Analogy (linguistics)

Analogy is the reshaping of linguistic forms after patterns found in other forms of the same language. It can regularize paradigms or create new forms.

Proportional analogy: A change modeled on a relation between forms, such as A:B = C:D. This model captures how a familiar form can supply a pattern for reshaping another.
Morphology: The study of word structure and the ways words are formed and inflected. Analogy is especially visible in the organization and change of word forms.
English strong verb: A Germanic verb whose past tense and participle are formed through vowel alternation rather than a dental suffix. English strong verbs illustrate how analogy can replace inherited vowel patterns with more regular forms.
Morphological leveling: The reduction of variation among related morphological forms. Leveling is a common outcome when analogy makes forms within a paradigm more alike.
Paradigm leveling: The reduction of differences among forms within an inflectional paradigm. Leveling removes alternations when one form in a paradigm reshapes others.
Inflection: The grammatical variation of a word to express features such as tense, case, number, or person. Inflectional forms often provide the related patterns analogy spreads.
Children's overregularization: The use of a regular grammatical pattern for an irregular form, as when a child says “goed.” Overregularization reveals pattern-based remodeling in language acquisition, though it need not become lasting historical change.
Morphological regularization: The replacement of exceptional forms by forms following a more productive pattern. Analogy often regularizes exceptions by bringing them into line with a common pattern.
Analogical extension: The spread of an existing morphological pattern to forms that previously lacked it. It shows analogy extending a pattern beyond the forms where it began.
Paradigm (linguistics): A set of related word forms organized by grammatical features or functions. A paradigm supplies the network of forms across which analogical changes can spread.

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