Implicational relationships between desinences in Occitan imperfect and conditional forms

Abstract

This study discusses the origins and subsequent development of conditional and non-first-conjugation imperfect indicative desinences in varieties of Occitan. The systematic identity between these series of desinences can be traced to their common origin (Latin imperfect indicative forms in -ēbam, -ēbas, -ēbat, etc.), and predisposes them to undergo the same sound changes as each other: a change of particular interest is the irregular loss of intervocalic -b-, which is here argued to originate in the conditional. Strikingly, the identity between the series of desinences is also maintained in three cases of analogical change (levelling and extension) reported here, indicating strong implicational relationships between the series. In the light of these historical and comparative facts, the study proposes that the identity between conditional and non-first-conjugation imperfect indicative desinences is most accurately captured by treating it as morphomic.

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