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Article published In: Revue Romane
Vol. 53:2 (2018) ► pp.217–260

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Articles linguistiques

New thoughts on an old puzzle

The Italian alternation type dissi, dicesti; feci, facesti

 | University of Oxford
Published online: 20 December 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/rro.16007.mai
This study addresses the peculiar pattern of root-allomorphy exhibited by the Italo-Romance preterite. Stimulated by a recent study by Mark Elson, which depends on upholding the traditional view that the phenomenon in Italo-Romance is attributable to sound change and to the subsequent analogical extension of its paradigmatic effects, I review familiar and new examples both from Italo-Romance and from Ibero-Romance, arguing instead that the available evidence casts doubt on the phonological interpretation, and strongly favours an interpretation couched in purely morphological terms.
Article outline
  • 1.The problem
  • 2.The ‘phonological hypothesis’ and the evidence
  • 3.Evidence from Ibero-Romance
  • 4.The morphological interpretation
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (69)
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2023. Morphological autonomy and the long-term vitality of morphomes: stem-final consonant loss in Romance verbs and paradigmatic analogy. Morphology 33:2 ► pp. 153 ff. DOI logo
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