bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Levels of description and explanation in meaning construction
Authors: Mairal-Usón Ricardo , Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez Francisco José
Published: March 2014

This article proposes the Lexical Constructional Model (LCM) as an explanatorily adequate model for the investigation of meaning construction at all levels of linguistic description, including pragmatics and discourse. The LCM has an argument structure module or level 1 module consisting of elements of syntactically relevant semantic interpretation. Then it has three basically idiomatic modules dealing with cognitively entrenched meaning implications deriving from the application of low-level and high-level inferential schemas (levels 2 and 3 respectively) and with discourse aspects of meaning, especially cohesion and coherence phenomena (level 4). Each level is either subsumed into a higher-level constructional configuration or acts as a cue for the activation of a relevant conceptual structure that yields an implicit meaning derivation. Interaction between lexical and constructional configurations (at whatever description level) is regulated by a number of constraints that are either internal or external to the process.
The inchoative construction
Authors: Cortés-Rodriguez Francisco J.
Published: March 2014

This article provides an analysis of English inchoative structures within the framework of a functionally-based conception of language and, specifically, of the lexicon. This theoretical framework – the Lexical Constructional Model (LCM henceforth) – proposes a lexical component composed of two central elements: a repository of lexical units grouped into lexical classes, which are established on the basis of the commonality of meaning of predicates, and a catalogue of constructions, which is also devised as having internal organization. The LCM also postulates that lexical-constructional subsumption is subject to the conditions imposed on the semantic compatibility between predicates and constructions. Conditions invoke higher level cognitive mechanisms like metonymy and metaphor and lower-level semantic restrictions affecting event or argument structure in semantic representations. The analysis of lexical subsumption within the inchoative construction will be subject to two types of restrictions: firstly, there is an external constraint affecting the unification of causative predicates and inchoative structures. This external constraint is based on a high-level metonymic process which has been labelled process for action: an action is treated as if it were a process that in turn stands for the action. Secondly, unification is conditioned by some internal constraints imposed upon the semantic structure of predicates. Among these there are also two subtypes: (1) constraints on the event structure of predicates, which make reference to the codification of telicity and causativity in the case of causative/inchoative verbs; (2) constraints on the arguments of lexical templates, among which the ‘agent-causer blocking’ and the ‘cause expletivization’ constraints play a crucial role. The analysis of these constraints will in fact reveal the feasibility and explanatory potential of the LCM for meaning construction.
Some semantic and pragmatic aspects of object alternation in Early Vedic
Authors: Dahl Eystein
Published: March 2014

In Early Vedic, the earliest attested stage of Indo-Aryan, many two-place verbs allow their object argument to be alternately expressed by two or more case categories, i.e., they show object alternation. In this paper I examine three different object alternation patterns and show that they have similar semantic and pragmatic properties. I argue that the object case marking and object alternation options of a given verb depends on two semantic dimensions, namely its relative inherent transitivity and its aspectual properties. Interestingly, the use of the Early Vedic case categories as object markers appears to be partially independent of their use as adverbial adjuncts. The various object alternation patterns found in Early Vedic represent a fruitful starting point for exploring the morphosyntax-semantics interface in this language.
How useful is case morphology? The loss of the Old French two-case system within a theory of Preferred Argument structure
Authors: Detges Ulrich
Published: March 2014

This paper discusses the loss of the Old French two-case system within the theory of Preferred Argument Structure (Du Bois 2003, 1987). It will be shown that the chronology of this process followed a hierarchy of relative frequency, which in turn was driven by discourse preferences. Apart from strictly historical facts, this explanation also accounts for some basic typological properties of case-marking systems. In particular, it will be argued that no correlation exists between morphological case marking on the one hand and word-order flexibility on the other. Moreover, the theory of Preferred Argument Structure allows for a coherent assessment of the long-standing observation that in many cases, morphological case on full nouns is not necessary for distinguishing subjects from non-subjects.
Lacking in Latvian: Case variation from a cognitive and constructional perspective
Authors: Berg-Olsen Sturla
Published: March 2014

This article examines two construction families used with the Latvian verb(pie)trūkt ‘lack, miss’, employing usage-based construction grammar and Cognitive Grammar. Focusing on type frequency, I conclude that the nom constructions, characterised by the lacking entity appearing in the nominative and showing verbal agreement, have a higher degree of entrenchment than the gen constructions, where the lacking entity is in the genitive and verbal agreement is absent. Although diachronic data indicate a long history of coexistence between the families, I hypothesise that if one of them were to be ousted, it would be the one with the lowest degree of entrenchment (cf. Barðdal 2001: Ch. 6). This is consistent with a larger shift involving the Latvian genitive and conforms with tendencies in other North European languages.
The evolution of local cases and their grammatical equivalent in Greek and Latin
Authors: Luraghi Silvia
Published: March 2014

The Indo-European languages attest to a pie system with three local cases: locative, ablative, and (allative) accusative. I will focus on the system of local cases in Ancient Greek and in Latin. Both languages have a reduced number of case distinctions with respect to the pie system; in the field of spatial relations, they display interesting differences. In Ancient Greek the locative has merged with the dative, the ablative has merged with the genitive, and the accusative is retained as such. The three cases can be reinforced with all types of nouns with three different prepositions, en, ek, and eis and express basic spatial relations. Thus, a connection continues to exist between cases and spatial semantic roles, as shown by the fact that a fourth preposition, pará, could take all three cases and express adessive, ablative, and allative meanings. In Latin the locative and the ablative merged; as a result, location and source could no longer be distinguished through case marking alone. Some toponyms retained the locative case until the end of the Classical period. Consequently, Latin displays a sub-system with three case distinctions for this group of toponyms. Within prepositional phrases, only two cases occur in Latin, i.e., the ablative and the accusative. Source is expressed through the ablative with a special set of prepositions, while location and direction are both expressed with the same set of prepositions. Consequently cases became increasingly disconnected from the semantic roles they used to express.
Argument structure and alignment variations and changes in Late Latin
Authors: Cennamo Michela
Published: March 2014

This paper explores the diachronic relationship between the active/neutral realignment of grammatical relations taking place in Late Latin, manifested by accusative subjects, and the temporary loss of the grammatical dimension of voice. These two clusters of changes can be shown to reflect the rise of headmarking patterns in a predominantly dependent-marking language such as Latin in the passage to Romance.

Three parameters play a role in the spread of the accusative into the functional domains of the nominative for non-object, core arguments: semantic (the inactive nature of the arguments), syntactic (the degree of syntactic cohesion between the argument and its predicate), pragmatic (the grammaticalization of a constituent originally denoting the topic of the clause), interacting, in the course of time, with the restructuring of the voice system.
Khwe
Authors: Kilian-Hatz Christa
Published: March 2014

Khwe uses four of five cross-linguistically attested strategies of participant marking: (1) Constituent order is relevant only in basic sentences. (2) Most postpositions assign a semantic role to peripheral participant, whereas the postposition à marks a core participant. (3) There is one instance of suffixation: The oblique case suffix -à or the gender suffixes -B and -cì mark a peripheral participant which may precede a postposition or is a nominal attribute. (4) Finally, derivation through suffixes attached to the verb stem is used to vary the semantics of the verb, which may also result in a manipulation of the valency of the verb. The fifth strategy – verb-serialization – only applies in combination with the verb *ma / *mō´ as a lexical source for a derivational suffix.
Tama
Authors: Dimmendaal Gerrit J.
Published: March 2014

In the Eastern Sudanic (Nilo-Saharan) language Tama event structure is expressed either by full verbs or by combinations of light verbs plus complements. Tama has a rather extensive case-marking system involving clitical elements which are attached to pronouns or to the final constituent in a noun phrase, which may be either the noun or a nominal modifier. This dependent-marking strategy is characterized by iconicity on the one hand and economy principles on the other, as manifested in particular through the use of Differential Object Marking.
Wolaitta
Authors: Amha Azeb
Published: March 2014

Three strategies are used for participant identification in Wolaitta, an Omotic language spoken in south Ethiopia. These include direct marking, i.e., participant marking on nominals themselves through case affixes; participant marking on the verb and word order. Of the three, direct marking is the most reliable diagnostic for identifying participant roles since case marking is obligatory in the language and a number of structural and semantic cases are morphologically distinguished. Moreover, non-canonical marking is limited. Verbal marking is also obligatory and robust in the language as distinct person marking morphemes are used in different types of constructions. However, this second diagnostic means is restricted to A/S roles; O and other participant roles are not marked on the verb. Word order can be indicative of participant roles in a restricted sense. SOV is the most frequently used word order and it designates pragmatically neutral assertions, questions or commands. However, word order by itself is not a reliable means for participant identification since it can be altered for focus and topicalization purposes. Like in most other Omotic languages, in Wolaitta texts long sentences with a series of dependent clauses are frequent. Verbal marking extends also to such dependent clauses, since some of the verbs that head dependent clauses are morphologically marked to indicate whether the S/A of the verb in the dependent clause is the same or different from the S/A of the matrix clause. Thus, the three strategies combined work efficiently in processing the role of each participant in such ‘paragraph long sentences’.
Prenominal possessives in English
Authors: Keizer Evelien
Published: March 2014

This paper examines the circumstances favouring the use of a prenominal possessive in English, even if, syntactically and semantically, a postnominal construction would also have been acceptable. An evaluation of earlier treatments of the difference between the constructions reveals two approaches. The traditional approach typically yields multifactor accounts, concentrating on the constraints on both constructions, while the theoretical approach is characterized by a tendency to reduce the difference to one underlying principle. Using authentic examples, this paper proposes a theoretically-based multifactor account which adds a major cognitive-pragmatic factor to those traditionally distinguished, and which tries (a) to resolve the question of whether any factor(s) is (are) more prominent, and (b) to explain, at least for some factors, why it is that they favour a particular construction.
Do cognate and circumstantial complements of intransitive verbs form one ‘Range’?
Authors: Rymen Kathleen , Davidse Kristin
Published: March 2014

In this article we examine the question whether cognate complements (as in dance the tango) and circumstantial complements (as in climb stairs) can be regarded as expressing the same semantic role. Halliday has proposed that they do: in his view they both delimit the ‘extent’, or ‘Range’, of the process. Traditionally, however, they have been regarded as distinct grammatical categories. Assuming, like Halliday, that grammatical categories are form-meaning couplings, we investigate in corpus data the two types of formal evidence proposed by him for the unified Range category: alternations and selection restrictions on determiners and modifiers. By quantifying the relative frequencies of the alternate constructions, we have found that clauses with cognate complements form the marked option – totalling on average 3.5% – in comparison with intransitives. Clauses with circumstantial complements, by contrast, alternate with intransitive clauses as well as with clauses with prepositional phrase in varying proportions. This shows that the notion of ‘location involved in process’ can be more strongly or weakly present in the semantics of verbs taking circumstantial complements. The determiners and modifiers of cognate and circumstantial complements also reflect different semantic relations of the complement to the process expressed by the verb. Cognate complements are predominantly indefinite and circumstantial complements more often definite, because the former typically construe a ‘new’ instance of the process, whereas the latter often express pre-existing locations. Attributive modifiers of the two complement types differ both quantitatively and qualitatively. Cognate complements take more qualitative adjectives, which tend to express the manner in which the process takes place. Circumstantial complements have much less qualitative modification and often express the resistance or facilitation offered by the location to the action being carried out on it. We conclude that the two types of complements express different sorts of entities with different relations to the process.
Pragmatics, word order and cross-reference
Authors: Stanchev Svilen B.
Published: March 2014

There is an apparent ambivalence in the lexico-grammatical status of pronominal clitics in Bulgarian. They have the features of pronominal forms on the one hand and grammaticalized markers on the other. The present analysis builds on my previous publications in the field of Bulgarian clitics, sentence pragmatics and word order, but it also takes into account other recent publications on the subject. I adopt the view that Bulgarian pronominal clitics have grammaticalized to a degree where they function as cross-reference markers of the object, identical with verbal inflexions which cross-reference the subject. This approach makes it possible to account for the use of clitics both in their object-reduplicating function and as separate short pronominal forms. In correlation with prosody and special sentence positions, clitics play an important role in the pragmatic organization of the expression as markers of object topicalization. Basing my pragmatic analysis on the general schema of pragmatic positions in the Bulgarian sentence (cf. Stanchev 1997), in this article I present an outline of the major patterns of Topic and Focus assignment involving constructions with reduplicating clitics (CRCs).
Phatic communion and small talk in fictional dialogues
Authors: Urbanova Ludmila
Published: March 2014

Phatic communion and small talk in fictional dialogues are governed by two opposing tendencies which coexist in dialogic structure known as verisimilitude and defamiliarization (see Fowler 1996). On the one hand, fictional dialogues make use of features present in authentic, spontaneous face-to-face conversation, e.g. loose syntactic structure, ellipsis, interjections, informal phraseology etc., to sound close to real-life situations. On the other hand, however, the author utilizes casual exchanges to create new, unconventional meanings frequently carrying differing points of view which are expressions of heteroglossia defined as “polyphony of social and discursive forces” (Holquist 1994.69). My findings present the results of an analysis of fictional dialogues in the novel Heat Wave by Penelope Lively. Phatic communion and small talk are understood as two different, though mutually related notions. Small talk seems to reflect a broader concept of socialization, while phatic communion is considered to be part of small talk.
‘Sorry to muddy the waters’
Authors: Tucker Gordon H.
Published: March 2014

In this paper I seek to provide a grammatical account of some aspects of the realisation of speech acts in spoken discourse that are considered formulaic and/or, in some sense elliptical, as described in Biber et al’s (1999) description of the ‘grammar of conversation’. Focusing on apologies involving sorry, I discuss the treatment of formulaic sorry in isolation, together with variants that include it. The discussion is set within the theoretical and descriptive framework of Systemic Functional Grammar (e.g. Halliday and Matthiessen 2004) and the solutions proposed are given in terms of (a) a functionally motivated grammatical structure associated with this framework and (b) system networks that represent the choices available to speakers in a given context.
Neuroimaging studies of coherence processes
Authors: Ferstl Evelyn C. , Siebörger Florian Th.
Published: March 2014

Text comprehension involves linking the current sentence or utterance to the previous discourse context. This process of coherence building might be aided by linguistic markers, such as cohesive ties and direct anaphora. However, when the explicitly mentioned information does not provide unambiguous and consistent cues to coherence, as for example in the case of indirect anaphora, the comprehender draws on general background knowledge for inferring plausible links. In this chapter, we summarize neuroimaging studies that shed light on the interplay between cognitive and linguistic components of text comprehension. The results indicate that the anterior temporal lobes and the left fronto-medial cortex are particularly important for coherence building.
Reference assignment in the absence of sufficient semantic content
Authors: Schumacher Petra B.
Published: March 2014

This paper investigates the establishment of referential dependencies during the interpretation of pronominal entities and presents evidence from event-related brain potentials (ERPs) for discrete underlying processes. Regardless of their internal structure, reflexives and pronouns are semantically underspecified and must enter into a dependency relation with a proper antecedent to receive referential and meaningful interpretation. This paper addresses the nature of three kinds of anaphoric entities: ordinary reflexives, ordinary pronouns, and logophors – i.e. reflexive entities whose distribution patterns with pronouns. It seeks to further substantiate the claim that logophors – like pronouns – establish dependency at the level of discourse representation and must be functionally dissociated from ordinary reflexives. This paper follows an approach of the establishment of reference which views syntactic information as a prerequisite to interpretation, and more specifically the notion of coargumenthood, whose presence or absence determines the level of representation where interpretation is carried out (i.e. syntax or discourse). Accordingly, after presenting theoretical considerations and processing background, the paper examines one particular ERP component that has recently been identified as a marker of pronoun-antecedent dependency – the N400, a negative deflection peaking around 400ms – and should only surface during the establishment of discourse-based dependency. The current research therefore focuses on the nature of reference assignment during pronominal interpretation and attends to the observation that logophors pattern with pronouns (which are uncontroversially resolved in discourse) but not with ordinary reflexives.
Internal structure of verbal stems in the Germanic languages
Authors: Giovine Paolo Di , Flamini Sara , Pozza Marianna
Published: March 2014

The authors summarize the first significant results in order to verify to what extent the European languages of the Indo-European family are concerned by a typological change in verb morphology: a shift from a more conservative stage, where morphemes are either strongly integrated within the root or “root expansions”, towards a stage where functionality shifts to suffixal morphemes. By means of recapitulatory tables, the paper sets out the method of analysis and the results achieved in the Germanic area, beginning with Gothic and Anglo-Saxon. In spite of common opinion, the evidence that both languages are quite innovative in their trend to exomorphism emerges from the ratio between endomorphic/mixed stems and exomorphic stems: the Gothic index is 0,430 (0,445), the Anglo-Saxon one is 0,531, which means a stage by far less archaic than the Indo-Aryan (1,777 to 0,965) and the Avestan one (0,665).
The definite article in Indo-European: Emergence of a new grammatical category?
Authors: Bauer Brigitte L.M.
Published: March 2014

The development of the definite article in Indo-European is a complex innovation, because if most modern languages have defi nite articles, there are important exceptions. In addition, within the Indo-European dialect groups the development of the definite article may not always seem consistent. Moreover, the definite article may trace back to different elements in the individual languages and its functions may vary cross-linguistically within a subgroup, possibly reflecting different degrees of grammaticalization. On the basis of patterns in early uses of definite articles in Greek and article-like uses of demonstratives in Latin, I will trace the change in question, evaluate the possible role of language contact and the possible connection with other phenomena, among them devices to express defi niteness in Indo-European languages that do not have defi nite articles. The aim of the paper is to establish whether or not the definite article is a truly innovative feature in Indo-European or whether it is merely a formal innovation of a category that existed already.
Early functions of definite determiners and DPs in German first language acquisition
Authors: Bittner Dagmar
Published: March 2014

The paper discusses the functional load of definite DPs in early child German regarding sentence-internal (argument structure) and sentence-external relations (text coherence). The data consist of adult-child dialogues of two children in the period 1;11–2;11. It is argued that DPs exhibit functional load on both levels from the onset of production. Contradicting recent assumptions, (i) case-related distinctions are acquired prior to gender distinction, and (ii) children establish a functional distinction between pronominal DPs (continued or directly accessible reference) and noun-including DPs (disrupted or especially emphasized reference). The results allow the hypotheses that the noun-including DP is a functionally motivated extension of the pronominal DP and that properties relating the DP to other elements of sentence/text are the first to be acquired.
Demonstratives and possessives: From Old English to present-day English
Authors: Wood Johanna L.
Published: March 2014

Three different nominal word orders in Old English through present-day English are investigated, in order to determine whether English has an ‘adjectival’ possessive similar to Modern Italian. It is argued that the orders a) demonstrative, possessive, noun and b) possessive, demonstrative, noun represent different syntactic constructions, with different paths of development. It is concluded that the a) order represents three different constructions: i) apposition, ii) a possible ‘adjectival’ possessive, no longer found in Middle English, iii) an Early Modern English focus construction using the proximal. The b) order represents a demonstrative in form, functioning only as a definiteness marker.
How complex are isolating languages?
Authors: Gil David
Published: March 2014

How complex are isolating languages? The Compensation Hypothesis suggests that isolating languages make up for simpler morphology with greater complexity in other domains, such as syntax and semantics. This paper provides detailed argumentation against the Compensation Hypothesis. A cross-linguistic experiment measuring the complexity of compositional semantics shows that isolating languages rely more heavily on simple Associational Semantics, in which the interpretation of a combined expression is maximally vague or underdifferentiated, anything having to do with the interpretations of the constituent parts. In addition, it is argued that such vagueness is not necessarily resolved via recourse to context and a more complex pragmatics. Thus, it is concluded that isolating languages may indeed be of greater overall simplicity that their non-isolating counterparts.
Determiners and definiteness: Functional semantics and structural differentiation
Authors: Harder Peter
Published: March 2014

Both functional and formal approaches frequently suggest that structural and semantic categories ultimately match up (possibly even universally). They arrive at this result, however, via different descriptive strategies: most functionbased approaches set up structures primarily based on semantic/functional description, subsequently looking for distributional confirmation. Formal descriptions, on the other hand, primarily focus on distributional patterns, but often aim to show that these correspond to semantic distinctions. In contrast, I try to show that the determiner category comprises heterogeneous elements whose shared function must be understood as a result of a function-based structural pattern imposed top-down (partially arbitrary, partially motivated), which carves out a specific slot in the complex noun phrase for the basic ‘grounding’ choice between definite and indefinite reference.
A stranger in the house: The French article de
Authors: Wilmet Marc
Published: March 2014

The present contribution argues in favour of the recognition of an article de in French which occurs either alone or with another article. The approach adopted calls for an historical recapitulation, i.e. “where does the article come from?”, a theoretical investigation, i.e. “what is an article?”, and the identification of an inventory, i.e. “what qualifies as an article?”. Finally, a table is provided which summarizes the articles in terms of three pairs of oppositions, viz. part vs. whole, mass vs. count, continuous vs. discontinuous. The article de is definable as a partitive article, sometimes mass or count, continuous or discontinuous (where the form is de), sometimes continuous mass (where the form is du, de la), sometimes discontinuous mass or count (where the form is des), sometimes continuous mass and count (where the form is d’un, d’une).
The semantics and pragmatics of the possessive determiner
Authors: Kleiber Georges
Published: March 2014

“This article deals with the semantics and pragmatics of the possessive adjective in French. As a point of departure we do not base this article, as it is traditionally done, on the general semantic category of ‘possession’, but instead we take our point of departure in the competition of the possessive determiner and the definite article in the context of associative anaphors. This article shows firstly, that the possessive adjective requires an a priori dependant asymmetry between the two entities E1 and E2 which are implied by a possessive description, secondly, that this asymmetry is satisfied either by the ontological status of the entities involved; by the semantico-lexical relation between the Ns of the entities involved which indicate an a priori subordination; or by a discursive relation between two specific groups or classes of referents established by the linguistic or situational context.”
Indeterminacy, context, economy and well-formedness in specialist communication
Authors: Andersen Øivin
Published: March 2014

In this article I make a contrast between the concepts of indeterminacy and well-formedness on the one hand, and the concepts of vagueness and exactness on the other hand. In the further distinction between determination (degree of vagueness) and specification (degree of generality) I exemplify with the genitive deverbal noun construction in Norwegian. Various approaches to the concept of context are discussed and I apply Kubińsky’s vagueness model to demonstrate that there are some areas of grammar, such as the categorial status of the parts of speech, where the question of membership very seldom arises, although gradience is present.
6. Coordinating constructions in Fongbe with reference to Haitian Creole
Authors: Lefebvre Claire
Published: March 2014

1.Introduction

2. The conjunction b

2.1 b as a coordinating conjunction

2.2 b as a complementiser

2.3 A unified analysis of b

3. The conjunction bó

3.1 bó as a coordinating conjunction

3.2 bó as a complementiser

3.3 A unified account of bó

3.4 Does bó constitute a separate lexical entry from b ?

4. The theoretical relevance of the properties of b and bó

4.1 On the marked character of and-then conjunctions

4.2 The disjoint/coreferential subjects distinction

4.3 From connective adverb to complementiser through conjunction of coordination

5. Can NPs be conjoined?

5.1 The kpóɖó...kpó ‘with...with’ circumposition

5.2 Fongbe and other with-type languages

6. Coordinating constructions in Haitian Creole

6.1 The clausal conjunction epi

6.2 Can NPs be conjoined in Haitian Creole?

6.3 How did the properties of the Haitian lexical items get to be the way they are?

7. Concluding remarks: The typological features of Fongbe
7. Comitative, coordinating, and inclusory constructions in Hausa
Authors: Abdoulaye Mahamane Laoualy
Published: March 2014

1.Introduction

2. The comitative preposition dà ‘with’

2.1 The development of the comitative dà from the existential dà

2.2 General features of the comitative construction

3. The NP coordinator dà ‘and’

3.1 General features of NP coordination

3.2 Possibilities of ellipsis in coordination

3.3 Grammaticalization from dà ‘with’ to dà ‘and’

4. Properties of comitative and coordinating constructions

4.1 Syntactic properties of comitative and coordinating constructions

4.2 Semantic and pragmatic properties of comitative and coordinating constructions

5. Inclusory comitative structures and inclusory coordinations

5.1 The inclusory comitative constructions

5.2 The inclusory coordination constructions

6. Conclusion
8. Coordinating constructions in Daghestanian languages
Authors: Berg Helma
Published: March 2014

1.Introduction

2. Dargi

2.1 Conjunctive coordination

2.2 Disjunctive coordination

3. Conjunctive coordination in other Daghestanian languages

3.1 Bisyndetic conjunctive coordination

3.2 Monosyndetic conjunctive coordination

3.3 Languages with both monosyndetic and bisyndetic conjunction

3.4 Other uses of the coordinator

4. Overview and discussion of conjunctive coordination

4.1 Variation of coordinators

4.2 Grammaticalization

4.3 Diffusion of wa

5. Dargi revisited: ‘and’ and ‘with’
10. Coordination in Chechen
Authors: Jeschull Liane
Published: March 2014

1.Introduction

2. Conjunction

2.1 Conjunction of NPs and non-finite clauses

2.2 Conjunction of finite clauses

2.3 Other uses of the clitic ’a

3. Disjunction

4. Negative coordination

5. Adversative coordination

6. Discussion
12. Coordination in Hakha Lai (Tibeto-Burman)
Authors: Peterson David A. , VanBik Kenneth
Published: March 2014

1.Introduction

2. Basic elements of coordination

2.1 Conjunction

2.2 Disjunction

2.3 Adversative coordination

2.4 Causal coordination

2.5 Extraction

3. Special types of coordination

3.1 Emphatic coordination

3.2 Representative and augmentative conjunction

3.3 Alternative vs. disjunctive questions

3.4 Comitative, inclusory, and summary conjunction

4. Ellipsis in coordination constructions

5. Conclusion
Passive and middle in Indo-European
Authors: Kulikov Leonid
Published: March 2014

The present paper deals with the passive function of the middle diathesis in Vedic Sanskrit, one of the most ancient attested Indo-European languages. It gives a general survey of passive formations of the three main tense systems (present, aorist and perfect) and discusses forms which are traditionally considered non-characterized middle formations (‘bare middles’). It will be argued that these forms should be grouped with those formations which have specialized markers of passive. I will further inventory the actually attested present passives with the suffix -yá-, discussing the defective character of the passive paradigm of the present, aorist and perfect tense systems. In conclusion, I briefly discuss possible Proto-Indo-European sources of the Vedic passive paradigm and the historical relationships between the categories of perfect, stative and middle, as well as perspectives of a diachronic typological study of valency-changing categories, such as passive and causative, outlining the main tendencies in the evolution of the Proto-Indo-European middle.
Development of thùuk passive marker in Thai
Authors: Prasithrathsint Amara
Published: March 2014

Based on an approximately four-million-word corpus of Thai and some other related languages covering a time span of seven centuries (from the end of the 13th century to the present time), this study shows that the present passive marker in Thai (thùuk-) has developed from a lexical word originally meaning ‘to touch’ or ‘to hit on the point’. The development of this lexical word into the passive marker involves 8 stages: 1) lexical transitive verb thùuk ‘to touch, to hit on the point’ > 2) lexical intransitive verb thùuk ‘to be suitable’ > 3) lexical transitive verb thùuk ‘to suit’ > 4) modal intransitive verb thùuk ‘must, have to, to be obliged to’ > 5) modal intransitive verb thùuk ‘to be affected by’ > 6) modal intransitive verb thùuk – adversative passive marker > 7) auxiliary verb thùuk – non-adversative passive marker) > 8) the prefix thùuk-, the true passive marker in Thai.
Relations between Actor-demoting devices in Lithuanian
Authors: Wiemer Björn
Published: March 2014

This article is devoted to a systematic account of Lithuanian Actor-demoting devices, both grammatical (with participles, only to a limited extent by the reflexive marker) and lexical (by the reflexive marker), and their interplay in the contemporary language. Occasional comparisons with Latvian are drawn, and the typological background is laid out briefly. The account is based on Role&Reference Grammar and on the taxonomy of valency changes described for so-called reflexive verbs in the pioneering work of Geniušiene (1987). As one of the main outcomes of the present study we may consider the confirmation of a systematic restriction of the so-called ‘impersonal passive’ to predicates with a human being representing the highest-ranking (often sole) argument. This restriction has been observed for many other languages with impersonals. The crucial point however is that this restriction is stronger than argument-based restrictions, a fact which becomes particularly manifest within a small group of lexical converses marked with the reflexive marker, for reflexive-causative constructions and for two-place intransitive verbs whose single macrorole must be an Undergoer (rather than an Actor). Another main conclusion to be drawn from the analysis is the existence of a functional split with impersonals which can acquire an inferential reading; in this case the restrictions of referential properties stated above as well as orientation toward any macrorole are cancelled. Differently from Geniušiene’s contribution to this volume, here no aspectual functions are discussed, nor is there any focus on discourse-pragmatic properties of Actor-demoting devices. Instead, the clear focus of this article lies on the impersonal (‘subjectless passive’ in Geniušiene’s terminology) and its interaction with lexical valency-changes caused by the reflexive marker.
"Ago" and its grammatical status in English and in other languages
Authors: Kurzon Dennis
Published: March 2014

The paper focuses firstly on English ago followed by the temporal NP, which seems to function as a postposition, although English is a SVO language, with prepositions. A comparison is then carried out with similar deictic expressions in other languages, including European, Semitic, Caucasian, Oceanic languages. From the results of this limited typology of languages based on the parameter of the equivalent forms of ago, it may be seen that while many languages use an adposition (e.g. German, Turkish, Arabic), including languages that have a verb-derived adposition (e.g. Romance languages and English), others use an adverbial expression (e.g. Russian, Tagalog, Basque).
The development of Classical Armenian prepositions and its implications for universals of language change
Authors: Wilhelm Christopher
Published: March 2014

It is common to find examples of case morphology derived from grammaticalized postpositions. However, the grammaticalization of independent prepositions into prefixed case markers is documented far less frequently. Classical Armenian is one language where such phenomena do appear; as such, it offers some intriguing implications regarding patterns of language change and typology. In particular, the proclitic preposition z- ‘concerning, around’ takes on some characteristics of a case-marking morpheme, and prefixed z- continues to exhibit some case-marking functions in Modern Western Armenian. Comparisons with some northern Australian languages with prefixes carrying out case-marking functions are also drawn. This effort will thus demonstrate that case-marking systems with preposed morphemes, while not common, are a viable outcome of the mechanisms of language change.
Grammaticalization, typology and semantics: Expanding the agenda
Authors: Frajzyngier Zygmunt
Published: March 2014

The paper aims at providing an expanded model of grammaticalization, where the term is understood as the process through which a language develops grammatical means of coding various formal, semantic or pragmatic functional domains. It thus subsumes the traditional scope of grammaticalization, but also covers the development of devices such as linear order, phonological means and the repetition of phrases or lexical items, among others. In this expanded scenario of grammaticalization, the paper addresses such key issues as the motivations for grammaticalization, the choice of coding means, and the consequences of grammaticalization for grammatical systems and for language change. The article also discusses the relevance of the principle of functional transparency, the principle of indirect means and the consequences of the initial state for both principles.
The development of nominalizers in East Asian and Tibeto-Burman languages
Authors: Yap Foong Ha , Matthews Stephen
Published: March 2014

This paper presents evidence of recurring patterns as well as of language-specific variations in the development of nominalizers across several East Asian and Tibeto-Burman languages. Special attention is pa to the different grammaticalization pathways of nominalizer morphemes and to the links between different types of nominalization phenomena occurring in the languages of this area. The article also offers an in-depth discussion of a number of controversial issues in the domain of nominalization, among others the following: the interaction of nominalization, tense–aspect and evidentiality–mood interpretation, the relationship between nominalization and copula usage, and the analysis of so-called forgotten or residual nominalizers.
Multimedia analysis in documentation projects: Kinship, interrogatives and reciprocals in ǂ Akhoe Hai ǁ om
Authors: Widlok Thomas , Rapold Christian J. , Hoymann Gertie
Published: March 2014

This contribution emphasizes the role of multimedia data not only for archiving languages but also for creating opportunities for innovative analyses. In the case at hand, video material was collected as part of the documentation of Akhoe Haiom, a Khoisan language spoken in northern Namibia. The multimedia documentation project brought together linguistic and anthropological work to highlight connections between specialized domains, namely kinship terminology, interrogatives and reciprocals. These connections would have gone unnoticed or undocumented in more conventional modes of language description. It is suggested that such an approach may be particularly appropriate for the documentation of endangered languages since it directs the focus of attention away from isolated traits of languages towards more complex practices of communication that are also frequently threatened with extinction.
Epistemic modality and aspect contingency in Armenian, Russian, and German
Authors: Gevorgyan-Ninness Stella
Published: March 2014

This study compares modality and aspect patterns in Armenian and Russian with German, paying special attention to the existence of modal verbs. Armenian and Russian are both languages with strongly developed aspect. German serves as a launching point for this study because of the extensive research available on modal verbs. In my comparison of Armenian and Russian, aspect-modality patterns are described by linking the perfective aspect with root modality. Furthermore, my analysis of the separation between necessity and possibility in modality proves that both modal functions are supported by different aspect dependencies.
Indefiniteness and imperfectivity as micro-grammatical contexts of epistemicity in German-Slovene translations
Authors: Terzan Kopecky Carmen
Published: March 2014

The paper deals with the frequency and the collocation modalities of the epistemic and root modal verb constructions with marked variants of some grammatical parameters in two German literary texts representing the 19th century German written language. They are compared with their Slovene translations. According to the Slovene model of Natural Syntax, the token-frequency of the observed constructions and their micro-grammatical collocation tendency form the basis for generating the naturalness and grammaticalization status of the observed structures. Special focus is placed on Abraham’s (1990, 1999, 2001) hypothesis of a strong collocation tendency between epistemic modality and imperfectivity, on the one hand, and root modality and perfectivity, on the other, as well as Leiss’ (2000a, b) hypothesis regarding typological links with referential (in)definiteness. Both hypotheses will be confirmed by the statistical data obtained from the investigated corpora in both languages.
Aspectual coercion in Bulgarian negative imperatives
Authors: Kuehnast Milena
Published: March 2014

Slavic languages feature negative imperative constructions (NI) with a genuine verbal imperative inflection. Bulgarian constitutes a partial exception, prohibiting NIs with perfective verbs, even in preventive NIs, for which Slavic languages utilise perfective verbs. In this article we argue that Bulgarian NIs present a case of aspectual coercion (Moens & Steedman 1988). The overt coercion is due to the morpho-syntactic properties of the Bulgarian aspectual system, promoting secondary imperfectivization. The reasoning follows the cognitive approach of time categorisation (Klein 1994) and shows that the aspectual construal in NIs yields the temporal configuration of imperfective present in prohibitives, but a future interpretation in preventives. The aspectual restriction in Bulgarian arises from the inability of bare perfective verbs to express tense in the main clause, in contrast to other Slavic languages. The TAM system in Bulgarian converges towards analytic markings of distinct aspectual-temporal configurations minimising the functional load of perfective verbs
The modal system of the Igbo language
Authors: Uchechekwu Chinedu
Published: March 2014

In spite of the number of studies on mood and modality in Igbo, it is mainly the category of mood that can be found in most grammar books of the language, both old and new. This state of affairs could be as a result of the lack of a morphosyntactic systematization of modality that is comparable to the works on mood in the language; but it could also be as a result of the under-analysis of the verbal morphology of the language in relation to modality. This paper is an initial effort at such systematization. The focus is on the use of such verb morphologyrelated structures as single root verbs like -t
ó
sí “should/ought to”, verb+NP verbal structures lke -nwé íké “can”, and verbal suffixes like _nwu “able” and -rí. rí. “compulsion” for the expression of modality in the Igbo language. The use of these structures to cover the whole spectrum of deontic and epistemic meanings argues for their recognition as constituting the verb morphology-related modal system of the language. This attribute also distinguishes them from the modal particles and other structures that have been categorized as “periphrastic forms” (Igwe 1987; Nwigwe 2003) but which are here categorized as “peripheral modals”, because they can only be used to express mainly epistemic but not deontic modal meanings. A further attribute of the identified core structures of the Igbo modal system is some level of interaction with aspect that is comparable to that confirmed in Abraham (2001, 2002), whereby the deontic meanings tend to coalesce with perfective aspect, while epistemic meanings tend to coalesce with imperfective aspect. This quality of a systematic interaction of the modal meanings with aspect, which cannot be confirmed for the “peripheral modals”, further strengthens the conclusion that the identified verbs and affixes constitute the core of the Igbo modal system
The aspect-modality link in Japanese: The case of the evaluating sentence
Authors: Tanaka Shin
Published: March 2014

In this paper we address the Aspect-Modality Link (AML) as it is observed in Japanese. As a direct comparison between verbal expressions, modal verbs and modal paraphrases does not show a pronounced affinity between aspect and modality, we look elsewhere for occurrences of the AML: We will mainly examine the epistemicity expressed through Handan-bun (‘‘evaluating sentence’’), which interests us for two reasons. On one hand, it has a marked affinity with imperfectivity. On the other hand, it seems that the development of Handanbun, the evaluating type of sentence, runs counter to the received sequel of the grammaticalization of modality, namely the development from deontic usages to epistemic usages. Apart from the AML observed in the evaluating sentence, we discuss another A-M Link phenomenon in Japanese, which is found in the core of the verbal paradigm in Japanese. In both cases, the AML in Japanese is not observed explicitly in terms of proper verbal expressions like modals or modal predicatives, but rather, can be found if we expand the scope of comparison beyond the cardinal verbal categories (aspect, tense, and mood or modality) and take a look over other linguistic means.