Typological Database of the Volga Area Finno-Ugric Languages (VolgaTyp)

Verbal suppletion

Suppletion refers to irregularity in the coding of semantic relations. Suppletive forms can be found among both verb stems (go – went) and affixes (boy-s – ox-en). This parameter focuses on suppletion within verb stems, which can be described as the phenomenon in which different stems coexist within a single verbal paradigm. Suppletion may occur across tenses, aspects, other categories, or may be absent in a language.¹

Types:

NoVSuppl: Verb stem suppletion does not exist.

VSupplT: Verb stem suppletion occurs across tenses.

VSupplA: Verb stem suppletion occurs across aspects.

VSupplElse: Verb stem suppletion occurs across other lines than tenses and aspects.

1: Verb stem suppletion in English is restricted to a particular tense; in other languages, however, it may occur within numerous tenses. Aspect-specific suppletion primarily affects the perfect–imperfect distinction, although it can also apply to other aspectual distinctions (see the Russian id’ot ‘goes’– šol ‘went’; govorit’ ‘to say (impf.)’ – skazat’ ‘to say (pf.)’). Whichever parameter value (except NoVSuppl) applies, a detailed description should be provided in the commentary.

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