Abstract
This paper addresses the problem of the mixed paradigms, i.e. the cases of intraparadigmatic auxiliary alternation (esse/habere), attested in some Italo-Romance varieties. It aims to show that, in some specific cases, auxiliary selection ceases to be motivated on the syntactic grounds, where the traditional active/inactive verb classes are opposed, and begins to operate on purely morphological basis.
The paper represents one of the first attempts to deal with the issue of the mixed paradigms in morphological terms. The aim is to show that auxiliary alternation within one and the same paradigm may follow both motivated and coherent patterns of distribution (e.g., singular versus plural) and unmotivated patterns of distribution, traditionally termed 'morphomic'.
This article thus intends to put forward yet another case of morphologization of previously motivated distributional patterns.