Part of
Language Complexity: Typology, contact, changeEdited by Matti Miestamo, Kaius Sinnemäki and Fred Karlsson
[Studies in Language Companion Series 94] 2008
► pp. 243–262
Edited by Matti Miestamo, Kaius Sinnemäki and Fred Karlsson
[Studies in Language Companion Series 94] 2008
► pp. 243–262
Complexity in nominal plural allomorphy: A contrastive survey of ten Germanic languages
We investigate the complexity of nominal plural allomorphy in ten Germanic languages from a contrastive and diachronic perspective. Focusing on one language family allows us to develop multidimensional criteria to measure morphological complexity and to compare different diachronical drifts. We introduce a three-step complexity metric, involving (1) a quantitative step, (2) a qualitative step, and (3) a validation step comparing the results from step (1) and (2) to actual language use. In this article, we apply the method’s two first steps to the plural allomorphy of our sample languages. Our criteria include for (1) the number of allomorphs and for (2) iconicity in form-meaning relationship, the basis of allomorph assignment, and the direction of determination between stem and suffix. Our approach reveals Faroese as the most complex language and English as the simplest one.
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Cited by 11 other publications
Adamczyk, Elżbieta
2019. The dynamics of changes in the early English inflection. In Developments in English Historical Morpho-Syntax [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 346], ► pp. 9 ff. 
Adamczyk, Elżbieta
2021. A multifactorial account of analogical developments in Old English nominal paradigms. NOWELE. North-Western European Language Evolution 74:1 ► pp. 4 ff.
Adamczyk, Elżbieta & Arjen P. Versloot
2019. Phonological constraints on morphology: Evidence from Old English nominal inflection. Folia Linguistica 53:s40-s1 ► pp. 153 ff.
De Clercq, Bastien & Alex Housen
2019. The development of morphological complexity: A cross-linguistic study of L2 French and English. Second Language Research 35:1 ► pp. 71 ff.
Ehret, Katharina, Alice Blumenthal-Dramé, Christian Bentz & Aleksandrs Berdicevskis
2021. Meaning and Measures: Interpreting and Evaluating Complexity Metrics. Frontiers in Communication 6
Forker, Diana
2021. Complexity and Its Relation to Variation. Frontiers in Communication 6
Galimova, Khalida N., Elzara V. Gafiyatova & Yulia M. Alyunina
2023. Ways of expressing the category of instrumentality in retranslated texts. Russian Journal of Linguistics 27:4 ► pp. 957 ff.
Nübling, Damaris
2020. Inflectional Morphology. In The Cambridge Handbook of Germanic Linguistics, ► pp. 214 ff.
Solovyev, Valery Dmitrievich, Marina Ivanovna Solnyshkina & Danielle S. McNamara
2022. Computational linguistics and discourse complexology: Paradigms and research methods. Russian Journal of Linguistics 26:2 ► pp. 275 ff.
Versloot, Arjen P. & Elżbieta Adamczyk
2018. Plural inflection in North Sea Germanic languages. In Reorganising Grammatical Variation [Studies in Language Companion Series, 203], ► pp. 17 ff.
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