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RESEARCH PRODUCT

On the Emergence of an Eighth Ablaut Class in German and Dutch

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This article examines a remarkable case of analogy in the verbal systems of German and Dutch which to date has hardly received any attention. In both languages, the ablaut pattern that originally stems from the second Germanic ablaut class (“oPRETERITE=oPAST PARTICIPLE”) spread to other strong verbs by analogy, as in Germanheben–hob–gehobenor Dutchbinden–bond–gebonden. It is argued that the low token frequency of these verbs triggered this analogy. As in both cases a new type of ablaut class arises through the convergence of several strong verbs, I refer to it as the eighth ablaut class.*