scholarly journals Borrowing morphology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heini Karjalainen
Keyword(s):  
Strong Influence ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Pattern Transfer ◽  
Minority Status ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Morphological Pattern ◽  
Indefinite Pronoun ◽  
The Prestige ◽  
Indefinite Pronouns

Veps is a Finnic minority language that has long been influenced by Russian, the prestige language in the speech area. The influence of Russian can be perceived in all subsystems of the Veps language, but hardly any research has been done on its impact on morphology. The current paper focuses on the influence of Russian on the Veps indefinite pronouns and their restructuring. The contemporary Veps indefinite pronoun system is based on the use of different affixes and particles, i.e., indefiniteness markers, which are attached to interrogative stems. This article describes the various Veps indefiniteness markers, which have been acquired via morpheme transfer (MAT) and morphological pattern transfer (PAT) from Russian. The borrowing of indefiniteness markers is typical for languages under the very strong influence of another language. According to contemporary studies, the motivation for borrowing should primarily be attributed to sociolinguistic factors and less to structural-typological similarities of the languages in question. In the Veps language community, such sociolinguistic factors are the minority status of the Veps language and the bilingualism of its speakers. 

Formal and Functional Types of Indefinite Pronoun

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Haspelmath
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Ontological Category ◽  
Functional Types ◽  
Formal Element ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Existential Sentences ◽  
Universal Quantifiers ◽  
Indefinite Pronoun ◽  
Indefinite Pronouns

This chapter examines formal and functional types of indefinite pronoun. It first presents some examples of different indefinite pronoun series in a variety of languages, focusing on a formal element shared by all members of an indefinite pronoun series, such as some and any in English. This element is called indefiniteness marker, an affix or a particle which stands next to the pronoun stem. The chapter proceeds by discussing two main types of derivational bases from which indefinite pronouns are derived in the world's languages: interrogative pronouns and generic ontological category nouns like person, thing or place. It also looks at the main functional types of indefinite pronoun, namely: negative indefinite pronouns and negative polarity (or scale reversal). Finally, it analyses some alternatives to indefinite pronouns, including generic nouns, existential sentences, non-specific free relative clauses, and universal quantifiers.

On Indefinite Pronoun Structures with APs: Reply to Kishimoto

2004 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard K. Larson ◽  
Franc Marušič
Keyword(s):  
Indefinite Pronoun ◽  
Number Of Authors ◽  
Indefinite Pronouns

A number of authors have claimed that indefinite pronoun constructions like everything red are formed by raising a noun (thing) over a higher prenominal adjective (red). We examine phenomena in English and other languages which appear to show that adjectives participating in the indefinite pronoun construction do not correspond to prenominal forms, but to postnominal ones. We evaluate the challenges these results present for the N-raising account, showing that while some can be met, others apparently cannot. This outcome calls for a reexamination of postnominal position with indefinite pronouns.

Tadeusz Banachiewicz in Tartu (1915 to 1918)

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Flin ◽  
E. Panko
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Astronomical Observatory ◽  
International Astronomical Union ◽  
International Astronomical ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Prestige

AbstractTadeusz Banachiewicz (1882-1954) was an outstanding Polish astronomer, mathematician and geodesist. He was a professor at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and director of the Astronomical Observatory (1919-1954), and had a strong influence on Polish astronomy. His achievements led to honorary degrees at universities, fellowships in academies of sciences, and the prestige of high positions in international organizations, such as the International Astronomical Union and the Baltic Geodetic Commission. He is known from both his theoretical and observational studies, his famous motto being: “observo ergo sum”. Here we recall three years of his activity in Tartu, where Tadeusz Banachiewicz made the most important steps in his career. He arrived at Yuryev in October of 1915, employed as a young assistant. In March 1918 he became the extraordinary professor and director of the Astronomical Observatory.

Indefinite pronouns in conditional clauses

2005 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Bertocchi ◽  
Mirka Maraldi
Keyword(s):  
Indefinite Pronoun ◽  
Indefinite Pronouns

SummaryThis paper starts from the consideration that, when an indefinite pronoun is found in a Latin conditional clause, it is

Variation in the tonal space of Yangliu Lalo, an endangered language of Yunnan, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathryn Yang ◽  
James N. Stanford ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Jinjing Jiang ◽  
Liufang Tang
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Young People ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Time Study ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Tone Languages ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Tonal Space ◽  
Tonal System

Abstract Endangered tone languages are not often studied within quantitative variationist approaches, but such approaches can provide valuable insights for language description and documentation in the Tibeto-Burman area. This study examines tone variation within Yangliu Lalo (Central Ngwi), a minority language community in China that is currently shifting to Southwestern Mandarin. Yangliu Lalo’s Tone 4, the rising-falling High tone, is lowering and flattening among young people, especially females, who also tend to use Lalo less frequently. Tonal range in elicited speech is shown to be decreasing as use of Lalo decreases. Concurrently, the standard deviation of the pitch of individual tones also decreases, while at the same time speakers with a narrow tonal range also show greater articulatory precision for each tone. Tonal range and standard deviation of pitch are both parameters of tonal space, the arrangement of, and relationship between, tones within the tonal system. The results from our apparent-time study suggest that tonal space provides a new avenue of sociolinguistic inquiry for tone languages.

scholarly journals Complexity/informativeness trade-off in the domain of indefinite pronouns

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Milica Denić ◽  
Shane Steinert-Threlkeld ◽  
Jakub Szymanik
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Function Word ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Efficient Communication ◽  
Universal Properties ◽  
Linguistic Analyses ◽  
Indefinite Pronoun ◽  
And Function ◽  
Indefinite Pronouns

The vocabulary of human languages has been argued to support efficient communication by optimizing the trade-off between complexity and informativeness (Kemp & Regier 2012). The argument has been based on cross-linguistic analyses of vocabulary in semantic domains of content words such as kinship, color, and number terms. The present work extends this analysis to a category of function words: indefinite pronouns (e.g. someone, anyone, no-one, cf. Haspelmath 2001). We build on previous work to establish the meaning space and featural make-up for indefinite pronouns, and show that indefinite pronoun systems across languages optimize the complexity/informativeness trade-off. This demonstrates that pressures for efficient communication shape both content and function word categories, thus tying in with the conclusions of recent work on quantifiers by Steinert-Threlkeld (2019). Furthermore, we argue that the trade-off may explain some of the universal properties of indefinite pronouns, thus reducing the explanatory load for linguistic theories.

scholarly journals Pecularities of French Pronoun on Usage in Lithuanian Scientific Discourse

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-137
Author(s):  
Lina Dubikaltytė-Raugalienė
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Personal Pronoun ◽  
Indefinite Pronoun

Scientists studying personal identifiers in French scientific discourse incorporate the personal indefinite pronoun “on” into the paradigm. The semantics of the pronoun depends on the genre of scientific discourse. The pronoun “on” can acquire four meanings denoting or including the author. The current paper, based on two databases of native French and Lithuanian authors’ articles, aims at comparing the tendencies of the pronoun “on” usage and its functions in scientific discourse. The analyses has shown that the Lithuanian authors use the personal pronoun almost twice less frequently to mark an author or authors’ denotative or inclusive meaning. In the articles of Lithuanian authors, the pronoun “on” performs fewer pragmatic functions than in scientific discourse of French authors.

scholarly journals Semantics and functions of the indefinite pronoun muta in the Khanty language

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.A. Fedorkiv
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Features ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Indefinite Pronoun ◽  
First Time ◽  
Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns, like all pronouns, receive specific meanings in a coherent speech environment and serve as a means of actualizing communication. The functional-semantic features of the indefinite pronouns of the Khanty language were not the subject of special research. A single indefinite pronoun has its own functional-semantic potential. For the first time, the article discusses in detail the features of the functioning of the indefinite pronoun of mŏλti in the Kazym dialect of the Khanty language.

scholarly journals Language shift in Newar: a case study in the Kathmandu Valley

2018 ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
Bhim Lal Gautam
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Community Living ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Kathmandu Valley ◽  
Language Community

This paper explores the patterns of language shift in Newar, the ethnic indigenous language community living in the Kathmandu Valley. The research focuses on language contact situations in different domains viz. social, cultural, personal, and official as well as media related activities where the informants are asked to use different languages along with the use of their own mother tongue i.e. Newar. This socio-ethnographic research aims at providing some clues as to how the discovery of a minority language triggers changes in representations and attitudes.

“Venerable Relics of Ancient Lore”

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-392
Author(s):  
Coral Lumbley
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Welsh Literature

Abstract As England’s first colony, home to a rich literary tradition and a still-thriving minority language community, Wales stands as a valuable example of how premodern traditions can and should inflect modern studies of postcolonial and world literatures. This study maps how medieval, postcolonial, and world literary studies have intersected thus far and presents a reading of the medieval Welsh Mabinogion as postcolonial world literature. Specifically, I read the postcolonial refrain as a deeply-entrenched characteristic of traditional Welsh literature, manifesting in the Mabinogion tale of the brothers Lludd and Llefelys and a related poetic triad, the “Teir Gormes” (Three Oppressions). Through analysis of the context and reception of Lady Charlotte Guest’s English translation of Welsh materials, I then theorize traditional Welsh material as postcolonial, colonizing, and worlding literature.

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