Comparative Constructions in Spanish and San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec

Michael Rene Galant
University of California, Los Angeles

This book examines the syntax, semantics, and morphology of comparative constructions and other degree constructions in English, Spanish, and San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec. Previous descriptions and analyses of comparatives in English and Spanish are reviewed. New data from San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec, involving comparisons, other degree expressions, and other lexical and functional morphemes, is presented. Attention is called to MUCH, the abstract adjectival quantifier contained in English much and many, SLQZ zyèeiny, zìi’lly, and -dya’ / -tya’, and any Spanish degree adverbial showing number and gender agreement, but not inherently in mucho, an allomorph of muy.

In SLQZ, the sequence MUCH-ER is transparently segmentable as such in amount comparisons (contra English and Spanish), ER being the morpheme inherent in comparisons of inequality. In other degree constructions explored in English, Spanish, and SLQZ, the nominal system consistently provides a QP slot occupied by a form of MUCH, contra the adjectival system (with certain exceptions such as in the case ofdifferent). Non-predicative nominal expressions interact with a Deg only via the intermediary of MUCH, whereas most adjectives must interact directly with a Deg. Therefore, there are two instances of more and más: (i) the instance used in amount comparisons, subdividable into MUCH (plus agreement) and ER, and (ii) the instance used in adjectival degree comparisons, containing only ER. Subordination and coordination are shown to not be consistently distinguishable on syntactic grounds.

ER complementation is typically either via a preposition plus numeral, measure phrase, or degree relative, or via an adversative conjunction structure. The former type is introduced by de in Spanish and ta’ or cah (with subsequent nih) in SLQZ, whereas the latter type is introduced by que in Spanish and cah (without nih) or lohoh in SLQZ. Both types are introduced by than in English.

ISBN 9783895867743. LINCOM Studies in Language Typology 15. 360pp. 2006.

Language Contact and Language Shift: Grammatical and Sociolinguistic Perspectives

Kelechukwu Ihemere
University of Westminster

Language Contact and Language Shift are topics that generate a great deal of attention for researchers, academics and other interested parties. These are by no means new phenomena but rather are the usual linguistic situation in most areas of the world, with monolingualism being the exception. However, advances in modern transportation systems, communication technology and increase in migration have meant that speakers of different languages interact closely. It is, therefore, typical for their languages to influence each other. The influence could be as common as the exchange of words or what is termed vocabulary borrowing in the literature. It can also go deeper, extending to the exchange of even basic characteristics of a language such as morphology and grammar.

In some cases, the result of the contact of two languages can be the replacement of one by the other. This is most common in asymmetric relationship between languages, and sometimes leads to language shift. This book is a collection of recent research papers on aspects of language contact phenomena and language shift by researchers adopting varied perspectives and approaches ranging from the grammatical to sociolinguistic paradigms and a fusion of both ends of the paradigmatic spectrum to enhance our understanding of these issues.

Contributors

1 Introduction
Kelechukwu Ihemere

Part 1 Language Contact

2 Complex Morphologies in Contact: The Case of Ingrian Finns in Estonia
Helka Riionheimo

3 Attrition in Greek Diaspora: Grammars in Contact or Incomplete Acquisition?
Katerina Zobolou

4 The Catalinization of Occitan: The Case of Vingrau
Claudi Balaguer

5 Double objects in Mauritian Creole and their distribution in creole languages: a convergence solution
Anand Syea

Part 2 Language Shift

6 Language Choice and Language Shift in Port Harcourt
Kelechukwu Ihemere

7 Tha Changing Role of French in Morocco: Maintenance or Shift?
Dawn Marley

8 The Incorporation of English Words into Yorùbá
Akinloye Ojo

9 Language Maintenance and Loss among Afro-Asians in South Asia
Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya

Index

ISBN 9783862880522. LINCOM Studies in Language Typology 17. 200pp. 2011.

A Cross-Linguistic Study of Lexical Iconicity

and its Manifestation in Bird Names

Annu Marttila
University of Helsinki

This cross-linguistic study of lexical iconicity is based on a genealogically stratified sample of 237 languages. The aim is to contribute with an empirical study to the growing dialogue focusing on different forms of lexical iconicity. The conceptual framework of the present study is based on an analysis of types and means of lexical iconicity in the sample languages. Archaeological and cultural evidence are used to tie lexical iconicity to its context.

Phenomena related to lexical iconicity are studied both cross-linguistically and language-specifically. The cognitive difference between imitation and symbolism is essential. Lexical iconicity is not only about the iconic relationship between form and referents, but also about how certain iconic properties may become conventional, means used to create sound symbolism.

All the sample languages show some evidence of lexical iconicity, demonstrating that it is a universal feature. Nine comparisons of onomatopoeic verbs and nouns, with samples varying between six and 141 languages, show that typologically highly different languages use similar means for creating words based on sound imitation. Two cross-linguistic comparisons of bird names demonstrate that a vast majority of the Eurasian names of the common cuckoo and the world-wide names of crow and raven of the 141 genera are onomatopoeic.

ISBN 9783862880584. LINCOM Studies in Typology 18. 238pp. 2011.

Etude à visée typologique des conjonctions causales en grec moderne - comparaison avec le français

Eleni Valma
Université Denis Diderot, Paris VII

L'expression de la causalité dans les langues naturelles est un phénomène extrêmement complexe qui implique la séparation dans le temps et dans l'espace de deux situations logiques et chronologiques. Elle entretient des liens très étroits avec des notions épistémiques comme l'explication, l'argumentation et les différents types de raisonnement (inférence, déduction, abduction). Mais elle est, indéniablement, une relation modale qui fait apparaître dans le discours les traces de l'énonciateur.

Cet ouvrage, à visée typologique, propose une toute première étude approfondie des conjonctions causales en grec moderne, en comparaison avec le français. Il démontre le lien entre l'origine étymologique d'une conjonction et la valeur modale attribuée à la cause. Il souligne également l'importance de la fonction communicative dans le choix d'une conjonction causale et le rôle des valeurs aspecto-temporelles véhiculées par la forme verbale de la matrice et de la subordonnée.

L'analyse syntaxico-sémantique proposée s'inscrit dans le cadre de la théorie de l'énonciation, de la linguistique textuelle et contrastive.

Eleni Valma est docteur en linguistique générale (Université Denis Diderot, Paris VII) et spécialiste de la linguistique grecque. Elle a publié une série d’articles sur la causalité et les problèmes liés à la dépendance interpropositionnelle.

ISBN 9783862880591. LINCOM Studies in Language Typology 19. 116pp. 2011.

Sprachkontakt und Mehrsprachigkeit als Herausforderung für Soziolinguistik und Systemlinguistik.

Ausgewählte Beiträge des gleichnamigen Workshops der 37. Österreichischen Linguistiktagung 2009.

Language contact and multilingualism as a challenge for sociolinguistics and theoretical linguistics. Selected papers from ÖLT 2009

Herausgegeben von Imke Mendoza, Bernhard Pöll und Susanne Behensky.
Universität Salzburg

Der Band enthält ausgewählte Beiträge des Workshops „Sprachkontakt und Mehrsprachigkeit als Herausforderung für Soziolinguistik und Systemlinguistik“, der im Rahmen der 37. Österreichischen Linguistiktagung (ÖLT) vom 5. bis 7. Dezember 2009 in Salzburg stattfand. Die Artikel befassen sich mit den unterschiedlichsten Aspekten von Sprachkontakt und Mehrsprachigkeit:

Eine Reihe von Aufsätzen handelt von der Wechselwirkung zweier Sprachen auf der Ebene der sprachlichen Formen selbst, wobei die Themen von Sprachkontakteinflüssen auf der grammatischen Ebene über die Beschreibung diverser hybrider Sprachen bzw. Varietäten bis hin zum Transfer von Gesten reichen. Einen zweiten Schwerpunkt bilden soziolinguistische Fragestellungen, wie die Beschreibung des Status bestimmter Minderheitensprachen, die Analyse von Mehrsprachigkeit in abgegrenzten Funktionsbereichen oder theoretische Überlegungen zur Modellierung und Konzeptualisierung von Sprachkontaktsituationen.

Die Bandbreite der untersuchten Sprachen erstreckt sich von Deutsch und Englisch über verschiedene romanische Sprachen und amerindische Idiome bis zu slawischen Varietäten.

Vorwort

Braselmann, Petra / Ohnheiser, Ingeborg
Wie kontrollieren Frankreich und Polen die Umsetzung ihrer Sprachgesetze?

Döhla, Hans-Jörg
Differential object marking (DOM) in some American Indian languages – Contact induced replication and convergence or internal development?

Frías Conde, Xavier
The sociolinguistic situation of Asturias: The state of the question

Gregersen, Tammy
Gestural code switching: Why and wherefore?

Jungbluth, Anja
Die Americanos von Samaná: Sprachverwendung und Attitüden innerhalb einer dominikanischen Minderheit

Ladilova, Anna
Sprachkontaktsituation der Wolgadeutschen in Argentinien

Lavric, Eva / Steiner, Jasmin
„Wenn er die Sprache kann, spielt er gleich besser“ – 11 Thesen zur Mehrsprachigkeit im Fußball

Rabus, Achim
Innerslavischer Kontakt: Sprach- oder Dialektkontakt?

Schwägerl-Melchior, Verena
Vom Umgang mit sprachlicher Pluralität in der frühen Neuzeit: Aspekte der Verwaltungskommunikation im spanischen Vizekönigreich Neapel

Zeller, Jan Patrick / Tesch, Sviatlana
Zum Zusammenhang von morphologischer und phonischer Variation in gemischter weißrussisch-russischer Rede

ISBN 9783862881666. LINCOM Studies in Language Typology 20. 169pp. 2011.

Gramaticalização dos itens linguísticos assim, já e aí no Português Brasileiro

um estudo sob a perspectiva da Gramática Discursivo-Funciona l

Edson Rosa Francisco de Souza
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul

Esta obra discute o processo de mudança linguística dos itens linguísticos assim, já e aí no Português brasileiro, sob a perspectiva teórica da Gramática Discursivo-Funcional (HENGEVELD e MACKENZIE, 2008) e da Gramaticalização (HOPPER e TRAUGOTT, 1993; TRAUGOTT, 1995), a partir de suas funções dêiticas, textuais, interacionais.

A Gramaticalização é definida aqui como um processo de mudança que leva um item lexical (ou gramatical) a assumir funções mais gramaticais em direção ao componente pragmático da língua (TRAUGOTT, 1982; TRAUGOTT, 1995; TRAUGOTT e KÖNIG, 1991), e que envolve não só o aumento gradual depragmatização do significado (inferência) como também a abstratização do item linguístico (metáfora, metonímia).

Com base nos postulados teóricos da Gramaticalização e da Gramática Discursivo-Funcional (GDF), a pesquisa argumenta que os itens assim, já e aí podem ser analisados conforme os níveis (Representacional e Interpessoal) e as camadas (semânticas e pragmáticas) de organização da linguagem, em que expansão funcional desses elementos nos níveis e nas camadas da GDF pode ser elencada como uma evidência linguística de que esses itens linguísticos estão se gramaticalizando na língua, assumindo funções mais gramaticais e discursivas/interacionais ao longo do seu percurso de mudança linguística, em direção às dimensões textual e interacional da língua.

ISBN 9783862882595. LINCOM Studies in Language Typology 21. 275pp. 2012.

NUMERAL CLASSIFIERS IN PERSIAN

Avazeh Mache
University of Erfurt

Persian makes use of so-called numeral classifiers. This word class occurs in a tripartite numeral classifier phrase comprised of a numeral, the classifier and a noun. In studies of Persian grammar, neither the types nor the characteristics of the word class have been examined. By means of a corpus-based analysis, this study aims to describe the types of numeral classifiers found in Persian and to compose an inventory of each type. It also investigates the nature of the word class as well as its syntactic, semantic and functional behavior. In providing a lucid account of the characteristics of numeral classifiers, basic linguistic theory is applied as a theoretical framework.

Numeral classifiers occur quite frequently in both formal and colloquial language use. However, not every noun can be associated with a numeral classifier. There are nouns that do not take any classifier whereas other nouns require the use of specific classifiers when counted. Furthermore, the usage of numeral classifiers is optional in Persian, although there are constructions in which the use of a numeral classifier appears to be obligatory. Moreover, the exact number of numeral classifiers in Persian is difficult to estimate. It has been conjectured that there are anywhere between a few dozen to one hundred such classifiers in Persian. Some of them have very specialized uses or are archaic and only a few classifiers are regularly used. Semantically speaking, the numeral classifiers must be seen as part of a continuum from carrying a light semantic meaning to being highly informative. The semantic parameters that Persian numeral classifiers cluster around are categories such as animacy or physical properties such as shape or function. Among other functions (for instance classification, the primary function of classifiers), classifiers in Persian serve to mark the importance of participants in discourse to highlight culturally valued objects or objects that are prominent to life in the Persian community.

ISBN 9783862882816. LINCOM Studies in Language Typology 22. 223pp. 2012.

Aspects of Reduplication in Languages of Cameroon and Senegal

Pius N. Tamanji & Gabriel M. Mba (eds.)
Université de Yaoundé I

The present volume contains a study of reduplication in a variety of African languages and from different analytical perspectives. In all, the volume brings together thirteen papers with data from 15 languages in Cameroon and 1 in Senegal. While some of the papers give new impetus to issues of reduplication, others reflect the broad perspective of studies on reduplication as practised today.

Six papers on Isu, Medumba, Bafut, Nweh and Bantu zone A languages analyse a variety of reduplication phenomena using fairly recent theoretical models including MDT, generative grammar and discourse analysis. Major issues covered include the widespread palatal infix in Grassfields Bantu, a nasal infix in lexical reduplication, sources and patterns of association of reduplication tones, reduplication as a syntactic phenomenon and the role of reduplication in discourse.

Seven other papers on Bambele, Ghomala’, Fe’fe’, Limbum, Saafi Saafi, Mengisa and Kenyang present an interesting array of data on reduplication and, in addition, reflect a broad perspective of studies on reduplication. The diversity of approaches adopted makes interesting reading and represent, as such, a first step that may ultimately lead to a more thorough understanding of reduplication in African languages.

Table of contents

Introduction

High vowel reduplication and infix genesis in Isu (West Ring)
Roland Kießling

Sources of tones and patterns of their assignment to reduplicated forms in Bafut
Ayu’nwi N. Neba

Morphological and Phonologically-induced Insertion in Word Reduplication and Syntactic Repetition in Grassfields Bantu
Constantine Kouankem

Reduplication, word categories and sentence structure in Bafut
Pius N. Tamanji

Productive and Non-productive reduplication patterns in Bantu Zone A (Northwest) languages
Gratien G. Atindogbé and Evelyn Fogwe Chibaka

Nweh Reduplication Patterns
Justina Atemajong Njika

Reduplication in Saafi-Saafi
Hillebrand Dijkstra

Modes and mechanisms of reduplication in Limbum
Gratiana Ndamsah

A morpho-syntactic account of reduplication in Béèmbéléè
Gabriel Delmon Djomeni

Notes on reduplication in Kenyang
Gabriel Mba

La Réduplication en ghómaàlaà’
Gabriel Mba

La reduplication en fe’efe’e
E. Sadembouo

Processus phonologiques et semantique de la reduplication en Beti-Fang : Le cas de la variante mengisa
Julia Ndibnu Messina Ethe

References

ISBN 9783862883059. LINCOM Studies in Language Typology 23. 201pp. 2012.

Analytical causatives: from ‘give’ and ‘come’ to ‘let’ and ‘make’

Jaakko Leino and Ruprecht von Waldenfels (eds.)
Bern University, the University of Helsinki

The nine articles of the present volume are concerned with a selection of analytical causative constructions in for the most part European languages, but extending also to English-based creoles and related West African languages and including some non-Indo-European languages of Europe.

The studies in this volume involve diachronic, synchronic and comparative approaches, most of them corpus based. The topics include a variety of semantic, lexical and syntactic issues ranging from the expression of different semantic types of causation (e.g., ’permitting’, ’letting’, ’instigating’) and their relations; different lexical and grammatical causative verbs; the role of negation; the form of the causee phrase (accusative vs. dative causatives); frequency and the role of collocations in the acquisition of causatives by second language learners; grammaticalization, post-causative developments, and others. The languages studied include English, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Russian, Hungarian, Early New High German, as well as English-based Creoles.

Together, the articles show that an even closer look at analytical causatives is in place and provide the interested reader with novel insight and findings relevant not only in respect to the languages covered, but also from a cross-linguistic perspective. The volume assumes a polytheoretical approach. Despite a loosely cognitivistic overall bias, each author brings in their theoretical views of the syntax, semantics, and typological properties of analytical causatives, contributing to a complex and fascinating panorama of constructions and issues, many yet to be fully understood.

Contents:

Ruprecht von Waldenfels and Jaakko Leino
Preface

Kofi Yakpo
Betwixt and between.
Causatives in the English-lexicon creoles of West Africa and the Caribbean

Gaëtanelle Gilquin
Lexical infelicity in English causative constructions. Comparing native and learner collostructions

Thomas Egan
Analytic permissives in Present-day English

Gudrun Rawoens
Analytical causative constructions in Swedish: an analysis of syntactic and semantic patterns

Barbara Hans-Bianchi
The causative construction in Early New High German: the hidden link between semantics and grammaticalisation

Gréte Dalmi
Dative causatives in Hungarian

Ruprecht von Waldenfels
Finnish antaa and Russian davat’ ‘to give’ as causatives: a contrastive analysis

Jaakko Leino
Analytical expressions for permissive causation in Finnish

Anne Tamm
Let me introduce the Estonian analytical causatives: the permissive and factitive laskma ‘let, make, have, allow, permit’

ISBN 9783862883622. LINCOM Studies in Language Typology 24. 293pp. 2012.

The Internally-headed Relative Clause Construction

A Comparative Semantic Analysis

John Enrico

This book presents a comparative semantic analysis of the internally headed relative clause (IHRC) construction in the framework of Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG) based on a sample of a dozen languages.

There are two possible CCG analyses of IHRCs, both of which are attested in the data. One of them accounts for material in the head phrase with scope over the whole IHRC (determiners, anaphoric demonstratives, etc.) and for relative pronouns. The other derivation accounts for restrictions on the grammatical relation of the head within the IHRC, for null-headed IHRCs, for the extraposed IHRC construction, and for IHRCs with incorporated heads. The book gives new explanations for the definiteness restriction and for the quantifier restriction on heads, for the Element Constraint, for the restriction against heads embedded in other IHRCs, and for the restriction against wh-words in or extracted from IHRCs.

John Enrico did lengthy fieldwork on the three dialects of Haida in Canada and Alaska from the 1970s to the 1990s. He is the author of a number of books and articles on the language.

Keywords: linguistics, formal semantics, categorial grammar, Combinatory Categorial Grammar, Discourse Representation Theory, internally headed relative clause, null headed relative clause, noun incorporation, island constraints, definiteness restriction

ISBN 9783862884230. LINCOM Studies in Language Typology 25. 120pp. 2013.