  In this paper, we examine regularity and stability issues for two damped
abstract elastic systems. The damping involves the average velocity and a
fractional power $\theta$, with $\theta$ in $[-1,1]$, of the principal
operator. The matrix operator defining the damping mechanism for the coupled
system is degenerate. First, we prove that for $\theta$ in $(1/2,1]$, the
underlying semigroup is not analytic, but is differentiable for $\theta$ in
$(0,1)$; this is in sharp contrast with known results for a single similarly
damped elastic system, where the semigroup is analytic for $\theta$ in
$[1/2,1]$; this shows that the degeneracy dominates the dynamics of the
interacting systems, preventing analyticity in that range. Next, we show that
for $\theta$ in $(0,1/2]$, the semigroup is of certain Gevrey classes. Finally,
we show that the semigroup decays exponentially for $\theta$ in $[0,1]$, and
polynomially for $\theta$ in $[-1,0)$. To prove our results, we use the
frequency domain method, which relies on resolvent estimates. Optimality of our
resolvent estimates is also established. Several examples of application are
provided.
