Stem constancy under the microscope

Abstract

Writing systems show variation in stem spellings, for example with double consonant letters. In German, the double consonant is always preserved (e.g., rennen – rennt, “to run – runs”), while in Dutch it is not (rennen – rent). In English <nn> is normally not preserved (running – run), though in French it varies: bonne – bon (“well” feminine – masculine), donner – donne (“to give – (I) give”). There are different regularities for double consonant spellings in all four languages; thus, stem constancy varies in strength depending on the language. In order to develop a typology of writing systems, language-specific types and limitations of stem constancy need to be described in greater detail. This chapter will do this by examining the above-mentioned four languages. It will compare the strength and degree of systematicity of stem constancy, as well as issues of frequency. Mark Aronoff was always interested in spelling systems and he is a morphologist – so this chapter is dedicated to Mark.