Why a single burst or multiple scatterings can make all the difference: the patterns underlying the formation of AI and AII verbs
Esther Le Mair · 2013
Old Irish has three categories at its disposal for the formation of secondary verbs: the ā-verbs, the ī-verbs and the-igidir verbs. In this article, I discuss the possible origins of these formations before moving on to a discussion of the underlying motivation for ā-verbs and ī-verbs to be formed as a verb of one class rather than the other. Secondary verbs contain denominatives, deadjectivals and deverbal verbs. There are no deadjectival ī-verbs and no deverbal ā-verbs or igidir-verbs.1 The formation of a denominative as an ā- or an ī-verb appears to be motivated by its semantic causativity and iterativity and its transitivity. The-igidir category, on the other hand, is so productive that it appears to have virtually no restrictions in Old Irish and has been left aside in the discussion.