Re: OT: English and schizophrenia

> Not entirely.  -are verbs especially are pretty predictable.
> Regular
> -are verbs have forms ending in -o:, -a:re, -a:vi, and -a:tum.
> -e:re
> verbs are usually -eo:, -e:re, -ui:, -itum, and -i:re verbs are
> -io:,
> -i:re, -i:vi:, and -i:tum.  -ere verbs, on the other hand, are
> pretty
> much a collection of irregularities.
Well, yes, and there are some things that are pretty much universal in
all Greek verbs (like the future stem ends in -s).  But those are just
tendencies, and the verbs that don't follow them aren't irregular, they
just have different principal parts.  That's what I meant when I said
"the concept of regular verb doesn't apply"--in Latin, 'capio' isn't any
more irregular than 'amo,' it just has less predictable principal parts.
The term "irregular" is reserved for verbs like 'sum', which use
different personal endings.  Same goes for Greek, which adds several more
layers of complication like athematic verbs and second aorists, but which
contains hardly any true "irregular" verbs by my definition.


Jesse S. Bangs     Pelíran
jaspax @juno.com
"There is enough light for those that desire only to see, and enough
darkness for those of a contrary disposition."  --Blaise Pascal