Database explains strange survival of irregular verbs

An historical study of the development of irregular verbs in the hundreds of Romance languages including French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Catalan has revealed how these structures survive. Experts have also examined why they are learned by successive generations despite 'making no sense' or, apparently, having any function in the language. Oxford University has published an online database displaying the irregularities of the verb systems of 80 Romance languages and dialects - those that developed from Latin - to highlight the research. The database is useful to specialists and others with an interest in Romance languages. Professor Martin Maiden of Oxford's Faculty of Linguistics Philology & Phonetics and the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages led the four year study which was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. He said: 'Many people will remember groaning at school when faced with irregular French or Spanish verbs and wondering why they were the way they were. Our work helps to explain why they, and their equivalents in many related languages, not only exist but are even reinforced and replicated over time.' There is usually a good historical reason why irregularities appear in a language, Professor Maiden adds, but often the original causes disappear, leaving behind apparently inexplicable irregularities.