Morphological exceptionality and pathways of change

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-339
Author(s):  
Parker L. Brody
Keyword(s):  
Change Process ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Strong Tendency ◽  
Language Family

Abstract This paper explores the notion of analyzing cross-linguistically uncommon morphosyntactic structures in terms of their historical development. What may seem extraordinary in the synchronic snapshot of a language can often be clearly accounted for through diachronic considerations. To illustrate this, the current study examines the typologically uncommon phenomenon of multiple exponence, the realization of the same grammatical information in multiple places within an inflected word, in the Kiranti (Tibeto-Burman) languages. Typologically speaking, we do see a strong tendency cross-linguistically towards encoding grammatical information once within an inflected word, and against multiple exponence. Yet the phenomenon of multiple exponence is attested in a number of languages. This paper presents comparative evidence from the Kiranti languages that supports the claim that multiple exponence in synthetic verbs in the modern Kiranti languages comes as a result of the interaction between language(family)-specific typology (multiple agreement in periphrastic verbs) and an uncontroversial language change process (coalescence of periphrastic forms into synthetic forms).

The growth of the transitivising Reaction Object Construction

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Bouso
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Traditional Form ◽  
Historical Trend ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
Early Modern English

Abstract This paper explores the growth of the Reaction Object Construction (ROC) as in Pauline smiled her thanks, offering new insights into its characterisation and historical development from the perspective of Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995, 2006, 2019) and its application to patterns of language change (Hilpert 2013; Traugott & Trousdale 2013). It is argued that the modern ROC qualifies as a traditional form-meaning pairing and, at a deeper level, as a polysemous construction that follows the path of development of other transitivising constructions such as the way-construction (Israel 1996), and of processes of constructionalisation in general. Once the ROC imposes a coreferential constraint on its object argument, acquiring in this way its status as a form-meaning pairing over the Early Modern English period (1500–1700), the construction increases its productivity and schematicity; at the same time it decreases its compositionality since the link between the form/syntax and the overall meaning of the construction becomes less transparent, as in The door jingled a welcome. The ROC can thus be argued to be part and result of a broader development in the grammar of English, namely the historical trend towards transitivisation.

scholarly journals The Contribution of the Slovenian Linguistic Atlas to the Study of South Slavic Dialects

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Лучия Антонова-Василева
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Slavic Languages ◽  
History Of

This article presents the achievements of the first volume of the Slovenski lingvistični atlas (Slovenian Linguistic Atlas, 2011). It compares this work with the Български диалектен атлас. Обобщаващ том (Bulgarian Dialect Atlas: Generalizing Volume, 2002). The following groups of dialect lexical material are examined: (1) material showing the unity of the lexical system of the Slavic languages, (2) material showing the unity of the Slavic lexicon with the European lexicon, and (3) material showing the dialect division of lexemes from the first two groups. It presents the opportunities offered by juxtaposing various languages at the dialect level both for explaining their historical development and also for solving problems in the history of the language family that they belong to.

scholarly journals Chapter 3. The Toolbox: Linguistic Tools for Analyzing the History of Russian

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tore Nesset
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Slavic Language ◽  
Family Tree ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Tree Model ◽  
History Of

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: medium;">In chapter 1 you learned that Russian belongs to the Slavic language family, which evolved from a reconstructed ancestor language called “Proto-Slavic”. You may ask how we reconstruct ancestor languages and describe language change. This chapter addresses these questions and provides you with some linguistic tools you need in order to analyze the history of Russian.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Cambria',serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho'; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;" lang="EN-US">Click on the links below to learn more!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Cambria',serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho'; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;" lang="EN-US"><a href="/index.php/SapEdu/article/downloadSuppFile/3493/146">3.4 Family Tree Model</a><br /></span></p>

Spatial Reasoning and GIS in Linguistic Prehistory. Two Case Studies from Lower Fungom (Northwest Cameroon)

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierpaolo Di Carlo ◽  
Giovanna Pizziolo
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Geographic Information Systems ◽  
Real World ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Spatial Reasoning ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Ongoing Project

Being an ontologically multidisciplinary topic, language change is among the best candidates to be addressed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS can integrate datasets from diverse disciplines along with real-world geographical information, hence facilitating the investigation of (i) the spatial relations existing between research items and (ii) (past) landscapes. Drawing from an ongoing project focused on the historical development of the extremely diverse linguistic situation documented in the Lower Fungom region (Northwest Cameroon), this article explores the possibility of placing authentic interdisciplinary research pivoting on linguistic issues within a GIS framework.

Does Mass Count Anymore?

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-306
Author(s):  
Aviya Hacohen ◽  
Mostafa Qtit
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Number Marking ◽  
Relative Paucity ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Quantity Judgment ◽  
Palestinian Arabic

The theoretical literature on the mass/count distinction in Palestinian-Arabic (PA) is extremely scarce, and the psycholinguistic perspective has never been explored. In this paper, we report results from an experiment exploring the mass/count distinction in 48 (aged 6;6–17;04) young and adult speakers of PA. Using an adaptation of Barner & Snedeker’s (2005) Quantity-Judgment task, we show that while PA-speaking adults are essentially identical to English-speaking adults, PA-speaking children behave dramatically different from both adult PA speakers and from English-acquiring children. We suggest that these results may reflect a process of language change currently taking place in PA. We further propose two possible sources for the process. The first involves the fact that the grammaticization of mass/count in PA is rather marginal, as indicated by the relative paucity of syntactic structures encoding the distinction. Alternatively, our data may reflect a change process involving a relaxation of obligatory number-marking in cardinality contexts. Finally, we outline a research-program aimed to test these hypotheses.

scholarly journals On the Origins of the Japanese Language

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-239
Author(s):  
Patrick Elmer
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Yangtze River Valley ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Rice Agriculture ◽  
Old Japanese ◽  
Genealogical Data ◽  
Lower Yangtze ◽  
Asian Mainland

Abstract In this article, I deal with the historical development of the Japanese language by applying a multi-disciplinary approach that uses data from a variety of fields. My research indicates that the home-land of the Japonic language family may have been in the lower Yangtze River Valley, from where its speakers moved to the Korean Peninsula and eventually to Japan during the Yayoi period. This spread is associated with the dispersal of wet rice agriculture from the area south of the Yangtze River via the northeastern Asian mainland, where it was in contact with cultures cultivating millet. Old Japanese mythology and genealogical data suggests that the earliest known ethnic group that spoke Japonic may have been the Hayato people of southern Kyūshū.1

Comparing Fading of Oral Narrative Features in Three Balochi Dialects

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
MARYAM NOURZAEI
Keyword(s):  
Close Relation ◽  
The State ◽  
Strong Tendency ◽  
Oral Narrative ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Three Stages

Abstract This paper discusses discourse features such as tail-head linkage and repetition, development devices, associative strategies and subordination in oral narrative texts in the Koroshi (KoB), Sistani (SiB), and Coastal (CoB) dialects of Balochi, all of which belong to the North-West branch of the Iranian language family. The frequency with which these features vary with the dialect, and the variation can be attributed to different stages of orality. Three stages have been identified, with CoB and SiB at the ends of the cline and KoB located in between. CoB is the most conservative dialect, as different aspects of its grammar also show; it demonstrates a pure orality state by its frequent use of tail-head linkage, repetition and juxtaposition, and by the relative infrequency with which it employs associative and subordination strategies. SiB and its close relation Turkmenistan Balochi [TB])1 use associative and subordination strategies more frequently, have fully lexicalised development devices and seldom employs tail-head linkage, repetition and juxtaposition. This loss of oral techniques demonstrates that the state of narration in SiB has switched from oral to written style. Finally, KoB represents a language in a state of transition by using more unmarked tail-head linkage, repetition and juxtaposition and by a strong tendency to employ subordination strategies.

scholarly journals Investigating diachronic trends in phonological inventories using BDPROTO

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Moran ◽  
Eitan Grossman ◽  
Annemarie Verkerk
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Phylogenetic Comparative Methods ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Inventory Data ◽  
Rates Of Change ◽  
Language Resource ◽  
Target Rates ◽  
Family Trees

AbstractHere we present an expanded version of bdproto, a database comprising phonological inventory data from 257 ancient and reconstructed languages. These data were extracted from historical linguistic reconstructions and brought together into a single unified, normalized, accessible, and Unicode-compliant language resource. This dataset is publicly available and we aim to engage language scientists doing research on language change and language evolution. Furthermore, we identify a hitherto undiscussed temporal bias that complicates the simple comparison of ancient and reconstructed languages with present-day languages. Due to the sparsity of the data and the absence of statistical and computational methods that can adequately handle this bias, we instead directly target rates of change within and across families, thereby providing a case study to highlight bdproto’s research viability; using phylogenetic comparative methods and high-resolution language family trees, we investigate whether consonantal and vocalic systems differ in their rates of change over the last 10,000 years. In light of the compilation of bdproto and the findings of our case study, we discuss the challenges involved in comparing the sound systems of reconstructed languages with modern day languages.

scholarly journals The historical phonology of Paunaka (Arawakan)

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando O. de Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Historical Phonology ◽  
Grammatical Morphemes ◽  
Segmental Phonology

Abstract This paper applies the comparative method to unravel the historical development of the segmental phonology of Paunaka, an Arawakan language of Bolivia. Although the Paunaka vowel system features a single back rounded vowel, it is rather simple to show that it derives from a system with two back rounded qualities *u and *o, but that the former segment shifted to a high central unrounded vowel ɨ. The language has lost *r unconditionally, implying that Paunaka items with r are probable loanwords. Paunaka underewent a spirantization of *ts, thus merging this affricate with the fricative *s. Although Paunaka shares a coronalization of *k > s with Proto-Mojeño, most of the phonological developments that affected Paunaka are either recurrent in the Arawakan language family or only superficially similar to developments in related languages, and thus provide little weight as evidence for subgrouping. An Appendix is also included, with 105 etymologies matching Paunaka lexical and grammatical morphemes with their cognates in Proto-Mojeño, the two extant Mojeño dialects (Ignaciano and Trinitario) and Terena.

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