The rise of it-clefting in English: areal-typological and contact-linguistic considerations

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARKKU FILPPULA
Keyword(s):  
Historical Linguistic ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Celtic Languages

Recent areal and typological research has brought to light several syntactic features which English shares with the Celtic languages as well as some of its neighbouring western European languages, but not with (all of) its Germanic sister languages, especially German. This study focuses on one of them, viz. the so-called it-cleft construction. What makes the it-cleft construction particularly interesting from an areal and typological point of view is the fact that, although it does not belong to the defining features of so-called Standard Average European (SAE), it has a strong presence in French, which is in the ‘nucleus’ of languages forming SAE alongside Dutch, German, and (northern dialects of) Italian. In German, however, clefting has remained a marginal option, not to mention most of the eastern European languages which hardly make use of clefting at all. This division in itself prompts the question of some kind of a historical-linguistic connection between the Celtic languages (both Insular and Continental), English, and French (or, more widely, Romance languages). Before tackling that question, one has to establish whether it-clefting is part of Old (and Middle) English grammar, and if so, to what extent it is used in these periods. In the first part of this article (sections 2 and 3), I trace the emergence of it-clefts on the basis of data from The York–Toronto–Helsinki Corpus of Old English Prose and The Penn–Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Middle English, second edition. Having established the gradually increasing use of it-clefts from OE to ME, I move on to discuss the areal distribution of clefting among European languages and its typological implications (section 4). This paves the way for a discussion of the possible role played by language contacts, and especially those with the Celtic languages, in the emergence of it-clefting in English (section 5). It is argued that contacts with the Celtic languages provide the most plausible explanation for the development of this feature of English. This conclusion is supported by the chronological precedence of the cleft construction in the Celtic languages, its prominence in modern-period ‘Celtic Englishes’, and close parallels between English and the Celtic languages with respect to several other syntactic features.

scholarly journals An Asymmetric Axe from the Collections of the Tobolsk Museum-Reserve

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 105-115
Author(s):  
Igor V. Balyunov
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Forest Industry ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Village ◽  
Functional Purpose

Purpose. Among its collections, the Tobolsk Museum-reserve keep an axe, which was an accidental find. The purpose of this publication is to introduce the presented sample into scientific circulation, as well as to complete the description of the find, establish its functional purpose, chronology and determine its place of production. Upon admission to the museum, it was identified as a combat weapon and tentatively dated to the 17th century. Results. The axe has a wide blade which extends downwards, covered with a notched ornament. An important feature is its asymmetric cross-section, where one of the sides is flat and the other is convex. Similar axes found in Siberia are often defined as battle axes, however this definition is incorrect. Currently, no Tobolsk axe prototypes are known to have been found on the territory of the Moscow state, however asymmetric axes are known to have been used, in particular, in Eastern Europe, since at least the 15th century. According to some authors, asymmetric axes are specialized tools for carpentry and joinery. This definition is most reliably justified in the publication of Polish researcher M. Glosek. This point of view is convincingly confirmed by the catalogues of Eastern European metalworking plants of the first half of the 20th century. The definition of long-bladed asymmetric axes as a combat weapon is based, as a rule, on random finds with unknown dating. More proof can be found by their absence in the materials of archaeological excavations. Conclusion. It can be assumed that asymmetric axes were imported to Russia between the Modern Period up to ethnographic modernity. One of the most likely producers is the Transcarpathian plant in the village of Kobyletskaya Polyana, which specialized in the manufacture of tools for the forest industry and had a fairly wide market. The widest possible period when Transcarpathian axes could be imported into Russia is no earlier than the end of the 18th century, and not later than the middle of the 20th century.

scholarly journals On Early and Late Modern English Non-native Suffix -oon

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-143
Author(s):  
Laura Wright
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Late Modern

This paper is about identifying a nuance of social meaning which, I demonstrate, was conveyed in the Early and Late Modern period by the suffix -oon. The history of non-native suffix -oon is presented by means of assembling non-native suffix -oon vocabulary in date order and sorting according to etymology. It turns out that standard non- native -oon words (which are few) tended to stabilise early and be of Romance etymology. A period of enregisterment, c. 1750–1850, is identified by means of scrutiny of non-native -oon usage in sixty novels, leading to the conclusion that four or more non-native -oons in a literary work signalled vulgarity. A link is made between the one-quarter non-European -oons brought to English via colonial trade, and the use of such -oons by non-noble merchants, traders and their customers splashing out on luxury foreign commodities. Thus, it is found that a suffix borrowed from Romance languages in the Middle English period received fresh input during the Early Modern period via non-European borrowings, resulting in sociolinguistic enregisterment in the Late Modern period.

Pour une nouvelle typologie des dictionnaires historiques. Emprunts – mots savants – formations scientifiques – mots néolatins

2014 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Communication ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Academic Vocabulary ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Intermediate Space ◽  
European Languages ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThe historical dictionaries of the Romance language, as well as the individual Romance languages, are all based - in line with the tradition of the history of science - on the dichotomy of “inherited” vs. “borrowed” lexicon, while in general the sound laws provide the basis for the distinction. From this point of view, the group of “half-taught” forms remains problematic, and the scientific neologisms, ignored by Diez and Meyer-Lübke, are typologically classified incorrectly as supposed borrowings from (Greco-)Latin. The Romans did not know any kind of “virology”, due to which variola vaccina is not a borrowing from Latin, but a scientific neologism from Neo-Latin (such as, e. g., vitamina), which cannot be equated typologically with known (Greco-)Latinisms from antique texts (such as, e. g., fr. légal or sp. gramatical). The Neo-Latin forms, which primarily stem from the academic vocabulary (from Humanism until the 20th century), represent a constantly growing class of word formations which should neither be characterized as “external” nor as “internal”, but are to be understood as typical products of scientific communication which follow their own rules of distribution. The attempts to claim such formations for individual Romance languages usually constitute nationalistically motivated interpretations, because the rules applied here by the respective creator are true beyond the individual language and it cannot be justified formally that, for instance, gerontologia originated in the German speaking part of Europe or telecratia in the Francophone area, and that the corresponding Neo-Latinisms can be identified. All Central and Western European linguistic zones have participated in these developments and the scientists have the relevant language competence; thus, the first existing references have to be ascertained and the filiations displayed, before a convincing genealogy (e. g., for astro-, rhino-, neo- etc.) can be postulated and defended. This intermediate space between “internal” and “external” forms has to be reviewed for all sciences and be made available to the single-language and the interlingual lexicography, as well as the research on internationalisms, if we want historical dictionaries to serve also as cultural-historical documents. It should be noted in particular that the majority of modern neologisms belong to this group, which is where the most methodological as well as documentary deficits subsist in the lexicography of the European languages. The erroneous practice to attribute cultural vocabulary rather schematically to a fictional etymologia remota still exists.

scholarly journals Are there Slavonic features in the syntax of Romanian? Two case studies

Diacronia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adina Dragomirescu
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
The Other ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of

The present paper discusses the issue of the Old Church Slavonic influence on the syntax of (old) Romanian. The starting point is the hypothesis that many of the syntactic features of Romanian previously explained by postulating the influence of (Old Church) Slavonic (especially in studies strongly influenced by ideological issues, published during the Communist period) are actually either regular transformations which occurred in the transition from Latin to Romanian, common to the other Romance languages as well, or the output of more general tendencies manifested in the history of Indo-European languages. In order to check the role of the Slavonic influence in the syntax of Romanian, we have established a working algorithm, which is applied to two phenomena from old Romanian: (i) the position of relative adjectives, and (ii) scrambling in compound verbal forms in correlation with auxiliary inversion.

scholarly journals Italian preconsonantal s-voicing is not regressive voice assimilation

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bálint Huszthy
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Word Boundary ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Sibilant Fricatives ◽  
Synchronic Comparison

Abstract In the literature of laryngeal phonology Romance languages are considered voice languages, exhibiting a binary distinction between a voiced lenis and a voiceless fortis set of obstruents. Voice languages are characterised by regressive voice assimilation (RVA) due to the phonological activity of [voice]. Italian manifests a process similar to RVA, called preconsonantal s-voicing; that is, /s/ becomes voiced before voiced consonants. Since /sC/ is the only obstruent cluster in Italian phonotactics, Italian seems to fulfil the requirements for being a prototypical voice language. However, this paper argues that s-voicing is not an instance of RVA, at least from a synchronic phonological point of view. RVA and Italian preconsonantal s-voicing essentially differ at every level of a synchronic comparison: in the input, in the trigger, in the domain of application and in the frequency of the processes. In Italian only sibilant fricatives may undergo voicing before consonants; however, other obstruents (which mostly appear in loanwords) do not assimilate for [voice]. Italian preconsonantal s-voicing does not take place at the word boundary or at morpheme boundaries, and it seems to be optional is new loanwords; thus, it is not a postlexical process like RVA. The synchronic differences between the two phenomena are analysed in Classical Optimality Theory. The laryngeal system of Italian prefers faithfulness over markedness, which means that non-/sC/ obstruent clusters surface with underlying voice values; while the voicing of /s/ before voiced consonants is seen as phonetic and not phonological.

Historical Outlines of English Phonology and Middle English Grammar.

1920 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 418
Author(s):  
Howard R. Patch ◽  
Samuel Moore
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
English Grammar

An Historiographical Guide to Subcarpathian Rus'

1973 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 201-265
Author(s):  
Paul R. Magocsi
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
General Nature ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Article Deal ◽  
Enormous Amount ◽  
History Of ◽  
Roman Jakobson ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Cultural Developments

It is customary among western scholars who have written about the Carpatho-Rusyns to consider them “the most forgotten among the forgotten.”2 Little is known in the West about the political, economic, and cultural developments of Subcarpathian Rus', especially before 1918. Yet such an enormous amount of material has been written in eastern European languages about this territory that as early as 1931 the noted Slavic linguist Roman Jakobson could write: “In the whole east Slavic world, there is hardly any other marginal area whose past has been examined with such affectionate meticulousness and scholarliness as Carpatho-Russia.”3The present study is intended as an introductory guide to the voluminous historiography of Subcarpathian Rus'. The material has been arranged according to the following topical and chronological subdivisions: bibliographical aids; general historical studies; early history to 1514; 1514 to 1711; 1711 to 1848; 1848 to 1918; 1918 to 1938; October, 1938, to March, 1939; 1939 to 1944; 1945 to the present; cultural developments; Rusyns in Hungary; Rusyns in Jugoslavia; and Rusyns in the United States. Works will be discussed under the heading which most nearly describes the period dealt with in the text regardless of the date of publication. The time periods were not designated arbitrarily but are based on certain historical events the significance of which will be clarified in the appropriate subsection. Most studies treated in this article deal exclusively or primarily with Subcarpathian Rus' only a few are concerned with problems of a more general nature. Many studies dealing with the recent history of the area are not necessarily included because they represent sound historical research but because they are valuable, highly selective accounts of crucial events, many of them written by the participants themselves.

Comparatives and Superlatives in the Romance Languages

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marleen Van Peteghem
Keyword(s):  
Romance Languages ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Equal Degree ◽  
European Languages ◽  
The Status ◽  
Comparative Constructions ◽  
Standard Of Comparison ◽  
Traditional Grammar ◽  
Standard Marker

Comparison expresses a relation involving two or more entities which are ordered on a scale with respect to a gradable property, called the parameter of comparison. In European languages, it is typically expressed through two constructions, comparatives and superlatives. Comparative constructions generally involve two entities, and indicate whether the compared entity shows a higher, lesser, or equal degree of the parameter with respect to the other entity, which is the standard of comparison. Superlatives set out one entity against a class of entities and indicate that the compared entity shows the highest or lowest degree of the parameter. Hence, comparatives may express either inequality (superiority or inferiority) or equality, whereas superlatives necessarily express superiority or inferiority. In traditional grammar, the terms comparative and superlative are primarily used to refer to the morphology of adjectives and adverbs in languages with synthetic marking (cf. Eng. slow, slower, slowest). However, while Latin has such synthetic marking, modern Romance languages no longer possess productive comparative or superlative suffixes. All Romance languages use analytic markers consisting of dedicated adverbs (e.g., Fr. plus ‘more’, moins ‘less’, aussi ‘as, also’) and determiners (e.g., Sp./It. tanto, Ro. atât ‘so much’). Superlatives are marked with the same markers and are mainly distinguished from comparatives by their association with definiteness. Another difference between comparatives and superlatives lies in the complements they license. Comparatives license a comparative complement, which may be clausal or phrasal, and which identifies the standard of comparison. As for superlatives, they license partitive PPs denoting the comparison set, which may be further specified by other PPs, a relative clause, or an infinitive clause. The Romance languages show many similarities with respect to the morphosyntactic encoding of comparatives and superlatives, but they also display important cross-linguistic differences. These differences may be related to the status of the comparative marker, the encoding of the standard marker, ellipsis phenomena in the comparative clause, and the dependence of the superlative on the definite article.

scholarly journals “In a Sea of Wonders:” Eastern Europe and Transylvania in the Irish-Language Translation of Dracula

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-83
Author(s):  
Sorcha De Brún
Keyword(s):  
Original Work ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Language Translation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The Novel ◽  
European Language ◽  
Irish Language ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of

Abstract The publication of the Irish-language translation of Dracula in 1933 by Seán Ó Cuirrín was a landmark moment in the history of Irish-language letters. This article takes as its starting point the idea that language is a central theme in Dracula. However, the representation of Transylvania in the translation marked a departure from Bram Stoker’s original. A masterful translation, one of its most salient features is Ó Cuirrín’s complex use of the Irish language, particularly in relation to Eastern European language, character, and landscapes. The article examines Ó Cuirrín’s prose and will explore how his approaches to concrete and abstract elements of the novel affect plot, character, and narration. The first section explores how Dracula is treated by Ó Cuirrín in the Irish translation and how this impacts the Count’s persona and his identity as Transylvanian. Through Ó Cuirrín’s use of idiom, alliteration, and proverb, it will be shown how Dracula’s character is reimagined, creating a more nuanced narrative than the original. The second section shows how Ó Cuirrín translates Jonathan Harker’s point of view in relation to Dracula. It shows that, through the use of figurative language, Ó Cuirrín develops the gothic element to Dracula’s character. The article then examines Ó Cuirrín’s translations of Transylvanian landscapes and soundscapes. It will show how Ó Cuirrín’s translation matched Stoker’s original work to near perfection, but with additional poetic techniques, and how Ó Cuirrín created a soundscape of horror throughout the entirety of the translation.

scholarly journals Evidentiality In Romance Languages. Explanatory Potential of a Concept and Its Applications In Pragmatics

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. e337
Author(s):  
Gerda Hassler
Keyword(s):  
Epistemic Justification ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Epistemic Modality ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Superordinate Category ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge ◽  
Factual Claim ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Linguistic Means

Defined narrowly, evidentiality pertains to the sources of knowledge or evidence whereby the speaker feels entitled to make a factual claim. But evidentiality may also be conceived more broadly as both providing epistemic justification and reflecting speaker’s attitude towards the validity of the communicated information, and hearer’s potential acceptability of the information, derived from the degree of reliability of the source and mode of access to the information. Evidentiality and epistemic modality are subcategories of the same superordinate category, namely a category of epistemicity. Since the first seminal works on evidentiality (Chafe and Nichols 1986), studies have for the most part centred on languages where the grammatical marking of the information source is obligatory (for example Willett 1988; Aikhenvald 2004). Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the study of the domain of evidentiality in European languages, which rely on strategies along the lexico‐grammatical continuum. Assuming a broad conception of evidentiality and defining it as a functional category, we study linguistic means that fulfil the function of indicating the source of information for the transmitted content of a certain proposition in Romance languages.

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