Suppletion refers to the use of different stems or roots to form different grammatical forms of a word, particularly in the past tense or past participle.
Origin:
The concept of suppletion stems from the Latin verb supplere, which means "to fill up" or "to replenish." In linguistics, suppletion is used to describe the phenomenon where a word's grammatical forms are derived from different etymological sources, rather than being formed by regular inflectional processes.
Examples:
English:
go (present) - went (past) - gone (past participle)
French:
avoir (present) - eus (past) - eu (past participle)
German:
sein (present) - war (past) - gewesen (past participle)
Reasons for Suppletion:
Suppletion can occur for various reasons, including:
Historical accidents: Some forms of suppletion may have arisen due to changes in the pronunciation or spelling of a word over time.
Morphological pressure: Suppletion can occur when regular inflectional endings become obscured or ambiguous, making it necessary to use different stems to distinguish between different grammatical forms.
Semantic differentiation: In some cases, suppletion may reflect a semantic distinction between different forms of a word, allowing for more nuanced expression.
