Suppletion according to Tense and Aspect (Feature 54)
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Feature Annotation
For this feature, only stem suppletion (e.g. go/went, vais/irai)and not affix suppletion is considered. Furthermore, formal irregularity is determined by synchronic, not by diachronic criteria; therefore, the historical origin of the suppletive forms and their etymologies are not taken into account here.
In strong suppletion, there are two different stems that are not similar at all, whereas in weak suppletion, the two irregularly related stems are similar. "Strong suppletion" should be taken to mean "not only weak suppletion", so value 4 “Strong suppletion according to aspect only” covers both cases where there is only strong suppletion and cases where there is both strong and weak suppletion.
It is irrelevant for this feature how many verbs exhibit weak or strong suppletion. It suffices to show that in a given language verbal suppletion exists in at least one verb. (In most languages, only very few verbs show suppletion.)
If in a language the functional categories of tense and aspect are conflated in a single morphological category (as e.g. in French or Spanish), and suppletion according to this category exists, then select “suppletion according to both tense and aspect “ (values 5 or 6).
Additional remarks
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Values
| Value | Value Annotation | |
| 1 | Only weak suppletion according to tense only | Papiamentu: only copula (ta = present, taba = past); 19th century Mumbai Creole: tem ‘has’ vs. tim ~ tinh ‘had’ (tense) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Strong suppletion according to tense only | English is vs. was |
| 3 | Only weak suppletion according to aspect only | Chalcatongo Mixtec (Oto-Manguean; Mexico): nbíí [come.hab], bèì [come.prog] |
| 4 | Strongsuppletion according to aspect only | 19th century Mumbai Creole: vai [go.ipfv] vs. foi [go.pfv] |
| 5 | Only weak suppletion according to both tense and aspect | |
| 6 | Strong suppletion according to both tense and aspect | French il était ‘he was’ (imperfective past) vs. il fut ‘he was’ (perfective past) |
| 7 | No suppletion according to tense or aspect | Seychelles Creole |
WALS No.
79 (Total)
