Conclusions and implications

2020 ◽  
pp. 297-308
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier ◽  
Marielle Butters
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Physical Characteristics ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Present Book ◽  
Lexical Items

The descriptions of individual languages demonstrate that their grammatical systems encode different functions. Given common physiological make up, common biological and social needs, and common physical characteristics of the environment (for languages spoken in the same geographical area), one must ask why grammatical systems encode different functions. The present book has offered methodology to study this question as well as a number of conditions and motivations for the emergence of functions which include: forced interpretation; avoiding systemic ambiguity; initial state; principle of functional transparency; properties of lexical items; metonymic change; opportunistic emergence of functions; and language contact. The study also postulates that the availability of rich inflectional systems provides opportunities for the emergence of new types of functions. The study concludes with a set of open questions, viz. whether there is a hierarchy of which functions are grammaticalized more often, and under what conditions a given function becomes a default value of a given formal means.

The Emergence of Functions in Language

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier ◽  
Marielle Butters
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Goal Orientation ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Present Book ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The Subject

Why do grammatical systems of various languages express different meanings? Given that languages spoken in the same geographical area by people sharing similar social structure, occupations, and religious beliefs differ in the kinds of meaning expressed by the grammatical system, the answer to this question cannot invoke differences in geography, occupation, social and political structure, or religion. The present book aims to answer the main question through language internal analysis. This book offers a methodology to discover meaning in a way that is not based on inferences about reality. The book also offers a methodology to discover motivations for the emergence of meanings. The grammatical system at any given time constitutes a base from which new meanings emerge. The motivations for the emergence of functions include: the communicative need triggered when the grammatical system inherently produces ambiguities; the principle of functional transparency whereby every function encoded in the grammatical system must be expressed if it is in the scope of the situation described by the proposition; opportunistic emergence of meaning whereby unoccupied formal niches acquire a new function; metonymic emergence whereby a property of an existing function receives a formal means of its own, thus creating a new function; emergence of functions through language contact. Several phenomena, such as benefactive and progressive in English, as well as point of view of the subject and goal orientation in several languages, receive new analyses.

The emergence of functions through metonymy and language contact

2020 ◽  
pp. 207-228
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier ◽  
Marielle Butters
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Temporal Relationship ◽  
Initial State

A function can emerge through a metonymical extension from one function to another. A function may have several properties or features. These are mainly logical implications of a given function. Each of these features may serve as a source for the emergence of new function. The metonymical extension may be coded by the same formal means as the function from which it emerged, or new formal means may be recruited to code the new function. The Chapter describes the emergence of functions coding the relationships between propositions. The initial state described here consists of the juxtaposition of two clauses without any conjunction in Lele. Out of this initial state four functions have emerged: a backgrounding function whereby one proposition constitutes a background for another; a sequential temporal relationship between the two propositions; the unexpected relationship between two propositions, and the most recent function that of coding counter-expectations.

scholarly journals In search of language contact between Jarawa and Aka-Bea: The languages of South Andaman

1970 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Anvita Abbi ◽  
Pramod Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Similarity Judgment ◽  
Andaman Islands ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Loan Word ◽  
South Andaman ◽  
Lexical Items

The paper brings forth a preliminary report on the comparative data available on the extinct language Aka-Bea (Man 1923) and the endangered language Jarawa spoken in the south and the central parts of the Andaman Islands. Speakers of Aka-Bea, a South Andaman language of the Great Andamanese family and the speakers of Jarawa, the language of a distinct language family (Abbi 2006, 2009, Blevins 2008) lived adjacent to each other, i.e. in the southern region of the Great Andaman Islands in the past. Both had been hunter-gatherers and never had any contact with each other (Portman 1899, 1990). The Jarawas have been known for living in isolation for thousands of years, coming in contact with the outside world only recently in 1998. It is, then surprising to discover traces of some language-contact in the past between the two communities. Not a large database, but a few examples of lexical similarities between Aka-Bea and Jarawa are investigated here. Words for comparison are selected from the Automated Similarity Judgment Programme-list ASJP (Holman et al. 2008, Brown et al. 2007, 2008, Wichmann 2010) as well as from the Loan Word Typology research (Haspelmath and Tadmor 2009). Although we have data only for 100 items, we further compared the lexical items against the Swadesh list (1955) (see appendix 5). The result achieved exposes for the first time, the possibility of language contact between Aka-Bea and Jarawa in the past. We pose a very relevant question here: can enmities and rivalries induce changes in languages which can be ascribed to contact of a very special kind? We conclude by claiming that prototypical least borrowable lexical items can also be borrowed in a very specific context despite the absence of interactive communication between the two communities.

scholarly journals KONSEP KEBUTUHAN DAN KEDUDUKANNYA DALAM ANALISIS KEBIJAKAN SOSIAL

Sosio Informa ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hobarth Williams Soselisa
Keyword(s):  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Needs Assessment ◽  
Program Analysis ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
The Third ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Third Millennium

Suatu Tinjauan Deskriptif Terhadap Kebutuhan Sosial Masyarakat Maluku dan Tantangannya - (Needs Assessment Concept and its Role in Social Policy Analysis: A Descriptive Review on Maluku Community Social Needs and its Challenges).Needs assessment in policy analysis and challenges of Maluku community in the third millennium is determined by the following factors. First, the desired condition of a target population that needs post-conflict improvement. Second, supporting resources to serve as determinants in decision making process for post-conflict program analysis. In making a policy analysis of a target population, its need are determined by the size of geographical area. In target of policy analysis, needs assessment is the determinant of the social needs of Maluku people and how they move away from the current challenges in such a manner that they can finally make their own decisions. Considering the critical role of needs assessment mentioned above, the purpose of this article is to describe empirically the basic needs of the community in a certain condition, to analyze and plan program intervention. In the context of Maluku, the assessment is focused on 1) community basic social needs and 2) challenges for the Mollucans in the Third Millennium.

Greek in Contact with Romance

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Ralli
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
South Italy ◽  
Lexical Items

In the course of its long history, Greek has experienced a particularly multifarious and profound contact with Romance, in a wide geographical area that spreads from western to eastern Europe and also covers part of the once Hellenophone Asia Minor. The beginning of this contact is difficult to delimit given that the ancestor languages, Ancient Greek and Latin, were already in interaction even before the Roman period of the Greek-speaking world. Both Greek and Romance (Italo-Romance, Gallo-Romance, Aromanian, and Judeo-Spanish) have acted as donor or recipient, depending on the specific historical and sociolinguistic circumstances. A significant number of lexical items (roots, affixes, and words) were transferred from one language to another, while phonological and structural transfers have also occurred in areas where Greek has been in constant and long contact with Romance, as for instance, in south Italy. Greek has been the basis for the formation of scientific internationalisms in Romance, and reversely it has recently adopted Romance terms and term-forming affixes.

scholarly journals Size-class structure of the forests of Finland during 1921–2013: a recovery from centuries of exploitation, guided by forest policies

2019 ◽  
Vol 139 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-293
Author(s):  
Helena M. Henttonen ◽  
Pekka Nöjd ◽  
Susanne Suvanto ◽  
Juha Heikkinen ◽  
Harri Mäkinen
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Size Class ◽  
Class Structure ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Size Classes ◽  
Growing Stock ◽  
Large Trees

AbstractFrequency distributions of tree diameters are a powerful tool for analyzing changes of tree populations in large areas. We analyzed the densities and mean volume estimates of trees in different size classes for the Finnish forests over the time-span of the National Forest Inventories (1921–2013). The results display a general increase in trees in all size classes, species group and geographical area, mainly after the 1970s. The densities of medium- and large-sized conifers showed large increases in the southern boreal subzone, spruces even more than pines. Small- to medium-sized pines have increased in the middle and northern boreal subzones. The shifts in growing stock are related to changing land use, resulting from the development of the society. The low quantities of both growing stock and large trees during the 1920s reflect a poor initial state of forests. Several land use forms of the former agriculture-based society were detrimental to forests, including slash and burn agriculture, cattle grazing and tar production. The pressure from alternative land use forms was stronger in southern Finland, where the population density (people per km2) is much higher. Between 1971 and 2013, the changes in size-class structure can be attributed mainly to intensified silviculture boosted by actions of the Finnish governments, including both legislation and financial support for management activities. Not only the development of growing stock has exceeded expectations, but the increase has also concentrated in the economically valuable trees in the large size classes.

The impact of language contact on the Quechua varieties of Northern Peru

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-53
Author(s):  
Matthias Urban
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Central Andes ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Northern Peru ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
San Martín

AbstractStudies of language contact in the Central Andes of Peru and Bolivia have focused strongly on the present-day contact situation between Quechua and Spanish, and the intricate and multilayered contact relationship between the Quechua and Aymara lineages. There are fewer studies of the influence of Quechua on minor non-Quechua languages of the Andes, and still fewer studies which, conversely, explore the influence of non-Quechua languages on Quechua. Focusing on the lexicon, this article explores the impact of the complex linguistic ecology of Northern Peru on the five Quechua varieties of that region—Lambayeque, Cajamarca, Chachapoyas, San Martín and Ancash Quechua. The study identifies lexical items that lack clear Quechua etymologies in the relevant varieties and carries out external comparisons of these items with the vocabulary of the non-Quechua languages of Northern Peru to identify possible sources. Results show that borrowing is mostly localized: that is, whereas influence from Amazonian lowland languages is almost exclusively found in the eastern varieties of Chachapoyas and San Martín, highland Quechua varieties have typically borrowed from neighboring highland languages.

Language contact in Shetland Scots and Southern Irish English

English Today ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-47
Author(s):  
Drew Nevitt
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Fluid Process

English is a product of contact with other languages (Hickey, 2010a). This essay explains the major effects of language contact on the languages or dialects involved, using examples from Shetland Scots, which has been influenced by contact with Norn, and from Southern Irish English (S.I.E.), which has been influenced by contact with Irish Gaelic. The focus is on the borrowing of lexical items between Norn and Shetland Scots and of grammatical features between Irish Gaelic and S.I.E. The essay begins with a brief overview of language contact in general and then give examples of the effects of contact from each dialect. Throughout the essay the claim is made that language contact is an ongoing and fluid process and that the examples given merely illustrate the effects of contact necessitated by the particular situation in question, not universal effects of language contact.

scholarly journals Armeno-Iranian Structural Interaction: The Case of Parthian wxd, Armenian ink‘n

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-425
Author(s):  
Robin Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Structural Interaction ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Discourse Anaphora ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Middle Persian

While Armenian is not a member of the Iranian language family, its lexicon is replete with borrowings from esp. Parthian. This paper ventures to show that borrowing is not restricted to lexical items alone, but extends to the realm of syntax as well. This will be demonstrated by means of a corpus based investigation of the usage of Middle Persian xwd, Parthian wxd and its functional counterpart, Armenian ink‘n; furthermore, parallels regarding the expression of reflexivity in both language groups are addressed. The tripartite function of the respective pronouns as intensifier, discourse anaphora and clause level anaphora are the result of extended language contact between Armenian and Western Middle Iranian.

scholarly journals STUDYING THE PHONOLOGY OF THE OLŮKŮMI, IGALA, OWÉ AND YORŮBA LANGUAGES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS.

Dialectologia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bolanle Elizabeth AROKOYO
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Word List ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
Lexical Items

This study presents a comparative analysis of the phonological systems of the Yorůbá, Owé, Igala and Olůkůmi languages of the Defoid language family of Benue Congo. Data were collected from native speakers using the Ibadan Four Hundred Word List of Basic Items. Using discovered common lexemes in the languages, the classification of the languages sound systems and syllable systems are carried out in order to determine the major patterns of differences and similarities. Some major sound changes were discovered in the lexical items of the languages. The systematic substitutions of sounds also constitute another major finding observed in the languages. It was established in this study that there exists a very strong relationship among these languages. The languages are found to be mutually unintelligible except for Owé that has a degree of mutual intelligibility with Yoruba. The paper concludes that the major reason for divergence is language contact.

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