Abstract

In this paper we propose a SOM-based computational simulation of how a paradigmatic categorization of French verb forms develops on the basis of local analogies among infl ected forms and global forces of inter-paradigmatic attraction. In particular, the simulation is aimed at testing the role of increasing phonological resolution in the defi nition of morphological relations among verbal forms, and at formalizing the notion of inter-paradigmatic attraction among the entire set of forms, accounting for how strongly each cell of a specifi c paradigm is embedded in a system of macro-paradigmatic relations with other cells of the same lexeme and with corresponding cells of different lexemes. Aspects of the French verbal system, including the status of the three conjugational classes and the distinction between regular and irregular patterns of verb infl ection, will be addressed. In particular, we will show that macro-paradigmatic clusters basically corresponding to the three conjugational patterns of French can be derived a posteriori from the data, without needing to postulate specific patterns of conjugational differentiations.