Substitution occurs when a word does not follow a linguistic pattern, such as irregular verbs and collateral adjectives. It elicits theories about linguistic changes and is of interest to grammarians and linguists. Evidence suggests the Combinatorial Model is closest to predicting substitute use. Irregular paradigms are also examples of substitution.
Substitution is a term to describe a state in which a word does not follow a certain linguistic pattern of usage. For example, when a word has a fixed root, which can be associated with suffixes or prefixes to denote grammatical tense, the flow of declensions or conjugations can be easily understood and used. When a root word has no suffix or prefix to change usage, but instead has another word of different etymology to complete its meaning, this is an irregular usage form, often called a supplementation. Irregular verbs and collateral adjectives are often considered a form of substitute.
Collateral adjectives, sometimes called supplementary adjectives, are adjectives that describe a noun form; however, they do not derive from the noun, as in bovine and cow, which derive from two different word roots. An example of collateral adjectives would be better than good, as these two words come from different stems of word roots, but have a relationship in completing a meaning. Similarly, irregular verbs in conjugation can have supplementary relationships, such as in go and go, since these two verbs also have different word stems.
The substitute may take a tense-related form in the past tense, as in the previous examples, but in some conjugations nearly every tense is a mutated supply of words derived from different roots in etymology and yet are, grammatically and syntactically, correct. A common example would be the English verb to be. Through its conjugations, it follows tenses like: be, am/are, is, was/was, been, be. This verb reverts to the same stem in the past and present participle forms, but the intermediate conjugations have different root stems. Since there are no other words that can take the place of these language-shifted words these days, this is considered a supplementary verb conjugation.
Because substitution elicits theories about linguistic changes, morphology, and linguistic acquisitions from other languages, they are of particular interest to grammarians and linguists. It has been suggested by linguist Andrew Hippisley that integration and frequency of use may have an influence on illuminating its use for lexical storage in the brain. He compared the use of substitution with two competing theories known as the Associative Model and the Combinatorial Model. Evidence from this study points to the Combinatorial Model, which argues that the word endings paradigm is of primary importance, regardless of stem word form, and is closest to being the applicable model for predicting substitute use.
Irregular paradigms are another example of substitution in the English language. Although the plural form of dog is dogs, it does not always follow that the plural form of person is necessarily people, as person often is. This is why these irregular paradigms are called supplementary paradigms.
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