Eckhard Bick - VISL

are, that it is a matter of lexicographer's choice whether to use individual inflexion
form entries in the main lexicon instead, - both solutions are equally efficient.
There is quite a lot of homonymy among inflexion endings: '-a', for instance,
occurs 8 times in the lexicon, covering 10 inflexional types. However, - due to
different "inward compatibility" conditions - never more than two of these can attach
to the same stem.
(2)
a, -, v, D, V MQP 1/3S IND VFIN,
a, -, v-, B, V PR 1/3S SUBJ VFIN,
a, -, var, B, V IMP 2S VFIN,
a, -, var, B, V PR 3S IND VFIN,
a, e, s, f:-a, N F S,
a, o, adj, , ADJ F S,
a, o, s, f:-a, N F S,
a, o, pc, , V PCP F S,
Empirically, one-root ambiguity is greatest for the unmodified infinitive ending 'r',
where the number of competing readings, for most verbs, is brought up to 5 for one
stem by the fact that the future subjunctive - in the 1. and 3. person singular - yields
forms identical to the corresponding impersonal infinitive forms. Only some
irregular verbs have different stems for the Infinitive (condition A) and the Future
Subjunctive (condition D), respectively.
(3)
r, r-, v, A, V INF 0/1/3S,
r, r-, v, D, V FUT 1/3S SUBJ VFIN,
Note that the practical ambiguity handed down to the disambiguation module in the
form of different tag lines, has been reduced both in (2) and (3) by the introduction
of so-called Portmanteau-tags (1/3S and 0/1/3S) 11 . Since the subject in Portuguese
clauses is optional or, rather, can be incorporated in the finite verb's inflexion
ending, I have chosen to fuse the verbal 1. and 3. Person Singular where they can't be
distinguished morphologically, i.e. for the Mais-que-perfeito tense, the Infinitive and
Future Subjunctive, and, for the '-er'- and '-ir'-conjugations, also the Present
Subjunctive. Another argument in favour of this choice is the fact that the 1. Person
Singular is all but absent in many text types (typically those without speech quotes).
Of course, if a word form is ambiguous, and can also be derived from some
other root by adding a non-zero-morpheme ending, this alternative will be found,
too, - in the subsequent steps of the inflexion ending module.
11 Portmanteau-tags are also used in the English Constraint Grammar of Karlsson et al. (1995). Here, the categories of
person and number in verbs are untagged for most Past tense forms, and fused as -SG3 ('all but 3.Person Singular) or -
SG1/3 ('all but 1. or 3.Person Singular) for most Present tense forms.
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