Towards the Quantitative Approach to Studying Evolution of English Verb Paradigm

Abstract

The article focuses on corpus quantitative investigation of English diachronic morphology with respect to irregularregular verb classes. General tendencies of the evolution of English verb paradigm are analyzed. Three groups of English verbs have been observed: irregular and regular ones plus goup of verbs on the stage of transition from irregular category into regular one, i.e. possessing both types of conjugation forms. A considerable amount of e-texts has been processed and correspondence of these three verb classes has been revealed. The results reveal existence of certain correlation between the frequency dynamics of the verb and its belonging to irregular or regular conjugation paradigm.