The historical development of imperfect indicative and conditional inflection in Pyrenean Romance*

Abstract

Even historical developments which appear opaque due to limited empirical data may prove tractable when sources of diverse types are combined. For systems of three‐way inflectional contrast among imperfect indicative forms in a geographically coherent cluster of Catalan, Aragonese and Gascon varieties (e.g. first‐conjugation [kanˈtaβam] ‘we sang’; third‐conjugation [peɾˈðeβam] ‘we lost’; fourth‐conjugation [paˈtiβam] ‘we suffered’ in the Catalan variety of Castigaleu), two principal accounts have been proposed: an ‘etymological’ hypothesis in which three‐way imperfect contrasts represent a conservative feature continuing Latin forms, and an ‘analogical’ hypothesis in which thematic labials in non‐first‐conjugation imperfects are ascribed to analogical innovation. By examining historical texts, modern dialect data and areal patterns in order to develop a unified analysis of the Pyrenean systems, this study demonstrates that the modern systems result from analogical innovation, and further establishes the directionality and relative chronology of the analogical changes involved.