Irregular verb
Encyclopedia
In contrast to regular verb
s, irregular verbs are those verb
s that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation
in the language
s in which they occur. The idea of an irregular verb is important in second language acquisition
, where the verb paradigms of a foreign language are learned systematically, and exceptions listed and carefully noted. Thus for example a school French textbook may have a section at the back listing the French irregular verbs in tables. Irregular verbs are often the most commonly used verbs in the language.
In linguistic analysis, the concept of an irregular verb is most likely to be used in psycholinguistics
, and in first-language acquisition
studies, where the aim is to establish how the human brain processes its native language. One debate among 20th-century linguists revolved around the question of whether small children learn all verb forms as separate pieces of vocabulary or whether they deduce forms by the application of rules. Since a child can hear a verb for the first time and immediately reuse it correctly in a different tense which he or she has never heard, it is clear that the brain does work with rules, but irregular verbs must be processed differently.
Historical linguists rarely use the category irregular verb. Since most irregularities can be explained historically, these verbs are only irregular when viewed synchronically, not when seen in their historical context.
When languages are being compared informally, one of the few quantitative statistics which are sometimes cited is the number of irregular verbs. These counts are not particularly accurate for a wide variety of reasons, and academic linguists are reluctant to cite them. But it does seem that some languages have a greater tolerance for paradigm irregularity than others.
The English verb "pay" sounds regular: "I pay", "I paid", and "I have paid" are all pronounced as expected. But the spelling is irregular and that cannot be perfectly predicted; for example, "pay" and "lay" turn into "paid" and "laid", but "sway" and "stay" turn into "swayed" and "stayed".
Regular verb
A regular verb is any verb whose conjugation follows the typical grammatical inflections of the language to which it belongs. A verb that cannot be conjugated like this is called an irregular verb. All natural languages, to different extents, have a number of irregular verbs...
s, irregular verbs are those verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
in the language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s in which they occur. The idea of an irregular verb is important in second language acquisition
Second language acquisition
Second-language acquisition or second-language learning is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the name of the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process...
, where the verb paradigms of a foreign language are learned systematically, and exceptions listed and carefully noted. Thus for example a school French textbook may have a section at the back listing the French irregular verbs in tables. Irregular verbs are often the most commonly used verbs in the language.
In linguistic analysis, the concept of an irregular verb is most likely to be used in psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language. Initial forays into psycholinguistics were largely philosophical ventures, due mainly to a lack of cohesive data on how the...
, and in first-language acquisition
Language acquisition
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate. This capacity involves the picking up of diverse capacities including syntax, phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary. This language might be vocal as with...
studies, where the aim is to establish how the human brain processes its native language. One debate among 20th-century linguists revolved around the question of whether small children learn all verb forms as separate pieces of vocabulary or whether they deduce forms by the application of rules. Since a child can hear a verb for the first time and immediately reuse it correctly in a different tense which he or she has never heard, it is clear that the brain does work with rules, but irregular verbs must be processed differently.
Historical linguists rarely use the category irregular verb. Since most irregularities can be explained historically, these verbs are only irregular when viewed synchronically, not when seen in their historical context.
When languages are being compared informally, one of the few quantitative statistics which are sometimes cited is the number of irregular verbs. These counts are not particularly accurate for a wide variety of reasons, and academic linguists are reluctant to cite them. But it does seem that some languages have a greater tolerance for paradigm irregularity than others.
Irregular in spelling only
For the purposes of psycholinguistics and first language acquisition studies, only irregularities in the spoken form are relevant. In the foreign language classroom, however, the focus can be on the written form, and here irregularities of spelling are equally important.The English verb "pay" sounds regular: "I pay", "I paid", and "I have paid" are all pronounced as expected. But the spelling is irregular and that cannot be perfectly predicted; for example, "pay" and "lay" turn into "paid" and "laid", but "sway" and "stay" turn into "swayed" and "stayed".
External links
- Germanic languages
- English Irregular Verb Search English Irregular Verb Search
- Learn English verbs effectively
- List of irregular English verbs and exercises
- TheIrregularVerbs All the irregular verbs of the English language. Conjugation, pronunciation, translation and examples
- Irregular English Verbs online exercises Practice online exercises with the irregular verbs and examples
- Romance languages
- ForumRomanum.org (very partial) list of Latin irregular verbs
- The Catalan-language Wikipedia article on irregular verbs includes a list of irregular Catalan verbs.
- Orbis Latinus notes on irregular Asturian verbs
- Orbis Latinus list of irregular French verbs
- Orbis Latinus list of irregular Italian verbs
- Orbis Latinus list of irregular Occitan / Provençal verbs
- Orbis Latinus list of irregular Portuguese verbs
- Orbis Latinus list of irregular Spanish verbs
- Orbis Latinus list of irregular Venetan verbs
- Italian: list of principal irregular second and third conjugation verbs
- French: list of irregular verbs with their conjugation tables
- Other Indo-European languages