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Part of
Innovative Approaches to Research in Hispanic Linguistics: Regional, diachronic, and learner profile variation
Edited by Sara Fernández Cuenca, Tiffany Judy and Lauren Miller
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 38] 2023
► pp. 82–105

Chapter 4
Derived verbs and future-conditional stem regularization in written Spanish
in synchrony and diachrony

| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Spanish verbs derived via prefixation prescriptively retain the morphological complexity of their root verbs. However, some verbs derived from decir and hacer show allomorphic variation in the future and conditional, which is documented by the RAE for decir but not at all for hacer. The results of this study of historical variation suggest decreased morphological transparency of some verbs but not of others. Verbs derived from hacer continue to resist regularization, with the notable exception of satisfacer. The set of decir-derived verbs is much more complex in its tendencies. This may be attributable to either (a) perceived opacity of contradecir or (b) increased analogical pressure from maldecir and bendecir which are completely regularized in modern usage. The presence of regularized bendecir and its possible effects on etymologically related verbs contrasts with the resistance of regularization of hacer-derived verbs and the consequent absence of analogical pressure.

Keywords: Spanish, future, conditional, regularization, variation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background: Previous studies and Romance counterparts
    • 2.1Previous studies of dialectal verb regularization
    • 2.2Future and conditional morphology in languages neighboring Spanish
  • 3.The current study: Methodology
    • 3.1Historical survey
    • 3.2Study of contemporary language use: Methodology and hypotheses
      • 3.2.1Irregularity versus regularization
      • 3.2.2Style of writing
      • 3.2.3Specific derivative
      • 3.2.4Root verb
      • 3.2.5Tense of verb
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Results according to text source
    • 4.2Overall results according to verb
    • 4.3Overall results according to tense
    • 4.4Overall results according to derivative
      • 4.4.1Derivatives of decir
      • 4.4.2Derivatives of hacer
  • 5.Discussion: Diachronic changes and synchronic variability
    • 5.1On the resistance of hacer-derived verbs: Transparency effects
    • 5.2On the variability of decir-derived verbs: Analogical pressure
  • 6.Conclusions and directions for future studies
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 7 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.38.04gra
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