Strong inflection
Encyclopedia
A strong inflection
is a system of verb conjugation or noun/adjective declension
which can be contrasted with an alternative system in the same language, which is then known as a weak inflection
. The term strong was coined with reference to the Germanic verb
, but has since been used of other phenomena in these and other languages, which may or may not be analogous. Note that there is nothing objectively "strong" about a strong form; the term is only meaningful in opposition to "weak" as a means of distinguishing paradigms within a single language. Nor is there any distinguishing feature common to all strong forms, except that they are always counterpoints to "weak" ones.
The Germanic strong verb
, occurring in Germanic languages including German and English, is characterised by a vowel shift called ablaut
. Examples in English include give/gave, come/came, fall/fell. There is nothing comparable in the German strong adjective inflections. For a full discussion of this distinction see weak inflection
.
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
is a system of verb conjugation or noun/adjective declension
Declension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
which can be contrasted with an alternative system in the same language, which is then known as a weak inflection
Weak inflection
In grammar, the term weak is used in opposition to the term strong to designate a conjugation or declension when a language has two parallel systems...
. The term strong was coined with reference to the Germanic verb
Germanic verb
The Germanic language family is one of the language groups that resulted from the breakup of Proto-Indo-European . It in turn divided into North, West and East Germanic groups, and ultimately produced a large group of mediaeval and modern languages, most importantly: Danish, Norwegian, and...
, but has since been used of other phenomena in these and other languages, which may or may not be analogous. Note that there is nothing objectively "strong" about a strong form; the term is only meaningful in opposition to "weak" as a means of distinguishing paradigms within a single language. Nor is there any distinguishing feature common to all strong forms, except that they are always counterpoints to "weak" ones.
The Germanic strong verb
Germanic strong verb
In the Germanic languages, a strong verb is one which marks its past tense by means of ablaut. In English, these are verbs like sing, sang, sung...
, occurring in Germanic languages including German and English, is characterised by a vowel shift called ablaut
Indo-European ablaut
In linguistics, ablaut is a system of apophony in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages...
. Examples in English include give/gave, come/came, fall/fell. There is nothing comparable in the German strong adjective inflections. For a full discussion of this distinction see weak inflection
Weak inflection
In grammar, the term weak is used in opposition to the term strong to designate a conjugation or declension when a language has two parallel systems...
.
External links
- Mind Our English: Strong and weak by Ralph Berry