Strong and Weak in the History of the Gutnish Verb System

Abstract

Gutnish has been spoken on the Baltic island of Gotland for over 1,000 years. For much of this time, the verb system of Gutnish was very similar to those of its close relatives on the North Germanic branch. However, in the 19th century, a number of significant changes transformed the Gutnish verb system from a typical Germanic system with a fairly strict lexical division into strong and weak verb classes into a system with a large number of mixed verbs, where paradigms contain parallel strong and weak forms. This article explores these changes and a number of possible explanations for them, including morphophonological changes, language contact and cross-linguistic overcorrection. All of these factors are woven into a scenario where a sudden wave of immigration hits a speaker community that is ready for change.