Alternating flexion
Under Wechselflexion means the ordinary change of a word within a paradigm to identify criteria that paradigm normally subordinate. As an example: In German there are two stems for most verbs , namely one for the present tense (e.g. leb-, red-, heb-) and one for the simple past (e.g. lives-, redet-, hobb) -). Starting from this stem, the subordinate forms for person and number inflection can be derived: I leb- / red- / heb-e, du leb- / red (e) - / heb-st etc.
Examples in German
Alternating flexion is exceptional in that it complicates the unified paradigm by changing the trunk, e.g. E.g. in the German verb giving, which shows the umlaut of the stem vowel e> i in the 2nd and 3rd person of the singular present tense ( you g i b-st, he g i b-t, but: I give-e, we give-en , you give, they give ). Another example is the auxiliary verb haben , which shortens its stem in the 2nd and 3rd singular from hab-> ha- ( you ha-st, he ha-t, but: I have-e, we have-en etc. .).
Alternating flexion can also serve as a general distinction between singular and plural, cf. German modal verbs such as B. like with the stem mag- in the present singular and the stem mög- in the plural.
Alternating flexion is primarily a phenomenon of verbal inflection or conjugation ; it appears in many languages.
Examples from other languages
Italian
Change of the stem vowel in the 1st / 2nd Plural in the present tense: e.g. noi usc-iamo (“we are going out”), voi usc-ite (“you are going out”), but: io esc-o (“I'm going out”), tu esc-i (“ you go out ") etc.
Romanian
Change of the stem vowel in the 1st / 2nd Plural in the present tense: e.g. noi zbur-ăm (“we fly”), voi zbur-aţi (“you fly”), but: eu zbor (“I fly”), tu zbor-i (“you fly ”).
Bosnian / Croatian / Serbian
Change of the stem-ending consonant in the 1st singular and the 3rd plural present tense: e.g. yes mog-u ("I can"), oni mog-u ("they can"), but: ti mož-e-š (" you can "), mi mož-e-mo (" we can ") etc.
