983: Past Tense of Screenshot: Strong or Weak? Aug 18, 2017
This post is more of a hypothesis than a fact, so please do not rely on this as your only evidence if you wish to explore the topic. If you find you would like more theories like this on Word Facts in the future, leave a comment.
As discussed on the Word Facts post about ablauts, strong verbs are almost always conjugated with the present tense featuring a high vowel like /ɪ/ in 'spring' or /eə/ in 'wear' that becomes a mid or low vowel like /æ/ in 'sprang', /ə/ in 'sprung', or /oə/ in 'wore' in the past tense. For more on types of vowels, see the image below, from speechmodification.com. This is one of the many conventions that people will follow naturally, even in words that are newly created, but it does pose a few problems. 'Shoot' for example is a strong verb that follows that same pattern, going from a high vowel /u/ to a low vowel /a/ in its past tense for 'shot'. In compounded words where a strong noun, strong verb, or irregular word happens to be at the end, speakers tend to modify the compound in the same way as they would if it appeared on its own, so 'mailman' becomes 'mailmen' not 'mailmans'. However, the past tense form 'shot' appears at the end of 'screenshot' which is used as a present tense verb, i.e. meaning "to take a screenshot", so even though this is a strong verb as the final element of the compound, there is no way for there to be a lower vowel. In fact, the only other low vowel in English is /æ/ as in 'cat' or in this case, possibly, 'screenshat'. That would be the only reasonable past tense form of 'screenshot' if we take it to be a strong verb, which is why people might be drawn towards the alternative, weak form 'screenshotted'.
As discussed on the Word Facts post about ablauts, strong verbs are almost always conjugated with the present tense featuring a high vowel like /ɪ/ in 'spring' or /eə/ in 'wear' that becomes a mid or low vowel like /æ/ in 'sprang', /ə/ in 'sprung', or /oə/ in 'wore' in the past tense. For more on types of vowels, see the image below, from speechmodification.com. This is one of the many conventions that people will follow naturally, even in words that are newly created, but it does pose a few problems. 'Shoot' for example is a strong verb that follows that same pattern, going from a high vowel /u/ to a low vowel /a/ in its past tense for 'shot'. In compounded words where a strong noun, strong verb, or irregular word happens to be at the end, speakers tend to modify the compound in the same way as they would if it appeared on its own, so 'mailman' becomes 'mailmen' not 'mailmans'. However, the past tense form 'shot' appears at the end of 'screenshot' which is used as a present tense verb, i.e. meaning "to take a screenshot", so even though this is a strong verb as the final element of the compound, there is no way for there to be a lower vowel. In fact, the only other low vowel in English is /æ/ as in 'cat' or in this case, possibly, 'screenshat'. That would be the only reasonable past tense form of 'screenshot' if we take it to be a strong verb, which is why people might be drawn towards the alternative, weak form 'screenshotted'.
