Introduction

After the short descriptive overview in the previous chapter, this chapter will concentrate on the role of weak vs. strong past tense formation in various theoretical frameworks. Indeed, past tense formation has served and is serving as the test case for or against individual theoretical constructions, and this fact already merits a closer look at the various theories. In turn, different theories may make different predictions about what to expect in non-standard tense paradigms, and new observations from non-standard past tense paradigms in the remainder of the book may support or revise specific theories.

Although the systematic study of morphology goes back at least to Indian linguists like Panini (ca. fifth or sixth century BC), this tradition has not had a great impact on Western theorizing (although, as we shall see, some ideas have — without acknowledgement — found their way into generative theories).