Internal reconstruction of relative chronology
Given the general principles outlined above, the following predictions can be made about the relative age of morphemes:
• Phoneticsize: The smaller a morpheme is, the older it is.
• Semanticsize: The more generic, grammaticalized, or semantically opaque a morpheme is, the older it is.
• Distance from stem: All other things being equal, the closer a morpheme is to the stem/root of the word, the older it is.
• Morpho-phonemic irregularity: The more morpho-phonemically irregular or variable a morpheme is, the older it is.
• Frozenrelic morphology: Themorpho-syntax of nominalized clauses, when different from that of free finite clauses, represents older stages of the grammar.
As elsewhere in a complex, multi-variable system, no single one of these principles is absolute. Taken together, however, they define a prototype, whereby a preponderance — or convergence — of evidence rather than an absolute proof is what is expected (Givón 1989, ch. 2).
