The Prehistorical Implications of Guthrie's Comparative Bantu. Part II: Interpretation of Cultural Vocabulary

1976 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Dalby
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
The Other ◽  
Relative Distribution ◽  
Metal Working ◽  
Linguistic Terms ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Loan Words ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Historical Origin

The second part of this article opens with a general caveat about the use and misuse of linguistic evidence. Guthrie, on the other hand, presented his data in a way which leaves subsequent scholars free to arrive at their own interpretations. The complexity of his data makes it difficult to achieve a necessary overview, however, and a stylized grid is therefore proposed, enabling the relative distribution of individual items of Common Bantu vocabulary to be plotted and compared. This is particularly important in the case of cultural vocabulary, where geographical distribution is normally related to levels of historical origin or diffusion. Groups of these vocabulary grids, based on Guthrie's corpus of data and his referential zones, are assembled and presented for the following semantic areas: fishing and watercraft, metal-working, pottery, livestock and cultivation (including cereals). Much of the remainder of the article is devoted to an exposition of the way in which these grids may be interpreted historically, including the need to distinguish—as far as possible—between likely cognates and likely loan-words. Attention is drawn to the possibilities (i) that Bantu languages may have begun to diverge substantially in linguistic terms before they began to move widely apart from their secondary and tertiary nucleus south of the forest, and (ii) that there may have been a differential layering, or overlapping waves, of Bantu expansion in the east.

Early Bantu Ethnography from a Philological Point of View

Africa ◽  
1930 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. v. Warmelo
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Compact Body ◽  
The One ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphFew of the secrets that Africa still holds from us to-day have, I think, such an absorbing interest as the problem of Bantu in its relation to the neighbouring families and types of speech. Taking the continent of Africa as a whole, we find on the one hand the huge, yet marvellously homogeneous and compact body of the Bantu languages, clear-cut in structure, simple and transparent in phonology, and, at the back of much apparent diversity, exceptionally uniform in vocabulary. On the other hand there are in Africa numerous other languages of various type, which differ so much amongst each other that they have not yet been brought under any but the very broadest of classifications. The essential points of these are as follows.

Jewish and Roman Law: A Study in Interaction

2020 ◽  
pp. 379-393
Author(s):  
Haym Soloveitchik
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
New Information ◽  
Shed Light

This chapter discusses the laws regulating usury (ribbit). In the course of studying ribbit, more specifically, the problem of personal surety in usury contracts, certain peculiar developments in Provençal halakhic thought came to the author's attention which were not explainable by indigenous forces. The geographical distribution of the discussion seemed oddly disproportionate, the fictions too blatant, the types of problem that were raised seemed inappropriate for the period, and the terminology was occasionally alien. The author was compelled to look outside Jewish law for possible stimuli. Placing the Jewish developments within the context of twelfth-century Provençal law shed light on a number of seemingly inexplicable points. The Jewish literature, on the other hand, provided new information about the Gentile law of the time and yielded fresh corroboration for theories of the penetration of Roman law in Provence. However, at the same time this material seemed to point to an earlier date for certain legal developments than is generally accepted. It is these findings that the author wishes to bring to the attention of the scholars of Provençal law.

Traditions of Metal-Working in the Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Britain: Part I

1963 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 258-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Britton
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Metal Working ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The One

This paper is concerned with the earliest use in Britain of copper and bronze, from the first artifacts of copper in the later Neolithic until the transition from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age, as marked by palstaves and haft-flanged axes. It does not attempt to deal with all the material, but instead certain classes of evidence have been chosen to illustrate some of the main styles of workmanship. These groups have been considered both from the point of view of their archaeology, and of the technology they imply.Such an approach requires on the one hand that the artifacts are sorted into types, their associations in graves and hoards studied, their distributions plotted, and finally a consideration of the evidence for their affinities and chronology. On the other hand there are questions also of interest that need a different standpoint. Of what metals or alloys are the objects made? Can their sources be located? How did the smiths set about their work? Over what regions was production carried out? If we are to understand as much as we might of the life of prehistoric times, then surely we should look at material culture from as many view-points as possible—in this case, the manner and setting of its production as well as its classification.

“Walking” and “running” in English and German

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cliff Goddard ◽  
Anna Wierzbicka ◽  
Jock Wong
Keyword(s):  
Human Locomotion ◽  
The Other ◽  
Potential Outcome ◽  
Conceptual Semantics ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Linguistic Evidence

This study examines the conceptual semantics of human locomotion verbs in two languages – English and German – using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. Based on linguistic evidence, it proposes semantic explications for English walk and run, and their nearest counterparts in German, i.e. laufen (in two senses, roughly, ‘run’ and ‘go by walking’), rennen (roughly, ‘run quickly’), gehen (roughly, ‘go/walk’), and the expression zu Fuß gehen (roughly, ‘go on foot’). Somewhat surprisingly for such closely related languages, the conceptual semantics turns out to be significantly different in the two languages, particularly in relation to manner-of-motion. On the other hand, it is shown that the same four-part semantic template (with sections Lexicosyntactic Frame, Prototypical Scenario, Manner, and Potential Outcome) applies in both languages. We consider the implications for systematic contrastive semantics and for lexical typology.

scholarly journals Encoding the plural-honorific suffix -ani and the imperfective anga in Malawian CiTonga (N.15)

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 356-369
Author(s):  
Winfred Mkochi
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Status

Many Bantu languages have the plural-honorific suffix *-Vni and the imperfective morpheme *-a(n)g-. In most of these languages, *-Vni is reported to be clearly encoded at POST-FINAL position. On the other hand, *-a(n)g- is said to be ambiguously encoded, either at EXT (extension) in one language or FV (final vowel) in another language. Still in others it coexists at both EXT and FV; there has also been a suggestion that it is encoded at POST-FINAL in several others. This article argues that the status of both the plural-honorific suffix -ani (*-Vni) and the imperfective -anga (*-a(n)g)- in CiTonga is fluid, it prevaricates between EXTENSION (suffix), FV (the commonest), and POST-FINAL (clitic). Although these formatives can be encoded at these positions, they are shown to be functionally different from extensions, inflectional vowel suffixes and clitics

scholarly journals Definition de L’adjectif en Langues Bantu

Afrika Focus ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-54
Author(s):  
Jean Baka
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Morphological Criterion ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Morphological Criteria ◽  
Semantic Notion ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

Definition of the Adjective in Bantu Languages In Bantu, as in other language groups, the definition of the adjective depends on the type of criteria that one uses. Some authors make use of morphological criteria, some of syntactic criteria and others of semantic criteria. From this variety of criteria there follows a diversity of definitions. One can reach, nevertheless, a more appropriate definition, by having recourse to the whole set of possible criteria but giving primacy to the syntactic ones. Such definition allows us – on the one hand – to bypass the dichotomy between nouns and pronouns which is founded on a purely morphological criterion « the form of the prefix » and – on the other hand – to restrict the meaning of the word 'adjective' to a purely semantic notion.

scholarly journals Phonological and Morphological Functions of Palatalisation in Irish and Polish

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 99-134
Author(s):  
Eugeniusz Cyran ◽  
◽  
Bogdan Szymanek ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Word Formation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Verbal Nouns ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Status ◽  
Historical Origin ◽  
Nominal Inflection ◽  
Phonemic Status

The paper attempts to compare the status of palatalization of consonants in Modern Irish and Polish within the phonological and morphological systems of the two languages. Irish and Polish have been selected from the Celtic and Slavic groups due to the fact that both have palatalized consonants. One function, which is connected with the palatalized / non-palatalized distinction is expressing lexical contrast, e.g. Irish cúis [ku:ʃ] ‘reason’ vs. ciumhais [kʲu:ʃ] ‘edge’ and Polish beli [beli] ‘roll, Gen.sg.’ vs. bieli [bʲeli] ‘whiteness, Gen.sg.’. Phonologically speaking, the term ‘palatalization’ is rather broad and ambiguous, as it subsumes two quite disparate linguistic situations. Namely, it may be understood as a dynamic phonetic or phonological process of fronting or softening a consonant in the context of the following front vowel [i/e] or glide [j]. In this sense, palatalization is allophonic, that is, a context dependent assimilatory process, as may be the case with Irish bith [bʲi] ‘existence’, or Polish bił [bʲiw] ‘he beat’. On the other hand, both Irish and Polish seem to show that palatalization of consonants may also be independent of the context, in which case we are not dealing with a process, but with a genuine lexical property of given consonants, that is, a phonemic distinction. This point can be illustrated by such forms as Irish beo [bʲo:] ‘alive’ and Polish biodro [bʲodro] ‘hip’. Here the palatalized consonant is followed by a back vowel and could not have been derived by assimilation. Another argument for the phonemic status of palatalization in the two languages comes from the forms in which the presence of a front vowel does not guarantee that a consonant will be palatalized, e.g. Irish tuí [ti:] ‘straw’ (cf. tí [tʲi:] ‘house, Gen.sg.’) and Polish beli [beli] ‘roll, Gen.sg.’. It may appear that the phonological similarities between Irish and Polish palatalization are considerable. However, the appealing picture becomes more complicated when the two systems are looked at in detail. Once present in the phonological representation of words, the property of palatalization in Irish behaves quite disparately from what is observed in Polish. In Irish, palatalization behaves as an independent property (autosegment) and has a tendency to spread leftwards, affecting the preceding short vowels, e.g. sop / soip [sop / sipʲ] ‘wisp / Gen.sg’, consonants and vowels, e.g. olc / oilc [olk / ilʲkʲ] ‘evil / Gen.sg.’, or even entire syllables, e.g. dorn / doirn [dorən / dirʲinʲ] ‘fist / Gen.sg.’. Thus, palatalization as an assimilatory process is not entirely inactive. On the other hand, in Polish, there is some vestigial consonant-vowel interaction, practically limited to velar consonants, as well as some cluster assimilation. The paper aims to define the conditions on the phonological scope of palatalization in Irish and Polish from the point of view of the historical origin of the phenomenon, distributional restrictions, and participation in processes. Both languages successfully utilize the palatalized / non-palatalized distinction also in the respective morphological systems. This general similarity has a historical origin in the loss of final syllables. The paper surveys various lexical derivations and inflectional paradigms involving palatalization in Irish and Polish. From the formal point of view, there seem to be two main ways in which the palatalized / non-palatalized distinction is utilized morphologically, each of which has two subcategories: 1. Palatalization a. as a sole formative: C > Cʲ, e.g. Irish bád / báid [bɑ:d / bɑ:dʲ] ‘boat, Nom.sg. / Nom.pl.’, and Polish ryb-a / rybi-a [rɨba / rybʲa] ‘fish, Nom.sg. / adj.Nom.sg.fem.’. b. as a co-formative: C > Cʲ+vowel, e.g. Irish deas / deise [dʲas / dʲeʃə] ‘nice / Gen.sg.’, and Polish student / studenc-i [student / studeɲtɕi] ‘student, Nom.sg. / Nom.pl.’. 2. De-palatalization a. as a sole formative: Cʲ > C, e.g. Irish athair / athar [ahir / ahər] ‘father, Nom.sg. / Gen.sg.’. b. as a co-formative: e.g. Polish liść / list-ek [liɕtɕ / listek] ‘leaf / dim.’ From the functional viewpoint, these effects are seen, in Polish, in some paradigms of nominal inflection, the derivation of abstract nouns from adjectives and of possessive denominal adjectives, as well as in large areas of expressive word-formation, etc. In Irish, the morphological impact of palatalization is best observed in the nominal inflection, but it also present in verbal inflection and some derivations, e.g. Verbal Nouns. Further cross-linguistic comparison and typological research is called for in order to fully appreciate the status of palatalization as a link between phonology and morphology. This paper attempts to lay the foundations for such research.

scholarly journals DERIVATIONAL ADAPTATION OF ENGLISH LOAN WORDS INTO THE ADJECTIVE SUBSYSTEM OF THE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE

2019 ◽  
pp. 131-138
Author(s):  
Ya. V. Bytkivska
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Loan Words ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Internet Resources ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Social Orders

The article tackles the issue of the behavior of English loan-words (adjectives) in the derivational system of the Ukrainian language. It particularly covers the issue of their adaptation to the word-building norms of the target language, collocations with domestic lexemes, as well as the influence of foreign elements upon the microstructures of the target language. The practical material consists of the anglicisms used in mass media, fiction, conversational speech and internet resources. The terms “direct anglicism” (English lexemes borrowed from the source language by means of transcription or/and transliteration) and “mediated anglicism” (borrowed English lexemes that on the ground of the target language obtained new word-buildings and form-building affixes) are introduced. According to the research that social orders as well as the popularity of some anglicisms accelerate their adaptation to the word-building peculiarities of the Ukrainian language. After the attachment of the derivative formants the mediated anglicisms widen their denotation range by means of new semes. The modification suffixes emphasize the subjective attitude of a speaker towards the nomination object. Transpositional and mutative suffixes cause the expansion of word-building nests. The widespread usage of anglicisms in everyday speech and slang caused their adjustment to phonetic games and linguistic experiments. On the other hand, the utilizations of suffixoids as well as word-building substantive structures show the influence of the source language on the target one.

scholarly journals Zu den Quellen der sprachwissenschaftlichen Terminologie im Deutschen mit Berücksichtigung des Polnischen und Russischen: Forschungsmethodologie und Begriffsbasis

2020 ◽  
Vol LXXVI (76) ◽  
pp. 81-94
Author(s):  
Michail Kotin
Keyword(s):  
Research Methodology ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Linguistic Terms ◽  
Morphological Form ◽  
Everyday Language ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Young Branch ◽  
Russian Research

Sources of linguistic terminology in German, Polish and Russian: Research methodology and terminological basis. The paper deals with selected aspects of the influence of foreign terminology and borrowings from everyday language as well as from other terminological systems on linguistics. Since linguistics is a relatively young branch of scientific research, it has been strongly and consequently influenced by other sciences and their terms throughout its development as an autonomous field of research. On the other hand, a specific feature of linguistics in comparison to other spheres of human knowledge is its mixed character, since it describes both universal and relative (language-specific) properties of language systems. For this reason, terms borrowed from Latin, Greek or other languages can never completely cover the phenomena found in German, Russian, Polish etc. Nevertheless, borrowed terms undoubtedly can adequately describe different properties of other languages, if we understand them exclusively as conventionalized etiquettes in which the internal transparency of their morphological form does not play a decisive part. Keywords: linguistic terminology, terminological borrowing, sources of linguistic terms O źródłach terminologii językoznawczej w językach niemieckim, polskim i rosyjskim: metodologia badawcza a baza pojęciowa. Streszczenie: W artykule rozpatrywane są wybrane aspekty wpływów terminologii języków obcych i zapożyczeń z języka potocznego oraz z innych systemów terminologicznych na językoznawstwo. Ponieważ lingwistyka jest stosunkowo młodą nauką, była ona na całej przestrzeni swego rozwoju jako autonomicznej dyscypliny naukowej pod stałym wpływem innych dziedzin nauki i ich terminologii. Z drugiej zaś strony cechą specyficzną językoznawstwa w porównaniu z innymi obszarami wiedzy ludzkiej jest jego mieszany charakter, bowiem zajmuje się ono deskrypcją tak uniwersalnych, jak i względnych (specyficznych dla każdego badanego języka) właściwości. Z tego powodu pojęcia zapożyczone z greki, łaciny lub innych języków nigdy nie odpowiadają całkowicie opisywanym za ich pomocą zjawiskom w języku niemieckim, polskim, rosyjskim lub innym. Niemniej jednak zapożyczone pojęcia niewątpliwie mogą odpowiednio opisywać odmienne zjawiska innych języków, o ile będą one traktowane wyłącznie jako skonwencjonalizowane etykiety, w których motywacja formy morfologicznej nie odgrywa decydującej roli. Słowa kluczowe: terminologia lingwistyczna, zapożyczenia terminologiczne, źródła pojęć językoznawczych.

Terriera cladophila. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].

1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Minter
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Vaccinium Myrtillus ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western Norway ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Apparently Healthy

Abstract A description is provided for Terriera cladophila. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Vaccinium myrtillus (leaf, stem, twig), Vaccinium sp. (stem, twig). DISEASE: Terriera cladophila colonizes living twigs, and ascomata may be found on pale subapical regions of dead bark on these twigs, while distal parts remain apparently healthy. Terriera cladophila is also found on recently killed twigs, though it is not clear it the fungus is responsible for their death. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Czech Republic, Eire, France, Germany, Norway, UK (England, Scotland, Wales), Ukraine. Eriksson (1970) commented that, in 'Fennoscandia the distributions of T. cladophila and Coccomyces leptideus appear not to overlap. I have seen no samples of the former from Finland and Sweden, whereas C. leptideus is common from these countries. All the Fennoscandian samples of T. cladophila are from south-western Norway, where C. leptideus, on the other hand, does not appear to exist'. In Great Britain this exclusive distribution is also largely true, though localities are known where both species have been found. It is interesting to note that Remler (1979) recorded C. leptideus but not T. cladophila from the eastern alps. Altitude records exist up to 1300m (Ukraine) and 600m (Wales). TRANSMISSION: By air-borne ascospores in humid conditions; ascomata containing ascospores have been observed in August; ascomata no longer containing ascospores have been observed in May.

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