Suppletivismo: aspetti teorici del fenomeno a partire da alcuni fatti berberi

A short survey of some interesting cases of suppletion in Eastern Berber dialects – a linguistic group which has been hardly investigated so far – allows for some generalizations about this phenomenon. The paradigms taken into account are both nominal and verbal. The alternating roots may occur in singular vs. plural forms, in forms having or lacking suffixes, in different tenses of verbs. Many factors play a role in the development of “irregular” paradigms: linguistic taboo and socio-cultural constraints, the need to avoid homophonic clashes, the coalescence of different linguistic traditions, and even casual similarities in roots with close meanings.