Inflection Classes, Gender, and the Principle of Contrast

Clark's 1987 Principle of Contrast (‘Every two forms contrast in meaning’) seems inconsistent with the widespread synonymy exhibited by inflectional affixes in languages with inflection classes. But if inflection class membership is counted as part of the ‘meaning’ of an inflectional affix under tight conditions—namely if it unambiguously identifies the inflection class of the lexemes to which it attaches—then inflectional affixation is found to comply with the Principle of Contrast after all. A version of the principle extends to covert gender systems too, although apparently not to overt gender systems. Far- reaching implications for morphological theory and grammatical change are suggested. Evidence is drawn in particular from English, German, Icelandic, Latin, Rumanian, Amo, Archi, Andi, Zulu, Georgian, and Afrikaans.