4 ms·

> I wonder if it will spread ... Nope. The irregular forms are slowly disappearing, the least frequent first. I would give you a citation, but I am supposed

by russell 17y ago

> I wonder if it will spread ... Nope. The irregular forms are slowly disappearing, the least frequent first. I would give you a citation, but I am supposed to be cleaning out the basement, not surfing HN.

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
Ah, you've reminded me, I meant to include that. Using information theory and Zipf's Law, the hypothesis is that irregular forms arise provided both that they are shorter, and the verb is common enough to make the gains made outweigh the extra effort in learning the exception. As a result, irregular forms that are falling out of common usage revert to the longer, regular form. The interesting thing about this alternative regular form is that it's also shorter than the "ED" version. Net result is that more verbs should take this regular form because both forces - shortness and regularity - act in the direction of adoption. I'll update the musing tomorrow. Thanks.
mcav 17y ago
Link on irregular verb decay: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-486935/How-irregular-verb-drived-extinction.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-486935/How-irregular...
RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
Another article on uncommon verbs becoming regular, and related ideas: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/lesser-used-words-become-extinct-faster_100665.html http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/lesser-used-wor...
kentosi 17y ago
Indeed. I personally have never used "swum", and I'd struggle to come up with an example where "swam" won't fit in just as perfectly.
- RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
  "I had swum to the island, but was too tired to swim back."
  - kentosi 17y ago
    i see.. so "swum" is the passive form of "swim" then?
fhars 17y ago
It might happen. German has many of the same ablaut series as english, so where english has sink-sank-sunk and wink-winked-winked, the corresponding german cognates have sinken-sank-gesunken and winken-winkte-gewinkt. But many people now use the early 70ies joke "gewunken" and think that "gewinkt" sounds weird.

by russell 17y ago

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago

Ah, you've reminded me, I meant to include that. Using information theory and Zipf's Law, the hypothesis is that irregular forms arise provided both that they are shorter, and the verb is common enough to make the gains made outweigh the extra effort in learning the exception. As a result, irregular forms that are falling out of common usage revert to the longer, regular form. The interesting thing about this alternative regular form is that it's also shorter than the "ED" version. Net result is that more verbs should take this regular form because both forces - shortness and regularity - act in the direction of adoption. I'll update the musing tomorrow. Thanks.

mcav 17y ago

Link on irregular verb decay: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-486935/How-irregular-verb-drived-extinction.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-486935/How-irregular...

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago

Another article on uncommon verbs becoming regular, and related ideas: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/lesser-used-words-become-extinct-faster_100665.html http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/lesser-used-wor...

kentosi 17y ago

Indeed. I personally have never used "swum", and I'd struggle to come up with an example where "swam" won't fit in just as perfectly.

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
"I had swum to the island, but was too tired to swim back."
- kentosi 17y ago
  i see.. so "swum" is the passive form of "swim" then?

fhars 17y ago

It might happen. German has many of the same ablaut series as english, so where english has sink-sank-sunk and wink-winked-winked, the corresponding german cognates have sinken-sank-gesunken and winken-winkte-gewinkt. But many people now use the early 70ies joke "gewunken" and think that "gewinkt" sounds weird.