The english verb

are MORPHOLOGY BET, BURST, CAST, COST, CUT , HIT , HURT , LET , PUT , QUIT , RID , SET, SHED , SHUT, SLIT , SPLIT , SPREA D , THRUST , UPSET. WET functions either like these or in the regular formation. [iv] Devoicing and vowel shortening together are found in: mean [mi:n] meant [ment] All the verbs of this class have the vowel [i:] and [e) and, with one exception, end in an alveolar nasal or lateral (and thus combine the characteristics of the verbs of [i) and [ii)) DEA L , FEEL, KNEEL, LEAN , MEAN . The exception is DREAM which ends in a bilabial, not an alveolar, nasal. [v] Devoicing and consonant reduction together are found in: bend [bend] bent [bent] The verbs that belong to this class end in an alveolar nasal or lateral plus alveolar plosive (and thus combine the char­ acteristics of the verbs in [i) and [iii)) BEN D , BUILD , LEN D , REND (now rather archaic) SEND and SPEN D . GIRD might be added, but it does not have the same final consonants, and is now obsolete. [vi] Vowel shortening and consonant reduction together are found in: bleed [bli:d] bled [bled] The verbs that belong to this class all end in an alveolar plosive and have the vowels [i:V[e] (and so combine the characteristics of the verbs of [ii] and [iii)) BLEED , BREED , FEED , LEA D , MEET, READ , SPEED . A different pair of vowels is found in: light flaIt] lit [lIt] The only verbs in this group are LIGHT and SLIDE. There are a few other verbs that are best dealt with in this section. Vowel shortening involving different vowels (plus con­ sonant reduction in the first example) is to be seen in: shoot [fu:t] shot [Iot] shod [Iod] shoe [Iu:] This is a less common vowel pattern but found in, eg: lose/loss . Otherwise these verbs are like BLEED and FLEE . SHOOT and SHOE are the only examples. Finally are both types of vowel shorten­ ing exemplified in: leave [Ii:v] left [left] lose [Iu:z] lost [lost] - - - 253 FULL VERBS: PAST TENSE AND -EN FORMS The idiosyncratic feature of these is the devoicing of the final consonant [v] [f] and [z] [s], LEAVE and LOSE are the only examples. Overall there is a remarkable regularity. Even these last few examples, though apparently totally irregular at first sight, are evidence of the existence of the patterns. _ _ I I 3 3 Back vowel formation There is another kind of vowel change that involves a change from a front vowel in the simple form to a corresponding back vowel in one or both of the other forms. . [i] . The most striking pattern is that of: drink [dnl)k] drank [drrel)k] drunk [drAl)k] This could be called the ''vowel-triangular formation''. There are three vowels all short and all at the extremes of the vowel diagram front close, open and back close. On purely phonetic grounds one might expect the triangle to be that of [I], [re] and [u], not [I], [re] and [A]. But there is a simple explanation: [u] does not occur in English be­ fore a nasal, but [A] and [u] are closely related and differ only in the absence or presence of ''rounding'', and ''round­ ing'' does not occur before [I)]. Hence in this environment [u] is replaced by [A], and the triangle thus is preserved. The verbs that belong to this class are BEGIN, DRINK, RING, SHRINK, SING, SINK, SPRING, STINK, SWIM. [ii] The same pattern but without a separate [re] form for past tense is found with: win [W I n] won [WAn] Verbs in this class are CLING, DIG, FLING, SLING, SLINK, and WRING. The same comment about the final nasal applies to all of these except DIG and STICK. But it is also true that [u] does not occur before [g]; it occurs, however, before [k] (eg: rook) STICK is, therefore, exceptional. [iii] A straightforward change is found in: SPIN, STICK, get [get] [iv] STING, STRING, SWING, WIN got [got] The two vowels are phonetically both half open; GET is alone in this class. A change involving only the last element of a diphthong is found in: 254 [famdJ found [faundJ Verbs in this class are BIN D , FIND , [vJ Less clear-cut cases are: shine [famJ shone [fonJ MORPHOLOGY find [faltJ SHINE fight FIGHT strike fought GRI N D , WIND . [b:tJ [stralk J struck [strAkJ [straldJ strode [str;)udJ (archaic) , STRIDE The simple form has a front diphthong, the other a varie­ ty of back vowels. STRIDE is idiosyncratic in that it has no -en form: strode is past tense only. ABIDE has regular -ed forms also. [viJ Back vowel formation cannot, however, account for all vowel changes. One can do little more than list the fol­ lowing: sit [SIt J sat [seet J STRIKE stride ABIDE [heeIJJ [hAIJJ SIT, SPIT hang HANG hold [h;)uldJ hung held [heldJ Some have in addition the suffix of the regular formation: sell [selJ sold [s;)uldJ HOLD SELL hear say [hl;)J heard [selJ said [rAnJ ran HEAR [h3:dJ JsedJ [viiJ Even more idiosyncratic are the verbs that have a vowel change form for the past tense but an -en form that is identical with the simple form: come [kAm J came [kelm J come [kAm J SAY B ECOME , COME run RUN [reenJ run [rAnJ 255 FULL VERBS : PAST TENSE AND -EN FORMS There are some verbs that actually have orthographic -en or on , phonetic [nJ as the -en suffix! Apart from this they belong with many of the verbs already considered. [iJ Within the regular -ed formation is: sewed [s�udJ sown [s�un J sew [s�u J SEW , SHOW , SOW and the now archaic HEW . [iiJ In the secondary -ed formation with consonant reduction is: beat [bi:tJ beaten [bi:tn J beat [bi:tJ II 3 4 . . -en suffix [iiiJ In the secondary -ed formation with consonant reduction and vowel shortening (the latter applying to the -en form as well as to the past tense) is: bite [baIt J bit [bIt J bitten [bItn J BEAT [ivJ With a variety of vowel changes (none strictly in the back vowel formation) are: see [si:J saw [s;,:J seen [si:nJ BITE , HIDE SEE eat EAT [i:tJ forbid [f�bIdJ [teIkJ ate [etJ forbade eaten [i:tn J [f�beid] forbidden [f�bIdn] [tukJ [teIk�nJ BID , FORBI D , FORGIVE, GIVE take [b:l] took [felJ FORSAKE , SHAKE, TAKE fall FALL draw DRAW grow [dr;,:J [gr�uJ [SleIJ fell drew grew [dru:J [gru:J [slu:J taken fallen drawn grown B LOW , GROW , KNOW , THROW slay slew slain [b:l�nJ [dr;,:n J [gr�un J [slem J [vJ With vowel change (past tense) and vowel shortening when the -en suffix is added are: ridden [ndn J ride [raIdJ rode [r�udJ ARISE, DRIVE , RIDE, RISE, SMITE (now archaic) , WRITE S LAY MORPHOLOGY 256 [vi] There are some verbs that form the past tense by vowel change, but the -en form by the addition of the -en suffix to the past tense form, not as in the preceding examples to the simple form. The vowel changes are varied, but the first two below are clear examples of back vowel forma­ tion: forgotten [f�gDtn] forget [f�get] forgot [f�gDt] BEGET (archaic) , FORGET, TREAD break [brelk] broke [br�uk] broken [br�ukn] [sti:l] BREAK , WAKE steal [be�] stole [st�ul] [b�:] stolen CLEAVE, FREEZE , SPEAK, STEAL, WEAVE bear bore [lal] lay [lel] [= lie down] choose [tJu:z] chose [tJ�uz] borne BEAR, SWEAR , TEAR, WEAR lie LIE lain [st�uln] [b�:n] [lem] chosen [tJ�uzn] [vii] Only one verb has different vowels in all three forms: flown [fl�un] fly [flal] flew [flu:] CHOOSE [viii] A particularly idiosyncratic verb has a regular past tense form but an -en form with vowel change: swell [swel] swelled [sweld] swollen [sw�uln] FLY SWELL There are only a few verbs that have peculiarities that have not been discussed. Yet even these have some shape. [i] MAKE would be regular except for the loss of final [k] : make [melk] made [me Id] [ii] STA N D , UNDERSTAND and WITHSTAND would belong with the vowel change verbs if the loss of the nasal consonant could be accounted for: stand [strend] stood [stud] [iii] Six verbs, BUY , BRING , THINK, TEACH , SEEK , CATCH (with archaic BESEECH like TEACH ) , all differ in the simple forms but have similar past tense/-en forms: buy [bal] bought [b�:t] 11 .3.5 Idiosyncratic forms bring [brIIJ] think [9IIJk] teach [ti:tf) seek [silk] catch [kretf) BE, HAVE AND DO [iv] brought [br:l:t] thought [9:llt] taught [t:l:t] sought [S:l:t] caught [b:t] 257 GO alone has a suppletive past tense form (with a vowel­ change -en suffix -en form) : go [g�u] went [went] gone [gon] The full verb BE has exactly the same forms as the auxiliary, in­ cluding negative and weak forms (8 . 1 . 1 ) . It is completely irregu­ lar except for its -ing form being. The full verb HAVE also has the same forms as the auxiliary (8 . 2 . 1 ) ; it also has an -en form had that the auxiliary lacks. The formation is like that of MAKE in that it would be regular if the loss of the final consonant could be accounted for. (This is true of the -s as well as the past tense form.) DO , however, is different. It shares with the auxiliary only the -s form and the past tense form. It has no negative or weak forms, but has an -ing form that the auxiliary lacks. Its -s form does [dAZ] , its past tense did [did] and its -en form done [dAn] are all quite irregular. 1 1 .4 B E . HAVE and DO Some phonological features are associated with the to of the to­ infinitive following an auxiliary or a marginal verb: [i] With OUGHT there is loss of a consonant in that there is not in normal conversation a geminate [t] ([:l:t t�]) as might be expected, but a single consonant [:l:t�] - see 8. 5 . [ii] With HAVE the final consonant is devoiced before to [hreft�] - 6.6. [iii] With USED there is both devoicing and ''loss'' of a con­ sonant [ju:st�] - 8-4. These are, no doubt, indications of the close relationship be­ tween to and the preceding word - it is treated phonologically as if it were part of that word. There are at least other forms that exhibit the same close relationship - ''ve got and want: I''ve got to go [alv g:lt� g�u] I want to go [al wont� g�u] 1 1 .5 Forms with to