grammaire

structurale

du français:

Le verhe (Paris: Larousse, 1967), 72.

53

THE IRREGULAR VERB

root /tez-/ undergoes radical truncation by R 8 4 * and receives / y / by R 6 8 * . Several verbs are conjugated like connaître (Table 3 8 ) . 4 T A B L E 38. I . . . es-/ apparaître comparaître connaître

paraître réapparaître recomparaître

disparaître méconnaître paître

reconnaître repaître reparaître transparaître

The r o o t of connaître is /kones-/, with a / t / f r o m R 8 5 . In the past the root is truncated to /kany-/, with / y / f r o m R 6 8 * . Croire5 also undergoes radical truncation. Since the r o o t is /krua-/, only the vowel element is t r u n c a t e d . The only special rule needed for this verb is R 6 8 * . Of course, the general rules apply as usual: R 4 7 generates y o d , and R 5 7 generates the schwa of the infinitive. Choir,6 déchoir, dépourvoir, échoir, and pourvoir are similar to croire because of radical truncation a n d the theme vowel / y / in the past by R 8 4 * and R 6 8 * . However, unlike croire, the infinitive has n o schwa. According to R 5 7 there should be a schwa. We need a special rule to a c c o m m o d a t e this irregularity: R57a cancel R 5 7 . Most radical truncating verbs also undergo vocalic alternation. Voir and its derivatives 7 entrevoir, prévoir, and revoir seem to be primarily a case of the latter (Table 39). TABLE

39.

Voir Pres Ind

Fut

vua vua vua vua vua vua

νε ve ve ve ve ve

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

re raz rat ron ζ rez ront

Past Ind

Pres Part

vi sZ vi sz vi st vi smaz vi staz vi sat

vua

ant

and renaître are t h e only verbs in /...es-/ which are c o n j u g a t e d d i f f e r e n t l y ; they will be 4 Naître e x a m i n e d in t h e following c h a p t e r . Paître and repaître are generally considered defective; sec C h a p t e r 7. 5 Accroire is defective, appearing only in t h e infinitive. See Chapter 7. 6 Choir and its derivatives have a l t e r n a t e f o r m s in / s e - / , o p t i o n a l l y generated b y R 7 7 * . S o m e t i m e s f o r m s o t h e r t h a n t h e f u t u r e or conditional m a y also have /ε-/- All f o r m s in /ε-/ are rejected as " d é s u è t e s " (Bescherelle, Art de Conjuguer, 71) and "rare et a r c h a ï q u e " (Grevisse, Bon usage, 6 3 4 # 7 0 1 . 1 3 ) or, contrariwise, " n é o l o g i q u e " (ibid., speaking of t h e i m p e r f e c t of échoir). These seem t o be r a t h e r subjective classifications, since t h e verbs in all f o r m s are rare and archaic. 7 Dépourvoir and pourvoir are discussed with choir, above. Prévoir does n o t have R 7 7 * .

54

THE IRREGULAR VERB

C o n c e i v a b l y , o n e c o u l d r e c o g n i z e t h e r o o t as /v-/ a n d g e n e r a t e / u a / in t h e u n m a r k e d aspect a n d t h e infinitive a n d / ε / in t h e f u t u r e a n d c o n d i t i o n a l . H o w e v e r , such an analysis w o u l d r e q u i r e t h e a d d i t i o n of t w o special ad hoc rules j u s t f o r voir. By a c c e p t i n g t h e r o o t /vua-/ we n e e d f o r m u l a t e n o n e w rules b u t m a k e use of a l r e a d y e x i s t i n g special rules, R 7 7 * f o r t h e f u t u r e , R 5 7 a f o r t h e i n f i n i t i v e , a n d radical t r u n c a t i o n b y R 8 4 * . T h e general rules a p p l y as a l w a y s : y o d ( t h e p h o n e m e / i / ) is g e n e r a t e d b e f o r e n o n - s c h w a v o w e l s b y R47. Dire has o n e irregularity o u t s i d e t h e p a s t , in t h e 2pl of t h e p r e s e n t indicative / d i z - t a z / : R 8 6 * -ez -> - t a z . 8 T h e p r e s e n c e of /-/ ( w h i c h i n d i c a t e s t h e b e g i n n i n g of t h e tense m a r k e r ) i m m e d i a t e l y p r e c e d i n g t h e p e r s o n m a r k e r s h o w s t h a t o n l y t h e p r e s e n t indicative is a f f e c t e d b y t h e rule. Radical t r u n c a t i o n r e d u c e s /dizi-sZ/, e t c . , t o / d i s Z / , e t c . T h e past p a r t i c i p l e is irregular. By t r u n c a t i o n we s h o u l d e x p e c t * / d y / . T h e /1/ of t h e p a r t i c i p l e e n d i n g can be g e n e r a t e d by R 6 4 * , b u t w h a t of t h e vowel / i / ? We c o u l d f o r m u l a t e an ad hoc rule j u s t f o r dire,

truncation

w h i c h w o u l d t a k e place o n l y in t h e t w o p a s t tenses a n d n o t in t h e past

p a r t i c i p l e . H o w e v e r , t h e r e is a n o t h e r a p p r o a c h . By t r u n c a t i o n we w o u l d have / d / , w h i c h w o u l d a u t o m a t i c a l l y receive / y / b y R 5 0 . We can t h e n a p p l y special R 6 1 * t o c h a n g e t h e vowel t o ¡\I, so t h a t t h e /i/ of t h e past p a r t i c i p l e is n o t t h e same as t h e r o o t / i / , b u t a t h e m e vowel. Lire and its derivatives élire, réélire,

a n d relire are s o m e w h a t d i f f e r e n t f r o m dire.

The

r o o t /liz-/ is t r u n c a t e d b y R 8 4 * , b u t t h e past p a r t i c i p l e / l y / has t h e regular t h e m e v o w e l . R 5 5 will regularly give t h e / y / of t h e p a s t t e n s e s . N u m e r o u s verbs are c o n j u g a t e d like mettre

(Table 40).

TABLE

Mettre admettre commettre compromettre démettre

Mettre

40.

and Derivatives

émettre e n t r e m e t t r e (s') mettre omettre

permettre promettre réadmettre remettre

retransmettre soumettre transmettre

has t h e r o o t / m e t - / . Besides radical t r u n c a t i o n by R 8 4 * t h e verb is n o t e w o r t h y

o n l y in its past p a r t i c i p l e / m i z / . R 5 9 * will g e n e r a t e t h e / z / a n d R 6 1 * t h e / i / . As in t h e case of dire, o r d e r i n g is i m p o r t a n t . Radical t r u n c a t i o n m u s t t a k e place b e f o r e R 5 9 * a n d R61 *, or ¡y/.I will be t r u n c a t e d . Pleuvoir

a n d repleuvoir

are t h e first i m p e r s o n a l verbs w h i c h we have m e t in this s t u d y .

Since in t h e i m p e r s o n a l verb n o p e r s o n exists b u t t h e 3sg, we m u s t f o r m u l a t e a rule t o e x c l u d e all o t h e r p e r s o n s : R4a person

s

3sg.

Of the derivatives of dire, only redire

prédire

are o t h e r w i s e i n d e n t i c a l t o dire.

a n d t h e past p a r t i c i p l e by R 6 4 * .

follows R 8 6 * . Contredire,

Maudire

dédire,

interdire,

médire,

and

is a regular II v e r b , e x c e p t f o r t h e i n f i n i t i v e b y R 6 3 *

55

THE IRREGULAR VERB

R4a is the last of a unique class of irregular rules. The others are R6a, R49a, and R57a. Like other irregular rules they cannot be applied to all verbs in the language; but unlike other special rules they are negatively rather than positively irregular, because each one supplants a regular rule. R6a, R49a, and R57a serve to cancel regular R6, R49, and R57, respectively. R4a does not completely cancel R4 but only reduces it from six persons to one person. All four rules must be ordered to precede the regular rules which they supplant. By ordering R4a before the generation of personal markers, we can be sure that there will be no forms but the 3sg. One may argue, however, that impersonal verbs, altho restricted in morphology, are not morphologically but syntactically or semantically determined. For example, in such expressions as il fait beau or il est trois heures both verbs are impersonal, but no one would suggest that R4a be placed in the lexicon beside faire or être. Conversely, even pleuvoir can be used in other persons: les sarcasmes pleuvent sur lui (Bescherelle, Art de conjuguer, 64). Impersonal use, like liaison, depends on nonmorphological criteria; but once the decision has been made to apply the rule, the morphology is affected. We will say then that R4a is optional, dependent upon the syntax. 9 Pleuvoir has the root /plœv-/ and undergoes truncation in the past. The only other form requiring special comment is the infinitive. Until now the infinitive marker has been /-r/; all verbs with infinitives in /uar/ have had a root in /ua/. In pleuvoir, however, /•ua/ occurs only in the infinitive: R87* ...C- -*• Cua- / _ -r#. This rule is ordered after R57 to avoid the addition of schwa. Boire and emboire present a problem in vocalic alternation (Table 41). TABLE 41. Boire Pres Ind

Impf

buav buav buav byv byv buav

byv byv byv byv byv byv

Ζ ζ t onz ez 3t

Pres Sjn

Fut εΖ εζ 8t ionz iez est

bua bua bua bua bua bua

re raz rat ronz rez ront

buav buav buav byv byv buav

aZ 3z at ionz iez aat

Twenty-one forms have /ua/, and thirty have /y/. However, since boire is a radicaltruncating verb, lyl in the past is not the root vowel, but the theme vowel, generated by R68*'. We cannot treat boire as a simple case of vocalic alternation and ignore radical truncation. Altho we could design the environment of the root vowel /y/ to include the past tenses (/byv-sZ/ is phonetically equal to /by-sZ/), we would need R49a to eliminate the theme vowel of R49. Moreover, we would still need a special rule to cancel the /v/ of the past participle. Therefore, ignoring the past forms in /y/, we have only eleven forms

9 The only other impersonal verbs requiring special rules besides R4a are chaloir and falloir. See Chapter 6.

THE IRREGULAR VERB

56

w i t h t h e r o o t vowel / y / , a n d in every o n e of t h e m /v/ is f o l l o w e d b y a n o n - s c h w a v o w e l : R 8 8 * buav- -> byv- / __ -X. We n e e d R 6 2 * t o delete /v/ in t h e f u t u r e a s p e c t a n d R 6 3 * t o g e n e r a t e schwa in t h e infinitive. S t r i c t l y f o r o r t h o g r a p h i c a l r e a s o n s t r a d i t i o n a l g r a m m a r i a n s classify devoir

and

redevoir

separately from apercevoir, concevoir, décevoir, s'entr'apercevoir, percevoir, and recevoir: t h e past participle of devoir

a n d redevoir

in t h e m a s c u l i n e singular h a s a c i r c u m f l e x

a c c e n t , w h e r e a s t h e c o r r e s p o n d i n g f o r m of t h e o t h e r verbs h a s n o n e . N e i t h e r Grevisse n o r Bescherelle p o i n t s o u t t h e o t h e r w i s e p e r f e c t parallelism. Devoir

is s o m e w h a t similar t o

boire, a l t h o t h e vocalic a l t e r n a t i o n involves o n e d i f f e r e n t v o w e l ( T a b l e 4 2 ) . TABLE 42. Devoir Pres Ind

Impf

duav duav duav dav dav duav

dav dav dav dav dav dav

Ζ ζ t onz

ez at

Pres Sjn

Fut εΖ F. Z

Et ionz iez 88t

dav dav dav dav dav dav

re raz rat ronz rez ront

duav duav duav dav dav duav

aZ az at ionz iez aat

T h e r e are o n l y eight f o r m s in / u a / , as o p p o s e d t o t w e n t y - s e v e n in s c h w a ; t h e o t h e r s u n d e r g o radical t r u n c a t i o n . T h e u n d e r l y i n g f o r m is / d a v - / , a n d t h e s c h w a is c h a n g e d in a familiar e n v i r o n m e n t :

I"3

R 8 9 * ...av-

uav- / _ | -W.

T h e infinitive is g e n e r a t e d by R 8 7 * , a n d t h e / y / of t h e past t e n s e s by R 6 7 * . Mouvoir

a n d its derivatives émouvoir

t i o n as mourir

a n d promouvoir

u n d e r g o t h e s a m e vocalic a l t e r n a -

by R 8 2 * . It r e q u i r e s R 8 7 * f o r t h e i n f i n i t i v e a n d R 6 8 * t o g e n e r a t e / y / in

t h e past a f t e r t h e radical t r u n c a t i o n . T h e r e are several verbs c o n j u g a t e d like prendre

(Table 43).

TABLE 43. Prendre and Derivatives apprendre comprendre déprendre

Prendre

desaprendre entreprendre éprendre

méprendre (se) prendre rapprendre

réapprendre reprendre surprendre

has a triple vocalic a l t e r n a t i o n ; see T a b l e 4 4 .

Of t h e t h r e e r o o t vowels, s c h w a a p p e a r s f o u r t e e n t i m e s , / a / s i x t e e n , a n d / ε / five; all o t h e r f o r m s are t r u n c a t e d . Each of t h e t h r e e vowels has a single e n v i r o n m e n t , so t h a t t h e c h o i c e of t h e u n d e r l y i n g vowel will m a k e n o d i f f e r e n c e in t h e s i m p l i c i t y of t h e rules. We c a n n o t

THE I R R E G U L A R VERB

57

T A B L E 44. Prendre Pres Ind

Impf

pran pran pran pran pran ρΓεη

pran pran pran pran pran pran

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

Fut εΖ εζ εί ionz iez 88t

prand prand prand prand prand prand

Pres Sjn ρΓεη ρΓεη ρΓεη pran pran prr,n

re raz rat ronz rez ront

aZ az at ionz iez aat

invoke phonetic motivation for a schwa which changes under stress, because /a/ appears in both stressed and unstressed syllables. Under the circumstances, the best choice for an underlying root vowel is /a/, the commonest form: R 9 0 * pran- - » pran- / _ -X R 9 1 * pran- -»· pren- / _ -a. The /d/ of the future aspect comes from R51, and the theme vowel /i/ in the past is by R49, both general rules. There is radical truncation from R 8 4 * . Otherwise, only the past participle /priz/ needs special rules, R 5 9 * for /z/ and R 6 1 * for /i/. Acquérir,

conquérir,

s'enquérir,

reconquérir,

and requérir10

have a different vocalic

alternation; see Table 45. T A B L E 45. Acquérir Pres Ind

Impf

akÌ8r akier akier aker aker akÍ8r

aker aker aker aker aker aker

Ζ ζ t onz ez at

Pres Sjn

Fut εΖ εζ et ionz iez r,at

ak8r ak8r ak8r aker aker aker

re raz rat ronz re ζ ront

aki8r aki8r aki8r aker aker akier

aZ az at ionz iez aat

We see three different root vowels: /ir./, /ε/, and /e/. Before accepting the primacy of /ε/, we must remember that /e/ cannot appear in checked position, where /e/ and /ε/ are neutralized. In the present /akierZ/ and /akieraZ/ (after schwa is deleted) the vowel is checked, and we can assume an underlying /e/. In the future /akerre/ the syllable division is between the t w o /r/'s, so that the vowel will be checked. However, most speakers simplify geminates. If the root is to have /e/ throughout the paradigm it is clear that the optional phonetic rules for simplifying geminates and eliminating final schwas must take place after /e/ opens to [ ε ] . We still have to account for the yod element in some forms of the present: R 9 2 * ker- - » kier- / _ j " 9 w

10

Quérir, a defective verb, occurs only in the infinitive; sec Chapter 7.

58

THE IRREGULAR VERB

T h e r e is

radical

truncation

in t h e

past by

R84*,

a n d t h e past p a r t i c i p l e / a k i z / is

g e n e r a t e d by R 5 9 * a n d R 6 1 *. T h e /i/ in t h e i n f i n i t i v e is by R 6 7 * . Asseoir

( T a b l e 4 6 ) is an especially i n t e r e s t i n g c o m b i n a t i o n of t y p e s . With t h e r o o t

/asua-/ it can be regular in all f o r m s e x c e p t t h e infinitive by R 5 7 a a n d t h e p a s t p a r t i c i p l e b y R 5 9 * a n d R 6 1 * . All past f o r m s are t r u n c a t e d by R 8 4 * . H o w e v e r , besides these n o n - p a s t f o r m s t h e r e exist a l t e r n a t e f o r m s f o r all n o n - p a s t tenses. T A B L E

46.

Asseoir Pres l n d asie asie asie as8j asej asej

Impf a

Z ζ t onz ez at

asej asf.j asej asr.j asf,j assj

P r e s Sjn

Fut εΖ εζ et ionz iez ε3ΐ

asie asie asie asie asie asie

re ra ζ rat ronz rez ront

as8j as8j asFj as8j aS8j asej

aZ 8Ζ at ionz iez aat

by t h e side of asua

Z, e t c .

asua F.Z, e t c .

asua re, e t c .

asua AZ, e t c .

It w o u l d be desirable, of c o u r s e , t o s h o w t h e a l t e r n a t i o n t o be /ie/ ~ / e i / , a simple m e t a t h e s i s of t h e r o o t vowels, d e p e n d i n g o n t h e f o l l o w i n g s o u n d . U n f o r t u n a t e l y , h o w e v e r , a l t h o p h o n e t i c a l l y t h e vowel e l e m e n t a l w a y s c o n t a i n s a y o d , p h o n e m i c a l l y it can c o m e f r o m /i/ o n l y w h e n it p r e c e d e s t h e / e / or a n o t h e r vowel besides s c h w a . In m o s t of t h e f o r m s in t h e p a r a d i g m a b o v e we c o u l d have i n d i c a t e d t h e y o d by / i / , b u t in t h o s e f o r m s w h e r e t h e y o d p r e c e d e s schwa it m u s t be t h e p h o n e m e / j / . S t r i c t l y s p e a k i n g , t h e n , it is n o longer o n l y a vocalic a l t e r n a t i o n , b u t p h o n e t i c similarity allows us t o s t r e t c h t h e p o i n t a n d i n c l u d e asseoir

in this c h a p t e r . We m u s t f o r m u l a t e t w o rules

R 9 3 * sua- - » s i e - / _ / " W ( -rV..., R 9 4 * sua-

st-.j- /

-V,

w h i c h are o p t i o n a l f o r asseoir n o o p t i o n . Surseoir a n d messeoir

a n d rasseoir.

In t h e o t h e r derived verbs, h o w e v e r , t h e r e is

has o n l y t h e r o o t / s y r s u a - / ; R 9 3 * a n d R 9 4 * do n o t a p p l y . With seoir

R 9 3 * a n d R 9 4 * are o b l i g a t o r y . All derived verbs u n d e r g o radical t r u n c a t i o n

a n d r e q u i r e R 5 9 * a n d R 6 1 * f o r t h e past p a r t i c i p l e a n d R 5 7 a f o r t h e i n f i n i t i v e .

T h e e x a c t q u a l i t y o f t h e r o o t v o w e l is u n c e r t a i n . My i n f o r m a n t h e s i t a t e d b e t w e e n [ ε ] a n d | e ] in t h e p r e s e n t i n d i c a t i v e s i n g u l a r a n d f i n a l l y c h o s e t h e f o r m e r . We k n o w t h a t b y a p h o n e t i c rule / e / is o b l i g a t o r i l y o p e n e d in a c l o s e d s y l l a b l e , a n d /r./ is o p t i o n a l l y c l o s e d in a n o p e n s y l l a b l e .

6 THE IRREGULAR VERB: CONSONANT MODIFICATION AND SUPPLETION

There remain a few verbs the paradigms of which can be explained neither by the regular rules nor by the special rules concerning theme vowels, endings, vocalic alternation, or radical truncation. These verbs undergo additional modifications of the root. The commonest such modification is the change from /1 / to /j/ in the singular and 3pl of the present subjunctive: aller ~ aille, valoir ~ vaille, vouloir ~ veuille, etc. The rule for generating these forms is R95*

/__

Notice that we could not state the environment simply as schwa because of the 3pl present indicative, which is identical with the 3sg present subjunctive except for the schwa morpheme boundary (/-a+t/). R95* is ordered after R36, which changes the subjunctive schwa to /i/ in the 1 and 2pl. Valoir and its derivatives équivaloir, prévaloir, and revaloir have the root /val-/· It will automatically follow R56, which generates /vad-/ in the present indicative singular, the future, and the conditional. (R87*, generating /valuar/ in the infinitive, must be ordered before R56.) In order to explain the change of root vowel we need the additional rule R96* a

o I

C-C. 1

The lyl of the past tenses is explained by regular R55. Falloir and chaloir are identical to valoir, with the addition of R4a for impersonal verbs. Vouloir, with the root /vul-/, is

1 Consider the difference between this totally synchronic description and a historically oriented approach. We know that /l/ did not become /d/ but engendered an excrescent /d/ before /r/. Then /]/ was vocalized to /u/. It combined with the preceding /a/, forming the diphthong /au/, which later became monophthongized to /o/. Sec l ouché, Morphologie historique, 399. Historical information provides a convenient summary of information, but it docs not consistently offer the most economical description of the present state of the language. What I have generated in two rules (R96* and R56) would require three in a diachronic study, and such rules would involve areas like diphthongization, which are unnecessary in a study of Modern French. The only advantage to the historical approach is that all three rules are phonetically motivated, whereas R96* is not.

60

THE IRREGULAR VERB

identical with valoir, except for the vocalic alternation. R96* is replaced by R82*. 2 Altho its root does not end in /1 /, faillir has certain forms which are h o m o p h o n o u s with those of falloir. With the root /faji-/ it is similar to partir in losing the theme vowel by R68*. However, the present indicative singular has a change of root vowel: /fojZ/, /fojz/, / f o j t / . 3 The last is phonetically identical with the corresponding form of falloir / f o d t / , since neither yod nor ¡d¡ will be pronounced before a consonant. We can explain the vowel change of faillir by R96*, the same rule as that used in falloir. In the future and conditional, besides the expected forms /fajire/, etc., an alternate root is possible: /fojdre/, etc. The /d/ is problematic. One could say that /fojdre/, etc., come from a different verb with the root /faj-/, with an irregular infinitive and past participle in /i/ by R67* and R61*, respectively. We could formulate a rule for generating the future and conditional forms in /fojd-/· In all other forms the two verbs /faj-/ and /faji-/ would be homonymous. Bescherelle gives slight support to such an analysis by suggesting that forms such as /fojdre/ have only the meaning 'manquer à', not 'manquer de'. However, /fajire/ can have both meanings, and Grevisse (Bon usage, 637 #701.20a) does not distinguish the two meanings but simply calls /fojdre/ archaic. Besides the inconvenience of having two verbs with the same meaning and the same form except (optionally) in two tenses, there is also the fact that whether we recognize one verb or two we will still be obliged to formulate a special rule to explain the /d/. Instead of changing only the yod to /d/, we may as well include the loss of /í/ at the same time: R97* ji-

d-1 -rV... (optional).

This rule will have to precede R96* in order to have the necessary environment of two consonants to change the root vowel. Notice that altho the present and the optional future and conditional forms of faillir may be phonetically (and orthographically) realized as identical to the corresponding forms of falloir, the underlying forms are quite different. Pouvoir /puv-/ has many points in common with mouvoir: vocalic alternation by R82*, jyl in the past tenses by R68*, and an infinitive in /uar/ by R87*, as well as radical truncation. However, unlike mouvoir, pouvoir loses its /v/ in the future and conditional by R62*. 4 A more radical irregularity of the verb is its present subjunctive /pyisaZ/, etc. The vowel combination /yi/ also occurs as an alternate form of the lsg present indicative, which we can generate by

(We could not state the environment as schwa or schwa + personal endings as in R95*, 2

T h e imperative o f vouloir

is t h e regular indicative f o r m . Later in this chapter w e will e x a m i n e the

s u p p o s e d subjunctive imperative o f 3

Défaillir

c o n j u g a t e d like assaillir. 4

vouloir.

may o p t i o n a l l y have t h e f o r m s in / o / , but t h e y arc c o n s i d e r e d archaic. Défaillir

is usually

S e e Chapter 4.

T h e orthographical g e m i n a t e in pourrai

is just a c o n v e n t i o n n o t r e f l e c t e d e v e n in the s p e e c h o f

t h o s e w h o p r o n o u n c e g e m i n a t e s . S e e Bcschcrelle, Art de Conjuguer,

62.

61

THE IRREGULAR VERB

because this change occurs in all f o r m s of the present subjunctive, including the 1 and 2pl.) Absoudre, dissoudre, a n d résoudre5 have b o t h vocalic alternation and consonant modification (see Table 4 7 ) . T A B L E 47.

A bsoudre Pres Ind absu absu absu absolv absglv absolv

Fut Ζ ζ t onz cz 3t

absud absud absud absud absud absud

Past Ind re raz rat ronz rez ront

absoly absoly absoly absoly absoly absoly

Pres Sj η sZ sz st smsz stsz sot

absolv absolv absolv absolv absolv absolv

aZ 3Ζ 3t ionz iez 331

In order t o account for the /d/ of the f u t u r e aspect, we must recognize /1 / in the root. We then must decide whether /v/ is to be in the underlying f o r m , and either delete it or generate it as the occasion demands. In the present indicative singular it is irrelevant phonetically w h e t h e r the /v/ be there or n o t , since it would automatically be deleted before the consonant ending. However, there can be n o /v/ in the f u t u r e aspect if we wish /1 / to b e c o m e /d/ by R 5 6 . If we accept /v/ in the underlying f o r m , we w o u l d have t o delete it in the f u t u r e and past aspects, in twenty-nine forms. (Inasmuch as /v/ does not appear in n u m e r o u s non-past forms, there is n o point in using radical t r u n c a t i o n t o delete it only in the past.) It is more practical to generate /v/ in the nineteen forms where it must occur phonetically: R 9 9 * 1-

lv-1 _ -V.

The m o r p h e m e b o u n d a r y indicates that /v/ will appear only before a vowel in the ENDING. In the past aspect, where the t h e m e vowel / y / is part of the ROOT, /v/ will not appear. On the o t h e r h a n d , R 5 6 cannot apply in the past, because the jyj separates /s/ f r o m the r o o t . The vowel change in the present indicative singular is explained by R 1 0 0 * oC- -> uC- / _ -C. This rule will apply a f t e r R55 generates /y/ in the past. We also need R 6 4 * t o account for the consonant of the past participle / a b s u d t / . French orthography is usually more reliable than superficial phonetics in revealing m o r p h o p h o n e m i c structure, 6 b u t the spelling of the past participle absous is misleading, as we see f r o m the feminine absoute. With /1/ as the ending, the r o o t vowel will change by R 1 0 0 * . Résoudre has an alternate regular past participle /rezoly/. If R 6 4 * does not apply, changing the past participle ending to / t / , there is n o longer an environment for R 5 6 t o apply, changing the /l/ to / d / ; similarly, R 1 0 0 * cannot apply to change the root vowel.

For a c o m p a r i s o n of root-initial /s/ versus / z / , see C h a p t e r 10, R 1 2 5 . 5 6 See Schane, " E M u e t " , 163. Most critisisms of F r e n c h o r t h o g r a p h y are based o n a c o m p a r i s o n with t h e p h o n e t i c surface.

62

THE IRREGULAR VERB

Several verbs are conjugated like faire (Table 48). 7 TABLE 48. Faire and Derivatives contrefaire défaire

faire forfairc

parfaire redéfaire

refaire satisfaire

surfaire

Faire appears to have a large number of root allomorphs (Table 49). TABLE 49. Faire Pres ίε fe f8 faz ίε font

Ind Ζ ζ t onz taz

Impf faz faz faz faz faz faz

Fut r.Z εζ 8t io η ζ iez eat

fa fa fa fa fa fa

Past re ra ζ rat ronz rez ront

fi fi fi fi fi fi

Ind

sZ sz st s ma ζ sta ζ sat

Pres fas fas fas fas fas fas

Sjn aZ az at ionz iez aat

The ¡il of the past is the theme vowel generated after radical truncation. There remain four possible root vowels: / ε / , /a/, /a/, /o/. Schwa appears in twenty-three forms, /a/ in six, / ε / in nine, and /o/ in one. The form in /o/ is clearly anomalous, not only because it appears only once, but also because of the /n/ instead of the usual 3pl /-at/. We can deal with this unusual form by means of a rule: R101* C...-at -» Cont. 8 Since the /a/ is likewise followed by an anomalous consonant, and restricted to only one tense, we can disregard it and the equally infrequent / ε / and opt for schwa, with the rule R102* faz- -» fas- / près sjn. We must also explain the occurences of / ε / in the present indicative, the infinitive, and the past participle. We cannot make use of the environment 'before /C/', because / ε / does not occur in the future and conditional. On the other hand, we cannot say 'before /W/', because schwa does change to / ε / before the /r/ of the infinitive. The reason, of course, is that the infinitive has no other vowel following, except another schwa; and the root vowel cannot remain schwa in tonic position. Usually we can distinguish between the infinitive and the conjugated forms of the future aspect by placing a word-boundary sign after /-r/; but here we have forms where the schwa changes even before a consonant that 7 Malfaire and méfaire are b o t h defective verbs, occurring only in t h e infinitive. See C h a p t e r 7. 8 Schane (FPM, 80, 88, and passim) p r e f e r s t o t r e a t / n / as part of t h e 3 pi ending. Since it appears in only f o u r irregular verbs and regularly in only o n e tense (the f u t u r e ) , he is obliged t o delete / n / in all o t h e r verbs and tenses. I prefer t o b u r d e n t h e system with t w o rules ( R 3 0 and R 1 0 1 * ) r a t h e r t h a n b u r d e n every verb b u t f o u r and every tense b u t o n e with only o n e rule.

THE I R R E G U L A R

63

VERB

is not at the end o f the w o r d : the 2pl present indicative /fez-taz/, with an ending generated by R 8 6 * . Moreover, the r o o t o f the past participle, having been truncated, will not be the same as the r o o t in the other f o r m s . We must assemble all these facts together in order to consider the necessary f o r m o f the rule to generate /e/:

R103*

f ( s z ) — > fez- /

Í -W I r#

Obviously, R 6 4 * f o r the past participle and R 8 6 * f o r the 2pl present indicative had t o precede R 1 0 3 * , since the /t/ o f the first t w o rules is the necessary environment f o r the v o w e l change o f R 1 0 3 * . T h e past tenses will have already received the theme vowel /i/ by R 4 9 , so that R 1 0 3 * cannot apply t o them. Savoir and resavoir

exhibit numerous alternations; see Table 50. TABLE

50.

Savoir Impf

Fut

Pres

Ind

se se se sav

Ζ

sav

ζ t onz

sav sav sav

et ionz

sav sav

ez 3t

sav sav

icz est

eZ ε ζ

Pres

so

re

so so so so so

Sjn

raz rat

sas sas

aZ 3Ζ

sas

ronz rez

sas sas

3t ionz

ront

sas

iez 33t

T h e r o o t /sav-/ requires R 8 7 * f o r the infinitive and R 6 8 * to generate /y/ in the past tenses after radical truncation by R 8 4 * . The present indicative singular can be generated by R104*

sav- ->· sev- / _ -W.

This rule is simpler than a change to just /ε/, which w o u l d involve the loss o f a consonant. T h e /v/ will be deleted by a usual rule, and /e/ will automatically open to /ε/ in a checked syllable. T h e present subjunctive and participle require a rule to distinguish them f r o m the i m p e r f e c t :

R105*

sav--i sai,- / _ ( I près sjn .

The change in the future and conditional involves b o t h vocalic alternation and consonant loss. By applying R 6 2 * first, we will have a simpler new rule that treats only vocalic alternation: R 1 0 6 * á- -> o - 1 _ - r . The /o/ automatically opens b e f o r e /r/. N o t i c e the similarity between R 1 0 6 * and R 9 6 * . Since R 8 7 * will have already added /ua/ to the infinitive, R 1 0 6 * cannot apply to it, and

64

THE IRREGULAR V E R B

we need not further specify the environment than to use /r/. In savoir we encounter a problem with the imperative for the first time. The imperative in French is identical to the 2sg and 1 and 2pl present indicative, except in three verbs. With savoir, avoir, and être the imperative is identical to the corresponding forms of the present subjunctive. Since the imperative never has special forms in French, it does not exist as a separate morphological entity, but a syntactic one. However, as in the case of liaison and impersonal verbs, since the morphology is affected in savoir, avoir, and être, we need a rule to account for the unexpected forms: R107* ind -»• sjn / imperative. We need not specify present tense or 2sg and 1 and 2pl, because these are already indicated in the basic rule for the imperative, which is syntactic and does not concern us here. R107* could apply to vouloir optionally. Vouloir is usually included with savoir, avoir, and être, but the true imperative forms of vouloir are from the indicative. The alternative forms veuillez, etc., are not the imperative of vouloir, but a special periphrastic imperative of whatever verb follows in the infinitive. (See Bescherelle, Art de Conjuguer, 67, and Grevisse, Bon usage, 615 #674.13.) Rather than let R107* apply to vouloir directly, we would have to formulate a rule for a polite imperative, such as

However, such a rule would be based on stylistic and syntactic decisions and has little to do with morphology. In many ways vivre and its derivatives revivre and survivre are the most regular verbs in this chapter. The root /viv-/ will explain all forms of the paradigm exaept the past aspect, simply by means of the general rules. The theme vowel /y/ in the past is generated by R68*. In all forms of the past the root is changed. Since /y/ appears in every past form, the environment is very simple : R108* viv—> vek- / _ -y. Naître and renaître are similar to vivre and almost as regular. I say A L M O S T , in spite of the fact that each verb has only two special rules. However, with naître both rules must be ad hoc, whereas for vivre one of the rules dealt with the theme vowel, not the stem, and applies to many other verbs. It is not a subjective preference but a fact of French morphology that the stem almost always remains constant, while the theme vowel may sometimes change. The root /ncs-/ will explain all forms of the paradigm except in the past by means of regular rules (including R85 for the /t/ before /r/). The past tenses are generated by R109* nss- -> nak- / -i.

65

THE IRREGULAR VERB

The /i/ is the t h e m e vowel generated by R 4 9 . The past participle is explained by R110* nssy

ne.

I have used / y / in t h e rule instead of /Q/ because the general R 5 0 precedes the special R110*. T o return t o t h e question of t h e relative regularity of vivre a n d naître·. R 6 8 * must be applied to twelve f o r m s (the lyl of the past participle is regular by R 5 0 ) and R 1 0 8 * to sixteen, b u t f o r naître R 1 0 9 * must be applied twelve times and R 1 1 0 * only f o u r times. I will n o t a' e m p t t o decide h o w the n u m b e r of applications of irregular rules in one verb is to be c o m p a r e d w i t h the overall n u m b e r of applications of irregular rules t o all verbs or with t h e n u m b e r of verbs t o which an irregular rule applies. With verbs like vivre a n d naître one may suspect t h a t we are c o n f r o n t e d with suppletion. A f t e r all, the alternation /viv-/ ~ /vek-/ or /nes-/ ~ /nak-/ could n o t be based on any p h o n e t i c or m o r p h o p h o n e m i c criteria. The similarity is slight (in each pair the allomorphs share only one p h o n e m e o u t of three) and could be coincidental. Notice that despite the m o r p h o p h o n e m i c a p p e a r a n c e the e n v i r o n m e n t s for R 1 0 8 * , 109*, and 110* are strictly morphological. No p h o n e t i c f a c t o r s could be a d d u c e d t o show t h a t /vek-/ and /nak-/ are NOT suppletive f o r m s . In a similar m a n n e r one could p r e s u m a b l y argue that such f o r m s as /konr.s-/ ~ / kon-/ are suppletive, since the alternation c a n n o t be predicted on any p h o n c t i c basis. Carrying this line of reasoning ad absurdum, one could maintain that even the alternation /buav-/ ~ /bua-/ is suppletive, since according t o the general rules of French p h o n o t a c t i c s (cf. / d u a v s / ~ Idavre/) /v/ is retained before / r / . Our p r o b l e m is that we have n o clear definition of suppletion. We can agree that parle ~ parlai is a regular a l t e r n a t i o n , because the roots are identical, and that ai ~ eus is (synchronically) suppletive because the roots have n o t h i n g in c o m m o n . However, our task b e c o m e s more difficult when t h e r o o t s are partly similar. If the differences can be or explained o n predictable p h o n e t i c or morphological g r o u n d s as in mène ~ menons pleuvoir ~ pleut, t h e n the alternation is regular. If the alternation is n o t regular but is shared by m a n y verbs, we can also accept it, as in ouvre ~ ouvert, souffre — souffert, etc. Even if the alternation occurs in only one verb b u t the various f o r m s of the paradigm are similar e n o u g h t o be recognizable, we can accept the change, as in hair ~ hais. If the f o r m s share n o p h o n e m e s at all, only t h e n must we refer to s u p p l e t i o n . Even t h e n , however, suppletion is by n o means an indispensable c o n c e p t t o generative g r a m m a r , because a suppletive f o r m is generated in exactly the same way as any o t h e r unpredictable form. Only three verbs in F r e n c h are generally considered suppletive: aller, avoir, and Let us e x a m i n e aller first (Table 51). 9

être.

Because of the past aspect, which is u n i q u e l y regular, as well as the infinitive /aler/, we k n o w t h a t this is a I verb. Besides the past aspect the root /ala-/ appears regularly in the i m p e r f e c t , t h e present participle, and the 1 a n d 2pl of the present indicative and subjunc9

B e s c h e r c l l e gives n o o t h e r v e r b s c o n j u g a t e d like aller e x c e p t s'en aller, w h i c h is p r o b a b l y n o m o r e a

s y n t a g m t h a n is s'enfuir.

Grevisse ( B o n usage,

6 4 2 # 7 0 1 . 4 2 ) also lists raller,

a detective verb.

66

THE IRREGULAR VERB TABLE 51. Aller Impf

Pres Ind νε va va al al vont

Ζ ζ t onz ez

al al al al al al

Pres Sjn

Fut

εΖ εζ et ionz iez est

re ra ζ rat ronz rez ront

aj aj aj al al aj

aZ 3z 3t

ionz iez 33t

tive. Thus, altho one normally considers a suppletive verb to be the most irregular type possible, aller is regular in thirty-one forms out of fifty-one, none of which requires a single special rule. Moreover, even the irregular forms of the present subjunctive have the same root and require only R95*. 1 0 The singular and 3pl of the present indicative have a completely different root beginning with /v/. In the lsg the vowel is / ε / , in the 2 and 3sg it is /a/, and in the 3pl the vowel is irrelevant, since the form will change to /vont/ by R101*. For the sake of symmetry we will include the 3pl with the lsg: Í-Z R i l l * ab-

νε- / _

R i 12* ab- -*va- / _ j ^ RI 11 * must be ordered before R l O l * . We need only one rule for the future and conditional: R113* a b - -> i- / _ -rV. . . TABLE 52. Avoir11 Pres Ind

Impf

Fut

e a a av av ont

av av av av av av

o o o o o o

ζ t onz ez

εΖ εζ εί ionz iez est

Inf re raz rat ronz rez ront

avua

r

10 Aller is the sole verb where R95* does not apply to a root-final /1-/. Because of the root-final schwa we need the suspension points in the rule. π Bescherelle gives no other verbs conjugated like avoir. He says (Art de Conjuguer, 148) that ravoir occurs only in the infinitive, but Grevisse (Bon usage, 642 # 7 0 1 . 4 3 ) gives examples oî ravoir in the future and conditional. See below, Chapter 7, "A Note on Defective Verbs".

67

THE IRREGULAR VERB

T A B L E 52. Past y y y y y y

Ind

sZ sz st smsz st3z S3t

Continued

Pres Sjn

Pres Part

Past Part

ε ε ε ε ε ε

ε

y

aZ sz st ionz iez sat

ant

In seeking the underlying f o r m of the r o o t we find most of the elements of the French vowel system: / e / , / ε / , / y / , / o / , /a/. Altho /av-/ appears phonetically in only nine forms out of the fifty-one, it is still the simplest choice. We can easily explain the present indicative 2 and 3sg as /av-z/ and /av-t/. Moreover, the /y/ of the past aspect looks like a t h e m e vowel. However, a theme vowel occurs only a f t e r a root, and /av-/ does not appear in the past. The absence of /av/ in the past should not surprise us, since we have seen n u m e r o u s other cases of radical truncation. However, as in the case of the theme vowel, truncation occurs after some element in the r o o t . Apparently, there is an element in the root before the /av-/. We need some m o r p h o p h o n e m i c element which is not a vowel ( b o t h the t h e m e vowel and truncation require a consonant) and which will leave no trace at the phonetic level. The obvious choice is / Q / . Recognizing the r o o t of avoir as /Qav-/, we will have radical truncation of /av-/ in the past by R 8 4 * , leaving only / Q / , the theme vowel l y l by R 6 7 * , and the endings. We need /Q/ here rather than zero, because there must be a consonant in that position in order for R 5 0 to generate the past participle. The 3pl of the present indicative also needs an initial consonant to serve as the proper environment for R 1 0 1 * /Qav-st/ -> I Q o n t / , which, with the deletion of / Q / , will give the correct f o r m / o n t / . In the present indicative we must still account for the lsg: RI 14* avZ ->e. The present subjunctive and participle are explained by

R 1 1 5 * av- -» ε- /

-a près sjn.

(This particular environment occurs elsewhere only in R 1 0 5 * . ) The y o d , of course, is regularly generated by R48. The infinitive comes f r o m R87*, and the f u t u r e and conditional f r o m R 1 0 6 * . For the subjunctive imperative we need R 1 0 7 * . Être also shows considerable variation (Table 53). Of the n u m e r o u s allomorphs only three appear in more than one tense: /et-/ occurs f o u r t e e n times, a n d /ss-/ and /f-/ twelve times each. The best choice for underlying f o r m is /et-/, since it occurs n o t only in the imperfect, but also in the participles. It would be inconvenient indeed to state the environment for generating /et-/, whereas /sa-/ and /f-/ appear in clearly delineated environments: R 1 1 6 * et- -> ss- / _ rV . .

68

THE IRREGULAR VERB T A B L E 53.

Être Pres Ind

Impf

Fut

syi ε ε sa ε sont

et ε Ζ et ε ζ et 8t et ionz et iez et ε at

sa sa sa sa sa S3

Past I n d

Pres Sjn

Pres Part

Past Part

fy fy fy fy fy fy

sua sua sua sua sua sua

et

et e

Ζ ζ t ma ζ taz

sZ sz st smaz staz sat

aZ az at ionz iez aat

Inf re raz rat ronz rez ront

ant

εί

r

In the past we will need R 68* to generate the theme vowel, thus giving us the proper environment for the change to /f-/: R117* et- -»• f...- / _ y-s. . . The 2 and 3sg of the present indicative as well as the infinitive /ε/ can be reanalyzed as /et-/. We will then have /et-z/, /et-t/, and /et-r/, and the checked /e/ will be phonetically realized as [ε ]. The 2pl of the present indicative can likewise have /et-/ when we apply R86*: /et-ez/ -*• /et-taz/. The other forms of the present indicative may be generated by R118* et- -> syi- / R119* etonz -> somaz. R118* generates not only the lsg, but also the 3pl: /syi-at/ serves as the conditioning environment for R101*, before which R118* must be ordered. For the present subjunctive we need R120* et- -> sua- / près sjn. As in the case of faire and avoir, we are obliged to specify the environment as 'près sjn', because the rule applies to all six forms. Altho the past participle has a regular root, the ending is irregular for a non-I verb and requires a special rule: R121* ety -> ete. Since R117* has already applied to the past tenses, there is no need to indicate in R121 * that the latter rule applies only to the past participle. The subjunctive imperative needs

THE IRREGULAR VERB

69

R107*. By all standards être is the most irregular verb in the language: it has six different root allomorphs and requires six ad hoc rules, as well as four other special rules. In these few pages we have examined the full paradigms of all French verbs, regular and irregular, no matter how one defines regularity. In order to generate all forms we needed only fifty-five general rules which may apply to all verbs in the language and sixty-six special rules which apply only to certain verbs: a total of only one hundred twenty-one rules to explain all fifty-one forms in at least 8000 verbs. 12

12 A complete list of rules, in their proper order of applicability, will be found in Appendix A. A complete list of irregular verbs (according to our definition of irregularity), with underlying forms and all applicable special rules, will be found in Appendix B.

7 A NOTE ON DEFECTIVE VERBS

A defective verb is one which cannot appear in all fifty-one forms. Such a verb should be and is traditionally given special consideration (Grevisse devotes fifteen pages to defective verbs, Bon usage, 629-44 #701.1-53). There are many defective verbs in French (Grevisse counts fifty-three), but we should distinguish different kinds of defective verbs. Some defective verbs appear only in non-conjugated forms, often only in set phrases. For example, comparoir appears only in the infinitive and present participle (as an adjective or noun); courre is only an infinitive. Both infinitives occur only in a few expressions. One can say that a verb which has only non-conjugated forms is not morphologically a verb, since it is not inflected for person (including number) or tense. It may appear in the lexicon as a verb because of its syntactic functions, but its lack of verbal morphology precludes treatment here. The authorities do not always agree on which verbs are non-conjugated. For example, Bescherelle (Art de Conjuguer, 133) says that forfaire appears only in the infinitive and past participle, while Grevisse (Bon usage, 638 #701.22a) maintains that all forms exist but are rare. On the other hand, Grevisse (Bon usage, 641 #701.38) considers promouvoir a non-conjugated verb, whereas Bescherelle ( A r t de Conjuguer, 146) recognizes its rare use elsewhere. In Table 54 are listed all non-conjugated verbs for which there is no disagreement. Similar to the above category of non-conjugated verbs are certain adjectives that can be related to fully conjugated verbs. For example, bénir is a perfectly regular II verb. Its past participle is /beni/, as expected. However, there also exists an adjective /benit/, similar in meaning to /beni/, but not part of the paradigm of bénir and not regularly derivable from it. All authorities are agreed that only the regular past participle /beni/ is used as a past participle of bénir in perfect tenses, the passive, etc. Similarly, the regular participle fiché from ficher can be distinguished from the adjective fichu. Many conjugated verbs are called defective, but frequently authorities disagree on specifically which forms are supposed to be lacking. For example, Grevisse (Bon usage, 644 #701.52b) tells us, "Pour abstraire, l'Académie ne mentionne que le présent et l'imparfait de l'indicatif et les temps composés; elle ajoute que ce verbe est inusité aux autres temps. Cette opinion ne paraft pas fondée; on suivra plutôt celle de Littré, selon lequel abstraire n'est inusité qu'au passé simple et à l'imparfait du subjonctif." Notice that nowhere in the passage did Grevisse call the verb défectif (altho it is listed in the section on verbes defect ifs). Instead, he refers to this and most other supposedly defective

A N O T E ON D E F E C T I V E V E R B S

71

T A B L E 54. N o n - c o n j u g a t e d defective verbs Infinitive accroire avérer a béer bayer bienvenir comparoir courre ester férir forclore intrure b issir malfaire mécroire b méfaire occire partir (= partager) quérir, quérir rassir tistre

Past participle avere bée bienvenu

féru forclos intrus issu

occis parti rassis tissu

verbs as inusité. The word inusité means that verb f o r m s exist but simply are n o t used or are rarely used. Generally, where Grevisse has " i n u s i t é " , Bescherelle less precisely says "n'existe pas". Grevisse speaks (Bon usage, 6 3 0 # 7 0 1 . 1 ) of some verbs which "ne sont pas défectifs à p r o p r e m e n t parler; si l'on en fait m e n t i o n ici, c'est parce qu'ils ne s'emploient p o u r ainsi dire jamais au passé simple et à l'imparfait du s u b j o n c t i f . " Inf r e q u e n t usage does not make a verb defective. Grevisse seems to suggest that he cannot make a sharp distinction between fully conjugated verbs and defective verbs when he treats some supposedly defective verbs elsewhere than in the section on defective verbs. He excuses the apparent inconsistency by saying (Bon usage, 629 # 7 0 1 ) , "Certains verbes c o m m e défaillir, pouvoir ne m a n q u e n t que d'un très petit n o m b r e de formes; ils sont, à p r o p r e m e n t dire, défectifs. Nous avons cru néanmoins pouvoir les faire figurer dans la liste des verbes irréguliers." Among the verbs lacking only a few f o r m s are rire and sourire. These verbs are said t o have invariable past participles: supposedly lacking the feminine and plural markers, they are in a sense defective. But do they really lack those f o r m s , or are the f o r m s simply not in current use? We must remember that a past participle has feminine and plural endings only when m o d i f y i n g feminine or plural substantives, and then only in three instances: (a) in the perfect tenses, m o d i f y i n g a preceding direct object, (b) in the passive, m o d i f y ing the subject, and ( c ) when used as a simple adjective. The verbs in question here are intransitive, and it would be difficult to imagine their past participles used as simple adjectives. The t w o tenses most likely t o be lacking are the past indicative and subjunctive, which a

b

N o t t o be c o n f u s e d with s'avérer, a fully c o n j u g a t e d verb, N o t listed in Bescherelle; cited in Grevisse.

A NOTK ON DI I I C I IVI VERBS

72

are in fact the least used tenses in F r e n c h t o d a y . It is especially u n d e r s t a n d a b l e t h a t familiar verbs like puer

and foutre

are n o t f o u n d in the t w o m o s t literary tenses. Never-

theless, Grevisse lists b o t h verbs in the section on defective verbs, telling us t h a t " l ' i m p a r fait du s u b j o n c t i f [de foutre

] est e x c e p t i o n n e l " (Bort usage, 6 3 8 # 7 0 1 . 2 3 , n. 1). How-

ever, he is willing (p. 6 4 2 # 7 0 1 . 3 9 ) t o accept f o r m s like je puai a n d que je

puasse.

What then is a defective verb? Can every verb in the language a p p e a r in every f o r m ? In a generative g r a m m a r , there is only one answer: a verb is defective o n l y if the native s p e a k e r is incapable of generating o n e or m o r e of its f o r m s . This is n o t a q u e s t i o n of f o r g e t t i n g a c o n j u g a t i o n or using the w r o n g t h e m e vowel or misusing one of the special rules. If a native speaker c a n n o t generate a certain f o r m of a verb because he does n o t k n o w what t h e u n d e r l y i n g f o r m of the verb is, t h e n t h a t verb is defective. F o r regular verbs there can be n o p r o b l e m : k n o w i n g o n e single verb f o r m m e a n s k n o w i n g the r o o t a n d of course all the endings: " N o u s t e n o n s q u e dès q u ' u n participe existe, il f a u t écrire dans le dictionnaire un infinitif r e p r é s e n t a n t le verbe e n t i e r , car l ' e m p l o i de n ' i m p o r t e quelle f o r m e du verbe est dès lors t o u j o u r s p a r f a i t e m e n t p o s s i b l e " ( P i c h ó n , Principes suffixation,

de

71). F o r irregular verbs, h o w e v e r , one m a y k n o w s o m e f o r m s b u t n o t others,

because in s o m e f o r m s certain e l e m e n t s of t h e r o o t (like the root-final c o n s o n a n t ) m a y n o t be a p p a r e n t e x c e p t in those f o r m s of the verb w h i c h are n o t a t t e s t e d . Witness Dell's ( " R è g l e s p h o n o l o g i q u e s " , 2 2 7 - 2 8 , η. 3) inconclusive s t a t e m e n t : l'impossibilité de c o n j u g u e r frire aux p e r s o n n e s du pluriel du présent et à l ' i m p a r f a i t (cet oignon frit , ces oignons ... (frientl ? )) n'est la c o n s é q u e n c e d ' a u c u n e p r o p r i é t é synt a x i q u e ou s é m a n t i q u e de frire. Il s'agit d'ailleurs m o i n s d ' u n e impossibilité que d ' u n e incapacité à le c o n j u g u e r : les q u e l q u e s f o r m e s usitées, il frit, il frira, il est frit, ne p e r m e t t e n t pas à celui qui a p p r e n d la langue de décider s'il doit c o n j u g u e r c o m m e rire (rions), c o m m e écrire (écrivons), c o m m e interdire (interdisons) ou c o m m e maudire (maudissons ). Must we, however, agree with Dell Lhat n o t h i n g can be said of frirel t h a t he p r o p o s e d all equally p o t e n t i a l p a t t e r n s f o r frire'1.

Are t h e f o u r p a t t e r n s

Even if we have n o d a t a , we m a y

speculate a b o u t the various possible u n d e r l y i n g f o r m s . We can easily reject t h e p a t t e r n of écrire,

because there is n o reason t o assume a root-final /v-/, and it certainly is n o t

desirable to choose a verb with t h r e e irregular rules. Frire, c a n n o t be like rire. Bruire rules; maudire

with a past participle in / - t / ,

has the right past participle, b u t it, t o o , has three irregular

has t w o special rules. If we assign to frire

the u n d e r l y i n g f o r m /friz-/, all

e x t a n t f o r m s of the verb will be g e n e r a t e d w i t h o u t the a d d i t i o n of a single irregular rule. Frire is surely defective, but we n e e d write n o special rules t o p r e v e n t certain f o r m s f r o m being generated. M o r p h o p h o n e m i c rules are c o n c e r n e d with the f o r m s w h i c h o c c u r , n o t the f o r m s which d o n o t o c c u r . Usage d e t e r m i n e s w h i c h f o r m s are t o be e m p l o y e d . Only a f t e r the speaker has decided on a particular verb f o r m will the rules c o m e i n t o play.

8 THE REGULARIZED VERB: COLLOQUIAL

FRENCH

Until now the subject of our investigation has been standard literary French, the traditional and official language as taught in the schools (both in France and elsewhere) and recognized by native speakers as the 'correct' form. However, there is another kind of French, unofficial but widely used in everyday speech: colloquial French. The terms 'literary' and 'colloquial' in this context do not imply that the former is used excusively in writing and the latter only in speech. Standard literary French ( S L F ) is so called because it is the standard language, against which all other forms are compared, and because French literature is written almost exclusively in it. However, the speech of the most cultivated closely approximates it, and all educated speakers use it frequently. Colloquial French (CF, usually called familier or populaire) is probably used by all speakers, but the extent of usage seems to be inversely proportional to the education or social class of a speaker. 1 One of the problems of CF is that it does not exist as a clearly defined entity. Because of the universally dominant reputation of SLF the colloquial language has not been as carefully studied. With the exception of a few minor details, all grammarians are agreed as to what SLF is, so that one is compelled to identify as CF everything that is not SLF. (Bescherelle, Art de conjuguer, 104, actually does this by using the same symbol to mark both colloquialisms and archaisms presently unacceptable in SLF.) The resulting pot-

1 This is the usual distinction between SLF' and CF. Hall, Structural Sketch, 7, speaks of three 'varieties' of Frcnch: archaie, slow colloquial, and fast colloquial. His archaic ("spoken but little, except in formal uses such as oratory and declamation, and in singing. Hut it serves as the basis for conventional orthography and for classical versification") is not a variety of spoken language at all, but a code for pronouncing written texts. He cites only phonetic distinctions among the three varieties, saying nothing of the numerous morphological and syntactic peculiarities of CF'. His article "Colloquial Frcnch Verb Inflection", Romance Philology 1 (1944), 39-49, describes only spoken SLF'. Again, he does n o t refer to the morphological characteristics of what is generally called CF'. Apparently for Hall, colloquial = spoken. More typical is the terminology of Andre Rigault, (éd.), La grammaire du français parlé, Le Français dans le Monde 57 (juin 1968), 7: "Par traçais parlé, nous n ' e n t e n d o n s nullement le français parlé populaire, le français relâché. ... Inutile de dire que la grammaire d o n t traite ce n u m é r o spécial est celle du français parlé soigné bien qu'à l'occasion des incursions soient faites dans la langue parlée familière."

74

THE R E G U L A R I Z E D VERB

pourri is, of course, n o t a c o h e r e n t system and t h e r e f o r e n o t a language per se. It w o u l d be difficult to s t u d y the CI·' of any one speaker or g r o u p of speakers because there is a c o n s t a n t m i x t u r e of SLF and CF at most levels of speech. Perhaps it is best to i n t e r p r e t CF as a set of features which partly coincides with S L F , so t h a t t h e speaker d e t e r m i n e s his level of style by regulating the p r o p o r t i o n s of SLF and CF features which are n o t c o m m o n t o b o t h of t h e m . Because of the lack of comprehensive studies on C F , t h e conclusions of this c h a p t e r are based partly on personal interviews with native speakers and partly on c o n f i r m a t i o n f r o m several published studies of a m o r e general n a t u r e t h a n in previous chapters. T h e data m u s t be t r e a t e d as far less definitive than the i n f o r m a t i o n given f o r S L F . Since speakers usually do n o t wish to reveal t h e e x t e n t of C F in their speech, t h e investigator m u s t deal indirectly with the data f r o m interviews. Liaison in CF is far less c o m m o n t h a n in S L F . The verb shows virtually n o liaison e x c e p t (a) a f t e r the imperative, a n d ( b ) b e t w e e n inverted third-person verbs and the subject p r o n o u n s il(s) and elle(s) in the interrogative. T h e c o m b i n a t i o n of imperative and y or en is rare, a n d inversion is by n o m e a n s t h e most f r e q u e n t f o r m of interrogation in CF. The rarity of liaison leads us t o reconsider the m o r p h o p h o n e m i c shape of certain endings. Is it necessary to have /-onz/ as t h e l p l ending if the jz/ is almost never p r o n o u n c e d ? Since t h e l p l and 2sg and pi all have the same liaison c o n s o n a n t jzj which is phonetically realized almost exclusively in t h e imperative, it is m o r e reasonable t o recognize jz/ as an imperative m a r k e r . Likewise, the 3sg and pi j\j is phonetically realized only in the interrogative and t h e r e f o r e should be t r e a t e d as an interrogative m a r k e r . One m a y legitimately o b j e c t t h a t since SLF and CF are n o t t w o i n d e p e n d e n t languages b u t f o r m s of a single language, one should n o t set u p d i f f e r e n t underlying f o r m s which are ultimately indistinguishable at the p h o n e t i c level. It is perhaps unlikely that m a n y speakers unconsciously have t w o separate u n d e r l y i n g f o r m s f o r verbs which are identical in SLF and CF. However, a l t h o t h e CF f o r m s best a c c o u n t for the speech of m o s t speakers, there p r o b a b l y remain m a n y speakers whose speech can be explained only in terms of the SLF f o r m s . We see here a possible p a t t e r n f o r language change, where t w o c o m p e t i n g u n d e r l y i n g f o r m s a c c o u n t f o r the same surface p h e n o m e n a in most cases. If the n e w u n d e r l y i n g f o r m prevails, that is, if the surface p h e n o m e n a which it best describes b e c o m e m o r e f r e q u e n t t h a n the surface p h e n o m e n a best described by the o t h e r underlying f o r m , then the m o r p h o p h o n e m i c level can influence changes at the p h o n e m i c level. The / t / a n d / z j have certainly prevailed as interrogative and imperative m a r k e r s rather t h a n person m a r k e r s in CF because t h e y n o w occur with imperatives a n d interrogatives in e n v i r o n m e n t s where SLF has n o liaison c o n s o n a n t s : Menez-moi-(z)y} je viens-tP.

3

2 Etienne Le Gal, Ne dites pas ... Mais dites ... (Paris: Delagrave. 1966). 143. 3 Pierre Guiraud, Le français populaire (Que sais-jc? 1172) (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. 1965), 48. It would give a false impression of the state of liaison in CF' to say n o m o r e . The uses of I?./ as an imperative marker and /t(i)/ as an interrogative marker indicate only a trend in C F ; //./ and /1/ are f o u n d in other c o n t e x t s as well. The sporadic appearance of c o n s o n a n t s with no f u n c t i o n but to avoid hiatus is k n o w n as a at ir ( f o r the insertion of / t / ) or a velour (for the insertion of /z/). See Guiraud, p. I 08.

THE REGULARIZED VERB

75

With the elimination of s u p e r f l u o u s / Z / , / z / , and / t / as person markers, there is n o longer a m o r p h o p h o n e m i c distinction b e t w e e n 1, 2, and 3sg verb f o r m s . I n d e e d , CF does n o t phonetically distinguish these f o r m s , so t h a t we have n o morphological reason f o r maintaining a t h r e e f o l d distinction of persons in the singular. Of course, even in SLF the distinctiveness of t h e 1, 2, a n d 3sg was c o n f i n e d t o t h e f u t u r e of all verbs, the past tenses, a n d the present indicative of three irregular verbs: aller, avoir, and être. In CF the past tenses are never used, t h e f u t u r e is f r e q u e n t l y replaced by a periphrastic f o r m , and the lsg present indicative of aller is o f t e n identical to the 2 a n d 3sg f o r m . 4 It goes w i t h o u t saying t h a t CF as a whole maintains the distinction of three d i f f e r e n t persons b y m e a n s of three d i f f e r e n t personal p r o n o u n s as subjects, b u t these are syntactic rather than morphological devices. 5 We n o w have f o u r perçons: singular (with a zero m a r k e r ) , Ipl / - o n / , 2pl /-e/, and 3pl /-a/. It is of course quite f o r t u i t o u s b u t very convenient that t h e Ipl m a r k e r /-on/ is h o m o p h o n o u s with the impersonal p r o n o u n / o n / , which f r e q u e n t l y replaces the Ipl verb in C F . 6 One could t h e r e f o r e i n t r o d u c e an o p t i o n a l t r a n s f o r m a t i o n / n u z # r o o t - o n / -» /on#root-0/. T h e past aspect has been considerably reduced in C F : b o t h past tenses are a b s e n t . 7 Only the past participle has survived, and it has been w e a k e n e d in its lack of agreement with preceding direct objects. However, since agreement w i t h the subject persists, and since as a simple adjective the participle always agrees w i t h t h e n o u n , we will ignore w h a t is simply the loss of a s y n t a c t i c rule. T h e f u t u r e is f r e q u e n t l y replaced b y t h e present or b y a periphrastic aller + infinitive. 8 When the f u t u r e tense is used, there is still a distinction b e t w e e n the 1 sg /-re/ and the 2 a n d 3sg /-ra/, so t h a t we will need an additional rule, just as in SLF". N o w , however, the rule will be syntactically rather t h a n morphologically c o n d i t i o n e d , since t h e only distinction a m o n g the three persons in the singular is t h e personal p r o n o u n subject. Many SLF rules d o n o t a p p l y t o CF. Of course, all rules concerning t h e past tenses m a y be discarded. Moreover, because of various p h o n e t i c a n d m o r p h o p h o n e m i c d e v e l o p m e n t s within CF, m a n y other SLF" rules are s u p e r f l u o u s . F o r e x a m p l e , SLF R 4 6 explains the alternation céder ~ cède /seder ~ s e d a Z / . However, in CF the final schwa is never p r o n o u n c e d , a n d the /e/ in c h e c k e d syllable a u t o m a t i c a l l y opens t o [ ε ] , so t h a t we need

4 There is a m p l e evidence t h a t French speakers c o n f u s e those orthographical persona] endings which make distinctions u n k n o w n to CI". See Le Gal, Ne dites pas, 39. s O n e could suggest that t h e personal p r o n o u n subjects, a l t h o orthographically separate words, may be i n t e r p r e t e d as inflectional affixes. Guiraud, Français populaire, 40, lends support to such an analysis in q u o t i n g t h e following sentence, impossible in SLF' b u t occasionally heard in CF: Ma sœur il chante. 6 Madeleine Csécsy: De la linguistique 1968), 24.

à la pédagogie:

Le verbe français

(Paris: Hachette-Larousse,

Ί liven in SLF' they are n o t very f r e q u e n t . R o l f e ( " Q u a n t i t a t i v e C o m p a r i s o n " , 80-81) shows t h a t only 1 6 . 6 % o f all c o n j u g a t e d f o r m s arc in the simple past indicative or subjunctive. Moreover, c o u n t i n g not f o r m s but actual n u m b e r s of occurrences, Rolfe shows t h a t only 7 . 3 % of c o n j u g a t e d f o r m s are in the past tenses. 8 Rolfe ( " Q u a n t i t a t i v e C o m p a r i s o n " , 34) tells us that a l t h o 19.3%. of all indicative f o r m s are in the f u t u r e tense, only 5.1%; of occurrences are.

T H E R E G U L A R I Z E D VERB

76

n o e x t r a rule. S L F R 4 4 treats t h e a l t e r n a t i o n mener

~ mène

/ m a n e r ~ m e n a Ζ / , b u t in CF

t h e / ε / d o e s n o t a p p e a r or is r e s t r i c t e d o n l y t o c e r t a i n v e r b s . 9 S L F R 4 5 d o e s n o t a p p e a r in C F

because

an i n v e r s i o n o f I verbs in t h e

a l t e r n a t i o n aboyer

~ aboie

/abuaier ~

l s g is i m p o s s i b l e .

R 4 7 deals w i t h t h e

a b u a s Z / , a n d R 4 8 t h e a l t e r n a t i o n payer

~

paie

/pEier ~ ρ ε β Ζ / . In C F y o d o c c u r s in all f o r m s , a n d n e i t h e r rule is n e c e s s a r y . 1 0 We c a n n o w e x a m i n e t h e full list o f general verb rules in C F . T h e s e are e q u i v a l e n t t o the f i f t y - f i v e S L F general rules. F o r c o n v e n i e n t r e f e r e n c e , t h e n u m b e r o f t h e c o r r e s p o n d i n g S L F rule is i n d i c a t e d in p a r e n t h e s e s : T A B L E 55. General Rules for CF CM

verb

-

root + ending

(Rl)

I tense + person I non-conjugated

CF2

ending

CF3

tense

(R3)

CF4

person

(R4)

CF5

non-conjugated

CF6 CF7 CF8 CF9 CF10 CF11 CF12 CF13 CF14 CF15 CF16 CF17 CF18 CF19 CF20 CF21

près -» impf -> fut -> cond -> sjn -y sg -y lpl 2pl -y 3pl inf -y près part -> past part -y i-y root-r0 -y z3#root-ra root-r+ a -y

inf près part ! past part -ε. -r. -Γε.

-a. -, . . oil. -. . . e. -...

3.

-r.a /-ant (3). -QO). is- / .. -V. root-ra. z3#root-re. root-ron.

(R2)

(R5) (R12) (R13) (R14) (R15) (R17) (R31. 20, 21) (R22) (R23) (R24) (R41) (R26) (R27) (R6) ( R 3 7 . 38) (R32) (R30)

a

The CF infinitive /r/ is not pronounced in III verbs: no /r/ is pronounced in CF after an occlusive. See Aurelien Sauvagcot, Français écrit, français parlé (Paris: Larousse. 1962). 158-59. However, we still need /r/ at the m o r p h o p h o n e m i c level to explain the retention of the occlusive: / v a n d - r / = [v3:d], but /vand-0/ = [va]. 9 It is not clear whether all verbs of this class lose the alternation. Sec l'ouché. Morphologic historique, 20, and Guiraud, Français populaire, 22. 10 In Cl·' the underlying root must then contain a yod phoneme, not simply the consonantal allophone of /¡/. See Andre Martinet, " D e l'économie des formes du verbe en français parlé". Studia Philologica et Literaria in Honorem Leo Spitzer (Berne: Francke. 1958), 316.

THE REGULARIZED VERB T A B L E 55. CF22 CF23 CF24 CF25 CF26 CF27 CF28 CF29 CF30 CF31 CF32 CF33

. ..V 3CN-Q . . . . uañ-Q . . . 1-r# -Q s-Q

Continued

i / _ χ. , _

- > - >

Cy / _ 4 Nd / _ -r. -t / ñ- _ . u ε η - / _ -C. -t / izd- / __ -C. -re / U-_.

->

t- / _ -r. 0.

- > - >

77

(R36) (R42) (R50) (R51) (R52) (R53) (R54) (R56) (R57) (R58) (R85) (Rll)

Thus we see that the regular verb in CF can be generated in all its forms b y only thirty-three rules, as compared w i t h the fifty-five general rules o f S L F . Rather than investigate in detail all the irregular verb rules for C F , let us e x a m i n e the e x t e n t of usage o f irregular verbs in C F . A very large proportion o f S L F irregular verbs simply d o n o t occur in C F . F o l l o w i n g is the list of all S L F irregular verbs (according to our definition o f irregularity) 1 1

with indications of their fate in C F . The results in the

c o l u m n marked 'informant' are based on an interview mainly with one native speaker: χ indicates that he accepted the verb as occurring in his everyday speech. The figures in the other t w o c o l u m n s refer t o frequency rank: 1 is the m o s t frequent, etc. We will discuss the data given in all three c o l u m n s in greater detail below. TABLE 56. SFL Irregular Verbs in CF Verb absoudre abstenir accourir accroître accueillir acquérir admettre advenir aller apercevoir apparaître apparoir appartenir apprendre

Informant

. VB a

X X X X X X

3214 1269 1690 1047 1190 830

X X X

topc 191 325

X X

507 154

Verb

34 609

274

assaillir asseoir (s') avoir boire bouillir bruire chaloir choir circoncire circonscrire circonvenir clore commettre comparaître

Informant

VB a

Gb

X X X X

4556 449 top 483 4096

540 2 423

X

X X

d 1133 5890

a George E. Vander Beke, French Word Book (New York: Macmillan, 1929). b G. Gougenheim, R. Michea, P. Rivenc, and A. Sauvageot, L'élaboration du français fondamental (1er degré) (Paris: Didier, 1967); hereinafter cited as Elaboration. c Vander Bejce does not give the rank of the sixty-nine most frequent words, indicated here as 'top'. S'en aller is separately listed as 1212. d Vander Beke gives only the past participle clos, 2338. il For the sake of simplicity 1 have not listed SLF irregular verbs in re-, ré- when there existed a corresponding verb without the prefix.

78

THE REGULARIZED VERB TABLE 56.-Continued

Verb complaire comprendre compromettre concevoir concourir connaître conquérir consentir contenir contredire contrefaire contrevenir convenir coudre courir couvrir croire croître cueillir débouillir décevoir déchoir déclore découdre découvrir décrire décroître dédire défaillir défaire démentir démettre départir déplaire dépourvoir déprendre désapprendre desservir détenir devenir dévêtir devoir dire disconvenir discourir disparaître dissoudre dormir échoir éclore écrire

Informant

VB

X X X X X X X X X X X

5891 55 2085 1258 4871 119 2260 1385 719 4688

X X X X X X

396 3593 192 502 81 1776 1853

X

3116

X X X

417 1836

X X X X X

G 115

131

892 924 81

1879 4569 1956 e

X X X X X X

5018

X X X X X X

327 2560 402 5919

27

499

117 top

90 28

140

417

334

Verb élire emboire émettre émouvoir enclore encourir endormir enfuir (s') enquérir (s') ensuivre (s') entr'apercevoir (s') entre-luire entremettre (s') entre-nuire (s') entreprendre entretenir entrevoir entrouvrir envoyer éprendre (s') équivaloir être faillir faire falloir forfaire fuir gésir hair inclure inscrire interdire intervenir lire luire maintenir maudire méconnaître médire mentir méprendre (se) messeoir mettre mourir mouvoir naître nuire obtenir obvenir occlure offrir

e

Vander Beke gives only the past participle dépourvu,

f

Vander Beke separately lists s'endormir,

S

Vander Beke lists se mettre à separately, 678.

1928.

5910.

Informant

VB

X

3088

X X

3631 1522

X X

G

2286 f 1840

X 5931

X X X X X

2177 2794 1777 2087 200

X X X X X

top 2396 top 10

X X X X X X X

982

443 1 19 59

1115 5301 2070

X

1786 1310 2163 151 2563 947 5204 3737

X

3022

X X

85 455

X X X

168 225 3258 401 3738 454

X

134

694

X

225

878

79

THE R E G U L A R I Z E D V E R B T A B L E 5 6. — Continued Verb omettre oui'r ouvrir paître paraître parcourir parfaire partir parvenir percevoir permettre plaire pleuvoir poursuivre pourvoir pouvoir prédire prendre prescrire pressentir prévaloir prévenir prévoir promettre promouvoir proscrire provenir recevoir reclure repentir (se) requérir résoudre rire saillir

Informant

VB

G

X X

123

436

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

39 1248

245

175 694 2240 150 367 2810 529 2165 top 3924 top 4725 3454 3581 625 1144 477

139

X X

3125 67

X

4221 4363 1318 266 6037

X X

514 377 805

55 77

913 818

391

529

Verb satisfaire savoir secourir sentir seoir servir sortir souffrir soumetrre sourire souscrire soutenir souvenir (se) subvenir suffire suivre surfaire surprendre surseoir survenir survivre taire tenir transcrire transmettre transparaître tressaillir valoir venir vêtir vivre voir vouloir

Informant

VB

X X X X

1631 top 4740 21

X X X X X X X X X X X

147 54 390 954 607

X

X X X X X

X X X X X

G 45 301 312 178 900

429 890

482

280 41

812 608

447 3342 5131 922 4

147

3174 4138 318 top 1583 163 top top

350 76 347 43 64

It is by no means simple to interpret the data. An informant's opinions are often unreliable, since a speaker is apt to decide in favor of the more prestigious SLF verb. However, even in these circumstances we see that large numbers of SLF verbs were unacceptable to the informant. (A few verbs were actually unknown to him.) Of the one hundred ninetyseven irregular SLF verbs in this list, the informant accepted only 141, rejecting nearly 30% of the verbs. We may be sure that many of those verbs which he accepted occur but rarely in his conversation. More objective data are available in word frequency lists. Vander Beke (VB) provides a list of 6067 frequent words. His count, altho the best known and most authoritative, is far from ideal for our purposes, for two reasons. First, it is based on written rather than spoken texts. (However, 14.7% of the material was from plays and 12.9% from newspapers — both of which are likely to reflect CF usage to a large extent.) Secondly, the order o'f frequency in which he has arranged the words is based not on absolute frequency, but on range, i.e. the relative number of texts in which each word appeared. (However, all words with the same range are further ordered according to absolute frequency.) Vander Beke is, of course, correct in assuming (French Word Book, 8) "that a

80

THE REGULARIZED VERB

word occurring eight times in five authors would usually be of greater importance for readers of French than a word occurring ten times in one author". On the other hand, a word occurring once each in five authors is surely of less importance than a word occurring ten times each in four authors. Probably the only solution to the problem would be to take the product of range and frequencey. In any case, Vander Beke's figures give us a relatively good idea of modern French usage. He omits sixty SLF irregular verbs. Moreover, only 104 irregular verbs, or slightly over half the list, appear in the upper half of Vander Beke's frequency list. Gougenheim (G) has compiled a more recent frequency list, basing it entirely on the spoken language. Its only serious disadvantage is its small size of only 1063 words. Of the 227 verbs in Gougenheim's list, only sixty are irregular. 12 It may seem at first that 26.4% is a rather large figure, when one considers that irregular verbs as a whole constitute a far smaller proportion of the total number of verbs in the language. We must, however, examine the statistics more closely. If we divide the 1063 words of Gougenheim's list in half, we find that among the 109 verbs in the upper half, forty-two or 38.5% are irregular verbs. It is a widely observed phenomenon that a small number of irregular verbs appear among the most frequent words of a language — indeed, they are often more frequent than most regular verbs. In the first hundred words in Gougenheim there are fifteen irregular verbs and only four regular verbs. Etre, the most irregular verb in the language, is not only the most frequent verb but also the most frequent word in the list. 13 After the predominance of irregular verbs in the first half of the list, their frequency drops precipitously. In the second half of the list we find only eighteen irregular verbs, as opposed to one hundred regular verbs. Besides looking for irregular verbs that do appear in frequency lists, we may also wish to look at those irregular verbs that do not occur, or occur at much lower frequencies than one might have expected. In a semantic frequency list of English, French, German, and Spanish 14 the verb meaning 'to move' occurs in the first thousand words of English, German, and Spanish. French mouvoir is number 3258 in Vander Beke (based on the written language, it is the source of Eaton's French data) and does not appear at all in Gougenheim. Before assuming that the French speak of moving far less frequently than do speakers of English, German, and Spanish, we should notice that the regular verb bouger, the CF verb meaning 'to move', appears in the first nine hundred words in

12 The figures for Gougenheim include the eight irregular verbs in re-: reconnaître (654), refaire (916), remettre (531), repartir (731 ), reprendre (442), retenir (1008), revenir (220), and revoir (677). All calculations are mine, since 1 found several errors in Gougenheim's figures. 13 The actual figures for être and avoir are even higher than indicated, since the two verbs when used as auxiliaries are not counted as verbs, but mots grammaticaux. Rolfe ("Quantitative Comparison", 175) tells us that 109 verbs out of his total of 253 verbs studied (43.5%) have more than one root allomorph. Of course, his study is based on orthography, and many orthographical alternants would prove to be constant at the morphophemic or even the phonetic level. However, the figure just given is only for lexical entries. In terms of the more than 50,000 occurrences of the 253 verbs, 71.1% arc other than monoalternants. Moreover, verbs with six root allomorphs or more account for 44.1% of all verb occurrences. 14 Helen S. Eaton (ed.), An English-French-German-Spanish Word Frequency Dictionary (New York: Dover, 1940).

THE REGULARIZED VERB

81

Gougenheim. Likewise, the verb meaning 'to fear, be afraid' is in the first thousand words of all four languages; craindre, a marginally regular verb, does not appear in Gougenheim, whereas avoir peur is quite frequent. 1 5 In a similar way CF speakers circumvent the use of numerous other SLF irregular verbs. In some cases the substitute is a phrase, like avoir peur. Thus, absoudre is replaced by donner l'absolution à, and bruire gives way to faire du bruit. Marginally regular abstraire yields to faire abstraction, and nuire becomes être nuisible. In other cases the phrase will include the irregular verb, but only in a non-conjugated form. Thus CF makes defective non-conjugated verbs out of verbs which are conjugated in SLF. Dépourvoir appears only in the expression être dépourvu de\ marginally regular frire is replaced by faire frire. Faire braire in slang refers to people. We may say of such verbs that they survive lexically and syntactically but not morphologically. By far the largest number of irregular verbs absent from CF are those which have been replaced by regular verbs. These regular verbs may be divided into two groups. First are the numerous regular verbs which coexisted in SLF with their irregular counterparts with more or less the same meaning: T A B L E 57. S L F Irregular Verbs O f t e n Replaced by S L F Regular Verbs

a

Irregular

Regular

advenir assaillir atteindre a ceindre a chaloir choir clore contraindre" 1 croître décroitre faillir feindre2 fuir haïr joindre2 luire mouvoir oui'r paitre plaindre (se) a pleuvoir poindre3 quérir souvenir (se) surprendre tressaillir vêtir

arriver attaquer arriver à, a t t r a p e r entourer importer tomber fermer forcer, obliger a u g m e n t e r , pousser diminuer manquer faire c o m m e si se sauver détester attraper briller bouger, déplacer, r e m u e r entendre brouter râler flotter piquer, p o i n t e r chercher se rappeler étonner sursauter habiller

Marginally regular.

>5 As an idiom, avoir peur does n o t appear as a separate e n t r y with its own numéro d'ordre. However, G o u g e n h e i m gives f r e q u e n c y statistics for avoir peur which would place it in the first five h u n d r e d words.

82

THE REGULARIZED VERB

This list is quite mixed. Some of the regular verbs are completely acceptable in SLF as synonyms, while others have different meanings and would not be recognized in SLF as synonyms of the irregular verbs. SLF itself has restricted the use of many of these irregular verbs, but they still remain available and are still used in twentieth-century authors, if not often in speech. 16 The second group of verbs are CF creations, regular verbs derived from SLF irregular verbs, or frequently the related nouns. In general these creations are bitterly attacked by the spokesmen for SLF. Pichón {Principes de Suffixation, 76) mentions déceptionner from décevoir. Emotionner from émouvoir is "à proscrire" (Bescherelle, Art de Conjuguer, 128). Altho résolver and solutionner from résoudre are unacceptable to grammarians ("néologisme inélégant", Le Gai, Ne dites pas, 128), démissionner from démettre has been recognized, apparently since it does not supplant the traditional verb in all of its meanings. Moudre is sometimes mouler. Peindre, a marginally regular verb, may be peinturer (Martinet, "Économie des formes", 322), and pleuvoir is often pleuver. Taire has been known to become taiser (Martinet, "Economie des formes", and cuire may be either cuiser (Guiraud, Français populaire, 21) or cuisiner,17 Some irregular SLF verbs had only a few irregular forms to start out with, so that a regularized CF verb involves minimal changes. Départir is now conjugated like finir rather than partir ("on peut regretter", Bescherelle, Art de conjuguer, 22; Le Gal, Ne dites pas, 47). Envoyer has a regular future and conditional /anvuare/, etc. (Martinet, "Economie des formes", 315). As Sauvageot says {Français écrit, 64), "La tendance à ne plus se servir que de thèmes uniques a entraîné un vaste mouvement de simplification dans la forme parlée de notre conjugaison." In contrast with the total reformulation of an irregular verb (with a concomitant change of conjugation or theme vowel), many irregular verbs of SLF regularize only individual forms. Acquérir has numerous contradictory variants — all attempts to regularize it on different models. 18 The future of courir is often /kurire/ (Martinet, "Economie des forms", 322). Cueillir, like acquérir, may be either a regular I or a regular II verb in CF, rather than a hybrid as in SLF (Le Gal, Ne dites pas, 41). Dire and faire often have regularized 2pl present indicative forms /dizez/ and /fszez/ (Martinet, "Economie des formes", 313). Joindre can be a I verb, at least in the future joignerai (Guiraud, Français populaire, 23). The past participle of mourir has been regularized to mouru.19 In the future it is a regular II verb (Guiraud, Français populaire, 23). The subjunctive of valoir has lost R95*

16 G u i r a u d (Français populaire, 20-21) is n o t clear on this p o i n t . O n e of the verbs which he lists as being replaced in C F is ardre, which is n o t only archaic, b u t totally dead. π T h e process of regularizing or r e f o r m u l a t i n g an irregular verb on a regular basis is carried over f r o m C F t o SLF, p r o d u c i n g f o r m s of verbs n o t appearing in CF' which are universally c o n d e m n e d . T h u s bruire b e c o m e s bruisser ( " à c o n d a m n e r " , says Beschcrelle, Art de conjuguer, 113). Poindre changes t o poigner ( " n é o l o g i s m e i n s o u t e n a b l e " , Bescherelle, Art de conjuguer, 145). Tressaillir becomes tressailler (Le Gai, Ne dites pas, 1 35), and vêtir b e c o m e s a regular I verb (Le Gal, p. 138). 18 The quest for r e g u l a r i z a r o n in this verb has c o n t i n u e d unsuccessfully f o r centuries. See F o u c h é , Morphologie historique, passim, Le Gal, Ne dites pas, 3-4. 19 G u i r a u d , Français populaire, 38-39. T h u s unlike SLF, C F can distinguish b e t w e e n 'he is d e a d ' il est mort and 'he died' il a mouru.

THE R E G U L A R I Z E D V E R B

83

and has the same root as in the rest of the paradigm. The subjunctive of pouvoir is peuve (Guiraud, p. 15), and the lsg present indicative of aller is often homophonous with the 2 and 3sg: je vas. Many irregular verbs with /ua/ in the root add a yod phoneme, like the I verbs in /uaa-/. Thus, ils voient becomes /vuaja/ (Csécsy, De la linguistique, 47, η. 2). The change is especially noticeable in the present subjunctive: je croye, tu soy es, qu'il aye (Guiraud, Français populaire, 24). The change from one conjugation class to another is frequent enough in history (Fouché, Morphologie historique, passim)·, can we say that the conjugation changes seen above are different from the random changes which generally occur? There is one important difference in CF: virtually all shifts are from irregular verb classes to the regular classes I, II, and III. If there were no definite process of regularization, we would see numerous class changes among I, II, and II. The only such examples that I have been able to find in CF are lotir > lotisser (II > I, Guiraud, Français populaire 21 ), polir >polisser (II > I, Le Gal, Ne dites pas, 109-10), and rompre > romper (III > I, Le Gal, p. 126). 2 0 Agonir (II) is confused with agoniser (I). Rarely do irregular verbs become more irregular or regular verbs become irregular. In all such instances we can see the effects of analogy. Bouillir sometimes has a future /bura/ by analogy with the future /kura/ of courir (Martinet, "Economie des formes", 319). The 2pl present indicative of verbs derived from dire ends in -disez in SLF, according to the regular SLF rule. However, the influence of the irregular form dites produces occasional forms like contredites, médites etc. (Le Gal, Ne dites pas 37). Recouvrer a regular I verb, has been confused with irregular recouvrir (Le Gal, p. 118). Regular ressortir has been confused with irregular ressortir (Le Gal, p. 120). Regular stupéfier has the irregular past participle stupéfait by analogy with the adjective (Le Gal, p. 130). Likewise, the SLF regular past participle of regular II bénir is often confused with the adjective bénit (Le Gal, pp. 24-25). Despite the statistics showing a more regularized paradigm and fewer irregular verbs than in SLF, we must avoid seeing a simplistic teleological regularization in CF. Other factors should not be ignored. For example, many SLF irregular verbs have disappeared from CF not because they were irregular, but because they were no longer useful. As one informant pointed out to me, Parisians do not often use the verb moudre because they do not often grind things. Other verbs like oindre, paître, and traire may also be absent from CF (or at least absent from frequency lists) simply because they are not activities of a twentieth-century urban culture. Perhaps frequency statistics in rural areas would be quite different. Perhaps even if, for example, grinding coffee in one's own kitchen suddenly became a fashionable pastime moudre would not be replaced or regularized but conjugated as before, like all marginally regular verbs. 21 With such drastic reduction in the number of irregular verbs in CF we may expect a corresponding reduction in the total number of special verb rules. This is true to some extent, but not entirely. Of course, all special rules concerned with the past indicative or 20 The replacement of vaincre (III) by battre (III) does not involve a change of conjugation, but in vaincre and rompre CF loses the only III verbs with roots not ending in apicals. 21 My Jewish informant admitted to using the irregular verb circoncire did not expect French Christians to do likewise.

frequently but added that he

84

THE R E G U L A R I Z E D V E R B

subjunctive can be discarded. However, many of them also concern the much alive past participle. There is considerable variation in the final consonant of the past participle: sometimes it is /z/, sometimes /t/, and sometimes zero, even in the same verb. In the masculine singular and plural forms the final consonant of the past participle is never pronounced, and in CF the past participle never agrees with the preceding direct object. 22 Therefore, the only time that a final consonant appears phonetically in the past participle is with a feminine subject and a verb such as être (either as a copula or an auxiliary) or with a feminine noun modified by the past participle. Consequently, few verbs ever require a consonant ending in the past participle. 23 We have seen in our analysis of colloquial French that the morphology of the CF verb is both simpler and more regular than that of SLF, to a noticeable extent. Intuitively one would expect such a result, not only in French, but in other languages as well. The study of colloquial language is a rather undeveloped field of scholarship, and it would be premature to look for general principles. One may wonder, nevertheless, whether a generally reduced vocabulary in ordinary conversation (as opposed to the vast fund of potential words more likely 24 to be exploited by a writer at leisure) is a more important determining factor than a reduced morphology.

22 1901,

Grcvissc ( B o n usage,

1 1 2 6 , A p p e n d i c e IX) q u o t e s f r o m the g o v e r n m e n t a l Arrêté

du 26

février

w h i c h declared that t h e traditional rule o f a g r e e m e n t b e t w e e n t h e past participle and p r e c e d i n g

direct objects was o p t i o n a l . Prescriptivists have ignored b o t h t h e d e c r e e and C F usage: " O n s'acharne à forcer l'élève à savoir 'accorder ses participes', et c e t t e p r é o c c u p a t i o n a m a r q u é si p r o f o n d é m e n t l ' e n s e i g n e m e n t qu'on en vient parfois à traiter les professeurs d e langue française de 'marchands d e participes' " ( S a u v a g e o t , Français 23

écrit,

196).

p. Carlo Rossi, " T h e F r e n c h Past Participle", The French

Review

4 2 : 4 (March 1 9 6 9 ) , 5 8 4 , says

that o n l y t w o and o n e half p e r c e n t o f all F r e n c h verbs even o f f e r t h e possibility of distinguishing gender p h o n e t i c a l l y (i.e., b y having an u n d e r l y i n g c o n s o n a n t ending). 24

On the n o t i o n o f disponibilité

1 35 ff.

o f v o c a b u l a r y in c o n v e r s a t i o n , see G o u g e n h e i m et al.,

Elaboration,

PART TWO DERIVATION

INTRODUCTION

One of the most general characteristics which distinguishes derivation from inflection is productivity: the occurrence and meaning of derived forms are far less predictable than those of inflected forms. With the exception of a few (questionably) defective verbs, every verb in the French language has the same fifty-one inflected forms, with the same fifty-one endings characterizing them, thus allowing for thousands of verb forms with predictable morphophonemic alternations, and a few unpredictable forms, as we have seen above. However, only rarely is a derivational affix truly productive, for a given derivational affix generally occurs with only a small fraction of the total number of French verbs. In discussing derivation we are confronted for the first time with problems of segmentation, problems which did not arise in the case of inflection, except perhaps in connection with the theme vowel. Since every inflectional ending occurs with every verb in the language, the linguist (as well as the native speaker) can compare a great number of isomorphic forms and has little difficulty in segmenting contiguous morphemes. However, in derivation two different cuts may be equally satisfactory, and both analyses may be useful in arriving at a complete description of verbal morphology. Moreover, it is often difficult to determine in a given case whether a certain sequence of phonemes constitutes an affix or a part of the root. Surely avoir is not a complex verb consisting of voir and the prefix a, because avoir and voir share no semantic or morphological features. But would anyone think of associating adresser with dresser without reference to historical facts? Another problem is the segmentation of verbs with a prefix or a suffix when the corresponding simplex (verb with only the root morpheme) does not exist. Thus we have aguerrir and guerroyer, but neither *guerrir nor *guerrer; conduire and séduire, but not *duire. Since guerre exists as a noun, and nouns are frequently derived into verbs simply by the addition of the verb endings to the root, and since both the prefix a- and the suffix -oyer occur with numerous other verbs, we need not be disturbed by the absence of such potential or underlying verbs as *guerrir or *guerrer. Likewise, there are enough compound verbs in -duire to allow us to accept a theoretical *duire which did exist independently in OF (cf. Fouché , Morphologie historique, 119-29 et passim). However, intra- and séoccur as prefixes with no other verb besides *duire. In addition, it may be difficult to distinguish between one root morpheme compounded with another root morpheme or a simple affix attached to a root morpheme. If it occurred with any other verb, we might question whether the first syllable of maintenir

88

INTRODUCTION

was more than a prefix. Since the compounding of two roots in a single verb is rare in French and the meaning of main as a separate root is not maintained, it seems more convenient to treat the element as a simple prefix. Derivational affixes in French are either prefixes or suffixes. 1 We will examine the latter group first, inasmuch as they form a more compact and limited repertory of elements.

ι One may wish to sec in dodeliner ' t o dandle, rock, wag' a derivational infix -el- within the verb (lodiner, which has the same meaning, l o r several reasons such an analysis is unwise. First, b o t h -eler and -iner are derivational suffixes, and there is at least one o t h e r vc.b (tatilloner) with t w o derivational suffixes. Secondly, a l t h o the simplex verb *doder does r o t exist, we will see many other suffixed verbs whose simplex is not attested. Finally, there arc no o t h e r examples of infixation in the m o r p h o l o g y of the I rench verb.

9 DERIVATIONAL SUFFIXES

There are two general types of derivational verb suffixes: those which form verbs from other parts of speech (exocentric), and those which modify the meaning of an already existing verb (endocentric). Often no suffix is used in changing a given part of speech to a verb, since the inflectional endings of the verb in themselves distinguish verbs from other parts of speech. Pichón {Principes de la suffixation, 27 ff.), and Dubois 1 suggest that in such cases the inflectional endings are also derivational in function. Darmesteter 2 calls such a situation dérivation immédiate, whereas the use of derivational suffixes is dérivation médiate. We can avoid the possible misunderstanding if we say that the lexicon contains roots, rather than full words. These roots are then characterized in the lexicon as potential nouns, verbs, etc., depending on their syntactic function in each sentence where they appear; this will determine to what part of speech they will be assigned and which morphemes will be attached to them. Generally, noun roots become I verbs, and adjectives often become II verbs, altho Dubois (Grammaire structurale, 58) gives some exceptions. Sometimes an intercalary consonant separates the root from the inflectional verb endings: noir ~ noircir, piano ~ pianoter. Inasmuch as it is impossible to predict the form or even the presence of such a consonant by external conditioning, it may sometimes be more convenient to include the consonant in the underlying form of the base word, e.g. /pianot/. However, this solution may not be advisable for all cases. If we treat the root in sirop ~ siroter as /sirot/ we may have to deal with the adjective sirupeux. 3 Let us first examine the two commonest exocentric verb suffixes: -iser /iza-er/ and

ι Jean Dubois, Etude sur la derivation suffixale en français moderne et eontemporain (Paris: Larousse, 1962), 5. 2 Arsène Darmesteter, De la création actuelle de mots nouveaux dans la langue française (Paris: F. Vieweg, 1877), 120. 3 Sec Piehon, Principes de suffixation, 28-29. Sometimes t w o historically related words arc so d i f f e r e n t in meaning or f o r m t h a t they c a n n o t be p r o f i t a b l y associated in a s y n c h r o n i c study. Dell, " R è g l e s p h o n o l o g i q u c s " , 1 24-27, justly criticizes Schane, FPM, 45 et passim, for a t t e m p t i n g t o exploit rare or even u n i q u e variants which c a n n o t be generalized for the rest of the language. Sec J. Peter Maher, " T h e Paradox of Creation and Tradition in G r a m m a r : S o u n d Pattern of a Palimpsest", Language Sciences 7 ( O c t o b e r 1 969), 1 5-24.

90

DERIVATIONAL SUFFIXES

-ifier /ifig-er/. B o t h have a factitive force and b o t h are s u f f i x e d to n o u n s or adjectives. 4 s o m e t i m e s only a f t e r the removal of a n o t h e r derivational s u f f i x : émétiser < émétique. The main d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n the t w o s u f f i x e s is purely m o r p h o l o g i c a l ; each verb s u f f i x has its own nominalizing s u f f i x : aseptiser ~ aseptisation: pacifier ~ pacification. These t w o verb suffixes are always e x o c e n t r i c . It is true, of course, t h a t vivifier could be f r o m vivre and égaliser f r o m égaler, b u t we c a n n o t ignore the adjectives vif and égal. There always exists an adjective or n o u n t o which a verb in -ifier or -iser can be assigned. O t h e r verb suffixes, however, m a y be either e x o c e n t r i c or e n d o c e n t r i c , d e p e n d i n g on the particular verb. F o r e x a m p l e , bosseler is f r o m the n o u n bosse, whereas craqueler is f r o m the verb craquer. Le Petit Robert ( 1 9 7 0 ) , t h e only a u t h o r i t y t h a t consistently distinguishes b e t w e e n e x o c e n t r i c and e n d o c e n t r i c suffixes, classifies -eler as d e n o m i n a l only (ignoring cases like craqueler) and -oyer along w i t h -ifier a n d -iser as b o t h d e n o m i n a l a n d deadjectival (ignoring cases like tournoyer). G r a m m a r i a n s list several of these ambivalent verb s u f f i x e s : -acher, -ailler, -asser, -eronner, -eter, -ichonner, -icoter, -ifier, -Hier, -iner, -iquer, -nicher, -ocher, -onner, -ouiller, -oyer. N o one source gives all these suffixes.

-eler, -oter,

T h e meanings of these s u f f i x e s are far f r o m clear. Dubois {Dérivation, 19), calls -oyer " f a c t i t i f ' (causative); of t h e others he lists only -ailler, -asser, -eter, -iller, -iner, -ocher, -onner, -oter, and -ouiller, w h i c h he characterizes en masse as " d i m i n u t i f s , f r é q u e n t a t i f s d o n t l'emploi est parfois p é j o r a t i f ' . E x o c e n t r i c s u f f i x e s f r e q u e n t l y have n o m e a n i n g at all and are purely derivational, i.e. t h e y serve only t o indicate a t r a n s f e r f r o m o n e part of speech t o a n o t h e r . P i c h ó n , {Principes de suffixation, 19), is slightly m o r e explicit in referring to a " p e t i t e activité misérable q u ' e x p r i m e le s u f f i x e -oter", whereas -ailler indicates "la n o t i o n d ' u n e activité m o i n s m e s q u i n e , mais irrégulière et de mauvaise q u a l i t é " . U n f o r t u n a t e l y , he gives n o o t h e r descriptions of the individual suffixes, b u t he does a f f o r d us ( p . 1 8 ) a rare o p p o r t u n i t y t o c o m p a r e several suffixes by using in a c o n n e c t e d piece of prose a single verb {tourner) with eight d i f f e r e n t suffixes: J ' é n u m é r a i s t o u t à l'heure la m u l t i t u d e des suffixes v e r b o v e r b a u x . Mais c o m b i e n aiguëment un Français en sent-il la diversité s é m a n t i q u e q u a n d on les applique au m ê m e verbe primitif! Dans la pièce c o m m u n e d ' u n e maison, l ' e n f a n t tournille, çà et là en des j e u x inconsistants et gracieux, c e p e n d a n t que s o t t e m e n t la ménagère toumique sans rien faire d'utile, sans savoir à quelle o c c u p a t i o n se d o n n e r ; voilà qu'elle tournouille un c o u p la soupe qui cuit t r a n q u i l l e m e n t sur le f e u ; elle regarde dans son placard u n reste de lait qui a l'air d'avoir tournoché', elle tournicote a u t o u r de son mari et l'accable d'observations et de questions alors qu'il voudrait travailler tranquille. Au d e h o r s se prolonge une fête foraine à demi-déserte: un pauvre manège de chevaux de bois tournoie, presque sans clients; c e p e n d a n t u n e prostituée tournasse encore dans ces parages, obstinée, et des mauvais garçons tournaillent en q u ê t e d ' u n mauvais c o u p . Clearly, Pichón sees a distinct value f o r each of these suffixes - at least w h e n a t t a c h e d to tourner. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , he did n o t provide us with any glosses on these verbs, and we 4 Adjectives in /-Vbl/ become /-Vbil-/ before the suffix /-iza-er/. Likewise, adjectives in /-εΙ/ change to /-al-/, and adjectives in /-r.n/ become /-an-/: malleable ">malléabiliser, actuel >actualiser. luiiiiaiii > humaniser.

DERIVATIONAL S U F F I X E S

91

must infer their meaning from the context or have recourse to a dictionary. Dictionaries are not of much help here. Of the eight suffixed verbs in Pichon's paragraph, only tournailler and tourniquer appear in the Nouveau Petit Larousse (1969), along with tournoyer, which does not occur in Pichon's text. Moreover, even the definitions of these three verbs are of little value for our purposes: The definition of tournailler squarely contradicts Pichon's usage: "Aller et venir SANS BUT', rôder autour" (emphasis added). The definition of tourniquer is not useful: "Tournailler. (On dit aussi tournichery Tournicher is not given a separate entry. Note that Pichón did not use tourniquer in the sense of tournailler. Tournoyer is the only clearly distinguished verb in Larousse: "Tourner en faisant plusieurs tours". It is interesting that the dictionary refers to both tournailler and tourniquer as familier. Robert is generally more detailed but not much more enlightening. We find there five variations on tourner. Unfortunately, the complete definition of three of them is simply the word tourniquer (which is the fourth verb of the list), sometimes supported by tourner. The fifth verb, tournoyer, does not appear in Pichon's text. Robert's definition of tourniquer "tourner, aller et venir sur place, sans b u t " is appropriate to Pichón; but let us recall that both Larousse and Robert consider tournailler and tourniquer synonymous, whereas Pichón does not. The two dictionaries also agree on the definition of tournoyer, altho Robert's is longer. The only further information given is that -ailler is péjoratif, tournailler is familier, and tourniller is rare. As we have seen, verbs with derivational suffixes may be one of two kinds: verbs formed either from other verbs by means of a suffix, or from words belonging to other parts of speech, already with a suffix, which become verbs simply by the addition of inflectional endings. Often we may have four words, forming a kind of derivational paradigm: a simplex verb, a suffixed verb, a simple noun or adjective, and a suffixed noun or adjective. It is frequently difficult to determine whether the suffixed verb is derived directly from the simple verb or from the suffixed noun or adjective, altho historically all four words are related. In this analysis we are concerned with the present state of French, according to the word relationships perceived by the native speaker. The best way to study synchronic derivation is to examine the dictionary entries of the suffixed verbs. We will consider not only the etymologies, but also the definitions, to see how native speakers associate the meanings of the four classes of words. For the sake of convenience I will list all suffixed verbs with parallel columns for the other three classes. The sign > will indicate in which direction the derivational process moves, according to the dictionary definitions. If the suffixed verbs can be derived from either the simple verb or from the suffixed noun or adjective, I will use arrowheads in both places. A double arrowhead will indicate that the derivation crosses two columns. The suffixes will be examined in alphabetical order, and the list of verbs for each suffix is likewise in alphabetical order. Bescherelle, with its listing in the traditional alphabetical order according to the first letter of the word, does not readily lend itself to a study of suffixes. For a more detailed investigation of each suffix we will use Juilland's inverse dictionary as a corpus. Occasionally, I will refer to words not found in Juilland.

DERIVATIONAL SUFFIXES

92

9.1

SUFFIX

4 0 ) , gives -acher

-acher

O n l y H a l l , (Structural

Sketch,

o n l y i n s'amouracher.

I t s e x t r e m e u n p r o d u c t i v i t y is n o r e a s o n f o r e x c l u d i n g it f r o m t h e

as a d e r i v a t i o n a l v e r b s u f f i x , w h i c h o c c u r s

l i s t , e s p e c i a l l y s i n c e , as w e s h a l l s e e , a p p a r e n t l y s o m e o f t h e o t h e r s u f f i x e s a r e e q u a l l y rare. Juilland estropader,

lists five v e r b s w i t h w h a t s e e m s t o be d e r i v a t i o n a l s u f f i x -ader: gambader,

parader,

c o r r e s p o n d i n g n o u n s i n -ade.

and

taillader.

A l l f i v e v e r b s a r e in f a c t

W e t h e r e f o r e c a n n o t s p e a k o f -ader

s u f f i x , s i n c e it is o n l y a n i n s t a n c e o f dérivation 9.2

S u f f i x e d n/a

battre 7

batailler cisailler courailler a criailler dansailler' 3 débroussailler discutailler a disputailler dormaillera écrivailler enfutailler < fouailler godailler grenailler < grisailler < gueusailler intrigailler a jouailler murailler < philosophailler a réglementailler^ rimailler ripailler routailler scmailler^ sonnailler < tirailler tournailler toussailler a traînaillcr a

<
> > > > >

jouer murer philosopher réglementer rimer riper

>

semer sonner tirer tourner tousser traîner

a

-ailler

SUFFIX

Suffixed V e r b

> >

>

> >

> > > > > > >

from

as a d e r i v a t i o n a l v e r b

médiate.

Base V e r b

courir crier danser

accolader,

derived


>

brouillasser brumasser crevasser écrivasser enliasser estrapasser 3 finasser pleuvasser rêvasser terrasser tournassera traînasser tracasser

écrit




>

> >

-eler Base n / a

S u f f i x e d n/a

< < <


créneau cuveau dentelle




piquer river tacher voler

> > > >

becqueter briqueter chevroter 3 craqueter crocheter feuilleter fouetter? fileter louveter marqueter moucheter piqueter riveter tacheter voleter

-eter Base n/a

S u f f i x e d n/a


η fêter imager

>

marger

>

piétcr pleuvoir

> >

trotter

>

amariner crachiner dégouliner disséminer dodeliner dodiner festiner imaginer incriminer laminer marginer paginer piétiner pleuviner 2 pouliner tambouriner terminer trottiner

Base n/a

S u f f i x e d n/a


>

> >

> >

-onner Suffixed n/a

Base n/a

< < < <



couder fêter flamber

grossir joindre

poudrer rougir tourner

SUFFIX

>

apitoyer atermoyer charroyer bornoyera chatoyer côtoyer coudoyer festoyer flamboyer fossoyer foudroyer grossoyer jointoyer larmoyer merdoyera nettoyer poudroyer rougeoyer rudoyer tournoyer tutoyer vousoyer voussoyer3 vouvoyer

S u f f i x e d n/a

Base n/a <


charroi


R20 R21 t. 3sg onz R22 lpl ^ ez. R23

120 R24 R41 R26 R27

A P P E N D I X A: V E R B R U L E S

3pl inf -> -r. près part -» - a n t ( a ) ( z ) . past part -Q(a)(z).

(B) Specific Rules R6a R6 R34

Cancel R 6 . Applies only t o bruire, enfuir, fuir, refuir, rire, . . . i- -» is- / _ -V. -sZ -> -e/ a-

R39

. . . a- -> e- / , _ - s + 3 t .

R7

..

R28

-sonz

R29 R30 R32

-sez -> -stsz. -rst -ront. -rZ -> -re.

R36 R37 R38 R42

-. . . V->i/_._ X. -rz -> -raz. -rt^.rat

R43

-S3+t -> -st.

sourire.

a-/„-s. -smsz.

R44 R45

s

ε / _ Z#Z3.

R46 R84*

. . . C2V(V)(Cl)-^C2-1

accroître acquérir admettre apercevoir apparaître apprendre asseoir avoir boire choir commettre comparaître complaire comprendre compromettre concevoir

_ h

connaître conquérir contredire contrefaire croire croître décevoir déchoir décroître dédire défaire démettre déplaire dépourvoir déprendre désapprendre

108 verbs: devoir dire disparaître échoir élire emboire émettre émouvoir enquérir (s') entr'apercevoir (s') e n t r e m e t t r e (s') entreprendre entrevoir éprendre faire forfaire

interdire lire méconnaître médire m é p r e n d r e (se) messeoir mettre mouvoir oom meettttrr ae paître paraître parfaire percevoir permettre plaire pleuvoir

A P P E N D I X A: V E R B R U L E S

pourvoir pouvoir prédire prendre prévoir promettre promouvoir rapprendre rasseoir ravoir réadmettre R55 R49a

réapparaître réapprendre recevoir recomparaître reconnaître reconquérir recroître redéfaire redevoir redire réélire

détenir devenir disconvenir entretenir intervenir maintenir obtenir

R49 R52 R53

• C- -> Ci- / ... -s. -t / fi- _ . -Q . uañ- -> ucñ- / _ -C.

R54 R58

-Q

obvenir parvenir prévenir provenir redevenir ressouvenir retenir

revenir soutenir souvenir (se) subvenir survenir tenir venir

-t / iz- _ . -> -t / ε- _ . -Q . C- -> Cy- / _ -Q. . C- -> Ci- / _ -r#. 4 2 verbs

abstenir (s') accourir acquérir advenir appartenir circonvenir concourir conquérir contenir contrevenir convenir R51 R57a

satisfaire savoir seoir soumettre surfaire surprendre surseoir taire transmettre transparaître voir

. . .1- -+ ly / _ -s. Cancel R 4 9 . 28 verbs:

abstenir (s') advenir appartenir circonvenir contenir contrevenir convenir

R50 R67*

refaire relire remettre repaître reparaître repleuvoir reprendre requérir resavoir retransmettre revoir

courir détenir devenir disconvenir discourir encourir enquérir entretenir intervenir maintenir

mourir obtenir obvenir parcourir parvenir prévenir provenir reconquérir recourir redevenir

requérir ressouvenir (se) retenir revenir secourir soutenir souvenir (se) subvenir survenir tenir venir

pourvoir prévoir rasseoir

revoir seoir surseoir voir

. . . N- ->· Nd- / _ -r. Cancel R 5 7 . 14 verbs:

asseoir choir déchoir dépourvoir

échoir entrevoir messeoir

122

R57 R87*

APPENDIX A: VERB RULES

- r # ->· -ra / U- _ . . . . CCua- / _ - r # . 26 verbs:

apercevoir apparoir avoir chaloir concevoir décevoir devoir R56 R85 R59*

émouvoir pleuvoir entr'apercevoir (s') pouvoir prévaloir équivaloir promouvoir falloir ravoir mouvoir recevoir percevoir

. . . 1 -> d- / _ -C. . . . s- -»· t- / _ -r. -Q -z. 48 verbs:

acquérir admettre apprendre asseoir circoncire clore commettre comprendre compromettre conquérir dé cl ore démettre

déprendre désapprendre éclore émettre enclore enquérir (s') entremettre (s') entreprendre éprendre (s') forcio re inclure méprendre (s')

messeoir mettre occlure omettre permettre prendre promettre rapprendre rasseoir réadmettre réapprendre reclore

R60*

ζ- -»• d- / _ -r. coudre, découdre, recoudre.

R61*

y- -> i-. 47 verbs:

acquérir admettre apprendre asseoir commettre comprendre coir promettre conquérir contredire dédire démettre déprendre

R62*

re devoir repleuvoir resavoir revaloir savoir valoir vouloir

ν-

boire circonscrire décrire écrire

désapprendre dire émettre enquérir (s') ensuivre (s') entremettre (s') entreprendre éprendre interdire médire méprendre (s') messeoir mettre

reclure reconquérir remettre renclore reprendre requérir retransmettre seoir soumettre surprendre surseoir transmettre

omettre permettre poursuivre prédire prendre promettre rapprendre rasseoir réadmettre réapprendre reconquérir redire

remettre reprendre requérir retransmettre seoir soumettre suivre surprendre surseoir transmettre

prescrire proscrire récrire

reinscrire retranscrire souscrire transcrire

0 / _ -r. 14 verbs: emboire inscrire pouvoir

APPENDIX A: VERB RULES

R63*

- r # - > -ra. 17 verbs:

boire bruire circonscrire décrire écrire R64*

proscrire récrire réinscrire re transcrire

rire sourire souscrire transcrire

dissoudre écrire faire forfaire inscrire interdire maudire médire

mourir parfaire prédire prescrire proscrire récrire redéfaire redire

refaire réinscrire (résoudre) re transcrire satisfaire souscrire surfaire transcrire

- t ( a ) ( y ) -> 0. entre-luire, entre-nuire (s,''), luire nuire, reluire, lyiz...ly/ i-s. (luire, reluire) . . . C i - * C y - / _ - s . 55 verbs:

accourir accroître apercevoir apparaître avoir boire choir comparaître concevoir concourir connaître courir croire croître R69*

emboire inscrire maudire prescrire

-Q->-t. 33 verbs:

absoudre bruire circonscrire contredire contrefaire décrire dédire défaire dire R65* R66* R68*

123

décevoir déchoir décroître dépourvoir devoir discourir disparaître échoir emboire émouvoir encourir entr'apercevoir (s') être méconnaître

mourir mouvoir paître paraître parcourir percevoir pourvoir pouvoir promouvoir ravoir réapparaître recevoir recomparaître reconnaître

suffire.

recourir recroître redevoir repaître reparaître resavoir revivre savoir secourir survivre taire transparaître vivre

...i(s)--»0 / unmarked aspect. 42 verbs:

accueillir assaillir bouillir consentir couvrir cueillir débouillir découvrir défaillir démentir départir

desservir dévêtir dormir endormir entrouvrir faillir mentir offrir ouvrir partir pressentir

rebouillir recouvrir recueillir redormir rendormir rentrouvrir repartir repentir ressentir resservir ressortir

revêtir rouvrir saillir sentir servir sortir souffrir tressaillir vêtir

124 R70*

APPENDIX A: VERB RULES . . . C-^-Ca- / _ +C.

accueillir assaillir couvrir cueillir

16 verbs:

découvrir (défaillir) entrouvrir offrir

ouvrir recouvrir recueillir rentrouvrir

R71 *

. . . ji- -> js- / _ -rV . . . accueillir, cueillir, recueillir.

R72*

. . . ri-Q^ert.

couvrir découvrir

9 verbs: ouvrir recouvrir

entrouvrir offrir

R73*

. . . i—> y- / _ -Q. dévêtir, revêtir, vêtir.

R74*

hai- -»· he - / _ + C .

R75*

ζ izr-

R76*

ar-

R77*

ua . . . - - » · . . . ε / - r V . . . 8 verbs:

ìezi-τ.

apparoir.

R78*

uhi-* ua- / unmarked aspect,

R79*

ua- -»-DÌ- /

R80*

an-

R81*

ίεη- -> F,n- / _ -s. 28 verbs:

-X.

abstenir ( s ' ) advenir appartenir circonvenir contenir contrevenir convenir

R82*

|

revoir voir

oui'r.

. Same as R 8 1 *

détenir devenir disconvenir entretenir intervenir maintenir obtenir

...uC-

obvenir parvenir prévenir provenir redevenir ressouvenir ( s e ) retenir

revenir soutenir souvenir ( s e )

pouvoir

promouvoir vouloir

parfaire redéfaire

refaire satisfaire surfaire

subvenir survenir tenir venir

. 6 verbs:

R83*

murt

R86*

-ez -»· tsz.

contrefaire

envoyer renvoyer

oui'r.

émouvoir mourir

défaire dire

rouvrir souffrir

hair.

(échoir) entrevoir

ίεη- / _

rentrouvrir

gésir.

er- / _.. + C .

(choir) (déchoir)

rouvrir saillir souffrir tressaillir

mort,

mourir.

12 verbs: être faire forfaire

redire

125

APPENDIX A: VERB RUL'ES

R88*

buav- -» byv- / _ -X. boire,

R89*

. . . av- -> uav- /

désapprendre entreprendre éprendre (s')

ker- -> kier- / _

acquérir conquérir

R93* R94*

R126* R99* R100* RI 11* RI 18*

méprendre (se) prendre rapprendre

réapprendre reprendre surprendre

reconquérir

requerir

5 verbs:

Í-W . Same as R94* r v \-rV sua- -> sej- / _ -V. 4 verbs: messeoir

1 ... — / _

ji- -»• d- / _ -rV . . . {défaillir), a ->· o / __ C-C. 8 verbs: équivaloir faillir

puv- ->• pyis- / _ sie-/ _

aller chaloir R97* R96*

\-W

enquérir (s')

(asseoir) R95*

entr'apercevoir (s') percevoir

pranpran- / _ -X. Same as R91 * pran- -> pren- / _ -a. 12 verbs:

apprendre comprendre déprendre

R92*

8 verbs:

décevoir devoir

apercevoir concevoir R90* R91*

emboire.

{faillir).

falloir prévaloir . .

- G près sjn

pouvoir.

1- lv- / -V. absoudre, dissoudre, résoudre. oC- uC- / _ -C. absoudre, dissoudre, résoudre. , Í-Z als- -» νε I _ < . aller. i-ot • , __i · Cont.

aller avoir contrefaire défaire R102*

13 verbs:

être faire forfaire

parfaire ravoir redéfaire

refaire satisfaire surfaire

redéfaire refaire

satisfaire surfaire

f s z -> fas- / p r è s s j n . 9 v e r b s :

contrefaire défaire faire

forfaire parfaire

j-r#

RI03*

f(az)- -> fr.z- / _

RI 04*

sav-

RIOS"

sav-

RI 06*

a ->· o / _ -r. avoir, ravoir, resavoir, savoir.

(-W "

S a m e as R I 0 2 *

• sev- / ... -W. resavoir, savoir. .

,

/-a

sas- / _
somaz.

R I 20* R121*

i- / _ -rV . . . aller. e. avoir, ravoir.

h

. avoir, ravoir.

^ p r e s sjn

• sa- / _ -rV . . . être. • f . . . - / _ y-s.

être.

être.

et-

sua- / près sjn. être.

ety

ete. être. # π

RI 24

skriv- ^ ekriv- /

R I 25

stre

RI 22

RI 23

. aller.

in+

3

> +/-

APPENDIX A: VERB

R127

ob+ - > /

R128

ad+

R129 R130

_ z. R40 R47

-s+at -> -rat. . . . ua uai / _ (a) X .

R48

. . . ε . . .-

ei / _ (a) X .

APPENDIX Β. THE IRREGULAR VERBS

Verb

Underlying root

Special rules

absoudre abstenir (s') accourir accroître accueillir acquérir admettre advenir aller apercevoir apparaître apparoir appartenir apprendre assaillir asseoir (s') avoir boire bouillir bruire chaloir choir circoncire circonscrire circonvenir clore commettre comparaître complaire comprendre compromettre concevoir concourir connaître conquérir consentir contenir

ab+solabs+tana+kura+kruasa+kœjia+kerad+mstad+v3 ríalaa+per+sava+parr.sa+para+par+tana+prana+sajia+suaQavbuavbujibryisalsuasirkonsizsirkon+skrivsirkon+vanklozkon+metkon+parESkon+plt:zkon+prankon+pra+mctkon+savkon+kurkonESkon+kerk o n + sanikon+tsn-

64* 9 9 * , 1 0 0 * 49a 6 7 * , 8 0 * 81* 67* 68* 84* 68* 69* 7 0 * , 7 1 * 84* 6 7 * , 5 9 * 6 1 * , 9 2 * 84* 5 9 * , 6 1 * 49a 6 7 * , 8 0 * 81* 95* 111*, 101*, 112*, 1 84* 68*, 87* 89* 84* 68* 87* 76* 49a 6 7 * , 8 0 * 81* 84* 5 9 * , 6 1 * 9 0 * , 9 1 * 69* 70* 84* 57a, 59* 61*, (93*), 84* 6 8 * , 8 7 * 101*, 106 84* 6 2 * , 6 3 * 68*, 88* 69* 6a, 63*, 64* 4a, 87*, 95*, 96* 84*, 57a, 68*, (77*) 59* 62*, 63*, 64* 49a, 67*, 80* 81* 59* 84*, 59*, 61* 84*, 68* 84* 84*, 5 9 * , 6 1 * 9 0 * , 9 1 * 84*, 59*, 61* 84*, 8 7 * , 6 8 * 89* 67*, 68* 84*, 68* 84*, 67*, 59* 6 1 * , 9 2 * 69* 49a, 67*, 80* 81*

APPENDIX Β. THE IRREGULAR VERBS Verb

Underlying r o o t

Special rules

contredire contrefaire contrevenir convenir coudre courir couvrir croire croître cueillir débouillir décevoir déchoir déclore découdre découvrir décrire décroître dédire défaillir défaire démentir démettre départir déplaire dépourvoir déprendre désapprendre desservir détenir devenir dévêtir devoir dire disconvenir discourir disparaître dissoudre dormir échoir é clore écrire élire emboire émettre émouvoir enclore encourir endormir enfuir ( s ' )

kontra+dizkontra+fazkontra+vankon+vankuzkurkuvrikruakruaskœjidez+bujidez+savdez+suadez+klozdez+kuzdez+kuvrido+skrivdez+kruasdez+dizdez+fajidez+fazdez+mantidez+metdez+partidez+ρΐεζdez+pur+vuadez+prandez+a+prandez+servidez+tan da+vandez+vetidavdizdis+kon+vandis+kurdis+parc sdis+soldormie+suae+klozskrive+lizan+buae + m e te+muvan+klozan+kuran+dormian+fyi-

84*,61*,64* 84*,64*,86*,101*,102*,103* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 60* 67*,68* 69*,70*,72* 84*,68* 84*, 68* 69*, 70*, 71* 69* 84*,87*, 68*, 89* 8 4 * , 57a, 6 8 * , ( 7 7 * ) 59* 60* 69*, 70*, 72* 62*, 63*, 64*, 124* 84*,68* 84*, 61*, 64* 6 9 * , 7 0 * , ( 9 7 * ), ( 9 6 * ) 84*, 64*, 86*, 1 0 1 * , 1 0 2 * , 1 0 3 * 69* 84*,59*,61* 69* 84* 8 4 * , 57a, 6 8 * 84*, 59*, 61*, 90*, 91* 84*, 59*, 61*, 9 0 * , 9 1 * 69* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 69*,73* 84*, 87*, 68*, 89* 84*, 61*, 64*, 86* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 67*, 68* 84*,68* 64*, 99*, 100* 69* 8 4 * , 57a, 6 8 * , ( 7 7 * ) 59* 62*, 63*, 64*, 124* 84* 84*, 62*, 63*, 68*, 88* 84*,59*,61* 84*, 68*, 82*, 87* 59* 67*, 68* 69*

129

130

APPENDIX Β. THE IRREGULAR VERBS

Verb

Underlying r o o t

Special rules

enquérir (s') ensuivre (s') entr'apercevoir ( s ' ) entre-luire e n t r e m e t t r e (s') entre-nuire ( s ' ) entreprendre entretenir entrevoir entrouvrir envoyer éprendre ( s ' ) équivaloir être

an+keran+syivantrs+a+per+savantra+lyiza n t r a + m s tantra+nyiz antra+pranantra+tanantra+vuaantra+uvrianvuaae+praneki+valet-

faillir faire falloir forclore forfaire fuir gésir haïr inclure inscrire interdire intervenir lire luire maintenir maudire méconnaître médire mentir m é p r e n d r e (se) messeoir mettre mourir mouvoir naître nuire obtenir obvenir occlure offrir omettre oui'r ouvrir paître paraître parcourir

faji fazfalfor+klozfor+fazfyizizhaiin+kly in+skrivinter+dizinter+vanlizlyizmen+tanmodimez+kanesmez+dizmantimez+pranmez+suam s tmurmuvηε snyizab+tanab+vanob+klyafriob+metuhiuvripesparE spar+kur-

8 4 * , 6 7 * , 5 9 * ., 6 1 * , 9 2 * 61* 84*, 87*, 68*, 89* 65* 84*,59*,61* 65* 84*, 59*, 61*. 90*, 91* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 8 4 * , 57a, 7 7 * 69*, 70*, 72* 77* 84*, 59*, 61*, 90*, 91* 87*, 95*, 96* 68*, 86*, 118*, 101*, 107*, 120*, 121* 69*, 96*, (97*) 84*, 64*, 86*, 101*, 102*, 1 4a, 8 7 * , 9 5 * , 9 6 * 59* 84*, 64*, 86*, 101*, 102*, 1 6a 75* 74* 59* 62*, 63*, 64* 84*, 61*, 64* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 84* 65*, (66*) 49a, 6 7 * , 80*, 8 1 * 63*, 64* 84*, 68* 84*, 61*, 64* 69* 84*, 59*, 61*. 90*, 91* 8 4 * , 57a, 5 9 * , 6 1 * , 9 3 * , 9 4 * 84*, 59*, 61* 6 7 * , 6 4 * , 6 8 * ., 8 2 * , 8 3 * 8 4 * , 6 8 * , 8 2 * ., 8 7 * 109*, 110* 65* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 59* 69*, 70*, 72* 84*, 59*, 61* 78*,79* 69*, 70*, 72* 84*, 68* 84*,68* 67*,68*

APPENDIX Β. THE IRREGULAR VERBS

Verb

Underlying root

Special rules

parfaire partir parvenir percevoir permettre plaire pleuvoir poursuivre pourvoir pouvoir prédire prendre prescrire pressentir prévaloir prévenir prévoir promettre promouvoir proscrire provenir rapprendre rasseoir ravoir réadmettre réapparaître réapprendre rebouillir recevoir re clore reclure recomparaître reconnaître reconquérir recoudre recourir recouvrir récrire recroître recueillir redéfaire redevenir redevoir redire redormir réélire refaire re fuir réinscrire relire reluire

par+fazpartipar+vanper+savper+mstρίεζplœvpur+syivpur+vuapuvpre+dizpranpre+skrivpre+santipre+valpre+vanpre+vuapro+mctpra+muvpro+skrivpro+vsnra+a+pranra+a+suara+Qavre+ad+me tre+a+paresre+a+pranra+buji-

84*, 64*, 86*, 69* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 84*, 87*, 68*, 8 4 * , 5 9 * , 61* 84* (4a), 8 4 * , 8 7 * 61* 8 4 * , 57a, 6 8 * 84*, 62*, 68*, 84*, 61*, 64* 84*, 59*, 61*, 62*, 63*, 64* 69* 87*, 95*, 96* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 4 * , 57a 84*,59*,61* 84*, 68*, 82*, 62*, 63*, 64* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 84*, 59*, 61*, 8 4 * . 57a, 5 9 * , 84*, 68*, 87*, 84*, 59*, 61* 84*, 68* 84*, 59*, 61*, 69* 84*, 87*, 68*, 59* 59* 84*, 68* 84*, 68* 84*, 67*, 59*, 60* 67*,68* 69*, 70*, 72* 62*, 63*, 64*, 84*, 68* 69*, 70*, 71* 84*, 64*, 86*, 49*, 67*, 80*, 84*, 87*, 68*, 84*, 61*, 64*, 69* 84* 84*, 64*, 86*, 6a 6 2 * , 6 3 * , 64* 84* 65*, (66*)

Î3 S 3 V -

ra+klozra+klyra+kon+paresra+konesra+kon+kerra+kuzra+kurra+kuvrira+skrivra+kruasra+kœjira+dez+fazra+da+vanra+davra+dizra+dormire+e+lizra+fazra+fyira+in+skrivra+lizra+lyiz-

101*, 102*, 103* 81* 89*

82*, 87*, 98* 90*, 91*

81* 87* 81* 90*, 91* 61*, (93*), (94*) 1 0 1 * , 1 0 6 * , 107*. 90*, 91* 89*

61*, 92*

124* 1 0 1 * , 1 0 2 * , 103* 81* 89* 86* 101*, 1 0 2 * , 1 0 3 *

131

132

APPENDIX Β. THE IRREGULAR VERBS

Verb

Underlying r o o t

Special rules

remettre renaître renclore rendormir rentrouvrir renvoyer repaître reparaître repartir repentir repleuvoir reprendre requérir resavoir résoudre ressentir resservir ressortir ressouvenir (se) retenir retranscrire retransmettre revaloir revenir revêtir revivre revoir rire rouvrir saillir satisfaire savoir secourir sentir seoir servir sortir souffrir soumettre sourire souscrire soutenir souvenir (se) subvenir suffire suivre surfaire surprendre surseoir survenir survivre

ra+metra+nesra+an+klozra+an+dormira+antra+uvrira+anvuaara+pssr a + p a r s sra+partirapantira+plœvra+pranra+kerra+savre+salra+santira+servira+sortira+suz+vanra+tanra+tranz+skrivra+tranz+mstra+valra+vanra+vctira+vivra+vuarira+uvrisajisatis+fazsavsakursa η tisú aservisortisufrisuz+metsuz+risuz+skrivsuz+tansuz+vansyb+vansyfizsyivsyr+fazsyr+pransyr+suasyr+vansyr+viv-

84*, 59*, 61* 109*, 110* 59* 69* 69*, 70*, 72* 77* 84*,68* 84*. 68* 69* 69* (4a,) 8 4 * , 8 7 * 84*, 59*, 61*, 90*, 91* 84*, 67*, 59*, 61* 84*, 87*, 68*, 104*, 105*, 106* 6 4 * , 9 9 * , 100* 1 2 6 * 69* 69* 69* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 62*,63*, 64* 84*, 59*, 61* 87*, 95*, 96* 49a, 6 7 * , 3 0 * , 8 1 * 69*, 73* 68*,108* 8 4 * , 57a, 7 7 * 6a, 6 3 * 69*, 70*, 72* 69*,70* 84*, 64*, 86*, 1 0 1 * , 1 0 2 * , 1 0 3 * 84*, 87*, 68*, 104*, 105*, 106* 67*,68* 69* 8 4 * , 57a, 5 9 * , 6 1 * , 9 3 * , 9 4 * 69* 69* 69*, 70*, 72* 84*, 59*, 61* 6a, 6 3 * 62*,63*, 64* 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 65* 61* 84*, 64*, 86*, 101*,102*, 103* 84*, 59*, 61*, 90* 91* 8 4 * , 57a, 5 9 * , 6 1 * 49a, 6 7 * , 8 0 * , 8 1 * 68*,108*

APPENDIX Β. THE IRREGULAR VERBS Verb

Underlying root

S p e c i a l rules

taire tenir transcrire transmettre transparaître tressaillir valoir venir vêtir vivre voir vouloir

ίεζtsntranz+skrivtranz+mettranz+parestre+sajivalvanVf.tivivvuavul-

84* 68* 49a 6 7 * 8 0 * , 8 1 * 62* 6 3 * 6 4 * 84* 59* 61* 84* 68* 69* 70* 87* 95* 96* 49a 6 7 * 8 0 * , 8 1 * 69* 73* 6 8 * 108 * 8 4 * 57a 7 7 * 87* 82* 95*

A P P E N D I X C.

INDEX VERBORUM1

Verb

Gloss 2

Verb

abattre abeéder abhorrer abjurer aboyer abréger abroger absoudre abstenir (s') abstraire abuser accéder accélérer accolader accompagner accorder accourir accroire accroître accueillir acérer acheter achever aciérer acquérir actualiser adhérer adjoindre adjuger

beat d o w n form into an abscess abhor abjure bark abridge abrogate absolve abstain abstract abuse accede accelerate bracket accompany accord run u p t o believe grow welcome sharpen buy finish cover with steel acquire bring up to date adhere associate adjudicate

adjurer admettre administrer adresser adultérer advenir aérer affréter agglomérer agneler agonir agoniser agrafer agréger aguerrir aiguayer aiguiller aiguilleter aiguillonner ajuster aléser aliéner allécher alléger alléguer aller aller (s'en) altérer amariner

Gloss beseech concede administrate address adulterate befall ventilate charter (boat) pile up lamb insult be near death staple incorporate train t o war water (horses) shunt frap goad adjust s m o o t h (cannon) alienate allure ease allege go go a w a y alter ( f o r worse) inure to sea

1 This-list contains all verbs m e n t i o n e d in this w o r k , w h e t h e r in the text, tables, or f o o t n o t e s . F o r several reasons A p p e n d i x C is not identical to Bescherellc's list. First o f all, w e have studied numerous verbs that do n o t appear in Bescherelle; all such verbs are listed here. S e c o n d l y , the majority of Bescherellc's entries are regular, u n a f f i x e d verbs requiring no c o m m e n t ; they d o not appear in A p p e n d i x C. All regular I and II verbs o f interest, all III verbs, all irregular verbs, and all s u f f i x e d verbs ( e x c e p t those in -ifier and -iser) in Bescherelle are listed here. 2

Glosses here are necessarily short and simple.

A P P E N D I X C. INDEX V E R B O R U M 1 Verb

amener amonceler amouracher ( s ' ) anhéler

Gl oss

lead heap u p have a f o o l i s h passion

Verb

13 Gl o s s

baqueter

scoop

barboter barbouiller

play in mud smear trumpet (elephant) battle

pant curl

baréter

anneler apercevoir apitoyer apparaître

catch sight o f move to pity appear

bateler battre

apparoir appartenir appeler

appear belong

bavocher bayer bécoter

apprendre

call suspend

becqueter

peck

appéter apprendre

covet learn

béer

gape

bégayer

stammer

appuyer ardre*

h o l d up

bégueter bénir

arpéger arriérer arriver

burn ( O F ) play arpeggios defer arrive

batailler

baver

bienvenir biqueter blasphémer

carry b y b o a t beat slobber be smeary ( p r i n t ) gape p e c k , kiss

bleat bless welcome kid ( s h e - g o a t ) blaspheme

aseptiser

make aseptic

assaillir

assail

assécher asséner

d r y up strike

boire

asseoir

boitiller

limp h o b b l e slightly

asservir

seat enslave

bornoyer

stake o f f

assiéger

besiege

associer

associate

bosseler bosser

emboss stopper

assoner

assonance match

botteler botter

put up in bundles

assortir astreindre

compel

atermoyer attaquer

d el a y ( p a y m e n t ) attack

atteindre

attain

atteler attendre

harness

attiser attraper augmenter aveindre

banqueter

*

p l a y the b u f f o o n move

boulonner

bolt torture

remove

bourrer braire

turn o u t t o be revive

baller ballotter

put b o o t s o n p u f f up

catch increase

wait f o r stir up ( f i r e )

avérer ( s ' )

baisoter balayer

bouffer bouffonner bouger

lisp drink

boil boil over simmer

verify

avoir baiser

boiter

cry ( a n i m a l s )

bouillir bouilloner bouillotter bouler

avérer aviver

blatérer bléser

bourreler

brandiller

have

brandir brayer

kiss peck at sweep dance

brésiller bretteler breveter briller

toss a b o u t banquet

briqueter

Not listed in Bescherelle.

briquer*

roll like a ball

stuff bray swing brandish truss break small indent patent shine scrub pave w i t h bricks

136

APPENDIX C. INDEX VERBORUM 1

Verb briser brouillasser brouiller brouillonner brouter broyer bruire bruisser* brumasser brumer buvoter cacher cacheter cachotter cailleter canneler capeler capituler caqueter caréner carreler carrer cartayer céder ceindre célébrer celer chaloir champlever chanceler chanter chanteronner* chantonner chapeler charrier charroyer chatonner chatouiller chatoyer chauffer chercher chevreter chevronner chevroter choir choyer chronométrer

Gloss smash drizzle jumble up write confusedly graze grind make noise = bruire (CF) be hazy be foggy tipple hide seal conceal gossip groove rig capitulate cackle streamline pave square avoid ruts (driving) yield guird celebrate conceal matter cut out totter sing **

hum scrape crust off cart cart kitten tickle shimmer heat look for kid (goats) chevron kid, speak in tremulous voice fall pamper time

* Not listed in Bescherelle. ** Not found in any dictionary; no gloss available.

Verb chuchoter circoncire circonscrire cisailler ciseler clamer clapoter clapper claqueter claveter clayonner cligner clignoter cliqueter clore cohabiter collaborer colleter colporter combattre commérer commettre comparaître comparoir complaire compléter comporter comprendre compromettre concéder concevoir conclure concourir concréter condescendre conduire confédérer conférer confire confondre congeler conglomérer conjoindre connaître conquérir conseiller consentir construire

Gloss whisper circumcise circumscribe pare chisel cry out splash click (tongue) cackle key wattle, fence in wink blink click close cohabit collaborate seize by the neck hawk about combat gossip commit appear appear be pleasing complete involve understand compromise concede conceive conclude concur solidify condescend lead confederate confer conserve, candy confuse congeal conglomerate conjoin know conquer advise consent construct

137

APPENDIX C. INDEX VERBORUM 1

Verb contenir contraindre contre-battre contre-bouter contrecarrer contredire contrefaire contrevenir convaincre convenir convoyer coopérer coposséder coqueter cordeler corder cordonner correspondre corrompre corroyer corseter côtoyer couder coudoyer coudre courailler* courir courre couvrir cracher crachiner* crachoter craindre craqueler craquer craqueter crayonner crémer créneler créner crevasser crever criailler crier crocher crocheter croire croître

Gloss contain constrain answer enemy fire buttress thwart contradict counterfeit contravene convince agree convoy cooperate possess in common flirt twist twist into cord twist into cord correspond corrupt curry (leather) dress with a corset go by side of make an elbow elbow, jostle sew philander run run cover spit drizzle spit often fear crackle (china) snap, crack crackle draw with a pencil cream; cremate indent nick make crevasses in burst howl shout hook crochet believe grow

* Not listed in Bescherelle. ** Not f o u n d in any dictionary; no gloss available.

Verb croustiller crouter* cueillir cuire cuiser*, cuisiner* curer cureter cuveler cuver dansailler* danser dansot(t)er* débattre déblatérer déblayer débosseler débouillir débrayer débroussailler décacheter décapeler décarreler décéder déceler décélérer déceptionner* décevoir décheveler déchiqueter déchoir décliqueter déclore décolérer décolleter décompléter déconfire déconsidérer découdre découvrir décréter décrire décroître dédire déduire défaillir défaire défendre déféquer

Gloss crunch munch pick cook (CF = cuire) cleanse curette line (mine-shafts) ferment * *

dance dance poorly debate utter violent abuse clear away take dents out of steep cloth take out of gear clear of undergrowth unseal unrig unpave decease disclose decelerate (CF = décevoir) disappoint dishevel hack decay unclick unclose stop being angry uncover the neck of render incomplete discomfit discredit unsew discover decree describe decrease disavow deduce default undo defend defecate

138

APPENDIX C. INDEX V E R B O R U M 1

Verb déférer déficeler défrayer dégeler dégénérer dégobiller dégouliner dégrafer dégraveler dégravoyer dégrever déjeter délayer déléguer délibérer démanteler démener (se) démentir démettre démissionner démordre démoucheter démuseler déniveler denteler denter dépaqueter départir dépecer dépeindre dépendre déplacer déplaire déployer déposséder dépourvoir dépoussiérer déprendre dérayer dérégler dérelier désagrafer* désagréger désaltérer désapprendre descendre désembrayer désempeser désengrener

Gloss confer untie defray thaw degenerate puke drip unhook remove a pipe from gravel wash clean reduce warp dilute delegate deliberate dismantle disentangle give the lie to dismiss resign yield uncap unmuzzle make uneven notch give teeth to unpack separate cut in pieces depict depend displace displease deploy dispossess leave destitute dust detach form last ridge (field) put out of order unbind (CF = dégrafer) separate refresh unlearn descend put out of gear unstarch put out of gear

Not listed in Bescherelle.

Verb désennuyer désenrayer désenverguer désespérer déshydrater désincorporer désintégrer désoccuper désceuvrer désolidariser* désoperculer* dessécher desservir déteindre dételer détendre détenir détester détordre détortiller détruire devenir déverguer dévernir dévêtir devoir dévoyer diéser différer digérer dilacérer diminuer dire disconvenir discorder discourir disculper discutailler discuter disjoindre disparaître disposer disputailler disputer disséminer disséquer dissocier dissoner dissoudre

Gloss divert unlock remove the yards (sail) despair dehydrate disembody disintegrate deprive of occupation bring to idleness break ties uncap (honeycomb) parch clear (table) take dye out of unharness slacken detain detest untwist unravel destroy become remove the yards (sail) remove varnish f r o m undress owe lead astray sharp (music) defer digest tear to pieces diminish say deny be discordant discourse exculpate discuss discuss disjoin disappear dispose cavil dispute disseminate dissect dissociate make a dissonance dissolve

APPENDIX C. INDEX VERBORUM 1

Verb dissuader distendre

Gloss

dodiner* dormailler*

dissuade distend distort distract rock rock sleep poorly

dormichonner*

**

dormir dormotter* dresser duire* ébattre (s') ébouter ébrécher écarteler écarter échapper échauffer échelonner écheveler échoir éclore éconduire écorner écornifler écrémer écrire écrivailler écrivasser écurer effiler effilocher effrayer égaler égaliser égayer égorger égorgiller* égosiller (s') égrapper égravillonner* égrener élever élire emboire embrayer embrever

sleep

distordre

distraire dodeliner

**

erect instruct (OF) frolic cut off the end make a gap in tear to pieces set aside escape heat draw up in echelons dishevel fall due blossom refuse squander sponge on skim write scribble scribble scour unweave unravel frighten equal equalize cheer up cut the throat of **

make oneself hoarse pick f r o m the bunch remove soil from unstring (beads) raise elect coat put into gear mortise

Not listed in Bescherelle. Not found in any dictionary; no gloss available.

Verb émécher émerveiller émétiser* émettre emmener emmétrer émotionner émoudre émouvoir empaqueter empeser empiéter employer emporter empoussiérer empreindre enamourer énamourer encasteler (s') enceindre enchanter enchifrener encliqueter enclore encourir endormir enduire enfiévrer enfreindre enfuir (s') enfutailler enfuter* engrener

engrumeler (s') enjaveler enjoindre enlever enliasser enlier ennuyer enquérir (s') enrayer ensiler* ensiloter ensorceler ensuivre (s') entendre enténébrer

139 Gloss make tipsy amaze put an emetic in emit lead away dispose for measuring (CF = é m o u v o i r )

whet affect pack starch encroach upon employ carry off cover with dust imprint inspire with love inspire with love be hoof-bound (horse) encircle enchant stuff up (nose) cog enclose incur put to sleep coat make feverish infringe flee barrel barrel feed with corn clot sheaf(corn) enjoin lift tie up in a bundle bond bore inquire put brakes on ensilage ensilage bewitch ensue hear plunge in darkness

140

APPENDIX C. INDEX VERBORUM1

Verb entortiller entourer entr'apercevoir (s') entre-luire entremettre (s') entre-nuire (s') entreprendre entretenir entrevoir entr'ouvrir énumérer enverguer envoyer épandre épanneler éparpiller épeler épinceter épousseter épreindre éprendre (s') équarrir équivaloir escompter espérer essayer essuyer estamper estampiller ester estrapader estrapasser* étayer éteindre étendre étinceler étiqueter étonner étouper étoupiller être étreindre exagérer exaspérer excéder exclure excréter exécrer exhéréder

Gloss coil around surround catch a glimpse of glimmer interpose harm one another undertake entertain see imperfectly open a little enumerate bend (a sail) to the yards send scatter rough-hew (stone) strew about spell shape (stone) dust off squeeze out fall in love square be equivalent discount hope try wipe stamp stamp appear in court give the strappado to harass (horse) shore up extinguish extend sparkle label astonish caulk prime (tube) be embrace exaggerate exasperate exceed exclude excrete execrate disinherit

Not listed in Bescherelle.

Verb exonérer exposer extraire exulcérer faillir faire falloir farfouiller fédérer feindre fendiller fendre férir fermer festiner festoyer fêter feuiller feuilleter ficeler ficher filer fileter filocher finasser finir flamber flamboyer flâner flânocher flécher fleurir flotter fondre forcer forclore forfaire forjeter fossoyer fouailler foudroyer fouetter fourmiller fourvoyer foutre* frayer fréter frire

Gloss exonerate expose extract exulcerate fail make be necessary rummage federate feign chink crack strike close carouse feast celebrate put on leaves peruse tie with string thrust spin thread (screw) make a network of thread trick finish singe blaze stroll loiter hit with an arrow flower float melt force foreclose be false to jut out dig a trench around lash strike with lightning whip swarm lead astray thrust, etc. wear away charter fry

141

APPENDIX C. INDEX VERBORUM 1

Verb fuir fureter fuseler galéjer gambader gambiller gangrener gazouiller geindre geler gérer gésir giboyer gober gobeter gobichonner godailler goder grappiller grasseyer grenailler greneler grener grever griffer griffonner grigner grignoter grisailler griser grisonner griveler grogner grognonner grossir grossoyer grumeler guerroyer gueusailler* gueuser guillemeter habiller hair haleter harceler hébéter héler hongroyer hoqueter *

Gloss flee ferret make spindle-shaped kid around gambol kick about gangrene warble moan freeze manage lie go hunting gulp down stop (cracks) feast crease crease glean pronounce uvular /r/ granulate (metal) grain (leather) granulate injure claw scrawl pucker nibble paint a gray sketch make tipsy become gray pilfer grunt grumble enlarge engross (document) clot make war go begging beg put in quotation marks dress hate pant harass make stupid hail tan (leather) hiccup

Not listed in Bescherelle.

Verb humaniser hydrogéner hypothéquer imager imaginer impétrer importer imprégner incarcérer incinérer inclure incommoder incriminer inculper induire inférer ingérer inquiéter inscrire insérer instruire intégrer intercéder interdire interférer interjeter interpénétrer (s') interpréter interrompre intervenir intrigailler* intriguer introduire intrure* invétérer issir jachérer jaser javeler jeter joindre jointoyer jordonner* jouailler jouer jumeler kilométrer

Gloss humanize hydrogenize mortgage adorn with images imagine impetrate matter impregnate incarcerate incinerate include inconvenience incriminate indict induct infer ingest into worry inscribe insert instruct integrate intercede forbid interfere lodge (appeal) interpenetrate interpret interrupt intervene engage in petty intrigues intrigue introduce intrude grow inveterate issue work (fallow land) for the first time chatter bundle throw join grout be imperious play for small stakes play pair measure in kilometers

APPENDIX C. INDEX VERBORUM1

142 Verb lacérer laminer langueyer larder lardonner larmoyer layer lécher légiférer léguer léser lever libérer ligoter liguer lire lisérer loqueter lotir lotisser* louveter louvoyer luire macérer mâcher mâchiller* mâchonner mâchouiller* maintenir malfaire malléabiliser* malmener manéger mangeot(t)er manger manquer marger marginer* marquer marqueter marteler maudire mécher mécompter (se) méconnaître mécroire *

Gloss lacerate laminate examine the tongue of(hog) (inter)lard cut in thin slices whimper cut a path through (forest) lick legislate bequeath injure raise liberate bind unite in a league read trim (a dress) with piping rattle the latch portion off (CF = lotir) whelp (wolf) maneuver shine macerate chew chew loosely munch chew without swallowing maintain do evil make malleable ill-treat exercise pick at one's food eat lack regulate the margin of write in the margin of mark speckle hammer curse fumigate with sulfur make a mistake not recognize disbelieve

N o t listed in B e s c h e r e l l e .

Verb médire méfaire mentir méprendre (se) merdoyer* messeoir métrer mettre mé vendre mignoter modeler modérer monnayer morceler mordiller mordre morfondre morigéner moucheter moudre mouler* mourir mouvoir mugueter murailler* murer museler naître nasiller nettoyer nickeler nifler* niveler noircir noyer nuire numéroter obérer obliger oblitérer obséder obtempérer obtenir obvenir occire occlure octroyer

Gloss. slander do evil tell a lie mistake blunder be unbecoming measure (by the meter) put sell at a loss fondle model moderate mint parcel out nibble bite shiver reprimand spot grind (CF = moudre) die move make love to support with walling wall in muzzle be born speak through the nose clean nickel-plate sniff (OF) level blacken drown harm number involve in debt oblige obliterate obsess comply obtain escheat to slay close grant

A P P E N D I X C. I N D E X V E R B O R U M 1

Verb offrir oindre oiseler omettre ondoyer opérer opposer oppresser ouir ouvrir oxygéner pacifier pagayer paginer pailleter paître panteler papillonner papilloter parachever parachuter parader paraître paraphraser parcourir parfaire parfondre parler parqueter parsemer partir partir parvenir payer pécher peindre peinturer peler pelleter peloter pelotonner pendiller pendouiller pendre pénétrer penser pensotter* percevoir perdre *

Gloss offer anoint train (bird) omit undulate operate oppose oppress hear open oxygenate pacify paddle paginate spangle graze gasp flutter about blink finish parachute show off appear paraphrase peruse perfect fuse (in enamel) speak lay a floor sprinkle depart part succeed pay sin paint daub peel shovel wind into a ball wind into balls dangle hang in a silly way hang penetrate think think cheaply perceive lose

N o t listed in Bescherelle.

Verb périphraser permettre perpétrer persévérer persuader peser péter pétiller philosophailler* philospher pianoter picoter piéger piéter piétiner piler pilonner piquer piqueter plaindre plaire pleurnicher pleuvasser pleuver* pleuvmer* pleuvoir pleuvoter* ployer poigner* poindre pointer pointiller polir polisser* pommeler (se) pommer pondérer pondre posséder poster postillonner* poudrer poudroyer pouliner pourfendre pourlécher poursuivre pourvoir

143 Gloss periphrase permit perpetrate persevere persuade weigh break wind crackle philisophize extravagantly philosophize strum on the piano prick trap run trample pound ram prick mark with little points pity please whimper drizzle (CF = pleuvoir) drizzle rain drizzle fold up (CF = poindre) dawn point dot polish (CF = polir) dapple grow to a round head balance lay (eggs) possess post splutter powder be dusty foal cleave asunder lick all over pursue provide

APPENDIX C. INDEX VERBORUM1

144 Verb pousser pouvoir préacheter précéder prédire préférer prélever prendre prescrire pressentir prétendre prévaloir prévenir prévoir procéder produire proférer projeter proliférer promener promettre promouvoir proscrire prospérer protéger provenir puer quérir, quérir rabattre racheter râler raller* ramener rapiécer rappeler rapprendre rasseoir rasséréner rassir râteler ravoir rayer rayonner réactiver* réadmettre réaléser réapparaître réapprendre

Gloss push, grow be able prepay precede predict prefer set apart in advance take prescribe have a presentiment of claim prevail warn foresee proceed produce utter project proliferate take for a walk promise promote proscribe prosper protect issue stink fetch beat down repurchase give last gasp, (CF) scold go again bring back patch recall relearn reseat clear up become stale rake recover stripe, erase radiate reactivate readmit resmooth (cannon) reappear relearn

Verb réarranger* rebattre rebouillir recacheter recalcifier* récapituler recarreler recaser* recéder receler receper recéper recevoir réchapper réchauffer récidiver réclamer reclore* reclure recomparaftre reconduire reconnaître reconquérir reconsidérer reconstruire recoudre recourir recouvrer recouvrir recréer récréer récrire recroître receuillir recuire récupérer redéfaire redélier* 3 redescendre redevenir redevoir redire redormir réduire réélire réemployer refaire refendre

*

N o t listed in B e s c h c r e l l c .

3

N o t f o u n d in a n y d i c t i o n a r y ; g l o s s s u p p l i e d b y i n f o r m a n t .

Gloss rearrange beat again boil again reseal recalcify recapitulate retile put back in place yield again keep hidden cut (a bush) close cut (a bush) close receive escape warm up again relapse clamor for close up confine appear again lead back recognize reconquer reconsider reconstruct sew up have recourse retrieve cover again re-create entertain rewrite grow again gather up cook again recuperate undo again untie again go down again become again o w e still say again sleep again reduce , reëlect reuse redo split again

145

APPENDIX C. INDEX V E R B O R U M 1

Verb référer refléter refondre refréner réfrigérer refuir regeler régénérer réglementailler* réglementer régler régner réincarcérer réinscrire réintégrer réintroduire réitérer rejeter rejoindre rejointoyer relayer reléguer relever relier relire reluire remblayer remener remettre remmener remordre remoudre rempaqueter rempiéter remployer remuer rémunérer renaître renclore* rendormir rendre renduire rengrener rengréner renifler renouveler rénover rentrouvrir * **

Gloss refer reflect refound (metal) curb freeze flee refreeze regenerate **

regulate regulate reign reincarcerate reregister reinstate reintroduce reiterate reject rejoin rejoint relieve seclude raise again bind (book) reread shine raise (an embankment) lead back replace lead back bite again regrind repack re-foot (stockings) reuse move remunerate be born again enclose put back to sleep give back replaster put into gear again put into gear again sniff renew renovate half-open again

Not listed in Beschcrelle. Not found in any dictionary; gloss unknown

Verb renvoyer réorganiser repaître répandre reparaître repartir répartir repayer repeindre rependre repentir (se) reperdre repérer répéter repleuvoir reployer répondre reposséder reprendre reproduire requérir resavoir reséquer résolver* résoudre ressayer ressemeler ressemer ressentir resservir ressortir ressortir ressouvenir (se) ressuyer restreindre reteindre retendre retenir retondre retordre retourner retraduire retraire retranscrire retransmettre rétreindre rétrocéder

Gloss send back reorganize nourish spread abroad reappear set out again distribute repay repaint rehang repent lose again mark repeat rain again fold up answer repossess take back reproduce request know again, recollect cut o f f ( s u r g e r y ) (CF = résoudre) resolve, solve try again resole (boots) sow again feel, resent serve again go out again be under the jurisdiction recollect wipe again restrict dye again stretch again retain shear again twist again return retranslate milk again transcribe again retransmit shape with a hammer retrocede

APPENDIX C. INDEX VERBORUM1

146 Verb réunir revaloir rêvasser réveiller réveillonner révéler revendre revenir rêver réverbérer révérer revêtir revivre revoir rimailler rimer ripailler riper rire ristourner river riveter rogner rognonner romper* rompre rougeoyer rougir rouspéter rouvrir rudoyer ruisseler sabler sablonner satisfaire sauteler* sauter sautiller sauver saveter savoir sécher secourir sécréter séduire semailler* semer sentir seoir

Gloss reunite be even with dream idly awake take part in late meal reveal resell come back muse reverberate revere dress again revive see again write doggerel rime feast scrape laugh cancel (insurance) rivet rivet pare grumble (CF = rompre) break glow blush protest reopen treat harshly stream sand scour with sand satisfy hop jump hop save bungle know dry help secrete seduce * *

sow feel suit

* N o t listed in Bescherelle. ** Not f o u n d in any d i c t i o n a r y ; no gloss available.

Verb servir sevrer sidérer siéger siffler siffloter sillonner siroter solutionner* sommeiller sonnailler sonner sortir sortir soudoyer souffleter souffrir soulever soumettre soupeser sourdre sourire souscrire sous-entendre sous-tendre soustraire soutenir souvenir (se) stérer stupéfier subdéléguer subvenir succéder sucer suçoter suffire suggérer suivre surélever surfaire surgeler surjeter surmener surpayer surprendre sursauter sursemer surseoir

Gloss serve we an stupefy sit (assembly) whistle whistle softly plow sip (CF = résoudre) slumber keep on ringing ring go out obtain (law) hire, bribe slap (face) suffer lift submit try the weight of result smile subscribe imply subtend subtract support remember measure (wood) by cubic meter stupefy subdelegate provide succeed suck suck away at suffice suggest follow raise higher overrate freeze quickly overcast overwork overpay surprise give a start sow over again postpone

147

APPENDIX C. INDEX VERBORUM

Verb surtondre survenir survivre suspendre tacher tacheter taillader taire taiser* tambouriner taper tapoter tâter tatillonner tâtonner taveler teindre télémétrer tempérer tendre tenir terminer terrasser terrer téter tirailler tirer tisonner tistre tolérer tomber tondre torcher torchonner tordre tortiller toupier toupiller tournailler tournasser* tourner tournicoter* tourniller* tourniquer tournocher* tournoter* tournouiller*

Gloss clip happen unexpectedly survive suspend stain speckle slash be silent (CF = taire) beat the drum hit tap feel meddle grope spot dye use a telemeter temper stretch hold terminate embank earth up (a tree) suck pull about pull poke (fire) weave tolerate fall shear wipe wipe twist wriggle (OF) whirl around whirl around go round and round turn on a potter's wheel turn go around without moving away make little turns turn without moving away ** ** **

* Not listed in Bescherelle. ** Not f o u n d in any dictionary; no gloss available.

Verb tournoyer toussailler* tousser toussoter* tracasser traduire traînailler trafnasser traîner traire transcrire transférer transmettre transparaître transverbérer traquer trembler trembloter tressaillir trompeter trotter trottiner tutoyer ulcérer vaincre valeter valoir végéter vendre vénérer venir verdoyer vermiller vêtir vitupérer vivifier vivoter vivre vociférer voir voler voleter vouloir vousoyer* voussoyer* vouvoyer zébrer zézayer

Gloss turn round and round cough often cough cough often worry translate drag out drag out drag milk transcribe transfer transmit appear through transpierce round up tremble quiver give a start proclaim by trumpet trot go at a jog-trot address as tu ulcerate vanquish cringe be worth vegetate sell venerate come become green scratch for worms dress vituperate enliven live poorly live vociferate see steal, fly flutter want address as vous address as vous address as vous stripe like a zebra lisp

INDEX OF NAMES AND TERMS

archaic forms, 4 2 , 4 6 n , 5 3 n , 6 0 , 8 2 , 114 b a c k - f o r m a t i o n s , 93, 94, 97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 104 Bescherelle, 12, 27n, 28n, 30n, 32, 34n, 38n, 4 2 η , 4 8 n , 5 0 n , 5 3 n , 55, 56, 6 0 , 64, 6 5 n , 66n, 70, 71, 73, 82, 91, 107, 112, 113, 114, 115n, 134n

liaison, 16, 17, 18, 3 4 - 3 5 , 4 0 , 55, 64, 74, 105 Lötz, J, 13 Maher, Ρ, 89n marginal regularity, 37, 81, 82, 8 3 Martinet, A, 7 6 n , 82, 8 3 Mayer, Ε, 4 5 n , 5 2 Mok, Q, 111, 112n,

cluster r e d u c t i o n , 35, 3 8 , 4 2 , 4 3 , 4 4 , 4 6 , 5 5 , 6 1 , 6 3 , 7 2 , 84, 89, 9 4 , 9 8 , 102, 105, 108, 109 Csécsy, Μ, 75η, 8 3 D a r m e s t e t e r , A, 89, 9 2 n , 95, 97n, 1 0 7 n defective verbs, 39n, 4 0 n , 4 3 , 4 8 n , 4 9 n , 5 3 n , 5 7 n , 6 2 n , 7 0 - 7 2 , 81, 87 Dell, F, 11, 12, 72, 8 9 n , 1 1 4 n , 116 Dubois, J, 14, 31n, 35, 52, 89, 90, 102, 103 E a t o n , H, 80 e c o n o m y , see simplicity endings, 1 5 - 2 2 , 61, 1 0 8 n , et passim e n d o c e n t r i c and e x o c e n t r i c affixes, 8 9 - 9 9 , 116 excrescent c o n s o n a n t s , 37, 5 9 n , 115 F o u c h é , Ρ, 18η, 59η, 76η, 82η, 83, 87 geminates, 43, 57, 108, 109, 110 generative g r a m m a r , 13, 35, et passim G e r t n e r , M, 12

nasal vowels, 12, 3 6 - 3 8 , 77, 9 0 n , 98, 1 0 8 n o n - c o n j u g a t e d f o r m s , 15, 70, 71, et passim Nouveau Petit Larousse, Le, 91, 92η, 93, 94, 96,

G o u g e n h e i m , G, R Michea, Ρ Rivenc, A Sauvageot, 7 7 - 8 1 , 84n, 105 Grevisse, M, 14, 19, 28, 35n, 4 0 n , 4 8 n , 5 0 , 5 3 n , 56, 60, 64, 6 5 n , 6 6 n , 70, 71, 72, 8 4 n , 96, 99, 103 Guiraud, Ρ, 74n, 7 5 n , 7 6 n , 82, 8 3 h aspiré, 1 2 - 1 3 , 31n, 5 0 Hall, R, 4 5 , 73n, 9 2 , 94 imperative, 15, 6 0 n , 64, 74 impersonal verbs, 5 4 - 5 5 , 6 4 , 6 8 invariable f o r m s , see defective verbs irregularity, see regularity J a k o b s o n , R, 13 Juilland, A, 31n, 32n, 91, 92, 9 3 n , 94, 9 5 n , 96, 9 7 n , 9 9 n , 100, 102n, 103, 1 0 4 n Le Gal, Ε, 74n, 75n, 82, 8 3

99, 100, 101, 103, 105, 114, 115 order of rules, 2 3 - 2 4 , 39, 52, 55, 112, 1 1 9 - 1 2 7 o r t h o g r a p h y , 11, 17, 23, 3 5 n , 4 0 , 5 6 , 60, 6 1 , 98, 107, 108, J 0 9 , 110, 112 person markers, 15, 2 0 - 2 3 , 4 6 , 54, 55, 60, 75 p h o n e t i c m o t i v a t i o n , 27, 31, 37, 39, 4 0 , 5 9 n , 65 Pichón, Ε, 31η, 72, 82, 89, 90, 91, 92η, 96, 99, 100, 102, 103, 105 Pleasants, J, 12, 3 2 η p r o d u c t i v i t y , 14, 19, 37, 87, 106, 113, 114, 115 / Q / , 19, 21, 22, 36, 37, 38, 4 0 , 4 1 , 4 2 , 4 3 , 4 5 , 4 6 , 4 7 , 4 8 , 52, 6 1 , 65, 67, 76, 77, 84 radical t r u n c a t i o n , 4 9 , 5 2 - 5 8 , 6 0 - 6 3 , 67 regularity, 11, 14, 19, 26, 33, 34, 37, 4 0 - 4 1 , 4 5 , 4 8 , 64-66, 69, 72, 7 6 - 8 4 Richer, Ε, 106n Rigault, A, 7 3 n R o b e r t , P, 90, 91, 9 2 n , 93, 94, 96, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 110, 111, 1 1 3 - 1 1 4 , 115 R o l f e , O, 11, 3 5 - 3 6 , 75η, 8 0 η r o o t , 15, 4 9 , 57, 61, 8 7 - 8 8 , 108η, 1 2 8 - 1 3 3 , et passim Rossi, C, 84n rule supplanters, 13, 4 8 , 5 3 , 5 4 - 5 5 rules, 13, 15, 1 8 - 2 5 , 49, 69, 7 6 - 7 7 , et passim

119-127,

Sauvageot, A, 7 6 n , 82, 8 4 n ; see G o u g e n h e i m Schane, S, 11, 12, 14, 28η, 31η, 35, 4 5 . 6 1 η . 62η, 89η schwa, 12, 1 6 - 1 8 , 21, 2 6 - 2 8 . 31, 36, 38, 4 0 .

149 42, 46, 47, 4 8 , 5 0 , 5 1 , 5 3 , 5 5 , 5 6 , 5 7 , 5 8 , 5 9 , 60, 62, 66η, 94, 98, 99η, 108, 109 semiconsonante and close vowels, 12, 3 0 - 3 3 , 40, 46, 54, 58, 67, 76n\see yod simplicity, 14, 27, 45, 47, 51, 55, 59n, 62n, 63, 67, 72, 109 stem, 15, 64; see root suppletion, 6 5 - 6 9 syntax, 15, 3 4 - 3 5 , 55, 64, 75, 81, 114n tense markers, 15, 2 0 - 2 3 theme vowels, 1 4 - 1 5 , 28, 36, 40n, 42, 43, 44, 49, 51, 52, 54, 55, 62, 65, 67, 82, 87, 99n

Thorn, C, 116 Togeby, Κ, 114n Träger, G, 31η, 35, 52 Vander Beke, G, 7 7 - 8 0 , 114 vocalic alternation, 2 6 - 3 3 , 4 9 - 6 8 , 7 5 - 7 6 , 98 yod, 12, 3 0 - 3 3 , 40, 46, 54, 5 7 - 5 8 , 60, 67, 76, 83, 94, 98, 104, 105 /Ζ/, 21, 23, 24, 28, 48, 75, et passim Zimmer, Κ, 108η Zull, C, 11 Zwanenburg, 12

JANUA

LINGUARUM

STUDIA MEMORIAE NICOLAI VAN WIJK DEDICATA Edited by. C. H. van Schooneveld SERIES PRACTICA

1. MARILYN CONWELL and ALPHONSE JUILLAND: Louisiana French Grammar, I : Phonology, Morphology and Syntax. 1963. 207 pp., 2 maps. Cloth Gld. 55.— 3. IRENE GARBELL: The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialects of Persian Azerbaijan: Linguistic Analysis and Folkloristic Texts. 1965. 342 pp., map. Cloth. Gld. 98.— Gld. 34.— 4. MORRIS F. GOODMAN: A Comparative Study of Creole French Dialect. 1964. 143 pp., map. 5. ROLAND HARWEG: Kompositum und Katalysationstext, vornehmlich im späten Sanskrit. 1964. 164 pp. Gld. 38.— 6. GUSTAV HERDAN: The Structuralistic Approach to Chinese Grammar and Vocabulary: Two Essays. 1964. 56 pp., 4 figs. Gld. 26.— 7. ALPHONSE JUILLAND: Dictionnaire Inverse de la Langue Française. 1965. 564 pp., 9 figs. Cloth. Gld. 120.— 8. A. HOOD ROBERTS: A Statistical Linguistic Analysis of American English. 1965. 437 pp., 11 figs., 6 tables. Cloth. Gld. 78.— 9. VALDIS LEJNIEKS: Morphosyntax of the Homeric Greek Verb. 1964. 92 pp. Gld. 26.— 10. ROBERT E. DIAMOND: The Diction of the Anglo-Saxon Metrical Psalms. 1963. 59 pp. Gld. 20.— 11. JOSEPH E . GRIMES: H u i c h o l S y n t a x . 1964. 105 p p .

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17. WOLF LESLAU: E t h i o p i a n A r g o t s . 1964. 65 p p .

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2 7 . EMMA GREGORES a n d JORGE A . S U A R E Z : A D e s c r i p t i o n o f C o l l o q u i a l G u a r a n i . 1 9 6 7 . 2 4 8 p p .

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12. CLARA N. BUSH: Phonetic Variation and Acoustic Distinctive Features: A Study of Four General American Fricatives. 1964. 161 pp., 64 figs., 84 tables. Gld. 44.— 13. WILLIAM E. CASTLE: The Effect of Selective Narrow-Band Filtering on the Perception of Certain English Vowels. 1964. 209 pp., 53 figs., 84 tables. Gld. 48.— 14. ANN SHANNON: A Descriptive Syntax of the Parker Manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from 734-891. 1964. 68 pp. Gld. 20.— 15. EICHI KOBAYASHI: The Verb Forms of the South English Legendary. 1964. 87 pp. Gld. 24.— 16. HOMER L. FIRESTONE: Description and Classification of Sirionó, a Tupi Guaraní Language. 1965. 70 pp., 7 figs. Gld. 21.—

18. VIDYA NIWAS MISRA: The Descriptive Technique of Panini. 1966. 175 pp., some tables. Gld. 52.— 19. EUOENE A. NIDA: A Synopsis of English Syntax. Second, revised edition. 1966. 174 pp. Gld. 30.— 20. ROBERT T. OLIPHANT: The Harley Latin-Old English Glossary, edited from British Museum, MS Harley, 3376. 1966. 223 pp. Gld. 55.— 21. ERICA REINER: A linguistic Analysis of Akkadian. 1966. 155 pp., graph. Gld. 42.— 22. M. J. HARDMAN: Jaqaru: Outline of Phonological and Morphological Structure. 1966. 131 pp., 2 figs., map, 20 tables Gld. 38.— 23. MARVIN K. MAYERS (ed.), Languages of Guatemala. 1966. 318 pp. Gld. 58.— 24. ROBERT LIVINGSTON ALLEN: The Verb System of President-Day American English. 1966. 303 pp., 7 tables, 24 figs. Gld. 52.— Gld. 76.— 26. ANDREW MACLEICH: The Middle English Subject-Verb Cluster. 1969. 276 pp. 29. HOWARD W. LAW: The Obligatory Constructions of Isthmus Nahuat Grammar. 1966. 73 pp., 21 tables. Gld. 2 4 . — 30. MARVIN H. FOLSOM: The Syntax of Substantive and Nonfinite Satellites to the Finite Verb in German. 1966. 96 pp. Gld. 24.— 36. IRMENGARD RAUCH: The Old High German Diphthongization: A Description of a Phonemic Change. 1967.130 pp.

37. JOSEPH HAROLD FRIEND: The Development of American Lexicography, 4 facs. 38. WILLIAM J . SAMARIN: A G r a m m a r of S a n g o . 1967. 2 8 0 p p .

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1967. 129 pp. Gld. 36.— Gld. 80.—

39. DEAN H. OBRECIÍT: Effects of the Second Formant on the Perception of Velarization Consonants in Arabic. 1968. 104 pp., 57 figs. Gld. 37.— 40. YOLANDE LASTRA: Cochabamba Quechua Syntax. 1968. 104 pp. Gld. 32.— 42. R. S. P. BEEKES: The Development of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Greek. 1969. xxiv + 324 pp. Gld. 90.— 43. HARWOOD H . HESS: The Syntactic Structure of Mezquital Otomi. 1968. 159 pp. Gld. 45.— 44. PAUL W. PILLSBURY: Descriptive Analysis of Discourse in Late West Saxon Texts. 1967.91 pp. Gld. 24.— 45. MADELINE ELIZABETH EHRMAN: The Meaning of the Modals in Present-Day American English. 1966. 106 pp. Gld. 24.— 46. VIKTOR KRUPA: Morpheme and Word in Maori. 1966. 83 pp., 26 tables, 1 fig. Gld. 24.— 47. JOHN C. FISCHER: Linguistics in Remedial English. 1966. 71 pp., 4 tables. Gld. 18.— 48. M. A. K.HALLIDAY: Introduction and Grammar in British English. 1967.61 pp., 2 folding tables. Gld. 18.— 49. SAYO YOTSUKURA: The Articles in English: A Structural Analysis of Usage. 1970. 113 pp. Gld. 24.— 50. MARY RITCHIE KEY: Comparative Tacanan Phonology: with Cavinena Phonology and Notes on Pano· Tacanan Relationship. 1968. 107 pp. Gld. 32.—

52. 53. 55. 57. 58.

RUTH MARGARET BREND: A Tagmemic Analysis of Mexican Spanish Clauses. 1968. 128 pp. HAROLD H. KEY: Morphology of Cayuvava. 1967. 73 pp. L. ROMEO: The Economy of Diphthongization in Early Romance. 1968. 127 pp. ALAN CAMPBELL WARES: A Comparative Study of Yuman Consonantism. 1968. 100 pp. JEAN PRANINSKAS: Trade Name Creation: Processes and Patterns. 1968. 115 pp.

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59. GEORGE GIACUMAKIS JR: T h e A k k a d i a n o f A l a l a h . 1970. 119 p p .

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74. ROBERT ALLEN PALMATIER: A D e s c r i p t i v e S y n t a x o f t h e " O r m u l u m " . 1969. 137 p p .

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96. JÓZEF TOMPA: U n g a r i s c h e G r a m m a t i k . 1968. 426 p p .

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60. JOAN RUBIN: National Bilingualism in Paraguay. 1968. 135 pp. Gld. 40.— 61. SALMAN H. AL-ANI: Arabic Phonology: An Acoustical and Physiological Investigation. 1970. 104 pp. 18 fìgs. 16 examples, 13 illustr., 3 diagrams. Gld. 36.— 62. CURTIS P. HEROLD: The Morphology of King Alfred's Translation of the Orosius. 1968. 80 pp. Gld. 24.— 63. JAN SVARTVIK: On Voice in the English Verb. 1966. XIV + 200 pp., figs, and tables. Gld. 32.— 64. MARVIN R. WILSON: Coptic Future Tenses: Syntactical Studies in Sahidic. 1970. 143 pp. Gld. 40.— 65. RÜSSEL N. CAMPBELL: Noun Substitutes in Modern Thai: A Study in Pronominality. 1969.70 pp. Gld. 21.— 66. MARIA TSIAPERA: A Descriptive Analysis of Cypriot Maronite Arabic: 1969. 69 pp. Gld. 20.— 70. BRENT BERLIN: Tzeltal Numeral Classifiers: A Study in Ethnographic Semantics. 1968. 243 pp., 18 plates. Gld. 72.— 71. ROBERT D. STEVICIC: Suprasegmentals, Meter, and the Manuscript of "Beowulf". 1968. 88 pp. Gld. 27.— 73. AERTH. KUIPERS: 1. The Squamish Language: Grammar Texts, Dictionary. 1967.470 pp., map. Gld. 110.— AERT H . KUIPERS: 2. The Shamish Language: Grammar, Texts, Dictionary. 1969. 98 pp., 1 photograph Gld. 24.—

75. HELMUT R. PLANT: Syntaktische Studien zu den Monseer Fragmenten: Ein Beitrag zur Beschreibung der inneren Form des Althochdeutschen. 1969. 96 pp. Gld. 24.— 76. ALLAN R. KEILER: A Phonological Study of the Indo-European Laryngeals. 1970. 106 pp. Gld. 30.— 77. J. R. RAYFIELD: The Languages of a Bilingual Community. 1970. 118 pp. Gld. 28.— 78. DIANA L. KAO: Structure of the Syllable in Cantonese. 1971. 189 pp., 22 fig., 50 tables. Gld. 54.— 79. HENRY G. SCHOGT: Le système verbal du français contemporain. 1968. 74 pp. Gld. 20.— 80. KAMIL ZVELEBIL: Comparative Dravidian Phonology. 1970. 202 pp. Gld. 54.— 81. DAVID COHEN: Études de linguistique sémitique et arabe. 1970. 178 pp. Gld. 54.— 82. GARY J. PARKER: Ayacucho Quechua Grammar and Dictionary. 1969. 221 pp. Gld. 64.— 83. JAMES W. GAIR: Colloquial Sinhatese Clause Structures. 1970. 164 pp. Gld. 40.— 84. HIKMET I. SEBÜKTEKIN: Turkish-English Contrastive Analysis. 1971. 116 pp. Gld. 30.— 85. ELMAR SEEBOLD: Vergleichendes und Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Germanischen Starken Verben. 1970. 571 pp. Gld. 132.— 86. GENEVIEVE N'DIAYE: Structure du dialecte basque de Maya. 1970. 249 pp. Gld. 66.— 87. ANNA FUCHS: Morphologie des Verbs im Cahuilla. 1970. 76 pp. Gld. 35.— 91. JAMES E. COPELAND: A Stepmatricial Generative Phonology of German. 1971.105 pp., 1 table. Gld. 28.— 93. MARIO SALTARELLI: A Phonology of Italian in a Generative Grammar. 1970. 96 pp. Gld. 24.— 94. VLADIMIR MILTNER: Theory of Hindi Syntax: Descriptive, Generative Transformational. 1970. 72 pp. Gld. 28.— 95. D. BARTON JOHNSON: Transformations and their use in the Resolution of Syntactic Homomorphy Prepositional of Constructions in Contemporary Standard Russian. 1971. 192 pp., 21 tables. Gld. 39.— 97. RODOLFO JACOBSON: The London Dialect of the Fourteenth Century. A Transformational Analysis in Historical Linguistics. 1970. 193 pp. Gld. 48.— 98. A. CAPELL and H. E. HINCH : Maung Grammar Texts and Vocabulary. 1970. 201 pp., 16 charts. Gld. 68.— 99. RONALD ANDREW ZIRIN: The Phonological Basis of Latin Prosody. 1971. 91 pp. Gld. 25.— 100. Q. I. M. MOK: Contribution à l'étude des catégories morphologiques du genre et du nombre dans le français parlé actuel. 1968. 155 pp. Gld. 40.— 101. WILLIAM H. BROWN, JR.: A Syntax of King Alfred's Pastoral Care. 1970. 91 pp. Gld. 18.— 102. GARY DEAN PRIDEAUX: T h e S y n t a x o f J a p a n e s e H o n o r i f i c s . 1970. 107 p p .

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103. DAVID L. SHORES: A Descriptive Syntax of the Peterborough Chronicle from 1122 to 1154. 1971. 224 pp.. 30 tables. Gld. 50.— 105. SANDRA SCHARFF BABCOCK: The Syntax of Spanish Reflexive Verbs: The Parameter of the Middle Verb. 1 9 7 0 . 9 6 pp. Gld. 2 1 . — 106. ANDRÉ-MARCEL D'ANS: Le Créole français d'Haïti: Étude des unités d'articulation, d'expansion et de communication. 1968. 181 pp. Gld. 54.— 107. STANLEY TSUZAKI: English Influence on Mexican Spanish in Detroit. 1971. 92 pp., 6 tables, 9 maps. Gld. 25.— 108. ROGER J. STEINER: Two Centuries of Spanish and English Bilingual Lexicography. 1590-1800. 1970. 1 3 0 pp. Gld. 2 3 . — 109. BOBBY RAY GLOVER: A History of Six Spanish Verbs Meaning " T o Take, Seize Grasp". 1971. 115 pp. Gld. 24.— 110. DUONG THANN BINH: A Tagmemic Comparison of English and Vietnamese Sentences. 1971. 232 pp., 3 tables Gld. 68.— 111. CHARLES CARLTON: Descriptive Syntax of the Old English Charters. 1970. 200 pp. Gld. 48.— 112. MICHAEL GRADY: Syntax and Semantics of the English Verb. Phrase. 1970. 84 pp. Gld. 14.— 113. ALEXANDER I§ASENKO HANS-JOACHIM SCHÄDLICH: A M o d e l o f S t a n d a r d G e r m a n I n t o n a t i o n . 1970. 66 p p . ,

plate, record. Gld. 21.— 115. ANDRÉ HAUDRICOURT et ALPHONSE JUILLAND: Essai pour une histoire structurale du phonétisme français. 2« éd. révisée 1971. 135 pp., 20 cartes, figs. Gld. 25.— 116. SAMUEL N. ROSENBERG: Modem French Ce. : The Neuter Pronoun in Adjectival Predication. 1970. 222 pp. Gld. 36.— 119. CHARLES RALLIDES: The Tense Aspect System of the Spanish Verb. 1971. 66 pp. Gld. 18.— 149. A. G. SCIARONE: La place de l'adjectif en Italien moderne. 1971. 112 pp. Gld. 30.—