Ahh, and here's a more recent paper on the topic: http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8899722/MichelScience2011.pdf?sequence=1 http://dash.harvard.edu/bi

Ahh, and here's a more recent paper on the topic: http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8899722/MichelScience2011.pdf?sequence=1 http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8899722/MichelSci... . It says "each trajectory was sui generis; we observed no characteristic shape" in how a verb is made regular or irregular. It observes: > Though irregulars generally yield to regulars, two verbs did the opposite: light/lit and wake/woke. Both were irregular in Middle English, were mostly regular by 1800, and subsequently backtracked and are irregular again today. The fact that these verbs have been going back and forth for nearly 500 years highlights the gradual nature of the underlying process. > Still, there was at least one instance of rapid progress by an irregular form. Presently, 1% of the English speaking population switches from ‘sneaked’ to ‘snuck’ every year...