3 October 2006

R.O.M.E. Information Session and Presentation:

The ROME that is, the ROME that was: a mathematical history of irregular verbs

by Erez Lieberman

It is well known that although most verbs are regular, the most common verbs tend to be irregular. This is believed to be the result of the preferential disappearance of low-frequency irregulars. To probe this hypothesis, we have performed a detailed theoretical study which we confirmed by means of a diachronic analysis of irregular verbs in English and other Germanic languages. We make several predictions about future verb decay, including the relative and absolute lifetimes of the remaining English language irregular verbs.