Subordination and Coordination Strategies in North Asian Languages
AMSTERDAM STUDIES IN THE THEORY AND HISTORY OF LINGUISTIC SCIENCE General Editor E.F.K. KOERNER (Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Typologie und Universalienforschung, Berlin) Series IV – CURRENT ISSUES IN LINGUISTIC THEORY Advisory Editorial Board Lyle Campbell (Salt Lake City) Sheila Embleton (Toronto) Elly van Gelderen (Tempe, Ariz.) Brian D. Joseph (Columbus, Ohio) John E. Joseph (Edinburgh) Manfred Krifka (Berlin) Martin Maiden (Oxford) E. Wyn Roberts (Vancouver, B.C.) Joseph C. Salmons (Madison, Wis.)
Volume 300
Edward J. Vajda (ed.) Subordination and Coordination Strategies in North Asian Languages
Subordination and Coordination Strategies in North Asian Languages
Edited by
Edward J. Vajda
Western Washington University & Max Planck Insitute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
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The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Subordination and coordination strategies in North Asian languages / edited by Edward J. Vajda. p. cm. -- (Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series IV, Current issues in linguistic theory, ISSN 0304-0763 ; v. 300) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Russia, Northern--Languages--Subordinate constructions. 2. Russia, Northern--Languages--Coordinate constructions. 3. Russia, Northern--Languages--Syntax. I. Vajda, Edward J. P381.R8S83 2008 494'.6--dc22 2008030304 ISBN 978 90 272 4816 9 (Hb; alk. paper) © 2008 – John Benjamins B.V. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. John Benjamins Publishing Co. • P.O.Box 36224 • 1020 ME Amsterdam • The Netherlands John Benjamins North America • P.O.Box 27519 • Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 • USA
CONTENTS Editor’s foreword Edward J. Vajda
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I. Introduction Subordination, Coordination: Form, semantics, pragmatics Bernard Comrie
1
II. Analytic patterns of subordination and coordination Speech Report Constructions in Ainu Anna Bugaeva
17
The Syntax and Pragmatics of Adverbial Clauses in Eastern Khanty Andrei Filtchenko
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Null Arguments in Kumyk Adverbial Clauses Linda Humnick
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Finite Structures in Forest Enets Subordination: A case study of language change under strong Russian influence Olesya Khanina & Andrey Shluinsky
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Grammaticization and Relative Clauses in Eastern Khanty Olga Potanina
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Toward a semantic typology of coordination Elena Rudnitskaya & Elena Uryson
85
Question particles or what? Open alternative questions in Udeghe Maria Tolskaya & Inna Tolskaya
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III. Suffixation as a Technique of Syntactic Subordination The Development of Deconverbal Prepositions: Reanalysis or grammaticalization? Sandra Birzer
109
151
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CONTENTS
Imperatives in Conditional and Concessive Subordinate Clauses Nina Dobrushina Morphological Strategies for ‘Complex Sentences’ and Polysynthesis in Central Alaskan Yupik (Eskimo) Osahito Miyaoka
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143
Converbs in Northern Selkup Riita-Liisa Valijärvi
167
Head-Negating Enclitics in Ket Edward J. Vajda
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Infinitive Constructions in Ket Marina Zinn
203
Index
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FOREWORD This volume contains 14 chapters, each reflecting a paper originally presented at the “Third International Symposium on the Languages Spoken in Europe and North and Central Asia” (‘LENCA-3’) held at Tomsk State Pedagogical University in Tomsk, a city in south-central Siberia, Russian Federation, during June 27-30, 2006. The symposium was organized to investigate a broad range of issues involving systems of coordination and subordination in complex sentences in the languages of Eurasia. Most of the papers selected for the present volume deal with complex sentence structures characteristic of North Asia, with some of the studies dealing with languages traditionally spoken adjacent regions of the Pacific Rim, notably Central Alaskan Yupik and Ainu, as well as Russian. From an areal perspective, complex sentence morphosyntax across North Asia and the Pacific Rim reveals an unusually high prevalence of suffixation patterns used to signal syntactic subordination. This prevalence for suffixal subordinators involves a variety of genetic groupings, most notably Samoyedic, Turkic, and Tungusic. Less well known is the fact that similar traits play a role in complex sentence formation in some of the region’s language isolates, such as Ket and Ainu, as well. No general study has surveyed the syntax of complex sentences across this area, which is noted both for its complex web of language contact phenomena as well as for its long-established genetic divisions. Much of the data presented in the individual chapters reflect original fieldwork, and several of the contributions focus on critically endangered languages. Nearly all the genetic groupings in the region under consideration are somehow represented, as are all major formal and functional types of complex sentence formation. The chapters themselves are grouped into three sections. Part One consists of a single chapter that serves as an introduction to the types of issues discussed by the book’s individual case studies. Subordination, Coordination: Form, semantics, pragmatics — setting the scene, by Bernard Comrie (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig), examines instances where the distinction between subordination and coordination is not clear-cut, and takes into account the formal, semantic and pragmatic diversity of such complex sentence types. This chapter also serves as a general introduction to the problem of typologizing complex sentence patterns.
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Part Two contains seven chapters devoted to analytic patterns of subordination and coordination. The individual chapters in this section deal primarily with patterns of complex sentence formation based on conjunctions, clause constituency, and word order rather than on the use of special synthetic verb forms, a topic addressed by the articles in Part Three. Speech Report Constructions in Ainu, by Anna Bugaeva (Chiba University, Japan), is based on extensive examples taken from Hokkaido Ainu narratives. It demonstrates that Ainu speech report constructions cannot be analyzed in terms of a sharp dichotomy between reported and direct speech. Adopting a continuum approach to the description of this type of complex sentence, the author provides a novel analysis of constructions intermediate between direct and indirect speech reporting. The Syntax and Pragmatics of Adverbial Clauses in Eastern Khanty, by Andrei Filtchenko (Rice University & Tomsk State Pedagogical University), discusses a wide variety of adverbial clauses in one of the least studied and most highly endangered forms of Khanty (Ostyak), an Ob-Ugrian language of Western Siberia. The syntactic complexity of adverbial clause structure is considered from a diachronic and synchronic perspective in order to identify both past and ongoing patterns of grammaticalization. Grammaticization and Relative Clauses in Eastern Khanty, by Olga Potanina (Tomsk Polytechnic University), demonstrates how Eastern Khanty tends to avoid using postposed relative clauses by preposing the modifying material before its head noun. This has led to the grammaticalization of certain nouns in the role of bleached semantic heads in what originally were relative clause constructions with preposed modifiers. Textual examples deriving from the author’s original fieldwork provide a basis for concluding that most sentences in Eastern Khanty resemble a string of clauses, loosely linked, often without any overt syntactic indication of subordination. Null Arguments in Kumyk Adverbial Clauses, by Linda Humnick (University of Minnesota), explores the syntax and pragmatics of referring expressions in Kumyk, a Turkic language spoken primarily in the Dagestan region of the Russian Federation. An examination of constraints on the use of null subjects in non-finite clauses within a text corpus provides evidence that adverbial clauses in Kumyk have null subjects that are syntactically unrestricted yet pragmatically constrained in the same way as null subjects of matrix clauses. Though Kumyk is spoken near the Caspian Sea and technically falls outside the geographic designation of "North Asia", it represents a language type common across much of Inner Asia. Finite Structures in Forest Enets Subordination: A case study of language change under strong Russian influence, by Olesya Khanina & Andrey Shluinsky (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig,
FOREWORD
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Germany & Institute for Linguistics RAS, Moscow), explores recent contactinduced change in Forest Enets, a Samoyedic language of north-central Siberia with only a few dozen remaining speakers. By comparing subordination techniques used by the last speakers of Forest Enets with texts recorded a few generations back, the study is able to document contact-induced change from a system based originally on the extensive use of non-finite verb forms in subordinate clauses to a system making more extensive use of the pattern of subordinating conjunction and finite verb form usage typical for European languages. The Development of Deconverbal Prepositions: Reanalysis or grammaticalization? by Sandra Birzer (University of Regensburg), compares the historical emergence of Turkic and Russian deconverbal adpositions belonging to the semantic categories “due to”, “although”, and “since” in light of the differing typological profiles of Inner Asian and European languages. An examination of semantic bleaching, univerbation, and argument structure change demonstrates that the rise of these subordinators most closely aligns the trajectories of their emergence with definitions of grammaticalization rather than reanalysis. By juxtaposing its analysis of Asian patterns to earlier research on grammaticalization and reanalysis in European languages, the study makes a contribution to the general linguistic understanding of grammaticalization. The last study in this section, Question Particles or What? Open alternative questions in Udeghe, by Maria Tolskaya (Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University) & Inna Tolskaya (University of Tromsö), analyzes the syntax and pragmatics of interrogative devices in the highly endangered Udeghe language spoken in Russia’s Maritime Province and, more broadly, in other Tungus-Manchu languages of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, such as Evenki and Oroqen. Contextual examples include original material from Maria Tolskaya’s fieldwork on Udeghe, as well as examples cited from previous publication. This is the first analysis of this particular variety of interrogative sentence across Tungusic. Its results permit a new typological interpretation of question sentence formation in one of the most widespread North Asian families. Part Three turns to synthetic techniques of marking subordination and coordination. The six chapters in this section deal primarily with the usage of special suffixal forms to convey syntactic subordination or coordination. Such patterns appear to represent a special areal feature of North and Inner Asia, a fact that renders their study of great potential value for helping understand the typological and genetic profile of Eurasian languages in general. Toward a Semantic Typology of Coordination, by Elena Rudnitskaya (Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow) & Elena Uryson (Vinogradov Russian Language Institute, Moscow), explicitly compares coordination patterns
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expressed by synthetic means and those expressed analytically by finite verbs in clauses linked using subordinating conjunctions. The former technique, exemplified by Korean, represents the type of complex sentence formation found widely across North and Inner Asia. Parallel translations of the Korean examples into Russian and English illustrate how various semantic categories of coordination can be expressed synthetically, as well. By examining the contrast between confirmed vs. cancelled expectations in such utterances, the authors provide a new vantage from which to typologize the expression of such meanings using two structurally distinct types of complex sentence formations. Imperatives in Conditional and Concessive Subordinate Clauses, by Nina Dobrushina (State University Higher School of Economics, Moscow), highlights a rare example of what essentially represents a synthetic form of subordination in a European language: the colloquial usage of pseudoimperative forms in Modern Russian to express conditional and concessive subordination. By including comparative data from Turkish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Estonian and Aghul (a Nakh-Dagestanian language spoken in the Dagestan, Russia, and also Azerbaijan), the author provides compelling textual evidence that the forms in question cannot be regarded as imperatives but rather are distinct grammatical means of conveying certain types of subordination asyndetically. Because Russian is now the most widely spoken language across the entire geographic region under consideration, this study has obvious implications for our understanding of the areal patterning of syntax in contemporary North Asia. Morphological Strategies for ‘Complex Sentences’ and Polysynthesis in Central Alaskan Yupik (Eskimo), by Osahito Miyaoka (Osaka Gakuin University), provides analysis of the extensive use of cyclical suffixation used for building up complex morphological structures that are the syntactic equivalent of complex sentences in most other languages of the world. Though based on examples from Central Alaskan Yupik, the patterns discussed appear to be likewise present, in their general outlines, in forms of Yupik traditionally spoken in the Russian Far East and thus exemplify an extreme example of the type of syntactic subordination through the build-up of suffixes that can be seen as prevalent across North Asia. Converbs in Northern Selkup, by Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi (Uppsala University), provides a morphological analysis of non-finite verb forms used exclusively in subordinate clauses in the Taz dialect of Selkup, a Samoyedic language of central Siberia. Using examples from field elicitation and earlier recordings of folkloric texts, the author examines a wide range of converbial suffixes and semantic types of subordination. Her conclusions hold relevance for the study of Samoyedic syntax in general.
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Head-Negating Enclitics in Ket, by Edward J. Vajda (Western Washington University), provides an analysis of postposed relational morphemes in Ket, an endangered isolate spoken by fewer than 200 people in Central Siberia. It reveals that most semantic types of subordination use enclitics displaying clear typological and semantic parallels to those found in non-finite verb constructions in the adjacent Turkic and Samoyedic languages. Morphological and phonological data are considered to demonstrate that the morphemes in question are actually clitics rather than converbial suffixes or case endings, suggesting a relatively recent development under the influence of language contact. The last chapter, Infinitive Constructions in Ket, Marina Zinn (Tomsk State Pedagogical University), surveys the diverse semantic functions expressed by non-finite forms of the Ket verb in a variety of types of subordinate clauses. All of the examples derive from the author’s recent fieldwork with some of the language’s last remaining speakers and include hitherto undocumented syntactic types of infinitival constructions. The use of non-finite verb forms in such Ket constructions fit very much into prevalent North Asian patterns of complex sentence formation. This volume should be of value to anyone interested in the syntactic typology of Eurasian languages, particularly linguists studying the morphosyntax of complex sentences. The large number of endangered languages surveyed, as well as the significant amount of original field data cited in the articles make this collection important in the documentation of the world’s disappearing languages. Bellingham, Washington June 15, 2008
Edward J. Vajda
Map 1. Asian languages analyzed in the present volume
SUBORDINATION, COORDINATION FORM, SEMANTICS, PRAGMATICS — SETTING THE SCENE
BERNARD COMRIE Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology & University of California, Santa Barbara 1.
Introduction My aim in this article, as in the corresponding presentation at LENCA-3, is to “set the scene” with regard to the distinction between subordination and coordination, and in particular to present and discuss problem cases that do not fit readily into the one or the other category. I emphasize that my aim is to identify problems, rather than to posit solutions (although sometimes my remarks will go some distance in this direction); several of the other articles in this collection do propose solutions to particular problems, and I do not want to repeat their arguments. 2.
Clear cases of subordination versus coordination in Western European languages At the outset, it should be noted that there are, of course, many instances of clear distinctions between subordination and coordination, including but not restricted to major Western European languages. In German [deu], for instance, the word order in subordinate clauses is distinct from that in main clauses, including coordinated main clauses.1 In subordinate clauses, the finite verb stands clause-finally, as in the second clause of (1), whereas in main clauses it stands in clause-second position, as in both clauses of (2).
1
Language names are followed by the corresponding ISO 639-3 code in square brackets at first mention. Note that morpheme glossing is partial, to the extent needed for the points being made. Example sentences with no preceding punctuation are presented as grammatical, those with a preceding asterisk as ungrammatical, following the usual convention; beyond this, an exclamation mark indicates a sentence that is syntactically well-formed but semantically or pragmatically anomalous, and a percentage sign a sentence whose grammaticality is up for discussion.
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BERNARD COMRIE
(1) Das Auto begann zu schleudern, weil die Straße glatt war. the car began to skid because the road slippery was “The car began to skid, because the road was slippery”. (2) Die Straße war glatt und das Auto begann zu schleudern. the road was slippery and the car began to skid “The street was slippery and the car began to skid”. Interestingly, the distinction seems clearly syntactic, rather than semantic, as one can see by comparing (1), with the subordinating conjunction weil “because”, with (3), with the coordinating conjunction denn “for”; although both express cause, weil requires a clause-final finite verb, denn a clause-second one. (3) Das Auto begann zu schleudern, denn die Straße war glatt. the car began to skid for the road was slippery “The car began to skid, for the road was slippery”. Although English [eng] does not have quite such a blatant distinction between subordination and coordination, there are nonetheless several criteria, developed both in traditional grammar and in generative approaches to syntax from the mid-1950s, that provide reasonably robust criteria for distinguishing between subordination and coordination. If one compares example (4) on the one hand with (5) and (6) on the other, then a generalization emerges whereby English allows relativization of a constituent of a main clause that is accompanied by a subordinate clause, as in (4), but not of a constituent of a clause that is conjoined with another clause; this is the so-called Coordinate Structure Constraint of Ross (1986: 97-120).2 Note that just as in German, the distinction is not predictable on semantic grounds, since the causal conjunction for is coordinating, and thus behaves like and, and unlike the subordinating conjunction because. (4) the car [which — began to skid because the road was slippery] (5) *the car [which — began to skid, for the road was slippery] (6) *the street [which — was slippery and the car began to skid]
2
Here and below, a horizontal line is used to indicate the position in the relative clause that is relativized. Following standard scholarly practice, reference is made to the published version of Ross (1986); the work was originally an MIT doctoral dissertation from 1967 entitled “Constraints on variables in syntax” and is also widely cited as such.
SUBORDINATION AND COORDINATION
3
Another test that distinguishes subordination and coordination in English (and many other languages) concerns the order of clauses within the sentence and the occurrence of pronouns and their antecedents, in particular in subject position, in different clauses. In English, a subordinate clause can precede its main clause — by contrast, one cannot have coordination examples like *and the street was slippery, the car began to skid, corresponding to because the street was slippery, the car began to skid. When a subordinate clause precedes its main clause, as in (9), the pronoun can stand in the subordinate clause and thus linearly precede its antecedent in the main clause; this is not possible when the subordinate clause follows its main clause, as in (10). (When the pronoun follows its antecedent, both clause orders are possible, as in (7–8), and of course this order is also possible with coordination, as in Johni left the room and hei was feeling unwell.) (7) Johni left the room because hei was feeling unwell. (8) Because Johni was feeling unwell, hei left the room. (9) Because hei was feeling unwell, Johni left the room. (10) *Hei left the room because Johni was feeling unwell. 3.
Constructions that appear to be coordinate, but behave as if subordinate In this section, we examine examples that present difficulties because they look like instances of coordination, but nonetheless behave as if subordinate. As noted already in §1, the Coordinate Structure Constraint prevents relativization on a constituent of a single conjunct of a coordinate construction, as shown in English examples (11–12): Sentence (11) consists of the coordination of two clauses, and it is impossible to relativize on the direct object of the second conjunct, as seen in (12). (11) [John plays the flute] and [Mary sings madrigals]. (12) *the madrigals [that [John plays the flute] and [Mary sings —]] However, there are examples that seem to have the same structure as (11) but where relativization of the type disallowed in (12) is possible. Consider example (13), the English go and V construction. Provided (13) is interpreted as a tightly knit sequence of actions (my buying the book followed directly from my going to the store), relativization on the object of the second conjunct is possible, as in (14). (13) I went to the store and bought a book.
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(14) the book [that I went to the store and bought —] In colloquial English, even more extended possibilities exist, as in (15), from colloquial British English, which involves relativization on the object of the last of three conjuncts (cf. Our Ethel’s been and gone and bought that dress). (15) Look at the new dress [that our Ethel’s been and gone and bought —]! One might argue that since (14) is not interpreted as simple coordination — it cannot, for instance, be used where my going to the store and my buying the book are completely distinct events — this extra meaning component overrides the apparently formal coordination structure in order to allow relativization. Of course, such an approach would have to be fleshed out in much more detail, since we noted with respect to German example (3) and English example (5) that semantically more specific coordinating conjunctions — denn, for — do not in themselves permit violations of constraints on coordinate constructions. One might go further and note a more specific similarity between the English construction in (13) and the purpose construction in (16) using an infinitive, in which relativization of the object of the infinitive is perfectly possible, as in (17), since the Coordinate Structure Constraint is inapplicable. (16) I went to the store [to buy a book]. (17) the book [that I went to the store [to buy —]] However, in this connection it is also important to note that the constructions in (13) and (16) are not simple alternants with the same meaning. In particular, (16) does not entail that I succeeded in buying the book, as can be seen in the logically consistent (18), while (13) does entail that I bought the book, as can be seen from the logical contradiction of (19). (18) I went to the store to buy a book, but they didn’t have what I wanted, so didn’t buy anything. (19) !I went to the store and bought a book, but they didn’t have what I wanted, so I didn’t buy anything. An interesting set of relevant examples where a seemingly coordinate structure behaves as if non-coordinate is presented for Afrikaans [afr] by Donaldson (1993: 220-221, 226, 385-387). Before considering the Afrikaans construction, it is perhaps worth noting that Dutch [nld] has a functionally analogous, but structurally distinct, construction using verbs of posture (e.g. Dutch zit, Afrikaans sit “sit”) to express progressive aspect, as in (20).
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However, the Dutch construction, whereby the auxiliary is followed by te “to” and an infinitive, has no formal properties of coordination, instead involving subordination of an infinitival construction to the auxiliary verb. (20) Ik zit te lez-en. I sit to read-INF “I am (sitting) reading”. In Afrikaans, however, the relevant construction apparently coordinates the verb sit “sit” and another verb, in (21) lees “read”. Indeed, the simple sequence of words presented in (21) is ambiguous, since in addition to being an expression of progressive aspect, it can also have the interpretation “I sit and read”, i.e. semantic coordination. We will be concerned primarily with the first, semantically non-coordinate interpretation, although contrast with the second, semantically coordinate interpretation will also be relevant. (21) Ek sit en lees. I sit and read “I am (sitting) reading”. In order to explore the relevant details of the construction, we will use a slightly longer example, namely (22), which has, in addition to the progressive aspect interpretation given as its translation, also the interpretation “He sits on the wall and drinks a Windhoek lager”. As we shall see, under many slight variations, the two distinct interpretations lead to formal distinctions, i.e. the progressive construction does not follow the general pattern of coordinate constructions. (22) Ek sit op die muur en drink ’n Windhoek-lager. I sit on the wall and drink a Windhoek-lager “I am (sitting) on the wall drinking a Windhoek lager”. First, we need to ask how the past tense is formed in Afrikaans. Except in the case of a few anomalous verbs, Afrikaans has only a compound past tense, formed with the present tense of the auxiliary het “have, has” and the past participle, which is formed by prefixing ge- to the verb stem. The past participle stands clause-finally. Compare the present tense in (23) and the past tense in (24). (23) Ek drink ’n Windhoek-lager. I drink a Windhoek-lager “I drink a Windhoek lager”.
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(24) Ek het ’n Windhoek-lager I have a Windhoek-lager “I drank a Windhoek lager”.
ge-drink. PSTPTCP-drink
How, then, does one form the past tense of (22)? It turns out that the answer depends on whether the construction is interpreted as a progressive or as two coordinated clauses. In the progressive interpretation, sit en drink is treated as a single unit, moved to clause-final position, with the past participle prefix optionally attached to the first verb (sit) only, as in (25). (25) Hy het op die muur ’n Windhoek-lager (ge-)sit en drink. he has on the wall a Windhoek-lager PSTPTCP-sit and drink “He was (sitting) drinking a Windhoek lager on the wall”. If the interpretation is as two coordinated clauses, then in each clause separately its verb is moved to clause-final position and obligatorily takes the geprefix, as in (26). (26) Hy het op die muur ge-sit en ’n Windhoek-lager ge-drink. he has on the wall PSTPTCP-sit and a Windhoek-lager PSTPTCP-drink “He sat on the wall and drank a Windhoek lager”. Further evidence that the progressive construction is not syntactically an instance of coordination comes from behavior relevant to the Coordinate Structure Constraint. In the progressive construction, there is no problem relativizing on the object of drink “drink”, as in (27), i.e. this does not constitute relativizing a constituent of a single conjunct of a coordinate structure. In (28), by contrast, with the interpretation of two coordinate clauses, relativizing a constituent of one conjunct is ungrammatical, a result of violating the Coordinate Structure Constraint. (27) die Windhoek-lager, wat hy op die muur (ge-)sit en drink the Windhoek-lager REL he on the wall PSTPTCP-sit and drink “the Windhoek lager that he was (sitting) drinking on the wall” (28) *die Windhoek-lager, wat hy op die muur ge-sit en ge-drink the Windhoek-lager REL he on the wall PSTPTCP-sit and PSTPTCP-drink “the Windhoek lager that he was sitting on the wall and drinking” To sum up this section: There are constructions that appear to be coordinate, indeed they are sometimes homophonous with coordinate constructions, but which nonetheless behave syntactically as if subordinate, with one verb form (with its arguments and adjuncts) dependent on another.
SUBORDINATION AND COORDINATION
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4.
Constructions that appear to be subordinate, but behave as if main clauses Just as one finds instances of clauses that appear to be coordinate, but behave as if they were subordinate, so too one finds examples of clauses that appear to be subordinate, but have at least some properties according to which they do not behave as subordinate, but rather as main clauses. Consider the behavior of tag questions in English — to simplify the discussion, only examples of opposite-polarity tags will be considered. In general, English allows tags to be attached to main clauses, as transparently in (29), but not to subordinate clauses. This means that in an example like (30), one can have a tag question relating to the main clause, but not one relating to the subordinate clause. (29) The Earth is round, isn’t it? (30) Columbus thought that the Earth was round, didn’t he/*wasn’t it? However, a number of clauses that appear to be subordinate nonetheless behave as if they were main clauses with respect to tag questions, in particular clauses that, despite apparent subordinate form, are interpreted as if they were main clauses, this relating to the fact that they express the essential propositional content of a statement. In (31), for instance, the relative clause is technically subordinate, but it is a nonrestrictive relative, and as such actually adds a new piece of information, in much the same way as a main clause would. And as (31) shows, it is possible to have a tag question relating to this nonrestrictive relative clause. (31) Quito — which is the capital of Ecuador, isn’t it? — lies on the equator. Example (32) seems to have the same kind of sentential complement structure as (30), but its most probable use in discourse is very different. While (30) basically tells about Columbus’ set of beliefs, (32) is basically about whether John is leaving tomorrow or not, and it is perfectly natural to attach a tag question relating to this aspect of the sentence’s overall meaning. (Attaching the tag question don’t I, relating to I think, is pragmatically anomalous, since it is odd for me to ask somewhat else for confirmation of what I think.) In this sense, the function of (32) is closer to that of (33), where John is leaving tomorrow is unequivocally a main clause, than to that of the formally more similar (30). (32) I think (that) John’s leaving tomorrow, isn’t he/!don’t I?
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(33) John, I think, is leaving tomorrow, isn’t he? An interesting further extension is provided by the examples in (34) and (35). Example (34) is a straightforward main clause, and therefore takes an opposite-polarity tag as shown. Example (35a) receives the same interpretation, with the addition of the hedge “I think”, although this is not immediately obvious from the structure, which has an affirmative clause John’s leaving tomorrow and a negative main clause I don’t think. But the interpretation of (35a) is as in (35b), i.e. I do think something, namely that John isn’t leaving tomorrow. The tag question in (35a) not only applies to the apparent subordinate rather than to the apparent main clause, but takes its opposite-polarity form according to the negative interpretation of the apparent subordinate clause, not its affirmative form. In other words, the tag question follows meaning rather than form. (34) John’s not leaving tomorrow, is he? (35) a. I don’t think John’s leaving tomorrow, is he? b. John, I think, isn’t leaving tomorrow, is he? This brief section has thus presented a few examples, all from English, of apparently subordinate clauses that behave as if they were not. 5.
Degrees of subordination The examples in previous sections have concerned primarily a mismatch between subordinate or coordinate form and interpretation, with implications for syntactic constructions that are sensitive to the subordination/coordination opposition. In this section, we consider examples that seem to point to degrees of subordination, with some constructions being more subordinate than others, although the distinction is not simply one of form versus interpretation. First, we may note that in English there are in general rather robust judgments across native speakers relating to constraints on extraction, more specifically on relativization, along the lines initially discussed by Ross (1986). For instance, as (36–37) show, there is in principle no constraint in English against relativizing constituents of subordinate clauses. However, (38) shows that there are some constraints, in particular it is not possible to relativize the subject of a finite subordinate clause — although the comparison with (39) shows that things are not quite so simple, since relativizing the subject of a finite subordinate clause is possible if that clause lacks its complementizer (as in (39)), but not if that complementizer is present (as in (38). (36) the person [that I think [that you saw — ]]
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SUBORDINATION AND COORDINATION
(37) the person [that I think [you saw — ]] (38) *the person [that I think [that — saw you]] (39) the person [that I think [ — saw you]] Given the subtlety of some of the formal distinctions involved, the general robustness of judgment across English speakers is striking. With some other language, one encounters much more variation. In the remainder of this section, I will concentrate on Slavic languages, in particular East Slavic languages (illustrated by Russian [rus]) and West Slavic languages (illustrated by Slovak [slk] and, especially, Polish [pol]). In these languages, there is much more inter-speaker variation, but this turns out to be interesting in that it shows some finite subordinate clauses behaving more canonically with regard to extraction than others. The assignment of no preceding punctuation, asterisks, and percentage signs probably encompasses the judgments of most native speakers of the two languages considered in detail, namely Russian and Polish, though perhaps not all. A useful starting point would be the generalization that extraction – whether for relativization, content question formation, or topicalization – is impossible out of finite subordinate clauses. (In what follows, the discussion of Russian follows Comrie (1973) and references cited there, that of Polish Rothstein (1993: 740).) Thus, in Russian (40) and (42) are impossible, even though their literal English translations are impeccable. There are alternative ways of expressing the ideas intended by (40) and (42), but these avoid relativizing a constituent of a finite subordinate clause. In (41), for instance, relativization is literally on the main clause prepositional phrase of “I know concerning this person that Masha sees him”, while (43) actually involves two content questions each formed from a simple sentence, namely “you think thus” and “someone sees Masha”. (40) *čelovek, [kotorogo ja skazal, [čto person REL.ACC I said that “the person that I said that Masha sees”
Maša Masha
vidit sees
— ]] —
(41) čelovek, [o kotorom ja skazal —, [čto Maša ego vidit]] person about REL.LOC I said — that Masha him sees “the person concerning whom I said that Masha sees him” (42) *Kto vy dumaete, [čto — who you think that — “Who do you think sees Masha?”
vidit sees
Mašu]? Masha
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BERNARD COMRIE
(43) Kak vy dumaete, kto — vidit Mašu? how you think who — sees Masha “What (lit. how) do you think, who sees Masha?” There is, incidentally, no such general constraint against extracting from infinitival constructions, as illustrated by the grammatical example (44), in contrast with the ungrammatical corresponding finite subordinate clause construction in (45). (44) Vot ogurcy, [kotorye ja obeščal [prinesti —]]. here cucumbers REL I promised bring.INF — “Here are the cucumbers that I promised to bring”. (45) *Vot ogurcy, [kotorye ja obeščal, [čto prinesu —]]. here cucumbers REL I promised that bring.1SG — “Here are the cucumbers that I promised that I would bring”. However, at least some speakers make finer distinctions. For instance, while all or nearly all speakers disallow extraction from an indicative finite subordinate clause, some will tolerate extraction out of a subjunctive finite subordinate clause, as in (46). One interpretation of this is that subjunctive subordinate clauses are in some sense less subordinate than finite subordinate clauses, i.e. that there are different degrees of subordination. There are, however, other possible interpretations in this particular case, e.g. that the Russian subjunctive, which shows gender–number agreement with the subject but no tense distinctions, is less finite than the indicative, which shows not only gender–number or person–number (depending on tense) agreement with the subject, but also tense distinctions. (46) %Vot kniga, [kotoruju ja prikazal, [čtoby on pročital —]]. here book REL.ACC I ordered that.SBJV he read — “Here is the book that I ordered that he read”. Example (47), incidentally, shows that the kind of subject–object asymmetry illustrated by English (36) versus (38) also holds for Russian-speakers who are prepared to accept sentences like (46), where relativization is of the object of the subordinate clause, since they do not accept sentences like (47), where relativization is of the subject of such a clause. (47) *Vot čelovek, [kotoryj nevozmožno, [čtoby — here person REL.NOM impossible that.SBJV — “Here is the person that it is impossible that (he) come”.
prišel]]. came
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SUBORDINATION AND COORDINATION
In spoken educated Russian, one does incidentally find at least examples of topicalization that violate the constraint against extraction out of a finite subordinate clause, such as the attested (48), which even extracts the topic out of subject position in an indicative subordinate clause. (48) Petrov stranno, [čto — nam pomogal]. Petrov strange, that — us helped “Petrov it’s strange that [he] helped us”. For Slovak, Short (1993: 576-577) notes that constraints against extraction out of a finite subordinate clause are strong, and that while such examples are occasionally heard, they are viewed as “nonce-forms and distortions”. He goes on to say that such examples are rare in print, but does cite example (49), which was apparently judged acceptable not only by the author — or rather, the translator, since it is, perhaps not entirely irrelevantly, a translation from English — but also by the relevant editor.3 (49) %veršovaná tragédia Oulanen, [ktorú Marx považoval, versified tragedy Oulanen REL.ACC Marx thought [že — sa stane Faustom jeho doby]]. that — REFL become Faust his age.GEN “...the verse tragedy Oulanen, which Marx thought would become the Faust of his age” Rothstein (1993: 740) reports succinctly but with interesting nuances on extraction in Polish, with examples involving content questions. Extraction of the object of a subjunctive subordinate clause is apparently unobjectionable, as in (50) (cf. Russian (46), while extraction of the subject of such a clause is rejected (example (51), although some speakers are more tolerant of this latter possibility if the main clause has no overt subject separating the interrogative pronoun from its verb, as in (52). (Polish is a “pro-drop/null-subject” language.) (50) Co Janek chce, [żeby Maria what Janek wants that.SBJV Maria “What does Janek want that Maria buy?” (51) *Kto 3
Janek
chce, [żeby
—
kupiła bought
kupił
—]? — gazetę]?
The accusative case of the relative pronoun in (49) is perhaps surprising, given that the position relativized is subject of the finite subordinate clause. However, in a number of languages this use of the accusative is attested, both in languages like Slovak where the overall construction is marginal, and in languages like English where it is not (e.g. %the man whom I think left for the man who I think left).
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BERNARD COMRIE
who Janek wants that.SBJV — bought “Who does Janek want to buy the paper?” (52) %Kto chcesz, [żeby — kupił who want.2SG that.SBJV — bought “Who do you want to buy the paper?”
paper
gazetę]? paper
Although in Polish extraction out of an indicative finite subordinate clause is in general impossible, some speakers do allow such extraction with particular main-clause verbs. Thus, (53) and (54) are acceptable to some speakers, though (54) to fewer than (53). In recent work on Polish, main clause verbs that allow such extraction, such as “say” in (53) and “think” in (54), have come to be called ‘bridge verbs’. Note that for speakers who accept (53) but not (54), (53) is arguably less subordinate than (54). (53) %Co Janek mówi, [że Maria kupiła —]? what Janek says that Maria bought — “What does Janek say that Maria bought?” (54) %Co Janek myśli, [że Maria kupiła —]? what Janek thinks that Maria bought — “What does Janek think that Maria bought?” In section 5, we have tried to show that languages that have tests for distinguishing between subordinate clauses and other constructions may end up not with a clear-cut dichotomy, but rather with a cline of more and less subordinate constructions. In the Slavic languages cited, finite (or perhaps: more finite) constructions are more subordinate than nonfinite ones; in Polish, some main-clause verbs define more subordinate constructions than others. 6.
Subordination versus coordination according to interpretation? An interesting question that arises is whether a language can have a subordinate/coordinate opposition corresponding to differences of meaning or interpretation even in the apparent absence of a formal distinction. In the present section, I wish to examine some possible implications of this idea against data from Haruai [tmd].4 As an introduction to the Haruai material, one might consider a distinction found in English, and certainly many other European languages, where subordinate clauses can rather freely occur internal to a main clause, as in (55), while coordinate clauses cannot, as in (56) — the latter example is at best stylistically marked, and may not be acceptable to all 4
Haruai data are from my own fieldwork, conducted in Papua New Guinea in 1985–1986 and funded by the National Science Foundation under grant BNS-8504293.
SUBORDINATION AND COORDINATION
13
speakers. Can one then use the possibility of internal (as opposed to peripheral) occurrence as a criterion for subordinate status? (55) John, when you see him tomorrow, will be wearing a green shirt. (56) %John — and you will see him tomorrow — will be wearing a green shirt. Haruai has one instance of a clausal construction that is clearly subordinate, namely the relative clause construction, as illustrated in (57). The type illustrated here is the right-headed relative clause construction (Haruai also has internally headed relative clauses), in which the head is immediately preceded by a clause, which latter has the same basic structure as a Haruai main clause, including the same kinds of finite verb forms as are found in main clauses, except that this finite verb form, necessarily clause-final in a relative clause, lacks any sentence particle such as declarative -a. As (57) shows, relative clauses can be internal to the main clause. (57) n [nagö nwgw-l-ö] hön pay-n-a. I you see-PRS-2SG pig hit-FUT.1SG-DECL “I will hit the pig [that you saw]”. Haruai has a number of constructions that are translation equivalents to English subordinate clauses, sometimes with a broader range then just subordinate clauses in English. For instance, simple juxtaposition of two main clauses, as in (58), gives a temporal or conditional clause interpretation to the first clause. (58) rwö watk h-ön-a, an environment evening come-FUT.3SG-DECL we “When evening falls, we will sleep”.
hölm-n-N-a. sleep-FUT-1PL-DECL
This relation can be made more explicit by ending the first clause with the neutral demonstrative akw, as in (59); note that, like all post-verbal elements, a demonstrative in this position excludes the possibility of sentence particles — otherwise, affirmative indicative main clauses require a sentence-final particle, the neutral one being declarative -a. (59) rwö watk h-ön akw, an hölm-n-N-a. environment evening come-FUT.3SG-DECL that we sleep-FUT-1PL-DECL “When evening falls, we will sleep”. Haruai also has a number of dependent verb forms that express semantically rather unspecific relations between the dependent and independent clauses, sometimes corresponding to subordinate temporal clauses in English, some-
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times to coordination. One is the conjunctive verb form in -aN (singular; there is a corresponding plural in -N), as in (60). (60) ap.mag yön-aN, an nm-n-N-a. food cook-CNJV.SG we eat-FUT-1PL-DECL “The food will cook, and we will eat”. “When the food cooks, we will eat”. Finally, Haruai has switch-reference verb forms, same-subject -ön and different-subject -mön, as in (61–62), differentiated as to whether the subjects of the two clauses are the same or different, both usually corresponding to coordination in English, though sometimes with a more felicitous translation involving an explicit temporal or causal conjunction. (61) mö hön rg ng ng-ön, köp-a dw-öN-a. woman pig stone put put-SS leaf-SUFF go-PST.3SG-DECL “A woman built a pig house, and went for some leaves”. (62) nöbö mörö wök p-g-mön, glñN gyo.gyö r-öN-a. man garden clear get-PFV-DS bushfowl gyo.gyö do-PST.3SG-DECL “A man cleared his garden, and a bushfowl went ‘gyo gyö’”. I have encountered no reliable instances of the constructions in (58–59) occurring clause-internally, i.e. it is always the case that the clause interpreted as temporal/conditional precedes the other clause, whether or not that first clause has a clause-final demonstrative. For clauses with a conjunctive verb form, there are examples that look prima facie like clause-internal occurrences, such as (63); note that it is more usual than not for Haruai imperative clauses to have an overt second person subject pronoun, although the initial pronoun in (63) could perhaps also be interpreted as a vocative. (63) ñgö [hön röpn-aN] hön-a py. you.PL pig emerge-CNJV.SG pig-SUFF shoot(-IMP.2PL) “You, [when the pigs emerge,] shoot some pigs”. Some instances of what are at least historically conjunctive and switch-reference verb forms do occur clause-internally, but it is arguable that these have been lexicalized. For instance, Haruai has a verb ölöw “[to] dawn”, and like any other verb this can give rise to a different-subject form as in (64a), or a conjunctive form as in (64c). However, these are also the usual translation equivalents of “tomorrow”. In their lexicalized use they readily occur clause-internally, as in (65). But given that at least some lexicalization has
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taken place, it is not clear that the clause-internal adverbial in (65) is to be equated with a productive different-subject or conjunctive verb form. (64) a) ölöw-mön dawn-DS
b) ölöwmön tomorrow
(65) n ölöwmön/ölöwaN I tomorrow “I will go tomorrow”.
c) ölöw-aN dawn-CNJV
d) ölöwaN tomorrow
dy-n-a. go-FUT.1SG-DECL
Nonetheless, I do have at least one clear example in my corpus of a clause-internal occurrence of a different-subject verb form, namely (66). This was said fluently by a speaker at the beginning of an orally narrated story, in order to indicate in advance the topic of the story. The story concerns a man who is trapped in a cave by a sorcerer, but who escapes by using his own magic power in order to persuade birds to peck a hole in the cave through which he leaves. The structure of the relevant part of (66) is the head noun haywö “story” and the preceding text in square brackets. The outer square brackets define a finite clause, formally indistinguishable from a relative clause, which states the content of the story, i.e. that “the birds bored [through] the stone”. The inner square brackets define a different-subject clause that is interpreted as a temporal clause, i.e. the birds bored through the stone “when the man climbed into the cave”. This different-subject clause is clearly internal to the clause on which it is dependent, being located with the subject of that clause to the left and the object and verb to the right. (66) m=akw=m yöwr=y [yöwr [nöbö mgan wölw-mön] well.now bird=INDF bird man hole climb-DS rg ybdw-N] haywö wöp=y=k wc-n-a. stone bore-PST.3PL story now tell-FUT.1SG-DECL “Well now, now I will tell the story of some birds, of how [the birds, [when the man went into the cave,] bored through the stone]”. In sum, one has to look hard to find clear instances of internal occurrences of dependent clauses in Haruai, but they do exist, and suggest that at least when such clauses are interpreted as, for instance, temporal, rather than just as coordination, they are treated as subordinate. Clearly, more work is needed in order to justify this analysis more fully.
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7.
Conclusions In this article, I have examined a number of problems at the subordination/coordination interface, in particular clauses that look like instance of coordination but behave as if subordinate, and of subordinate clauses that behave as if main clauses; clauses that seem to suggest that the opposition is a question of degree rather than a strict dichotomy; and instances where the same formal structure seems to behave now as subordinate, now as coordinate, depending on its interpretation. As indicated in the Introduction, I have concentrated more on identifying problems than on suggesting solutions. But I hope at least to have shown that clear-cut cases of subordination versus coordination as in (1–10) are far from the whole story. Abbreviations – accusative, CNJV – conjunctive, DECL – declarative, DS – different subject, FUT – future, GEN – genitive, IMP – imperative, INDF – indefinite, INF – infinitive, LOC – locative, NOM – nominative, PFV – perfective, PL – plural, PRS – present, PST – past, PSTPTCP – past participle, REFL – reflexive, REL – relative, SBJV – subjunctive, SG – singular, SS – same subject, SUFF – suffix ACC
REFERENCES Comrie, Bernard. 1973. “Clause Structure and Movement Constraints in Russian”. You Take the High Node and I’ll Take the Low Node: Papers from the Comparative Syntax Festival ed. by Claudia Corum, T. Cedric SmithStark & Ann Weiser, 291-304. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society. Comrie, Bernard & Greville G. Corbett, eds. 1993. The Slavonic Languages. London & New York: Routledge. Donaldson, Bruce C. 1993. A Grammar of Afrikaans. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Short, David. 1993. “Slovak”. The Slavonic Languages ed. by Bernard Comrie & Greville G. Corbett, 533-592. London & New York: Routledge. Ross, John Robert. 1986. Infinite Syntax! Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex. Rothstein, Robert A. 1993. “Polish”. The Slavonic Languages ed. by Bernard Comrie & Greville G. Corbett, 686-748. London & New York: Routledge.
SPEECH REPORT CONSTRUCTIONS IN AINU1 ANNA BUGAEVA Chiba University (ELDP) & La Trobe University, RCLT 1.
Introduction This paper focuses on types of speech report constructions in Hokkaido Ainu that have been previously analyzed in terms of the dichotomy between direct and indirect speech. Following Aikhenvald (forthcoming) and other authors (Güldemann & von Roncador 2002), I adopt a continuum approach, which implies that a language may have so-called semi-direct speech constructions occupying a middle ground between direct and indirect speech. 1.1 Genetic, dialectal and typological profile of Ainu Ainu is a critically endangered language of unknown genetic affiliation, which shows considerable dialectal variation. The three primary divisions are geographically based, and distinguish between the dialects once spoken on Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kurile Islands. Sakhalin and the Kuriles form part of the Russian Federation today, with Hokkaido being the last autochthonous location of native speakers. The Hokkaido dialects can be roughly divided into Northeastern (Northern, Eastern, and Central) and Southwestern (Southern and Southwestern) groups, which are further subdivided into local sub-dialectal forms (see Hattori 1964: 18). Ainu is polysynthetic and agglutinating, with SV/AOV constituent order. It is predominantly head marking with a few elements of dependent marking. Morphological expression of arguments is tripartite: A, S and O are distinct in 1PL verbal agreement, viz. the prefix ci= marks A, the suffix =as S, and un= O for the first person exclusive, and a= A, =an S, and i= O for inclusive. The personal pronouns in A/S and O position are often omitted because the person and number of both subject and object are marked on predicates. 1
I would like to thank A. Aikhenvald, E. Geniušiene, T. Güldemann, M. Daniel, S. Overall, H. Nakagawa, S. Tida, B. Hellwig and J. Cleary-Kemp for valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper, and the LENCA 3 participants who have discussed with me the problems of “logophoricity” (B. Comrie, O. Miyaoka, and V. Plungjan). None of them necessarily shares my views expressed here or is responsible for any errors. My deepest heartfelt thanks go to my late Ainu consultant Mrs. I. Oda and to my former supervisor T. Satoo.
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1.2 Preliminaries for analyzing Ainu speech report constructions All languages have means to report words spoken directly by the reporter or by someone else. Reported speech is always “speech within speech”, as characterized by Jakobson (1990: 130; quoted after Aikhenvald 2005: 2). It always implies at least two speech situations. First is the actual external speech situation (often implicit) with its speaker (reporter), addressee, the time of speaking, and the location of the speaker. Second is the prior internal speech situation with its own speaker (author), addressee, etc. Every speech situation has a reference point. Prototypical direct speech is reported from the point of view of the author of speech, just as it was originally told, including all the references to the internal speech situation: (1) Jane said, “I shall bring you here tomorrow”. Prototypical indirect speech is reported from the point of view of the reporter; hence we observe the corresponding adjustment of personal, temporal and spatial deixis of the internal speech situation to match the perspective of the reporter in the external speech situation: (2) Jane said that she would bring him/me there on the next day. Both cases involve a complex sentence containing a matrix clause, referred to below as the reporting clause, or RC. The predicate of the RC normally contains a reporting verb (RV) that encodes the author as subject. Finally, there is the subordinate or embedded clause, i.e. the quote that conveys direct or indirect speech (DS or IS), and the reporting marker (RM). It is well known that a shift in person is the most prominent feature distinguishing direct from indirect speech since some languages may lack the adjustment of categories other than person. “The category of person is clearly definable with reference to the notion of participant-roles: the “first” person is used by the speaker to refer to himself as subject of the discourse; the “second” person is used to refer to the hearer [addressee]; and the third person is used to refer to persons or things other than the speaker or hearer [addressee]” (Lyons 1968: 276). In the case of reported speech there are two speakers, thus two possible “I”s. When reporting, a language can use “I” either with reference to the author (that is DS) or with reference to the reporter (that is, IS). However, in some contexts, the use of the first person for the author may be ambiguous with the person of the reporter. To avoid this kind of ambiguity the language may employ a special indirect strategy for reference to the author, while other references occur as they would have been used in the DS, and that is regarded here as a semi-direct speech (SS).
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SPEECH REPORT CONSTRUCTIONS IN AINU
2. Speech report constructions in Ainu with a focus on person marking 2.1 Direct speech According to Haiman (1989: 131) and Güldemann (forthcoming: 9), direct speech can be expected to exist in every language and is thus a universal phenomenon, while in a number of languages reported speech categories incorporating partly or completely the perspective of the reporter are missing or extremely restricted. However, Tamura’s (1988: 74) description of Ainu (SH) goes against the above-mentioned generalization as the following implies that prototypical direct speech (3c) is ruled out. When other people’s [the third or second persons’] words are quoted, [the author’s] words spoken in the first person are changed to the indefinite person in quoted speech [(3a), cf. (3c)]. The first person indicates the person who is actually speaking [=reporter], and the first person is not used in quoting the speech of others, [i.e. the first person is used only in so-called self-reporting contexts, as in (3b)].
(3a) “asinuma
arpa=an kusu ne” sekor Ø=hawean. go.SG=IND.S intention COP QUOT 3.S=say.SG “(She) said, ‘I [literally, someone] will go’.” (T4, 74; COL); Saru, SH. IND.SG
(3b) “káni k=arpa wa eci=kor-e kusu 1SG 1SG.S=go.SG and 1SG.A+2SG.O=have-CAUS intention ne na” sekor ku=hawean… COP FIN QUOT 1SG.S=say.SG “(I) said, ‘I’ll go for your sake’.” (T1, 377; COL); Saru, SH. (3c) ?“káni k=arpa kusu ne” sekor 1SG 1SG.S=go.SG intention COP QUOT “(She) said, ‘I’ll go’.” (constructed example: A.B.)
Ø=hawean. 3.S=say.SG
The question here is how ungrammatical is genuine direct speech in Ainu? When one looks for analyses in the published literature, one finds that instances of direct speech have been identified as grammatically possible options (Tamura 1972), though the same author has not treated similar examples in her latest description of Ainu (Tamura 1988). (4) “k=arpa wa eci=kor-e 1SG.S=go and 1SG.S+2SG.O=have-CAUS kusu ne na” sekor Ø=hawean… intention COP FIN QUOT 3.S=say.SG “(S/he) said, ‘I’ll go for your sake’.” (T1, 377; COL); Saru, SH.
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(5) “paye=as wa arki=as na”. sekor go.PL=1PL.S and come.PL=1PL.S FIN QUOT eci=haweoka a p 2PL.S=say.PL PERF but “You said, ‘I’ll be gone’, but…” (T1, 378; COL); Saru, SH. Present research revealed that relatively short DS reports may occasionally appear in typical semi-direct style prosaic folktales (namely in uwepeker) and refer to the speech of non-protagonists, as in (6), or in conversational turns of different characters in stories narrated in the third person (7). Such use of DS makes the folklore texts polyphonous and the description more vivid. (6) “eci=ekanok kus ne na”, sekor Ø=hawean 1SG.A+2PL.O=meet going.to COP FIN QUOT 3.S=say.SG “(The uncle) said, ‘I’ll come and meet you’.” (B 124; U); Chitose, SH. (7) “mak ku=iki wa eci=tura hawe?” sekor saru how 1SG.S=do and 1SG.A+2SG.O=follow REP.EV QUOT monkey Ø=hawean akusu “…en=ka ta a yak eci=tura 3.S=say.SG then 1SG.O=above at sit if 2SG.A+1SG.O=follow kusu ne na” sekor Ø=hawean intention COP FIN QUOT 3.S=say.SG “The monkey said, ‘How can I follow you?’ (The tortoise) said, ‘If (you) sit on me, you will follow me’.” (T3, 28; U); Saru, SH. In (4–7), no single pronominal affix shows a reporter-oriented shift, and none of the other properties do, which proves that Ainu does have a DSconstruction. 2.2 Semi-direct speech As was mentioned in §2.1, it is the so-called indefinite person that is often used to refer to a participant in the quote in the case of his/her coreference with the third/second person singular of the main clause. “Indefinite” is a general label employed by Tamura for a set of verbal markers, viz. a= for SG/PL.A, =an for SG/PL.S, and i= for SG/PL.O, which are used not only in their proper function to refer to a generalized or indefinite subject and object, but also have a number of special usages: “1SG/PL in quotes” under consideration, 1PL inclusive, and 2SG/PL honorific. As to the function “1SG/PL in quotes”, in Eastern and Central Hokkaido dialects, the above-mentioned affixes crossreference on verbs the originally non-singular pronoun anokay (PL), which is employed to refer to both plural and singular referents. Verbs occur in plural forms (8) and it is only the context that helps to resolve the ambiguity of
SPEECH REPORT CONSTRUCTIONS IN AINU
21
SG/PL. Southern Hokkaido dialects are peculiar in that they have additionally developed a special singular pronoun asinuma “one, someone” (Tamura 1988: 22-24; etymologized as a=
and sinuma <3.SG.PR>, for the sake of convenience asinuma is translated as “I”) which is cross-referenced on verbs by the above-mentioned originally non-singular indefinite affixes, and verbs occur in singular forms (9). (8) acapo Ø=cinita a wa ne eper ene Ø=itak i, uncle 3.S=dream PERF and this bear like.this 3.S=say NR “anokay …kamuy mosir ine paye=an…” sekor Ø=ne IND.PL god land to go.PL=IND.S QUOT 3.A=COP “The uncle had a dream. The bear said, ‘I [someone] will go to the land of gods (=die)’.” (SK 57-58; COL); Asahikawa, CH. (9) néa pon menoko “… a=Ø=kor katkemat, asinuma that young woman IND.A=3.O=have lady IND.SG ka, a=Ø=tura kusu ne…” sekor Ø=hawean also IND.A=3.O=follow intention COP QUOT 3.S=say.SG “That young woman said, ‘(If you say so), my lady, I [someone] will also follow you’.” (T2, 20-22; U); Saru, SH. It is worth mentioning that, in the case of coreference of the third/second person author with a participant in the quote, it is not only the first person singular but plural as well that is changed to the indefinite person. (10) “[aoka2] oya-pa suy arki=an kusu ne na!”sekor IND.PL next-year again come.PL=IND.S intention COP FIN QUOT Ø=haweoka kor Ø=paye wa orano k=Ø=okaramotte-pa 3.S=say.PL when 3.S=go.PLand then 1SG.A=3.O=be.reluctant.to.part-PL “They left saying, ‘we [some people] will come again next year’, and I felt reluctant to part with them”. (T4, 75); Saru, SH. In this paper, I propose that Tamura’s “first person in quotes” usage of the indefinite person in Southern Hokkaido dialects, viz. asinuma SG, aoka PL, and the corresponding verbal affixes a= for SG/PL.A; SG/PL.POSS, =an for SG/PL.S, and i= for SG/PL.O, and anokay SG/PL and the verbal affixes in Eastern and Central dialects should be regarded as special logophoric markers (henceforth [self] in translations and LOG in glossing, cf. Tamura’s interpretation) existing in addition to the normal set of personal markers, since they fit with Hagège’s (1974: 287) definition of logophoricity “turning to the 2
The same forms appear, with slight differences, in different dialect groups, cf. anokay in (8).
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discourse” which he proposed in his discussion of African languages: The term ‘logophoric’ is here proposed to designate a particular category of substitution elements (substitutes), personal and possessive, which refer to the author of the discourse or to a participant whose thoughts are reported.
Tamura’s characterization of the indefinite person as “first person in quotes” is considered inappropriate because this label is hardly intelligible for nonAinologists, and may be easily mistaken for a kind of “genuine” first person that the speaker uses to refer to himself. Although it is clear from Tamura’s (2000: 74) description that the use of the indefinite person in the case of coreference of the third/second person author with a participant in the quote reflects the reporter’s perspective (as that of IS), she notes that it “is not a so-called indirect narration”, since there separately exists a genuine IS-construction (cf. §2.3). According to Tamura’s (2000: 74-75) analysis which is implicitly dichotomous, SS is to be classified as DS; note that there is no shift in second person reference (11) and all other properties are also the same as those of DS. (11) “iwan pa Ø=ek yak, a=e=ekanok kus ne six year 3.S=come if LOG.A=2SG.O=meet intention COP sekor, Ø=hawean QUOT 3.S=say.SG “’I [lit. self] will meet you in six years’, said (my husband)”. (B 145; KY); Chitose, SH.
na” FIN
However, if we accept Tamura’s view that reports with ‘indefinite person’ are DS, we would either end up having in Ainu two DS constructions with distinct person marking (cf. §2.1), or having to demote the genuine DS-construction, as in examples (4–7), to some marginal status (a kind of slip of the tongue). The latter decision is implicitly accepted in Tamura’s Ainu grammar (1988), since examples of genuine DS have not been included in the discussion. My claim is that it is only a continuum approach to reported speech that can account for these two speech report constructions. That is, the speech report constructions in question should be identified as DS and SS, which differ in degrees of directness and have different discourse functions, which will be discussed in §3. Syntactically, DS and SS in Ainu are encoded by an oblique, non-core construction different from any clausal constituents (italicized terms are from Aikhenvald 2005: 22), which has some resemblance to the subordinate adverbial clause of manner. The border between DS and RC is marked by the RM sekor (Southern and Central Hokkaido), which is an adverbial conjunction.
SPEECH REPORT CONSTRUCTIONS IN AINU
23
The present research has shown that DS (and SS) may be introduced not only by intransitive RVs, as was argued in the previous research (Chiri 1942: 487), but by transitive RVs as well (cf. Table 1). However, these DS/SS-taking transitive RVs are licensed only for Addressee objects and thus have no license for Theme objects to which DS/SS would correspond (e.g. ko-caranke “to scold someone”, since *“to scold for something” is ruled out); hence the above mentioned interpretation of the syntactic function of DS/SS. 2.3 Indirect speech There is also a straightforward indirect speech construction in Ainu with a typical shift in personal deixis to fit in with the perspective of the reporter: the words spoken in the first person in the original speech are accordingly changed to the third person in indirect speech (12a), except for the cases of coreferentiality between the author and reporter, cf. (12b); the words spoken in the second person in original speech are changed to the first person, if the reporter is coreferential with the original addressee, as in (13), and to the third person, if not coreferential. (12a) [Ø=arpa kusu ne yak]o Ø=Ø=ye 3.S=go.SG intention COP COMP 3.A=3.O=say “Hei said that hei/j would go”. (T1, 377; COL); Saru, SH. (12b) [iosi ku=oman kun-i]o ku=Ø=ye afterwards 1SG.S=go.SG going.to-COMP 1SG.S=3.O=say “I said I would go later”. (SK 57-58; COL); Asahikawa, CH. (13)
muka un katkemat Ø=ek akusu, Mukawa from woman 3.S=come then [ku=Ø=kor ka… Ø=Ø=hok, yak]o Ø=Ø=ye 1SG.A=3.O=have thread 3.A=3.O=buy COMP 3.A=3.O=say “A womani from Mukawa came and said that shei/j would buy my threads”. (S 72; COL); Saru, SH.
Unlike other languages, Ainu does not employ logophoric markers to mark the coreferentiality of the author with a participant in the quote in IS, although it does so in SS, as discussed in the preceding section. As a consequence, any third person within the quote may, in principle, refer either to the author, as in (12a) and (13), or to a third party, and it is only the context that can help to resolve the ambiguity. Syntactically, IS is interpreted as a typical embedded complement clause in the O function since it may be followed by transitive RVs only, see Table 1. There are three complementizers: yak, kun-ak and kun-i to mark the syntactic
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ANNA BUGAEVA
link between IS and RC. Only yak is a semantically neutral complementizer; kun-ak and kun-i are not pure complementizers, because each of them consists of two morphemes: the latter (-(y)ak, -(h)i) are proper complementizers and the former (kun-) may render a number of modal meanings. (14) [kamuy Ø=ne kun-i]O a=Ø=ramu god 3.A=COP surely-COMP LOG.A=3.O=think “I [= self] thought that was surely a god”. (B 139; KY); Chitose, SH. It appears that the respective sets of RVs for DS/SS and IS are mutually exclusive (cf. Table 1). Interestingly, the set of DS/SS-taking verbs appears to be much more extensive than the set of IS-taking verbs, contrary to Aikhenvald’s (2005: 29) generalization that “if direct and indirect speech are distinguished at all, the set of indirect-speech-taking verbs tends to be more extensive”. The reason why Ainu goes against Aikhenvald’s generalization is probably that direct speech here also includes semi-direct speech, since both are encoded by the same sekor-marked construction. 3. Functions of speech report constructions in Ainu In this paper, I argue that DS, SS, and IS in Ainu should be regarded as stylistic and discourse-organizing options; some of them, however, have been conventionalized as primary styles in certain folklore genres. The famous Ainu folklore genres, namely yukar and uwepeker, are traditionally narrated in SS style, i.e. the protagonist is referred to from the reporter’s perspective with the respective logophoric markers because these folktales commonly have the structure of the RC-construction in question: the whole story is in fact a single quote. In colloquial Ainu, SS seems to be a preferable option in those contexts where the use of the first person pronouns and affixes may be ambiguous with the person of the reporter, as in (3a). Some colloquial Ainu texts exhibit interplay between DS and SS, which may be regarded as a discourse-organizing device. I suggest that in contexts such as that shown in (15), DS is used for foregrounding a discourse event and SS for backgrounding. (15) “ne ukuran acapo Ø=sirepa, Ø=ikopepka this evening uncle 3.S=arrive 3.S=talk.about.one’s.experience hawe ene an i, “a=yup-iSS tura REP.EV like.this be.SG NR LOG.POSS=elder.brother-POSS with kim un kuca ot ta okay=anSS a wa mountains be hunting.hut place at be.PL=LOG.S PERF and kunnano ku=yup-iDS ene Ø=itak i,
SPEECH REPORT CONSTRUCTIONS IN AINU
25
in.the.morning 1SG.POSS=elder.brother-POSS like.this 3.S=say NR ukuran utar-pa patek kunne kosonte Ø=Ø=mi wa Ø=rimse, evening people-PL only black dress 3.A=3.O=wear and 3.S=dance ne i ta hure sarampe ku=Ø=miDS wa aynu kut this time at red silk.dress 1SG.A=3.O=wear and Ainu belt ku=Ø=e-kut-korDS wa so-us-i ta 1SG.A=3.O=with.APPL-belt-have and seating.mat-adhere.to-place at sinen ne ku=anDS” sekor ku=wen-tarapDS” alone as 1SG.S=be QUOT 1SG.S=be.bad-dream sekor Ø=itak kusu… an=Ø=nukarSS ka eaykap QUOT 3.S=say because LOG.A=3.O=look even be.unable kusu… sap=anSS ru ne” sekor Ø=itak because return.PL=LOG.S INFR.EV COP QUOT 3.S=say kor Ø=ciskoyoyse and 3.S=break.into.tears “In the evening, the uncle arrived and talked about his experience as follows: ‘I [self] stayed at the hunting hut in the mountains together with my [self’s] brother (= the reporter’s father). In the morning, my brother said as follows: ‘I had a bad dream: In the evening, only the chiefs were wearing black dresses and dancing. At that time, I was wearing a red dress and had a red Ainu belt. I was sitting alone in the corner’, he said. …(At the bottom of the stream there was something that used to be a face and now looked like a mess.) ‘I [self] could not look at (it) and returned (without having looked well at it)’. Said (the uncle) and broke into tears”. (SK 49; COL); Asahikawa, CH. The reporter is an Ainu lady who is recalling a tragic episode from her childhood, i.e. the death of her father who went hunting with his friend and was killed by a bear. In (15), the lady is reporting the speech of her father’s friend (acapo “uncle”), which also contains the embedded speech of her father. I assume that the father’s speech is cast as DS (the use of first person markers: “I”) because it is of more importance for the reporter, and the friend’s speech is cast as SS (the use of logophoric markers meaning “self”) because it is of less importance. There is a strong preference for SS and DS over IS in all kinds of texts. Due to the lack of data, it is hard to give a precise answer to the question of how to use IS in Ainu. I assume that IS might have a stylistic and discourseorganizing backgrounding function, since it is found only in the speech of nonprotagonist participants who always have less discourse salience than the protagonist. I assume that IS proper has emerged rather recently as an
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extension of the complementation strategy which is commonly employed for embedding expressions of thought, knowledge, emotion, and intention. 4. Summary This article has demonstrated that Ainu possesses three main types of reported speech constructions, with person deixis being a core principle in determining the orientation of reported speech: direct speech (DS) with the author’s perspective, indirect speech (IS) with the reporter’s perspective, and semi-direct speech (SS) with the combined perspective of the two. I have shown that genuine DS reports exist in colloquial and folklore Ainu, and therefore that DS is a full-fledged reported speech category. It has been emphasized that SS cannot be analyzed as a kind of DS, contrary to Tamura (1988), because the use of so-called “indefinite person” in the case of coreference of the third/second person author with a participant in the quote indicates a consistent reporter-oriented shift in pronominal reference, while other references occur as they would have been used in the original speech. I proposed to identify Tamura’s “first person in quotes” usage of the indefinite person in Southern Hokkaido dialects, viz. asinuma SG, aoka PL, and the corresponding verbal affixes a= for SG/PL.A, =an for SG/PL.S, and i= for SG/PL.O, as a special set of logophoric markers which exists in addition to the normal set of personal markers and is employed to refer to the person whose words or thoughts are being reported in a stretch of speech, since they fit in with Hagège’s (1974: 287) definition of logophoricity. My research shows that DS (and SS) may be introduced not only by intransitive reporting verbs, as has been argued in previous research (Chiri 1942: 487), but by transitive reporting verbs as well. It was shown that, in Ainu, the respective sets of reporting verbs for DS/SS and IS are mutually exclusive. The set of DS/SS-taking verbs appears to be much more extensive than the set of IS-taking verbs (see Table 1) which goes against Aikhenvald’s generalization (2005: 29) that “if direct and indirect speech are distinguished at all, the set of IS-taking verbs tends to be more extensive”. This is probably due to the fact that direct speech here also includes semi-direct speech, since both are encoded by the same sekor-marked construction. To summarize, I have argued that DS, SS, and IS should be regarded as stylistic and discourse-organizing options; some of them, however, have been conventionalized as primary styles in certain folklore genres. SS and DS reports are frequent in colloquial and folklore Ainu. IS reports referring to speech proper are rare anywhere, but those referring to thought, knowledge, emotion, and intention are rather common.
27
SPEECH REPORT CONSTRUCTIONS IN AINU
DS/SS-taking RVs
IS-taking RVs
vi
vt
speech RVs proper
cis “cry”; hawean ‘say”; isoytak “tell stories”; itak “speak, say”; rek “sing (of birds)”; sonkoanpa “deliver message”; ukoisoytak(pa)”tell stories to e.o.”; upaskuma “tell old stories, preaching”; uwepekennu “ask sb about the reason”; uwepeker “tell folktales”; wentarap “dream”; yayapapu “apologize”; yayeisoytak “tell the story about oneself”; yayeinonnoitak “pray to gods for oneself”
koyki “scold sb”; hotuyekar “call sb”; itakamkire “promise to sb”; kaspaotte “order sb”; kocaranke “argue with sb”; koitak “speak with sb”; koitakmuye “leave a message for sb”; kosakayokar “shout at sb”; kouepekennu(pa) “ask sb about the reason”; koyki “scold sb”; reko “give a name to sb”; ye “say sth/to sb”
substitutes of speech RVs
an “exist”
ne “be sb”
thought RVs
other
Total
ramuan/raman “think; feel”; yaynu “think”
vt/vd ye “say sth/to sb”; takar “dream of sth”; ekaspaotte (vd) “order sb to do sth”; epakasnu (vd) “teach sth to sb”; erek “sing (of a bird) about sth”; eukoitak “speak to e. o. about sth”; eukoramkor “discuss sth with e.o.”
esanniyo “consider sth”; ramu “think of sth”
inu “hear”
siekimatekka “threaten sb”
18 items
14 items
ekimatek “be frightened by sth”; eraman “know”; nu “hear sth”; oyra “forget sth”; tere “wait for sth/sb” 14 items
Table 1. Sets of DS/SS-taking verbs and IS-taking verbs in Ainu (Southern Hokkaido)
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Abbreviations 1 / 2 / 3 – 1 / 2 / 3 person, Ø – zero-marked 3rd person, = – inflectional boundary, - – morphological boundary, [ ] – embedded clauses, my comments, A – transitive subject, A.B. – Anna Bugaeva, APPL – applicative, CAUS – causative, CH – Central Hokkaido dialects, COL – colloquial, COMP – complementizer, COP – copula, DS – direct speech, e.o. – each other, EMP – emphatic, FIN – final particle, IND – indefinite, INFR.EV – inferential evidential, IS – indirect speech, KY – kamuy yukar “songs of gods”, LOG = logophoric, NR – nominalizer, O – object, PERF – perfect, PL – plural, POSS – possessive, PR – pronoun, QUOT – quotation marker, RC – reporting clause, REP.EV – reportive evidential, RM – reporting marker, RV – reporting verb, S – intransitive subject, sb – somebody, SG – singular, SH – Southern Hokkaido dialects, SS – semidirect speech, sth – something, TOP – topic, U – uwepeker “prosaic folktales”, vd – verb ditransitive, vi – verb intransitive, VIS.EV – visual evidential, vt – verb transitive. REFERENCES A. Sources B
S
SK T1
T2 T3 T4
Bugaeva, Anna. 2004. Grammar and Folklore Texts of the Chitose Dialect of Ainu (Idiolect of Ito Oda). (ELPR Publication Series A-045). Suita: Osaka Gakuin University. Satoo, Tomomi, ed. 2002. Ainugo Shohoogen Choosa Hookoku 1 [A Fieldwork Report on Ainu Dialects 1]. (ELPR Publication Series A2-014). Suita: Osaka Gakuin University. Sunazawa, Kazuo. 1983. Watashi no Ichidai no Omoide. Ku Sukup Opuspe [My Life Story]. Sapporo: Miyama Shoboo. Tamura, Suzuko. 1972. “Ainugo Saru Hoogen no Ninshoo no Syurui [Types of Grammatical Person in the Saru Dialect of Ainu]”. Gengo Kenkyuu 61.17-39. (Reprint: Ainugo-koo, Bunpoo I, Vol 4, 370-392. Tokyo: Yumani Shoboo, 2001.) Tamura, Suzuko. 1985. Ainugo Onseishiryoo 2 [Ainu Audio Materials 2]. Tokyo: Waseda Daigaku Gogaku Kyooiku Kenkyuujo. Tamura, Suzuko. 1986. Ainugo Onseishiryoo 3 [Ainu Audio Materials 3]. Tokyo: Waseda Daigaku Gogaku Kyooiku Kenkyuujo. Tamura, Suzuko. 1988. “Ainugo [The Ainu Language]”. Gengogaku daijiten, ed. by Takashi Kamei, Rokuuro Koono & Eiichi Chino, 6-94. Tokyo: Sanseidoo. (English version: The Ainu Language. (ICHEL Linguistic Studies v. 2). Tokyo: Sanseidoo, 2000.)
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B. Secondary literature Aikhenvald, Alexandra. 2005. Direct and Indirect Speech in Typological Perspective. Position Paper for RCLT Local Workshop (manuscript). Aikhenvald, Alexandra (forthcoming) “Semi-direct Speech: Manambu and Beyond”. Language Sciences 30. Chiri, Mashiro. 1942. “Ainu Gohoo Kenkyuu – Karafuto Hoogen o Chuushin to Shite [Studies in Ainu Grammar – with an emphasis on the Sakhalin dialect]”. Chiri, Mashiho Chosakushuu, vol. 3, 455-586. Tokyo: Heibonsha. Güldemann, Tom & Manfred von Roncador, eds. 2002. Reported Discourse: a Meeting Ground for Different Linguistic Domains. (TSL 52). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Güldemann, Tom. (forthcoming). “Quotative Indexes in African Languages: a Synchronic and Diachronic Survey”. Empirical Approaches to Language Typology 34. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Hagège, Claude. 1974. “Les Pronoms Logophoriques”. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 69.287-310. Haiman, John. 1989. “Alienation in Grammar”. Studies in Language 13:1.129170. Hattori, Shiro, ed. 1964. An Ainu Dialect Dictionary. Tokyo: Iwanami Syoten. Jakobson, Roman. 1990. “Shifters, categories, and the Russian verb”. Selected Writings: Word and language, 130-153. The Hague; Paris: Mouton. Lyons, John. 1968. Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
THE SYNTAX AND PRAGMATICS OF ADVERBIAL CLAUSES IN EASTERN KHANTY ANDREI FILTCHENKO Rice University & Tomsk State Pedagogical University 1.
Introduction This discussion of complex clauses in Eastern Khanty stems from work on a reference grammar of the endangered and under-described Eastern Khanty dialects. The present article reviews the mechanisms underlying the association between the morphosyntactic structural inventories used to code clause juncture relations vis-a-vis underlying conceptual situations (Cristofaro 2003). The complex clause in Khanty has been the object of studies varying in depth and theoretical framework. Early studies include Steinitz (1980), Zhivotikov (1942), Tereshkin (1961), and Gulya (1965). More recent reviews of clause embedding have been published by Honti (1984), Csepregi (1998), and Nikolaeva (1999). The analysis of polypredicative constructions has been undertaken by Koshkareva (1991), Kovgan (1991) and Skribnik (1991). Most of these studies focused primarily on the better-described and less endangered Western Khanty dialects and set mainly in a formal-structural perspective. The focus here is on the Eastern Khanty adverbial relations coded by the syntactic units of clause complexity, leaving aside other productive adverbial expressions such as lexical adverbs, case-inflected nominals, and postpositional phrases. The structural, semantic and pragmatic features of the constructions coding the conceptually dependent adverbial events are compared to the system’s canonical independent declarative clause as it occurs in isolation. 2.
The simple Eastern Khanty declarative clause The typical Eastern Khanty declarative active-direct clause is generally verb-final with grammatical functions differentiated by a combination of such features as word order, case marking, and verbal coreferential inflection; cf. (1) vs. (2). Agreement is obligatory between the grammatical relation of subject/ agent (S/A) and an intransitive or transitive predicate V. Transitive verbs may also ‘agree’ with the grammatical relation of object (2b,c), expressing pragmatic identifiability, accessibility and a high degree of activation of the referent in the interlocutors’ discourse universe; the latter feature has generally
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been referred to as definiteness (cf. Tereskin 1961 and Gulya 1966). (1)
Agent ma_ tem puƒol-na jo_N al 1SG this village-LOC ten year “I lived in this village for ten years”.
Predicate w´l-s-´m live-PAST2-1SG
Agent Target Predicate (2a) ma_ sart w´l-s-´m. 1sg pike kill-PAST2-1SG “I caught a pike (fish)”. (2b) ´ll´ sart ma_n-n´ big pike 1SG-LOC “I got the big pike ready”.
lo_ƒo_li-s-im cut-PAST2-SG/1SG
(2c) terka_-s-im iw´s-n´ fry-PAST2-SG/1SG stick-INSTR/COM “I fried (it) on sticks”. Verb agreement is key for the elision of clause constituents, with the S/A frequently coded overtly by nothing more than the predicate agreement suffix (2b, c). In the Eastern Khanty narratives, a new referent in discourse is normally introduced by a full NP or a free pronoun in the clause-initial S/A relation and by S/A-V agreement. Thereafter, being identifiable as topical, it is coded by elision and S/A-V agreement. We can provisionally reaffirm a universal correlation (Lambrecht 1994) of the pragmatic status of referents to their formal complexity. In other words, the continuum between a zero and maximal morphological explicitness is counterproportionate to the continuum between topicality on one hand and unidentifiability and inactiveness on the other. This relation appears in Table 1: NP (+agreement) -> (-)
morphological coding pronoun (+agreement) -> pragmatic salience
zero argument (+agreement) (+)
Table 1. Formal complexity and the pragmatic salience of referents
3.
Conceptual subordination It has being noted increasingly that traditional definitions of subordination based solely on morphosyntactic criteria are not universally valid in light of cross-linguistic variation in formal structural means (Comrie 1981, Van Valin & La Polla 1997, Givon 2001, Cristofaro 2003). Rather, a functional definition
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES IN EASTERN KHANTY
33
of subordination must be adopted, implying a universal way of construal of a relation between events. This definition takes as its basis the notions of profiling vs. base, or foregrounding vs. backgrounding (Langacker 1991). An asymmetry in the construal of states-of-affairs’ (SOA) is anticipated, where the dependent SOA lacks autonomous profile, construed in the perspective of the matrix. This study reviews semantic features of the relations between SOA, and the degree of semantic integration and predetermination of information in the dependent SOA (Cristofaro 2003). The semantic integration of SOA iconically reflects the morphosyntactic integration between clauses; i.e., the less independent two conceptualized SOA, the less independent the expressions coding them (Haiman 1985, Newmeyer 1992). Concerning the relation between the linked clauses, the hypothesis is verified that while the foreground information represents the essence of the text and is temporally ordered, the background represents supportive information and is typically out of timeline (Hopper & Thompson 1980, Reinhart 1984, Tomlin 1985). Within this framework, the distinction between prototypical subordination and coordination displays a basic information structure that associates conceptual subordination with reduced pragmatic assertion, while coordination is associated with increased assertion (Lambrecht 1994). 4.
Adverbial clauses Under the functional definition, typical adverbial relation implies that one of the linked SOAs corresponds to the circumstances under which another SOA takes place (Koptjevskaja-Tamm 1993, Haspelmath 1995). In the available Eastern Khanty narrative data, 13% of the adverbial meanings are coded by perfective participial clauses, 5% by imperfective participial clauses, 5% by converbial clauses, 5% by infinitival clauses, and 3% by finite clauses. Example (3) illustrates the expression of a purpose relation, which codes the envisioned result of an independent event. (3) Iwa_n juƒ lalkˆt´l-w´l, to_ ƒ t -a_, Ivan wood chop-3SG fire-ILLAT “Ivan is chopping wood for the fire”.
to_ ƒ o_ t fire
wer -ta_ make-INF
In (3) the first adverbial is an NP inflected for the illative case, the second is an adverbial dependent SOA with the infinitive predicate1 and elided coreferential S argument (Sd=S). Example (4) illustrates an infinitive-supine dependent SOA and elided coreferential S (Sd=S): 1
It should be noted that the Khanty infinite is etymologically connected with the lative suffix, as is true for many other Finno-Ugric languages.
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ANDREI FILTCHENKO
(4) ra_ƒ ruƒu-l-´m, n'an' flour mix-PRES-1sg bread “I mix flour to make bread”.
wer -tati do-INF/SUP
Another frequent way of coding purpose relation is by the participial clause with the imperfective predicate inflected for possession and case and elided coreferential Sd (Sd=S): (5) wa_sk-a_ qatant´-l-´m, jo_ ƒ o_ -t -a_ m -a_ duck-ILLAT sneak-PRES-1SG shoot-IMPP-1SG-ILLAT “I am sneaking up on a duck to shoot it”. The S/A of the dependent participial clause may be referential with the matrix O, as in (6), where the imperfective predicate is inflected for possession and case and the elided Sd≠S, Sd=O: (6a) n'an' pan-l-ˆm ´ll´wtaki olˆntaƒ-n´ toƒor-l-´m, bread put-PRES-1SG top canvas-LOC close-PRES-1SG na_ m -´ki j´n -t -a_ l -a_ soft-PRED become-IMPP-3SG-ILLAT “I put the bread into the sack, so that (its crust) got softer”. Example (6b) shows the finite coding of this purposive SOA, with elided Sd=O: (6b) n'an' pan-l-ˆm ´ll´wtaki olˆntaƒ-n´ toƒor-l-´m, bread put-PRES-1SG top canvas-LOC close-PRES-1SG na_ m -´ki j´s soft-PRED become.PAST2.3SG “I put the bread into the sack, so (its crust) got softer”. Some purpose SOA clauses (cf. 7) prefer encoding by a finite predicate. Here the elided Sd=O: (7) n'an' jˆƒata-s-ˆm, qotS -aƒˆ ili ´nt´ qotS -aƒˆ . bread look-PAST2-1SG/SG burn-PAST.3SG or NEG burn-PAST.3SG “I checked the bread, (to see) if it had burned or not”. Scalar analysis can be posited, implying a gradation of structural and semantic features such as finiteness, participant coding, and a combination of verbal and nominal categories in the conceptually dependent SOA. Scalar reduction in verbal categorial distinctions and an increase in nominal is associated with rising conceptualization of the dependent SOA as an entity. This is particularly true of situations involving motion towards a landmark,
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35
which can be equated to the realization of the projected dependent SOA (Cristofaro 2003). Consistent with this is the identity of spatial and purposive directional markers, the illative case marker /-a/ (5, 6a), or spatial-purposive marker -ati (4). The scale of formal variation of the Khanty conceptually dependent purpose clauses is seen as shown in Table 2: (+) finite (independent)
(-) finite (dependent)
finite predicates with prototypical TAM distinctions with near full illocutionary force finite predicates with reduced AM distinctions and illocutionary force and S≠Sd non-finite predicates with no nominal features, S=Sd non-finite (IMPP) predicates with some aspect distinctions and some nominal features, S=Sd non-finite predicates with no TAM distinctions and numerous nominal features (S≠Sd)
Table 2. Formal variation in conceptually dependent purpose clauses
5.
Temporal relations Temporal relations imply occurrence of one SOA in reference to another (normally matrix) and may be classified based on the available Eastern Khanty data into the relation of temporal posteriority and temporal simultaneity. 5.1 Temporal posteriority The relation of temporal posteriority implies the dependent SOA occurring prior to the matrix SOA, and the matrix event time being a reference for the dependent event. In Eastern Khanty, this relation may be coded by converbial clauses (5.1.1), imperfective participial clauses (5.1.2), perfective participial clauses (5.1.3), and finite clauses (5.1.4). 5.1.1 Converb. Converbial clauses are a typical means of coding the dependent SOA. Eastern Khanty converbial clauses code the semantic relation of posteriority. (8) tSˆml -ali amˆs -min -n´ , ni m´na_-ƒ´n juƒa-t´ little-DIM sit-CONV-LOC woman go-PAST.3SG gather.wood-PAST.3SG “After sitting awhile, the woman went off to gather wood”. The dependent SOA is a converb predicate inflected for locative, and Sd=S. 5.1.2 Imperfective participle. Eastern Khanty imperfective participles with the marker /-t_/ attached to the base stem most frequently have the function of the participial predicate of the embedded dependent clause with a temporal relation
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implying the dependent SOA occurring prior to the matrix SOA. In (9), the dependent SOA is the imperfective predicate inflected for possession and case, and Sd=S. (9) pˆr -pˆ t-t -al -n´ mo_ro_k-k´ j´ƒa_-ƒ´n, back-become-IMPP-3SG-LOC health-PRED become-PAST.3SG “Finally, the eagle got better”. (Kalinina 1970) 5.1.3 Perfective participle. The Eastern Khanty perfective participles with the marker /-_m/ most frequently have the function of a temporal adverbial for the finite matrix predicate and code the adverbial temporal relation of precedence (posteriority). In these cases perfective participial predicates are normally inflected for possession. (10) qunto qat to_ ƒ o_ -n´ i -m -´l , ra_tS uw´ƒt´-t´ … when house fire-LOC eat-PS.3SG old.man see-PAST-3SG “When the house burned down, the old man saw …” The dependent SOA is the perfective predicate inflected for possession, and Sd≠S. 5.1.4 Finite clauses. Some examples of Eastern Khanty complex clauses may be categorized as falling at the far periphery of the domain of subordination. Subordinate SOAs here are coded by the clauses with finite verbal predicates, and subordination is naturally less of a structural notion, but rather a cognitivesemantic one. These finite complex sentences represent strings of clauses, loosely linked, often without any overt syntactic indication of subordination, or overt clause-linkage markers, hardly demonstrating any grammar specific for subordination. However, a degree of semantic integration between these statesof-affairs is evident in recurrent elision of the core semantic roles, marked word order, and reduced illocutionary force of these linked finite clauses. These features align conceptually with at least some degree of subordination. (11a) waƒ money
tuntil -l -i , pay-PRES-PS.3SG
ma_n-n´ 1SG-LOC
t´ƒr´ƒ´t´-l-i, throw-PRES-PS.3SG
(11b) tuƒta ja-w´-w´l-t fire eat-CAUS-PRES-3PL “When (as soon as) I’m paid and gone, they’ll burn everything”. In (11), while the Target roles are coreferential, the Agent roles are evidently non-coreferential. The Present-Future form of the finite passive predicates in the clauses casts these propositions within the irrealis scope of the hypoth-
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES IN EASTERN KHANTY
37
esized future. The SOA of the passive clause (11a) is conceptually dependent, while that of the next finite active clause (11b) is the independent matrix SOA. It could be argued that the temporal relation in (11) is merely inferred from the order and context, that is, from the paratactic character of the complex clause. Alternatively, a degree of conceptual subordination can be posited for the preceding (11a) setting temporal specification for the matrix Action clause (11b). The passive clauses in their parenthetic character may be viewed as functionally similar to temporal adverbials. Like nonfinite constructions, Eastern Khanty finite clauses with a temporal relation are typically preposed to the matrix clause. They they do not code the relation of temporal anteriority; rather, they imply that the dependent SOA occurred prior to the matrix SOA. 5.2 Temporal simultaneity As regards to ordering relative to the event time of the matrix SOA, adverbial clauses may code the relation of temporal simultaneity (overlap), implying the dependent SOA occurred in the time frame of the matrix SOA. 5.2.1 Converb. Apart from coding the dependent SOA in the semantic relation of posteriority, Eastern Khanty converbial clauses may code very proximal posteriority bordering temporal overlap. (12) loqapa -ja am´s -m´n jis -m´n illa_n´ woqˆ ju-w´l garbage-ILLAT sit-CONV cry-CONV once fox come-PRES.3SG “While he was sitting by the trash pile weeping, there passed a fox”. The dependent SOA is the converb predicate, and S≠Sd. 5.2.2 Imperfective participle. Eastern Khanty imperfective participles may function as participial predicates in an embedded dependent clause with a temporal relation implying that the dependent SOA occurred in the time frame of the matrix SOA. (13) qatn -t´ pit -t´ , pa_ni puƒol-pa_ sick-IMPP become-IMPP and village-LAT a_rki pers´ƒ je-s-i many strange become-PAST2-PS.3SG “I’m getting sick, and there are more and more strangers in the village”. The dependent SOA is the imperfective predicate and Sd S. 5.2.3 Perfective participle. Eastern Khanty perfective participial constructions are also used, though much less frequently, to code the semantic relation of
38
ANDREI FILTCHENKO
temporal overlap of the dependent and the matrix SOAs, when functioning as the temporal adverbial for the finite matrix predicate. (14a) ´Nk -a_ l suj -a_ mother-3SG voice-ILLAT
m´n -m -a_ l -n´ , go-PP-3SG-LOC
(14b) uw´ƒt-´t´ see-PAST.3SG (14c) ´Nk -a_ l j´Nq -ja_ l qan´N -n´ jal -w´l mother-3SG water-PROLAT edge-LOC stand-PRES.3SG “Going to his mother’s voice, he saw her standing by the water’s edge”. Each of the three portions in (14) contains a different relation. In (14a) we have a dependent SOA with PP predicate inflected for possession and case, and Sd=S. In (14b) we have a matrix clause. And in (14c) we have a dependent perception SOA with finite predicate Sd S. Scalar reduction in verbal categories and the increase of nominal categorial distinctions is associated with an increase in assertiveness and a decrease in illocutionary force of dependent clauses. This is manifested in the ability to conceptualize the dependent state-of-affairs as a noun-like entity rather than a process. In the dependent predicates with reduced verbal categorial distinctions, the use of spatial case markers (locative or prolative in (5, 14)) to locate the dependent state-of-affairs with regard to the time expressed in the matrix clause is evidence of the gradual semantic integration of the dependent state-of-affairs into the matrix. The use of nominal possessive inflections to code the agent referent in the S/A relation of the dependent stateof-affairs, also contributes to general reduction of finiteness. (+) finite (independent)
(-) finite (dependent)
full finite predicates with prototypical TAM distinctions with near full illocutionary force S Sd, S=Sd non-finite predicates with no TAM distinctions and no nominal features S=Sd non-finite predicates with no TAM distinctions and some nominal features S=Sd, S Sd
Table 3. Formal variation in predicates of dependent temporal adverbials
6.
Reality condition relations Reality condition relations encode the speaker’s commitment to the truth value of the utterance (Bybee 1985: 169) as expressed between the two SOAs, where the realization of the dependent SOA represents a condition for the realization of the matrix.
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES IN EASTERN KHANTY
39
The most frequent type of conditionals in Eastern Khanty contain the affix /-N-/ in the position normally occupied by the tense marker in finite predicates of the adverbial subordinate clause. Parallel to the established typological tendency (Givon 2001: 300), in Eastern Khanty the modality of the proposition does not affect the propositional frame of the clause (the pragmatic functions, semantic roles and grammatical relations of the referents, predication types and verbs’ transitivity), and does not appear to impose lexical restrictions. Conditional clauses show regular expression of transitivity, voice, aspect, negation, S/A-V agreement (but not O-V), and pragmatic-semanticgrammatical mappings. (15) ´nt´
m´n-N-a_n wo_ƒ-na_ tu-l-uj-´n go-COND-2SG force-COM take-PRES-PS-2SG “If you don’t go, you’ll be taken by force”. (Gulya 1966: 121) NEG
A dependent conditional if-clause has the irrealis negative modal scope; the agreement between the S/A and the predicate in both if- and then-clause is only the S/A-V. The passive matrix is in PRES; (Sd=S); but varying semantic roles: (Agentd=S) (Agent=non S) In communicative pragmatic terms, Eastern Khanty conditionals cast the proposition as the weakest assertion of possible or desired truth; or as a false assertion contradicting explicit or assumed belief, as these conditional propositions express temporal relation of either simultaneity or precedence of the speech-time to the event-time (15). The formal conditional affix /-N-/ occurs on the verbal predicate of the if-adverbial clause, which is consistent with the widely attested typological tendency (Bybee 1985). Another Eastern Khanty conditional is marked by the free morpheme to_N, which follows the predicate with overall perfectivity sense contributing to the sense of negative assertion, explicitly contradicting the fact. These mood constructions also have a certain deontic sense, expressing a desire, or expectation. (16) ma_ 1SG to_ N
nipik taja-m-am-n´, book have-PP-1SG-LOC no_N-a_ m´-ƒa_s-i COND 2SG-ILLAT give-PAST1-PS.3SG “If I had a book, I would have given it to you”. (Gulya 1966: 122)
Dependent conditional if-clause has the perfective participial adverbial clause and the Sd coreferential with S representing the subsequent counterfactual finite conditional that codes an event that never actually occurred. Thus the matrix has an implication “but X did not”.
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ANDREI FILTCHENKO
(17) qunt´-n´ to_ N , ma_ m´n-ƒa_l-´m, when-LOC COND 1SG go-PAST3-1SG tut-n´ jo_ƒ-´n ma_-nt ka_s-ka_l that-LOC 3SG-LOC 1SG-ACC find-PAST3.3SG “If I had gone, he would have found me”. (Gulya 1966: 122) The conditional if-clause is coded by the past finite predicate with the overt if/when conjunction in locative case and followed by to_N, rendering the clause conceptually dependent, reduced in illocutionary force, with the implied matrix “but X did not”. The subsequent “ergative” finite then-clause has full illocutionary force and Sd S. The implicit negative matrix is more explicit in (18), where the counterfact reason is stated in the subsequent but-clause: (18) ma_ n -n´ tu -ƒas -ˆ to_ N 2, 1SG-LOC bring-PAST1-PS.3SG COND jo_ƒ-´n ma_n-a_ ´nt´ m´-ƒa_s-i 3SG-LOC 1SG-ILLAT NEG give-PAST1-PS.3SG “I should’ve brought it, but he didn’t give it to me”. (Gulya 1966: 122) The dependent clause expresses a counterfactual assertion, contains a finite passive predicate followed by to_N, and has reduced illocutionary force. It is followed by the reason but-clause with Sd S, implying the counter-fact that “X did not”. Most conditional meanings are coded by finite conceptually dependent predicates, except for rare PP conditionals (16). Imperfective N-conditionals require the same subject in both clauses, whereas the counterfactual perfective to_N-conditionals are more found in sentences with different subjects in each clause (70%). The scale of structural features such as finiteness and participant coding in the conceptually dependent conditional clause has a marked cline towards finiteness. Reduction in verbal categorial distinctions is manifest in the form of absent tense distinctions in irrealis imperfective N-conditionals and in reduced marking of the pragmatic status of the O-argument via conjugation. Both types of conditionals lack in illocutionary force without at least some contracted form of the matrix. Nominal categories are not expressed, correlating to weaker ability to conceptualize the dependent SOA as entities:
The conditional marker to_N could be related to the attributive nominal to_N “straight, correct, true, honest” and its adverbial derivation to_Nq´ “straightly, truly, honestly”. There may likewise be an etymological connection with the bound imperfective conditional marker /N-/ and the non-bound perfective/completed conditional marker to_N. 2
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES IN EASTERN KHANTY
(+) finite (independent)
(-) finite (dependent)
41
finite predicates with full TAM distinctions and near full illocutionary force (S Sd) finite predicates with full TAM distinctions and reduced illocutionary force (S=Sd) finite predicates with reduced aspect & tense distinctions and lower illocutionary force (S=Sd) non-finite predicates with reduced TAM distinctions and some nominal features (S=Sd)
Table 4. Formal variation in predicates of dependent condition adverbials
7.
Reason relations Reason relations involve situations where the realization of the dependent SOA is the reason behind the occurrence of the event expressed in the matrix SOA. The Eastern Khanty conceptually dependent purposive SOA is encoded by a finite clause and is non-factual. (19) ma_ qolˆsla-l-ˆm, patˆ -l -´m 1SG cough-PRES-1SG get.cold-PRES-1SG “I cough (because) I caught a cold”. The dependent finite clause has the present predicate and (S=Sd). (20) Iwa_n naƒˆnt´-w´l rut' saƒˆ, qul ˆl ru_ ƒ -w´lt put -oƒ Ivan swear-PRES.3SG Russian way fish down jump-PRES.3PL pot-PROLAT “Ivan swears in Russian (because) the fish is jumping out of the pot”. Note that the dependent finite clause contains a present predicate form and (S Sd). Differentiating types of subordination among reason constructions is problematic. The reason for that is due to the preferred coding of these conceptually dependent reason SOAs by finite clauses, albeit with reduced illocutionary force. The scale has a greater cline towards finiteness. Higher clausal independence and verbal categorial distinctions are associated with retained independent profile, assertiveness, high illocutionary force, and conceptualization of reason SOAs as processes rather than entities, as shown in Table 5: (+) finite (independent)
finite clauses with prototypical TAM distinctions with full illocutionary force (S Sd)
(-) finite (dependent)
finite predicates with prototypical TAM distinctions and near full illocutionary force (S=Sd)
Table 5. Formal variation in dependent reason adverbial clauses
42 8.
ANDREI FILTCHENKO
Conclusions The deviation from the independent simple clause is measured with regard to two main parameters: the verb form, and the participant coding: i.e. the combination in the dependent predicate of prototypical verbal categorial distinctions typical for independent predicates. Since time reference, aspect and mode typically code the occurrence of a SOA through time, i.e., properties of the process, these distinctions often lack in the more entity-like dependent SOAs (Cristofaro 2003: 177). In Eastern Khanty, temporal and purposive adverbial relations are more construable as entities and thus have less regular TAM distinctions. On the other hand, relations such as reason and reality condition remain construable as processes and retain comparably more prototypical verbal distinctive features. Instead of a discrete opposition between coordination and subordination clause-linkage strategies, there appears to be a continuum of combinable features, whose presence or absence and combination locates each clause in relation to either of the prototypes (Haiman & Thompson 1984, Lehmann 1988, Matthiessen & Thompson 1988, Van Valin & La Polla 1997, Givon 2001). These features manifest the degree of lexical-grammatical elaboration in a clause, resulting in a continuum of downgrading the conceptually subordinate clause from the prototypical finite matrix-like clause to the prototypical embedded subordinate one with low degree of predicate grammaticalization. The connection between morphosyntactic and semantic features of adverbial relations is functionally motivated by cross-linguistic principles including economy and iconicity (Givon 2001, Haiman 1985). Eastern Khanty actively applies the economy principle via co- and switch-reference devices, i.e., via elision and use of possessive markers on the participial dependent predicates in purpose and temporal adverbials, when only the information minimally required for adequate processing of the utterance is coded explicitly. Once the TAM values, participant information, etc. are determined in the matrix SOA, they are not re-specified in the conceptually dependent SOA. Various elisions are more frequent in purpose relation due to their inherent typical discourse motivated tendency towards co-reference. Where sharing of participants with the matrix SOA is less typical, elision is less frequent, explicit expression of participants of the conceptually dependent SOA occurs for signaling a change, or to prevent ambiguity (cf. Table 6). A key principle at play in the reduced explicitness of nominal arguments and of verbal morphosyntax in the dependent clauses is the iconicity of independence (Givon 2001, Cristofaro 2003), manifested in Eastern Khanty in the syntactic integration of the linked SOAs, where much, or all of the relevant features are expressed in the matrix.
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES IN EASTERN KHANTY
(+) independence low semantic integration
43
Finite DS reason, finite DS purpose, finite DS conditional, finite DS temporal [S Sd] Finite SS reason, finite SS conditional, finite SS temporal [S=Sd]
high semantic integration (-) independence
Non-finite temporal and DS purpose [S Sd] Non-finite SS temporal, SS purpose, SS conditional [S=Sd]
Table 6. Formal variation in conceptually dependent adverbial clauses
Presence of nominal features in non-finite temporal or purpose adverbial clauses, are manifestations of these predicates’ usage in prototypical noun discourse-pragmatic function of, but not verbal processes (Hopper & Thompson 1985, Givon 2001, Croft 2001, Cristofaro 2003). In CG terms, the change in profile of the dependent predicate from sequential scanning to summary scanning allows for the presence of nominal formal properties (case, possession) on the dependent predicate and lack of verbal distinctions (TAM) (Cristofaro 2003). In Eastern Khanty, over 70% of the participial adverbial dependent predicates appear inflected for nominal categories: possessive expression of the person/number of the S/A argument and case. Consequently, at least in some instances (5%), prototypical verbal properties such as aspectual (including Aktionsart) distinctions co-occur with the prototypical nominal properties (possession, case). verbal categories (TAM)
nominal categories (case, poss)
Finite reason adverbials – [+TAM] Finite purpose & temporal adverbials – [+TA] Finite to_N-conditional adverbials – [+TA] Finite N-conditional adverbials – [+A] Non-finite purpose and temporal Non-finite temporal – [+poss] Non-finite temporal – [+A], [+poss], [+case] Non-finite conditional, purpose, temporal – [+poss], [+case]
Table 7. Categorial variation in predicates of dependent adverbial clauses
Dominance of the matrix SOA’s profile over that of the dependent one correlates to the dependent SOA’s interconnectedness with the matrix to the extent that it cannot be conceptualized as completely distinct, i.e. there is a certain pragmatic sentential deficiency of the dependent clauses (Cristofaro 2003: 264). Eastern Khanty conceptually dependent clauses are characterized by decreased autonomous profile, which is associated with pragmatic presupposition (Langacker 1991) correlating to low assertiveness in the utterance and lower illocutionary force.
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ANDREI FILTCHENKO
(+) full /near full illocutionary force
Finite reason adverbials Finite purpose & temporal adverbials Finite conditional adverbials Finite purpose adverbials Non-finite conditional, purpose and temporal adverbials
(-) low illocutionary force Table 8. Variation in the pragmatics of dependent adverbial clauses
A multi-parametrical scale of Eastern Khanty adverbial clauses thus illustrates the degrees of delexicalization (diversion from the lexical prototype), decategorization (switch in typical categorial distinctions) of the conceptually dependent verbal clauses, reflecting the functional-cognitive variation in the degree of semantic/conceptual independence of the adverbial SOAs: (+) independent linked clauses, coordinatelike interclausal relation
(-) dependent linked clauses, subordinatelike interclausal relation
full finite predicates with prototypical TAM distinctions & full/near full illocutionary force finite predicates with reduced TAM distinctions and reduced illocutionary force non-finite predicates with some TAM distinctions, no nominal features, low illocutionary force non-finite predicates with no TAM distinctions and no nominal features non-finite predicates with no TAM distinctions and some nominal features non-finite predicates with no TAM distinctions and multiple nominal features finite purpose adverbials non-finite conditional, purpose and temporal adverbials
Table 9. Dependence continuum of predicates of adverbial clauses
Abbreviations – agent, ACC – accusative, CAUS – causative, COM – comitative, CONV – con-verb, COND – conditional, ILLAT – illative, IMPP – imperfective participle, INF – infinitive, INSTR – instrumental, LAT – lative, LOC – locative, NEG – negative, O – object, PL – plural, PRED – predicate, PRES – present tense, PROLAT – pro-lative, PS – perfective participle, S – subject, SOA – state of affairs, SG – singular, V – verb. A
REFERENCES Cheremisina M. I. & N. I. Koshkareva. 1991. Slozhnoe i oslozhnennoe predlozhenie v khantyjskom jazyke [Complex and extended sentences in Khanty]. Novosibirsk: Izd. “Nauka”. Comrie, Bernard. 1981. Language Universals and Linguistic Typology.
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Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cristofaro, Sonia. 2003. Subordination. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Croft, William. 2001. Radical Construction Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Givon, Talmy. 2001. Syntax. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Givon, Talmy. 1991. “The Evolution of Dependent Clause Morphosyntax in Biblical Hebrew”. Approaches to Grammaticalization ed. by Elizabeth Closs Traugott & Bernd Heine. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Gulya, Janos. 1966. Eastern Ostyak Chrestomathy. (Indiana University Publications. Uralic and Altaic Series, Vol. 51). The Hague, Netherlands: Mouton de Gruyter. Gulya, Janos. 1970. “Aktiv, Ergative und Passiv im Vakh-Ostjakischen”. Simposium über Syntax der uralischen Sprachen ed. by Wolfgang Schlachter, 81-90. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Haiman, John. 1985. Natural Syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Haspelmath, Martin. 1995. “The Converb as a Cross-Linguistically Valid Category”. Converbs in Cross-Linguistic Perspective ed. by Martin Haspelmath & Ekkehard König, 1-56. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Honti, László. 1984. Chrestomathia Ostiacica. Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó. Hopper, Paul & Sandra A. Thompson. 1980. “Transitivity in Grammar and Discourse”. Language 56.251-299. Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 1993. “Finiteness”. Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics ed. by Ronald Asher & Seumas Simpson, 1245-1248. Oxford: Pergamon Press; Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press. Kovgan, E. 1991. Opredelitel’nye konstruktsii v zapadnykh dialektakh khantyjskogo jazyka. [Attributive clauses in Western Khanty dialects.] Unpublished Candidate Degree dissertation. Novosibirsk. Lambrecht, Knud. 1994. Information Structure and Sentence Form. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Langacker, Robert. 1991. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Lehmann, Christian. 1988. “Towards a Typology of Clause Linkage”. Clause Combining in Grammar and Discourse ed. by John Haiman & Sandra A. Thompson, 193-224. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Li, Charles N., Thompson, Sandra A. 1976. “Subject and Topic: A new typology of languages”. Subject and Topic ed. by Charles Li, 457-490. New York, San Francisco & London: Academic Press. Matthiessen, Christian & Sandra A. Thompson. 1988. “The Structure of Discourse and Subordination”. Clause Combining in Grammar and Discourse ed. by John Haiman & Sandra A. Thompson, 275-327. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
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Nikolaeva, Irina. 1999. Ostyak. Munich: Lincom Europa. Newmeyer, Frederick. 1992. “Iconicity and Generative Grammar”. Language 68.756-96. Reinhart, Tanya. 1984. “Principles of Gestalt Perception in the Temporal Organization of Narrative Texts”. Linguistics 22.779-809. Skribnik E. & E. Kovgan. 1991. “Sistema prichastnykh opredelitel’nykh konstruktsij v obsko-ugorskikh jazykakh [The system of attributive participial constructions in Ob-Ugric languages]”. Jazyki narodov Sibiri: grammaticheskie issledovanija [Languages of Siberia: grammatical studies] ed. by M. I. Cheremisina, 84-108. Novosibirsk: Izd. “Nauka”. Tereshkin, N. 1961. Ocherki dialektov khantijskogo jazyka. Vakhovskij dialect [Overview of Khanty dialects: Vakh dialect]. Leningrad: Izd. “Nauka”. Thompson, Sandra A. 1987. “Subordination and Narrative Event Structure”. Coherence and Grounding in Discourse ed. by Robert Tomlin, 435-454. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Thompson, Sandra A. 1985. “Grammar and Written Discourse: Initial and final purpose clauses in English”. Quantified Studies in Discourse ed. by Talmy Givon. Text 5:1/2.435-454. Tomlin, Robert 1985. “Foreground-Background Information and the Syntax of Subordination”. Text 5:1/2.85-122. Van Valin, Robert & Randy Lapolla. 1997. Syntax: Structure, meaning and function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Zhivotikov, P. K. 1942. Ocherk khantijskoj grammatiki [A sketch of Khanty grammar]. Khanti-Mansijsk: Izdanie Okruzhnoj komissii po razrabotke literaturnogo khantyjskogo jazyka [District Committee for Khanty Literacy Development].
NULL ARGUMENTS IN KUMYK ADVERBIAL CLAUSES 1 LINDA HUMNICK University of Minnesota 1.
Introduction As part of broader research on the syntax and pragmatics of referring expressions in Kumyk, a Turkic language spoken primarily in the Dagestan region of the Russian Federation, this study explores constraints on the use of null subjects in non-finite clauses within a text corpus. Kumyk allows null subjects in both finite and non-finite clauses. The null subjects of finite clauses are pronouns in the binding theory sense that they typically have an antecedent in the discourse but are not syntactically bound. In these cases, the reference of a null subject is partially restricted by the agreement in person and number marked in the verb form. For example, in (1), the form of the past tense suffix, -dï, indicates that the subject of the verb aldï “bought” is third person singular, restricting reference to entities with those properties. (1) Murat bazarga gete. Onda Ø alma Murat market.DAT go.3S.PR there apple “Murat went to the market. (He) bought apples there”.
aldï.2 buy.3S.PST
Beyond the restrictions imposed by subject agreement, the identification of the referent of a null pronoun is governed by pragmatic, rather than syntactic constraints. These pragmatic constraints allow the hearer to select the likely referent of the null form from among appropriate entities available from the discourse context.
1
Research for this study was partially supported by NSF grant # 0519890 to Jeanette Gundel. I also wish to acknowledge Jeanette Gundel, Paul Humnick, Agaragim Sultanmuradov, and Ruhaniyat Musaeva for their assistance in various aspects of this project. 2 The Cyrillic orthography is transliterated here using a modified IPA system. The grapheme “g” represents both the voiced velar stop and its allophone, the voiced uvular fricative, though this distinction is represented by two different graphemes in the Cyrillic orthography. Capital letters in suffix forms, such as -mE represent vowel harmony alternations represented in the orthography.
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LINDA HUMNICK
In contrast to the subject agreement found in finite clauses, most non-finite clause types allow null subjects yet exhibit no morphological agreement in the verb form that might constrain the reference of the null argument. This characteristic is illustrated by the non-finite verb alïp “buy” in the second sentence of (2), as the suffix -ïp is unmarked for person or number. (2) Murat Murat
bazarga market.DAT
gete. go.3S.PR
Onda there
Ø
alma apple
alïp, buy.CONV
o bizge geldi. 3S 1PL.DAT come.3S.PST “Murat went to the market. Having bought apples there, he came to us”. The lack of subject agreement in non-finite clauses raises the question of whether the reference of their null subjects is constrained by any other syntactic factors or is constrained only by pragmatic factors, suggesting an inference system of reference tracking (Foley & Van Valin 1984). A survey of non-finite clauses in Kumyk indicates that reference of null arguments in some types of non-finite clauses is syntactically restricted to a particular argument of the matrix clause either by the category of the verbal suffix or by the way in which the non-finite clause adjoins to the matrix clause. This phenomenon is typical of certain types of complement clauses and adnominal subordination. In other types of non-finite clauses — primarily adverbial clauses — the reference of a null subject is not syntactically restricted by such means. In these cases, reference is assumed to be only pragmatically constrained. It is useful, then, to talk about how to capture the pragmatic constraints that assist the hearer in identifying the referent of the null form and/or govern the speaker’s choice between a reduced or null form and a more explicit form. This study looks at pragmatic criteria for null forms within a cognitively based model of referential choice primarily based on the Givenness Hierarchy model of Gundel, Hedberg & Zacharski (1993). The next section of this paper describes the distinction between types of non-finite clauses which exhibit syntactically restricted null arguments and types which have null arguments with syntactically unrestricted reference, setting the stage for a discussion of how the use of null arguments may be restricted by pragmatic considerations. Section 3 describes the theoretical model within which such pragmatic considerations are explored and the method of application to Kumyk data from a text corpus. Finally, Section 4 summarizes the results of applying the Givenness Hierarchy model to the data, and Section 5 discusses the implications of the study.
KUMYK ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
49
2.
Types of non-finite clauses exhibiting null subjects Non-finite clause types in Kumyk may be categorized by differences in the form of the non-finite suffix and differences in the way in which the non-finite clause is conjoined to the matrix clause — for example whether it is conjoined as a noun modifier or as an adverbial element. The purpose of this section is to categorize non-finite clauses in terms of a single parameter: the degree to which the referents of their null arguments are restricted or unrestricted. 2.1 Syntactically restricted null arguments The reference of null arguments in Kumyk non-finite clauses may be restricted syntactically in two different ways. The first way is restriction by means of a verb suffix form that signals control by the matrix subject or object. The second type of restricted reference is associated with clauses which function as modifiers of a matrix clause argument. In the latter case, the reference of the null argument of the non-finite clause can only be interpreted as co-referent with the matrix argument that the clause modifies. When a non-finite clause verb form ends with the infinitive suffix -mE or -mEgE, its null subject must be interpreted as coreferent with either the matrix subject or object, depending on the semantic type of the verb.3 In example 3, both non-finite clause null subjects are coreferent with the matrix subject qajnana “mother-in-law”. (The non-finite clause is enclosed in brackets, and the subjects of both clauses are in bold.) (3) Qajnanai [Øi adamlanï chaqïr-ma] mother.in.law man.3PL.ACC invite-INF [Øi bajram et-me] sjue. feast do-INF want.3S.PR “The mother-in-law wants to invite people and celebrate”. Example (4) illustrates the ungrammaticality of the use of the suffix -mE with the subject-control verb sjue “wants” in a case in which the overt non-finite clause subject gelin “bride” is not co-referent with the matrix subject qajnana “mother-in-law”. If the subject of the clausal complement of sjue is not coreferent with the subject of sjue, then the verb of the complement clause must end in a nominal suffix, such as -mak in (4).
3
The choice between subject control versus object control appears to be related to the semantic type of the verb rather than to formal differences in the form of the suffix. For example a verb such as sjue “wants” would always be a subject control verb, while a phrasal verb like ixtijar bere “gives the right to” is inherently an object control verb.
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(4) *Qajnana [gelin adamlanï bajramga chaqïr-ma] sjue. mother.in.law bride man.3PL.ACC feast.DAT invite-INF want.3S.PR “The mother-in-law wants the bride to invite people to the feast”. (5) Qajnana [gelin adamlanï bajramga chaqïr-mak-nï] sjue. mother.in.law bride man.3PL.ACC feast.DAT invite-VN-ACC want.3S.PR “The mother-in-law wants the bride to invite people to the feast”. The second category of non-finite clause in which the reference of null arguments is restricted consists of participial clauses with the suffixes -EgEn (present) or -gEn (past). These clauses can modify any argument of the matrix clause, and the null argument of the participial clause is always interpreted as coreferent with the argument it modifies. For example, in (6), the participial clause (in brackets) modifies qatïnï “his wife”; thus the null subject of the nonfinite verb etegen “making” is interpreted as having the same referent as qatïnï. (6) Arigi üjde [Øi ash etegen] qatïnïi further.MOD room.LOC food make.PR.PRT wife.3.POSS bir xarbuz alïp gele. one watermelon take.CONV come.3S.PR “His wife, who was making food in the back room, takes one watermelon and comes”. According to Foley & Van Valin’s (1984) typological study of complex clause structures, restricted-reference null arguments of the type found in (5) and (6) are commonly found cross-linguistically in clause combinations that are characterized by tight semantic linkage or that involve structural features such as embedding or subordination. They analyze such types of clause combinations as having a ‘core juncture,’ which means that at least one argument is “shared” — in other words, an argument of one clause is an empty category controlled by an argument of another clause. This type of clause combination contrasts with clause combinations in which the arguments of each clause are independent of the arguments of the other, a feature which is typical of clause linkage at the lower end of the interclausal semantic relations hierarchy (1984: 266, 188). 2.2 Unrestricted null arguments A second group of non-finite clause forms is characterized by both lack of coreferentiality restrictions and alternation between implicit and overt subjects. This group consists of two types: 1) clauses ending with the participial suffixes -EgEn or -gEn followed either by a locative suffix or an adverbial postposition and 2) clauses ending with the -Ip converb form. All of these types fall within
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Haspelmath’s (1995) category of ‘adverbial clause’, i.e., a clause that serves as a modifier of a verb, clause, or sentence. Examples (7) and (8) exhibit adverbial clauses with overt subjects, showing the grammaticality of overt subjects that are coreferent or noncoreferent with the subject of the main clause. In (7) the subject of the adverbial clause is the overt form, Naima, which is coreferent with the null subject of the matrix clause. In (8) atasï, “her father”, which is the overt subject of the adverbial clause, is not coreferent with Naima, the overt subject of the matrix clause. (The non-finite clause is marked in brackets, and the subjects of the non-finite and matrix clauses are in bold.) (7) [Naimai getgende] Naima go.PST.PRT.LOC “After leaving, Naima cried”.
Øi
jiladï. cry.3S.PST
(8) [Atasïj getgende,] Naimai father.3S.POSS go.PST.PRT.LOC Naima “When her father left, Naima cried”.
jiladï. cry.3S.PST
When an adverbial clause and a matrix clause have coreferent subjects, an overt subject may occur in the adverbial clause, as seen previously in (8) or in the matrix clause, as in the corresponding example (9) below. It is also possible for coreferent subjects of both the adverbial clause and the matrix clause to be implicit, as in (10). (9)
[Øi
getgende] Naimai go.PST.PRT.LOC Naima “After leaving, Naima cried”.
(10) [Øi
getgende] Øi go.PST.PRT.LOC “After leaving, (he/she) cried”.
jiladï. cry.3S.PST jiladï. cry.3S.PST
When the subjects of both clauses are coreferential, there cannot be more than one overt subject, except in cases when one occurs as an emphatic reflexive4. In fact, in a construction in which an adverbial clause with an overt 3rd-person 4
While the general use of a reflexive pronoun with a coreferent overt subject appears to be infelicitous, cases that are clearly emphatic usages are acceptable. Example (i) occurs in the extended text corpus. Since the reflexive here is marked with a 1st person suffix, there is no question that it is coreferential with the matrix subject, men “I”. (i) Özjum de bilmej, men bir qïznï betine tiklenip self.RFLX.1SG EMPH not.knowing, I one girl’s face.at staring “Not even realizing it myself, I kept staring at one girl’s face”.
turganman. remained.
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subject is followed by a matrix 3rd person pronominal subject, as in (11), the pronoun is interpreted as not coreferent with the matrix subject. (11) [Naimai getgende,] o*i/j jiladï. Naima PST.PRT.LOC 3S cry.3S.PST “When Naima left, hej/shej cried”. While the constraint against multiple overt coreferent subjects in adverbial-matrix clause combinations shares some similarities with cases of null arguments of non-finite clauses that are controlled by the matrix subject, there are two significant differences. The first difference is that, as explained above, the overt subject may occur in the adverbial clause as well as the matrix clause. Secondly, unlike many languages, Kumyk allows null subjects of adverbial clauses that are not coreferent with the subject of the matrix clause, as shown in example (12). In the second sentence of this example, the referent of the null subject of the adverbial clause is Naima’s father, while Naima is the matrix subject. (12) Aksham Atasïi sumkanï hazir evening father.3S.POSS suitcase.ACC ready
boldu. become.3S.PST
[Erten Øi getgende] Naimaj jiladï. morning go.PST.PRT.LOC Naima cry.3S.PST “In the evening, her father got the suitcase ready. In the morning, when [he] left, Naima cried”. Given the above evidence against subject control in adverbial clauses, one may assume that the use of null arguments of adverbial clauses is subject to pragmatic constraints—as is the case for null arguments of matrix clauses. 3. Exploring the pragmatic parameters of null arguments 3.1 Theoretical model A number of theories have linked the use of various forms of referring expressions with pragmatic factors such as the referent’s degree of givenness in the discourse or the mental accessibility or cognitive status of the referent (Chafe 1976, Prince 1981, Givón 1983, Ariel 1988, 1990, Gundel et al. 1993, Grosz et al. 1983, 1995, Walker, Joshi & Prince 1998). In order to discuss the parameters constraining the use of null arguments, this study follows a cognitive-based approach to referential choice informed primarily by the Givenness Hierarchy model of Gundel et al. (1993). In this model, the form of referring expression that a speaker chooses from among multiple possible categories (e.g., null argument, pronoun, or full noun phrase) is assumed to signal the speaker’s assumptions about the cognitive status of the referent –
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that is, its memory or attention status in the hearer’s mind (1993: 274-275). The cognitive statuses are assumed to be part of the conventional meaning of lexical items like pronouns and determiners. For example, a null argument signals that the referent is at the center of the hearer’s attention, while, in many languages, a demonstrative noun phrase signals that the referent of the expression is at least familiar. In the Givenness Hierarchy model, the set of cognitive statuses is implicationally related and hierarchically ordered from most restricted (in focus) to least restricted (type identifiable), as shown in Figure 1, along with the corresponding referring expressions in English (1993: 274-275). Status
In > Focus
Activated >
Familiar >
Uniquely > Identifiable
Referential >
Type > Identifiable
Form
it
this, that, this N
that N
the N
indefinite this N
aN
Figure 1: The Givenness Hierarchy
Correlating a type of referring expression with a cognitive status in the hierarchy means that its referents must always have at least that status—though a given form may be used to represent referents of a higher status. For example, in English, the demonstrative pronoun that may be used to represent a referent in focus, but the pronoun it may not be used to represent a referent that is at most activated. Cross-linguistically, null arguments correlate with referents of the highest cognitive status, those the speaker assumes to be in focus, or at the center of the hearer’s attention. It follows that the reference of a null argument is constrained to referents that are in focus in a given context. This constraint is pragmatic in the sense that the meaning of the referring expression correlates with the speaker’s assumptions about the hearer’s mental state rather than inherent properties of the referent. 3.2 Methodology In order to determine the cognitive status of the referent of a referring expression, the Givenness Hierarchy model uses a coding protocol that describes sufficient conditions for assigning a particular cognitive status (Gundel et al. 1993, Gundel 2004). In this study, the relevant distinction is between the cognitive status “in focus” and any status that is lower than in focus. According to Gundel et al., a referent is in focus if it is “at the center” of an individual’s attention (2003: 284). Specific criteria for coding this status are listed in Figure 2.
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A referent is IN FOCUS if it meets at least one of the following criteria: 1. It is mentioned in subject position in the immediately preceding sentence/clause. 2. It is mentioned earlier in the same sentence. 3. It is mentioned in syntactic focus position of the immediately preceding clause (postcopular position of a cleft or existential sentence in English). 4. It is a higher-level topic that is part of the interpretation of the preceding clause (whether it is overtly mentioned there or not). 5. It is mentioned in the two immediately preceding clauses. 6. It is the event denoted by the immediately preceding sentence. Figure 2: Coding protocol for in focus status (Gundel 2004)
While the criteria of the coding protocol have been tested crosslinguistically, the theoretical model does not exclude the possibility of certain language-specific adjustments to the criteria that are in character with their purpose. For example, in this study, I include non-subject arguments that are the experiencers of psychological verbs as belonging to the same category as grammatical subjects in criterion 1. This decision is based on evidence from Turkish in Turan (1998: 153) that the experiencer object, particularly in the case of a psychological verb, is of a similar level of salience as the grammatical subject.5 As an example of how the criteria of the coding protocol are applied in order to determine whether or not the referent of a referring expression is in focus, consider the text excerpt in (13), consisting of the first three sentences (13a–c) of a narrative text. In this illustration, brackets enclose the referring expressions selected for coding, while other mentions of the same referents (which are relevant to the application of the coding criteria) appear in bold type. (13a) Bir pajxammarnï bir qïzï bir esheki one prophet.GEN one girl.3.POSS one donkey.3.POSS bir mishiki bir de iti bolgan. one cat.3.POSS one and dog.3.POSS be.3S.PST “A prophet had one daughter, one donkey, one cat and one dog”.
5
An example of an experiencer object in Kumyk is illustrated in the expression pajxammarnï esine gele, which translates literally, ”it came to the prophet’s mind (that)…”
KUMYK ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
(13b) [Qïznï] erge girl.GEN husband.DAT vaqtisi gelip time.3.POSS come.CONV “When it comes time for comes to her”.
55
berme jarajgan give.INF possible.PST.PRT [bugar] gelechi gele. 3.1.DAT suitor come.3S.PR the daughter to be given in marriage, a suitor
(13c) [Qïznï girl.GEN [Ø]
atasï] da razi bolup, father.3.POSS and agreed be.CONV qïzïn berezhek bola. girl.3.POSS.ACC give.FUT be.3S.PR “The girl’s father agreeing, (he) will give the girl”.
The referent of the expression qïznï in (13b) is the daughter of the prophet. The same referent is mentioned in the previous sentence in (13a), but no criterion for in focus is satisfied. Note that, while qïznï is part of the complex subject of the previous sentence, it is not the unique grammatical subject and, therefore, does not satisfy criterion 1. The referent of the pronoun bugar in (13b) is also the daughter. In this case, the referent is evaluated as in focus by criterion 2, “mentioned earlier in the same sentence”. In (13c), qïznï atasï “girl’s father” refers to the prophet, who was mentioned in (13a) but not in (13b), thus the referent fails to satisfy a criterion for in focus. The prophet is also the referent for the second bracketed expression in (13c) which is a null argument. Since the prophet is mentioned earlier in the same sentence, this referent is in focus by criterion 2. The data for this study is part of ongoing research on the cognitive status of referring expressions in Kumyk discourse. The primary data consists of two texts (one oral, one written) in which I have coded the cognitive status for referents of all referring expressions, with the exclusion of null referents that are syntactically restricted (cf. §2.1) and referring expressions within quoted speech. Supporting data is gathered from an extended text corpus. In this study, null subjects of matrix clauses are assumed to be pragmatically constrained; thus, the coding of their referents serves as a control group with which to compare the coding of null subjects of adverbial clauses. There are 29 instances of this type in the primary corpus. The target group consists of 23 null subjects of adverbial clauses: 19 adverbial clause subjects which are coreferent with the subject of the matrix clause (henceforth, same subject or SS reference) and 4 null adverbial clause subjects which are not coreferent with the matrix subject (henceforth, different subject or DS reference). The distinction between SS and DS subjects is only made in the discussion of the fact that the use of DS null subjects in adverbial clauses is
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more restricted than that of SS reference. Finally, I compare adverbial clauses with null subjects to 26 adverbial clauses of the same type with overt subjects without distinguishing between SS and DS subjects. Since null subjects alternate with overt subjects in adverbial clauses, it is useful to consider whether or not the cognitive status of referents of overt subjects of adverbial clauses is restricted to the same degree as that of null subjects. In summary, within the Givenness Hierarchy model, the cognitive status of referents associated with a particular form of referring expression provides a constraint on the use of that form. The purpose of the study is to test the hypothesis that syntactically unrestricted null arguments in matrix and adverbial clauses in Kumyk are constrained to referents that are in focus, thus enabling hearers to identify the referents of null arguments in these contexts. A further goal of this study is to support the analysis that null subjects of SS adverbial clauses are more similar to matrix null subjects than to the syntactically controlled null arguments of other types of non-finite clauses. In cases of subject control, the null subject of the non-finite clause is always interpreted as coreferent with the matrix subject, and the use of the null form is obligatory — not licensed by the pragmatic status of the referent, which is often lower than in focus.6 In adverbial clauses, on the other hand, null subjects are not obligatory, but alternate with overt subjects. Evidence that the choice between a null form versus an overt form is motivated by constraints on the cognitive status of the referent would support the analysis that adverbial null subjects are not syntactically controlled. To provide such evidence, it is necessary to demonstrate both the similarity in constraints between matrix and adverbial clause null subjects and the fact that the cognitive status of referents of overt subjects of adverbial clauses is not restricted to the same degree as that of null subjects. 4. Data analysis 4.1 Null subjects constrained to referents in focus The Kumyk data fits the expected pattern of correlation between null arguments and the highest category of salience that is demonstrated in crosslinguistic research related to the Givenness Hierarchy and other models. As illustrated in Figure 3, with the exception of two forms (one matrix and one adverbial), both matrix and adverbial clause null subjects have referents that are coded to be in focus by the criteria of the coding protocol.
6
While in some languages it is possible for referents of syntactically controlled arguments to be consistently in focus, this is not true of infinitive and participial clauses in Kumyk, in which the null subject of the non-finite clause often precedes the matrix subject.
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KUMYK ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
MATRIX CLAUSE
ADVERBIAL CLAUSE NULL SUBJECTS
ADV
NULL SUBJECTS
SS In Focus 18
OVERT SUBJECTS
In Focus 28
Not in Focus 1
Not in Focus 1
DS In Focus 4
Not in Focus 0
In Focus 5
CLAUSE
Not in Focus 21
Figure 3: Data overview
In the two exceptional cases, an argument can be given for why the status of the referent should be treated as comparable to in focus. In both cases, the use of the null form appears to be justified by a factor I call script repetition, which denotes the repetition of a particular series of events in the narrative. In this text, the primary participant, the prophet, promises his only daughter to four different suitors. The first suitor’s representatives come and take the daughter. When the second suitor’s representatives come, the household cat turns into a girl, and they take her away. When the third and fourth suitors’ representatives come, the dog and the donkey, respectively, turn into girls and are taken away. Each group of representatives is a different entity, yet the third and fourth groups are represented with a null form, even though they are not mentioned in the immediately preceding sentences. The fact that the same type of group is mentioned in the same order in the same series of events, however, appears to bring this type into focus for the hearer, thus justifying the use of null forms in reference to the third and fourth groups. In summary, these two apparent counterexamples are not out of character with referents classified as in focus by the criteria of the coding protocol, which means that null arguments have a strong correlation with referents that are in focus. The data support the hypothesis that the use of null subjects, whether in matrix or adverbial clauses, is constrained to referents that have the cognitive status ‘in focus’. This finding is significant, as it shows adverbial null subjects to be following the same pattern as syntactically free matrix null arguments. One might note here that, of the complex constructions in which the subject of the adverbial clause is a null form, the cases are rather evenly divided between cases in which the matrix subject is also represented as a null form and cases in which the matrix subject is overt. Given the methodology applied by this study, all matrix subjects that are coreferent with the preceding adverbial clause subject would be assumed to represent referents that are in focus (cf. criterion 1 of the coding protocol). The Givenness Hierarchy model allows for referents that are in focus to be represented by forms that signal a lower status (e.g., activated, familiar, etc.). This follows from the fact that a particular status on the hierarchy is understood to entail all lower statuses. Since the use of a weaker form could implicate that the status associated with
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the stronger form is not met, it is important to consider contextual motivations for such usage. As an example, an adverbial clause with one participant may be followed by a matrix clause with multiple participants, one of whom is the referent brought into focus via its mention in the adverbial clause. Since the presence of multiple participants increases the likelihood of ambiguity in the interpretation of null arguments, an overt argument may be used for the referent which is in focus in order to reduce the processing effort. In this type of case, as well as others, the use of an overt form — which signals a lower status — for a referent which is in focus is understood to be governed by principles such as Grice’s Maxim of Quantity (1975) or the maximization of relevance (Sperber & Wilson 1986). Finally, the contrast between the cognitive status of referents of null subjects of adverbial clauses and the cognitive status of referents of overt subjects of adverbial clauses provides further evidence that the form of referring expression used in the subject position of an adverbial clause is pragmatically constrained. While the referents of null arguments are almost without exception in focus, the referents of overt subjects of adverbial clauses are predominantly of a lower status than in focus, though up to 25% do refer to referents that are in focus. The fact that a significant number of referents of overt subjects are in focus does not contradict the hypothesis of this study, since, as mentioned above, the implicational nature of the Givenness Hierarchy allows for referring expressions which overtly signal a lower status to be used to represent referents of a higher status. 4.2 Additional observations about DS null subjects Null subjects of adverbial clauses that are not coreferent with the matrix subject occur infrequently in the extended data, and only four times in the primary corpus. In one case, the DS null subject is a non-referential expletive subject, leaving three cases of referential null DS subjects which are pertinent to this study. The rare use of null DS subjects contrasts with the common use of overt DS subjects, which occur with relatively equal frequency to SS subjects in adverbial clauses. Despite the small numbers, a characterization of the use of DS nulls provides insight into the types of criteria that constrain reference enough to overcome a possible bias towards SS interpretation of null arguments. Beyond the fact that all referents of DS nulls are at least in focus by the coding protocol, this section describes three notable features of their use. First, all three referents of DS null subjects are coreferent with the subject of the matrix clause of the previous sentence. The fact that the DS null subject is coreferent with the highest ranked grammatical argument of the previous sentence means that they are also the backwards center as defined by Centering
KUMYK ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
59
Theory (Grosz et al. 1995, Walker et al. 1998), a status which is often associated with deletion or pronominalization of arguments. Whether or not the constraint is framed in the terms of Centering Theory, this is more restrictive than the case of matrix null subjects, which may represent referents that are in focus without being mentioned in the subject position of the previous matrix clause (cf. criteria 3, 4, and 5 of the coding protocol). Not only are the referents of DS null subjects in focus and coreferent with subjects of the previous matrix clause, but in each case in this corpus, the referent may be considered the VIP participant or the protagonist of the narrative, or a plural referent which includes the protagonist. In a cognitive study of referential choice by Grüning and Kibrik (2002), the factor of protagonisthood is demonstrated to contribute to the overall salience of a referent, as is apparently the case here. A third factor that characterizes cases of DS null subjects in this corpus is occurrence within a structure known as ‘tail-head link’. This term refers to cases in which a non-finite clause joined to the left of a matrix clause repeats the information of the previous matrix clause, as illustrated in 14. In this example, the verb geldi “came” (in bold) of the matrix clause in (a) is repeated in the non-finite clause in (b) via the verb form gelgen “having come”. The null subject of gelgen in the non-finite clause (in brackets) is not coreferent with the matrix subject of (b), qïznï qajnanasï “the girl’s mother-in-law”, but, rather, is coreferent with bular in the previous clause (a). (14a) Øi Jashnï gijindirip bulari üjune geldi. child.ACC dress.CONV 3.1.PL home.DAT come.3S.PST “After dressing the child, they (the girl and her sisters-in-law) came home”. (14b) [Øi Üjune gelgen song] qïznï qajnanasïj home.DAT come.PST.PRT after girl.GEN mother.in.law.3S.POSS jashga qaramaga gelinine kömek ete. child.DAT look.INF.DAT daughter.in.law.3.POSS.DAT help do.3S.PR “After coming home, the girl’s mother-in-law helps her daughter-in-law look after the child”. The phenomenon of tail-head link is extended here to cases in which the verb is not actually repeated but there is a strong semantic link between the verb of the previous clause and the verb of the non-finite clause, as with the pair jata “lies down” and turganda “gets up”. In general, tail-head link may be viewed as a form of parallelism that creates a strong expectation that the subjects will be coreferential.
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In summary, the DS null subjects in this study are restricted to use with highly salient referents in contexts with little possibility for ambiguity. They represent the highest ranked grammatical argument of the previous clause, the highest ranked participant in the discourse context, and are found in contexts in which the semantic link between two verbs and the assumed parallelism between their subjects also constrain reference. 5.
Conclusion This study provides evidence that adverbial clauses in Kumyk have null subjects that are syntactically unrestricted yet pragmatically constrained in the same way as null subjects of matrix clauses. Using the cognitive statuses of the Givenness Hierarchy model, the results show that null subjects are constrained to use with referents that have the cognitive status ‘in focus’. Overt subjects of adverbial clauses, on the other hand, are not constrained to referents in focus, which indicates that the choice between null and overt forms is motivated by the status of the referent. The possible evidence for tighter pragmatic constraints on null subjects of adverbial clauses that are not coreferent with the matrix subject (DS nulls) provides an interesting puzzle. On one hand, the evidence that the reference of null subjects of adverbial clauses is syntactically unrestricted together with the common occurrence of overt DS subjects in complex clauses might lead one to expect DS null subjects of adverbial clauses to be more common in the data and to follow the same pragmatic constraints as SS null subjects. This study suggests, however that DS null subjects are much more restricted than their SS counterparts, occurring only with highly salient referents in contexts in which they are coreferent with the subject of the previous clause and in which ambiguity is minimized through the use of tail-head link constructions. If this turns out to be the case, it may indicate a strong tendency to interpret null arguments of non-finite clauses as coreferent with co-sentential subjects rather than subjects of previous clauses. The source of such a tendency in non-finite clauses with syntactically unrestricted reference remains an open question, but may be related to a cross-linguistic tendency towards subject control of implicit non-finite subjects (Haspelmath 1995: 29). Finally, it is worth noting that syntactically unrestricted reference of null arguments in the non-finite clauses of this corpus is limited to cases in which clauses are linked via chronological coherence, which Foley & Van Valin consider the weakest type of semantic linkage (1984: 269). Further study is needed to determine if clausal arguments exhibit syntactically unrestricted null reference in types clause combinations that are higher in the interclausal semantic relations hierarchy, or if this is merely an effect of the limits of the data.
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Abbreviations – ablative, ACC – accusative, CONV – converb, DAT – dative, EMPH – emphatic, FUT – future, GEN – genitive, INF – infinitive, LOC – locative, MOD – modifier, PL – plural, POSS – possessive, PR – present, PRT – participle, PST – past, RFLX – reflexive, S – singular, VN – verbal noun. ABL
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Gundel, Jeanette. 2004. Coding Protocol for Statuses on the Givenness Hierarchy. Ms. University of Minnesota. Haspelmath, Martin. 1995. “The Converb as a Cross-Linguistically Valid Category”. Converbs in Cross-Linguistic Perspective ed. by Martin Haspelmath & Ekkehard König, 1-56. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Prince, Ellen F. 1981. “Toward a Taxonomy of Given-New Information”. Radical Pragmatics, ed. by Peter Cole, 223-255. New York: Academic Press. Sperber, Dan & Dierdre Wilson. 1986. Relevance: Communication and cognition. Oxford: Blackwell. Turan, Ümit. 1998. “Ranking Forward-Looking Centers in Turkish: Universal and language-specific properties”. Centering Theory in Discourse ed. by Walker, Marilyn, Aravind K. Joshi & Ellen Prince, 139-160. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Walker, Marilyn, Aravind K. Joshi & Ellen Prince. 1998. Centering Theory in Discourse. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
FINITE STRUCTURES IN FOREST ENETS SUBORDINATION A CASE STUDY OF LANGUAGE CHANGE UNDER STRONG RUSSIAN INFLUENCE1
OLESYA KHANINA Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig ANDREY SHLUINSKY Institute for Linguistics RAS, Moscow 1.
Introduction Enets is a moribund Northern Samoyedic language traditionally spoken on the right bank of the Lower Yenisei River (Taimyr Peninsula, Western Siberia). Now the use of Enets is basically restricted to two villages of the area, Potapovo in the south (Forest dialect) and Vorontsovo in the north (Tundra dialect). Enets is no longer used on an everyday basis, however, about 30–50 people, all over 45 and all native or near-native speakers of Russian, retain substantial production competence and rather full comprehension competence. Yet, field reports (cf., e.g., Helimski, Ms) show that the Enets spoken by these present-day speakers is structurally different in some respects from the language of their parents and grandparents reported in earlier sources, such as Castrén (1854), Prokofjev (1937), Tereschenko (1966, 1977, 1993), Sorokina (1975, 1981, 1985), Cheremisina et al. (1986), Sorokina & Bolina (2005), Urman-chieva (2006). Enets subordination by means of non-finite forms was analyzed by Irina Sorokina in Cheremisina et al. (1986) and Sorokina (1981, 1985), with detailed attention both to forms used and their functions. Non-finite forms are understood in this paper as verbal forms that can never be a head of an independent clause. While these forms are indeed the most typical way to express a subordinated state of affairs in Uralic and in other languages of the region (Cheremisina et al. 1984, 1986; cf. also Anderson 2004), finite structures may also be used for this purpose, especially with verbs of speech 1
We would like to thank the audience at LENCA-3 for their pertinent comments after our presentation; we are also grateful to Eugen Helimski and Bernard Comrie for their critical remarks expressed in person, and to Elena Skribnik for fruitful discussion of general subordination issues. Olesya Khanina’s work on this paper was in part supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation (Cologne). That support is hereby acknowledged.
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production. Finite structures are understood here as clauses governed by verbal forms that can be used as a head of an independent clause. The following examples illustrate both non-finite (1–2) and finite structures (3–4) of Enets used to express a semantically subordinate state of affairs. (1) b’i-D bar-xon d’ir’i-da-xu-da [water-GEN bank-LOC live-PART-DAT-3SG.OBL.SG]non-finite clause bu odu m’e. s/he boat make.S:3SG “While he lived on the river bank (= to his living on the river bank), he made a boat”. (Sorokina 1981: 143) (2) sojzan mosra-ba-d ek’i d’er’i noda-ba [well work-NMLZ-2SG.OBL.SG]non-finite clause this day hear-S:1PL “Today we have learnt that you worked well (= your working well)”. (Cheremisina et. al. 1986: 127-128) (3) mora-b’i-za kora [kill-NARR-SO:3SGs.SGo]finite clause male.reindeer kas-ta-go osa-xu-da. get.dry-CAUS-DUR.S:3SG meat-DAT.SG-3SG.OBL.SG “He dries the killed (= that he killed) male reindeer for the meat” (Sorokina & Bolina 2005: 51) (4) myt’ e-b’ s&’i e-n’i-s& ’ I [mother-1SG I.ACC not.IRR-SUBJ-PST mydy-s takr’i-q. see-CONN]finite clause hide-R:1SG “I have hidden so my mother would not see me”. (field notes, elicitation) We are unaware of any studies of finite structures like those used in (3) and (4) for Enets. One of the reasons for possible absence of such studies is the former marginality of this morphosyntactic pattern, which became widespread only in last decades due to the mass Russian-Enets bilingualism of the Enets, and in particular, due to the ongoing language shift to Russian. Another possible reason for the lack of attention to this topic is the problematic theoretical status of the interclausal relations in cases like (3) and (4). Indeed, some factors, like linear order, point to the dependent syntactic status of the clauses like morab’iza “he killed” in (3) and eb’ S’i en’iS’ mydys “let my mother not see me” in (4), while other factors, like lack of any markers of the supposed clausal dependence, point to their independent syntactic status. If the latter factors are to be taken as decisive, one should speak rather of discourse-
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level strategies of marking the interclausal relations, than of any morphosyntactic subordination; cf. Cristofaro (2003) for a consistent treatment of syntactic subordination vs. semantically subordinated state of affairs. And there is nothing unexpected that discourse-level phenomena are less studied than morphosyntactic phenomena. In this paper we will give an overview of all Forest Enets finite structures that may be used to encode semantic relations of complementation, adverbial and adnominal modification. Without aiming to provide a final answer, we will comment, for each case, on the morphosyntactic arguments for analyzing these structures as morphosyntactically dependent or independent clauses. Particular emphasis will be placed on comparison of the finite structures and their uses for semantic subordination in Enets as it is spoken today with structures used for the same purpose by Enets spoken in 1970–1990. For more on ‘Modern Enets’, cf. ex. (4); on ‘Pre-Modern Enets’, cf. ex. (1–3). Possible reasons for each case of the micro language change will be discussed. Modern Enets data represent spontaneous Forest Enets narratives collected in 2005, a total of 523 sentences, and a set of ca. 300 elicited sentences. Both narratives and elicited data were collected during our short-term field trip to Potapovo in September 20052. Pre-Modern data consist of ca. 3850 sentences from the text collection Sorokina & Bolina (2005). In both cases we limit ourselves to the Forest dialect of Enets, as our field data comes from this variety only, as well as most texts in Sorokina & Bolina (2005). The orthography was neither unified in Sorokina & Bolina (2005), nor was it in our field data: each word tends to be spelled as it was pronounced by an individual speaker; further study is necessary in order to work out a phonological transcription from which all possible individual pronunciations of Modern Enets could be derived. Pre-Modern Enets data was published in Cyrillic which we have transliterated for the purpose of this paper. The rest of the paper will be organized as follows. Section 2 will discuss finite structures headed by a verb in indicative mood: its subsections will discuss unmarked structures (§2.1), as in (§3) above, structures marked by a conjunction (§2.2), and structures marked by a demonstrative (§2.3). Section 3 will discuss finite structures headed by a verb in subjunctive mood, as in ex. (4) above. Section 4 will draw some conclusions. 2
The fieldtrip was supported by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig). We express our deep gratitude to the institution and, personally, to Bernard Comrie for giving us this invaluable opportunity to embark on the study of Enets. Our warmest thanks go to our Enets consultants Antonina Pujakovna Bolina, Leonid Dmitrievich Bolin, Nadezhda Konstantinovna Bolina, Zoja Nikolaevna Bolina, Nikolaj Dmitrievich Lyrmin, Viktor Nikolaevich Palchin, Ivan Ivanovich Silkin, and Nikolaj Ivanovich Silkin (in alphabetical order).
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2.
Finite structures with a verb in indicative mood A finite structure with a verb in indicative mood appeared in (3). The main criterion to identify this structure is the ability of its verb to be used as a head of an independent declarative clause. For example, morab’iza in (3) can be a head of an independent declarative sentence, meaning thus “He killed”. 2.1 Unmarked finite structures with a verb in indicative mood These structures do not have any further marker that could eventually point to their function as a semantically subordinated clause. In other words, not only can their verb be used as a head of an independent clause, the whole structure can function as an independent sentence. This was actually the case of morab’iza “He killed” in (3). The functional load these structures may take is adnominal modification, as in Pre-Modern (3) and Modern (5), and complementation, as in Pre-Modern (6) and Modern (7). (5) Modern Enets kaTa n’e-n’ n’e-xun dud’inka-xaD man child-1SG.GEN.SG child-LOC.SG [Dudinka-ABL.SG to-Da-D a-s& ad’i-D. come-CAUS-SO:3SGs.SGo-PST] sit-S:1SG “I am staying with my grandson (=my son’s child) that (my son) brought from Dudinka” (field notes, elicitation) (6) Pre-Modern Enets obu d’od’i-gon onej ne-r modea-za: what time-LOC Enets woman-DEF see-SO:3SGs.SGo d’aza, c&ej d’azulaa m’eon tar’i d’aza. [go.S:3SG yesterday way along just go.S:3SG] “Some time later, the Enets woman sees her going along the road she took yesterday”. (Sorokina & Bolina 2005: 97) (7) Modern Enets mana man’: aba aj, obus& c&’i n’i say.S:3SG PTCL.DICT [sister INTERJ why this not.REAL.S:3SG neri-r, c&aj n’i bat-or? get.up-FREQ.CONN tea not.REAL.S:3SG pour-FREQ.CONN] “He said: Sister, why doesn’t she get up (and) pour me some tea?” (field notes, spontaneous narrative) In all these sentences the structure in question can function as an independent clause: dud’inkaxaD toDaDas& from (5) would mean then “S/he
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brought him/her from Dudinka”; d’aza, c&ej d’azulaa m’eon tar’i d’aza from (6) would mean “(S/he) goes, (s/he) goes along road she took yesterday (literally, along the yesterday way)”; aba aj, obus& c&’i n’i nerir, c&aj n’i bator? from (7) would mean “Sister, why doesn’t she get up (and) pour me some tea?” 2.1.1 Adnominal modification. In this function, the unmarked indicative finite structures are attested both in Pre-Modern and Modern Enets. However, the use of these structures for adnominal modification seems to have increased from Pre-Modern to Modern Enets. Very few clear cases of the phenomena were attested in Pre-Modern Enets, while in Modern elicited data we have significantly more examples of these structures. However, this difference may actually derive from the difference in data type – elicited vs. natural – and not from the real structural change from Pre-Modern to Modern Enets. From a morphosyntactic point of view, the unmarked finite indicative structures in adjectival function are rather to be analyzed as subordinate clauses per se. The syntactic dependence of these structures on the head noun phrase is evidenced by their linear order: they can easily be embedded into the main clause, as in (5). 2.1.2 Complementation. In complement function, unmarked finite indicative structures are regularly attested both in Pre-Modern and Modern Enets. The complement-taking verbs they usually go with are verbs of emotion, perception, cognition and speech production. Only some of these verbs are occasionally attested with complements encoded by other complementation strategies as well, while all other verbs always encode their propositional arguments with unmarked finite indicative structures. The fact that these structures were extensively used for semantic complementation already in Pre-Modern Enets puts a question whether this was an original situation in Enets or whether the influence of Russian syntax, where finite complement clauses predominate, was that strong already in the 1970s to 1990s. One must study Enets texts of earlier periods – i.e., not later than the 1950s, when the state Russification program started3 – to answer this question. Judging from their semantics, sentences of the kind illustrated in (6–7) have a verb with a propositional valency, and one would expect a clause to fill this valence being thus semantically subordinate. However, from a morphosyntactic point of view, there is actually no strong evidence for the subordinate syntactic status of the structures in question in (6–7). The 3
See Vakhtin (2001), Alpatov (1997), and also Grenoble (2004) for details regarding USSR language policy in the region.
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embedding of the finite indicative structures into the clause with the complement-taking verb seems problematic. It was not attested in texts, and in elicitation it was strictly rejected in most cases, while it could also be occasionally allowed by some speakers. It would be useful, thus, to check in future the unmarked finite indicative structures against some further syntactic tests for subordination (see, e.g., Haspelmath 1995, Culicover & Jackendoff 1997). This could be impeded by the moribund status of the language, as most speakers seem to allow unrealistically much if asked about grammaticality during elicitation sessions. 2.2 Finite structures with a verb in indicative mood marked by a conjunction Another type of finite indicative structures are structures whose syntactically subordinate status is clearly marked by a conjunction. However, if the conjunction is eliminated, they can also function as independent clauses, similarly to unmarked finite indicative structures. These structures were attested in complement (8) and adverbial functions (9-10). (8) Modern Enets mut’ b’ije-ep kun’ eTe-j I remember-SO:1SGs.SGo [how father-1SG.NOM.SG te poDuro-go-s& . reindeer harness-DUR.S:3SG-PST] “I remember my father harnessing the reindeer”. (field notes, elicitation) (9) Pre-Modern Enets toz to-jz an’ kasa-da k’ee-ed [as come-R:3SG EMPH brother-3SG.GEN.SG side-DAT.SG] kasa-da ner-ta-gu-s&’ pEa-za. brother-3SG.ACC.SG stand-CAUS-DUR-INF begin-SO:3SGs.SGo “As soon as he reached his brother’s side, he began to stand his brother up” (Sorokina & Bolina 2005:191) (10) Modern Enets toDc& ik ol’ga-eT kuji to-b’i... mana [...] [as Olga-FATHER dead come-NARR.S:3SG] say.S:3SG “As soon as Olga’s late father came, he said […]” (field notes, spontaneous narrative) Complement clauses encoded with the help of these structures were occasionally attested both in Pre-Modern and Modern Enets by verbs of cognition and emotions; the conjunction used the most often here was kun’ “how”.
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As for adverbial relations, indicative finite structures with conjunctions were occasionally attested both in Pre-Modern and Modern Enets for two semantic types of relations: temporal relation (9–11) and locative relation (12– 13). In Pre-Modern Enets we also encountered some cases of concessive relations (14)4. 2.2.1 Temporal relations. In the case of temporal relations the finite indicative structure goes immediately before the semantically main clause. Most often the conjunction toD “as” is used, thus encoding immediate anteriority, as in (9); in Modern Enets it is usually attested in the form of toDc&ik5, as in ex. (10). In Pre-Modern data there were also attested three examples of the structures with the conjunction kuna “when”. In this case a clause with kuna can be embedded into the semantically main clause, pronouncing thus an additional argument for the syntactically subordinate status of these structures. (11) Pre-Modern Enets Nobgutun k’iuz-noju kuna kaja-ku-za once morning-ADV [when sun-DIMIN-3SG.NOM.SG/PL soje oz’i-go-s& ’, bu nod-b’i bunyk mozu […] recently appear-DUR.S:3SG-PST] s/he hear-NARR.S:3SG dog barking “One morning when the sun was just rising he heard a dog barking […]” (Sorokina & Bolina 2005: 212) 2.2.2 Locative relations. Somewhat less often the finite indicative structures with conjunctions are used to encode locative relations. In this case the structure in question may go before, as in Pre-Modern (12), or after the semantically main clause, as in Modern (13). Structures with the conjunction ku “(to) where” encode direction, as in (12) while structures with the conjunction kunyn/kunny “where” encode location per se, as in (13). (12) Pre-Modern Enets ku d’azu-ma-d koma-z, tony d’aza-z. [where go-NMLZ-DAT want-S:1SG] there go-S:1SG “I go where I want (to go)” (Sorokina & Bolina 2005: 140)
4
In Pre-Modern Enets there were also attested isolated uses of finite indicative structures with conjunctions for other adverbial relations; we do not discuss them here because of the paucity of the data. 5 Apparently from the collocation toD c&ikoD “and”, see Sorokina & Bolina (2001: 140).
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(13) Modern Enets myt’ tony kan’i-D kunny kaTa n’e-j d’ir’i. I there leave-S:1SG [where man child-1SG.NOM.SG live.S:3SG] “I went (there), where my son lives” (field notes, elicitation) 2.2.3 Concessive relations. Data from Pre-Modern Enets also contain a few examples of finite indicative structures with the conjunction kun’r’i “however” encoding concession; in all these examples the semantically dependent clause goes before the semantically main clause. (14) kun’r’i jet pon’i-b’i-za, boa e-b’i. [however PTCL do-NARR-SO:3SGs.SGo] bad be-NARR.S:3SG “However he did it, this was bad”. (Sorokina & Bolina 2005:281) There are no Modern Enets examples of these structures rendering concessive relations, but this may well be connected with a limited nature of our Modern data. We would not expect this structure to disappear in Modern Enets. Apart from this doubtful difference, there are no structural changes from PreModern to Modern Enets in the use of finite indicative structures with conjunctions. 2.3 Finite structures with a verb in the indicative mood, marked by a demonstrative These structures are used only as adnominal modifiers. Demonstratives function as relative pronouns, the rest of the structure being the same as in an independent indicative clause. As in the case of finite indicative structures marked by a conjunction, the syntactically subordinate status of finite indicative structures with a demonstrative is clear, as the demonstrative represents by itself a marker of syntactic subordination. (15) Modern Enets en’c&i, c& iki br’igada-xan moT ara, texe d’aDa. person [this.NOM brigade-LOC.SG work.S:3SG] there go.S:3SG “There goes a man that works in a herder-brigade”. (field notes, elicitation) This strategy of relative clause formation has no restrictions on the syntactic position of the relativized noun phrase: even an adjunct can be relativized this way, see (16).
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(16) Modern Enets ugulu-xon boc&ka-j c& i-kun b’i noob’ira-D `mokac&i. corner-LOC.SG butt-1SG.NOM.SG [this-LOC water keep-S:1SG] stand.S:3SG “In the corner there’s a cask where I keep water”. (field notes, elicitation) A relative clause encoded by a finite indicative structure with a demonstrative usually follows its head noun and may, thus, be embedded into the main clause, as was the case both in (15) and (16). This strategy of relative clause formation was not attested in Pre-Modern Enets, and in our Modern Enets data it came up in elicitation only. Therefore, this strategy may be seen as a direct outcome of Russian interference, as in Russian relative clauses are mostly finite clauses containing a relative pronoun6. 3.
Finite structures with a verb in subjunctive mood A finite structure with a verb in subjunctive mood was illustrated in ex. (4) above. The main criterion to identify this structure is its ability to function as an independent non-declarative clause. For example, eb’ s&’i en’is&’ mydys in (4) can be a head of an independent optative sentence, meaning thus “Let my mother not see me!”. Thus, the only difference between indicative finite structures, discussed in the previous section, and subjunctive finite structures, discussed here, is the mood of the verb: zero-marked indicative with proper declarative semantics vs. n’i-..-s&’-marked subjunctive with proper optative semantics.7 Besides, all finite subjunctive structures do not manifest any other marker of dependency, i.e., no conjunction or demonstrative can go with them. These structures were attested in our data only as different-subject adverbial modifiers of goal, as in (4), and as different-subject arguments of the verb koma “want”, as in (17). (17) Modern Enets bu koma onej baDa toxola-n’i-r’i-c& . s/he want.S:3SG [Enets language learn-SUBJ-SO:2DUs.SGo-PST] “He wants you two to learn Enets”. (field data, elicitation) Functioning as an adverbial modifier, such a structure can be embedded into a semantically main clause, as in (4). Therefore, at least when used in this function, it is also a case of syntactic subordination. Unfortunately, the data on 6
Note that it is, however, quite surprising to see demonstrative pronouns, and not interrogative pronouns used in Enets finite relative clause formation: in modern Russian, relative pronouns are the same as interrogative pronouns, and different from demonstrative pronouns. 7 See Tereschenko (1966: 452) and Sorokina (1975, 1987) for more details on subjunctive (‘konjunktiv’) mood semantics in independent sentences.
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different-subject wanting is insufficient to make any claims about the syntactic status of the finite subjunctive structures in this case. Interestingly, these structures were attested only in Modern Enets and only in elicitation, while in Pre-Modern data different-subject goal relations were expressed by a postpositional strategy, as in (18), and different-subject wanting was surprisingly not attested at all in the whole corpus of about 3850 sentences in Sorokina & Bolina (2005). (18) Pre-Modern Enets bus’i pez’i-za kamaza… bazutu-da old_man wood-3SG.ACC.PL prepare.S:3SG [fire-3SG.NOM.SG sojzaan lojdu-ma d’eon. well burn-NMLZ for] “The old man prepared some firewood, in order for his fire to burn well”. (Sorokina & Bolina 2005: 64) This mismatch between Pre-Modern and Modern structures might again be explained by the interference from Russian. The contexts of use of the subjunctive finite structures in Modern Enets are exactly the same contexts where the Russian subjunctive mood (conjunction c&toby + past tense) is used. Besides, in its independent uses, the Russian subjunctive mood also conveys optative-like non-declarative situations. 4.
Conclusion In this paper we have analyzed the possible forms of finite structures used in Forest Enets to encode semantic relations of complementation, adverbial modification and adnominal modification, and the particular functional slots these forms occupy in these semantic domains. Unmarked indicative structures are used for expression of adnominal modification and for expression of semantic arguments of verbs of emotion, perception, cognition and speech production. Indicative structures with conjunctions are used for expression of adverbial modification by location in time or in space, and for expression of semantic arguments of verbs of cognition and emotions. Indicative structures with demonstratives are used occasionally in Modern Enets for expression of adnominal modification. Finally, subjunctive structures were shown to be used in Modern Enets for expression of adverbial modification by different-subject goal, and for expression of different-subject arguments of the verb koma “want”. In most cases the structures described above were attested both in PreModern and Modern Enets, however the increase in frequency of their usage is evident; in some cases, though, new structures arose really recently. The main
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responsibility for this ever-growing usage of finite structures in the encoding of subordinate state of affairs is to be found in interference from Russian morphosyntax. Today many Enets speakers are more proficient in Russian than in Enets, and the others have fairly equal competence in both languages. Therefore, one could claim that the system of subordination in Enets is undergoing a process of rather fast restructuring where a number of crucial roles are transferred from the non-finite structures to the finite ones. The intermediate syntactic status of many finite structures – manifesting either no syntactic dependence, or weak evidence for syntactic dependence – seems to support this thesis. Indeed, a young means of expressing a certain semantic function is generally not expected to possess a clear syntactic profile differentiating it from other means that could equally be used in this function. However, the frequent association of a language structure with a particular function often leads to its grammaticalization, i.e., to its adherence to specific syntactic restrictions, properties, etc. On the latter process, for example, cf. Bybee (1998), Bybee & Hopper (2001) and Haspelmath (to appear). Therefore, it could be suggested that if Enets survives as a living language, some time later the structures analyzed in this paper may well develop a particular syntactic profile of syntactically subordinate structures (e.g., they could start using an obligatory subordinating conjunction, thus following the Russian pattern of finite subordinate clause formation). Abbreviations 1, 2, 3 – 1, 2, 3 person, ABL – ablative, ACC – accusative, ADV – adver-bial marker, CAUS – causative, SUBJ – subjunctive, CONN – connegative (verb form used with negation marker), DAT – dative, DEF – definite, DIMIN – diminutive, DU – dual, DUs – dual subject in subject-object conjugation type, DUR – durative, EMPH – emphatic, FATHER – suffix marking someone’s father (used with proper names), FREQ – frequentative, GEN – genitive, INF – infinitive, INTERJ – interjection, IRR – irrealis, LOC – locative, NARR – narrative, NMLZ – nominalization, NOM – nominative, OBL – oblique case, PART – participle, PL – plural, PST – past, PTCL – particle, PTCL_DICT – speech particle, R – reflexive conjugation type, REAL – realis, S – subject conjugation type, SG – singular, SGo – singular object in subject-object conjugation type, SGs – singular subject in subject-object conjugation type, SO – subject-object conjugation type. REFERENCES Alpatov, Vladimir A. 1997. 150 jazykov i politika: 1917–1997 [150 languages and politics: 1917–1997]. Moscow: Institut Vostokovedenija RAN.
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Anderson, Gregory D. S. 2004. “The Languages of Central Siberia: Introduction and overview”. Languages and Prehistory of Central Siberia ed. by Edward J. Vajda, 1-119. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Bybee, Joan. 1998. “A functionalist approach to grammar and its evolution”. Evolution of Communication 2.249-278. Bybee, Joan & Paul Hopper, eds. 2001. Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic Structure. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Castrén, Matthias A. 1854. Grammatik der samojedischen Sprachen. St. Petersburg: Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften. Cheremisina, Maya I. et al. 1984. Predikativnoe sklonenie prichastij v altajskikh jazykakh [Predicative declension of participles in Altaic languages]. Novosibirsk: Izd. “Nauka. Cheremisina, Maya I. et al. 1986. Strukturnye tipy sinteticheskikh polipredikativnykh konstruktsij v jazykakh raznykh sistem [Structural types of synthetic polypredicative constructions in languages of different typologies]. Novosibirsk: Izd. “Nauka”. Cristofaro, Sonia. 2003. Subordination. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Culicover, Peter W. & Ray Jackendoff. 1997. “Semantic subordination despite syntactic coordination”. Linguistic inquiry 28:2.195-218. Grenoble, Lenore A. 2003. Language Policy in the Soviet Union. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Haspelmath, Martin. 1995. “The Converb as a Cross-Linguistically Valid Category”. Converbs in Cross-Linguistic Perspective ed. by Martin Haspelmath & Ekkehard König, 1-55. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Haspelmath, Martin. To appear. “Creating Economical Morphosyntactic Patterns in Language Change”. Language Universals and Language Change ed. by Jeff Good. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Helimski, Eugen. Ms. Fonetika i morfonologija ènetskogo jazyka v uslovijakh jazykovogo sdviga [Enets phonetics and morphophonology under language shift]. Unpublished manuscript. Prokofjev, Georgij N. 1937. “Ènetskij (enisejsko-samojedskij dialekt) [Enets (Yenisei-Samoyedic dialect)]”. Jazyki i pis’mennost’ narodov Severa [Languages and writing systems of the peoples of the North] ed. by G. N. Prokofjev, 75-90. Moscow & Leningrad: Uchpedgiz. Sorokina, Irina P. 1975. Morfologija glagola ènetskogo jazyka [Verbal morphology in Enets]. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. Leningrad. Sorokina, Irina P. 1981. “Zavisimye predikaty s padezhnymi formantami v ènetskom jazyke [Dependent predicates with case affixes in Enets]”. Padezhi i ikh èkvivalenty v stroe slozhnogo predlozhenija v jazykakh narodov Sibiri [Cases and their equivalents in the structure of complex sentence in the
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languages of the peoples of Siberia] ed. by Maya I. Cheremisina et al. 138148. Novosibirsk: IIFF SO AN SSSR. Sorokina, Irina P. 1985. “Polipredikativnye konstruktsii s poslelogami v ènetskom jazyke [Polypredicative constructions with postpositions in Enets]”. Polipredikativnye konstruktsii v jazykakh raznykh sistem [Polypredicative constructions in the languages of different typologies] ed. by Maya I. Cheremisina et al. 139-148. Novosibirsk: IIFF SO AN SSSR. Sorokina, Irina P. 1987. “Kategorija vremeni-naklonenija v ènetskom jazyke”. [Tense and mood in Enets]. Problemy fonetiki i morfologii jazykov narodov Severa [Problems of phonetics and morphology in the languages of the peoples of the North] ed. Ju. A. Sem, 58-68. Leningrad: Leningradskij Gos. Pedinstitut im. Gertsena. Sorokina, Irina P. & Darja S. Bolina. 2001. Ènetsko-russkij i russko-ènetskij slovar’ [Enets-Russian and Russian-Enets dictionary]. St. Petersburg: Prosveshchenie. Sorokina, Irina P. & Darja S. Bolina. 2005. Ènetskie teksty [Enets texts]. St. Petersburg: Izd. “Nauka”. Tereschenko, Natalja M. 1966. “Ènetskij jazyk [Enets]”. Jazyki narodov SSSR [Languages of the peoples of the USSR], vol. 3. Finno-ugorskie i samodijskie jazyki [Finno-ugric and Samoyedic languages] ed. by Vasilij I. Lytkin & Klara E. Majtinskaja. 438–457. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”. Tereschenko, Natalja M. 1977. Sintaksis samodijskikh jazykov: prostoe predlozhenie [The syntax of Samoyedic languages: simple clause]. Leningrad: Izd. “Nauka”. Tereschenko, Natalja M. 1993. “Enetskij jazyk [Enets]”. Jazyki mira: ural’skie jazyki [Languages of the world: Uralic languages] ed. by K. E. Majtinskaja, 343-348. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”. Urmanchieva, Anna Ju. 2006. “Vremja, vid ili modal’nost’: glagol’naja sistema ènetskogo jazyka”. [Tense, aspect or modality: the Enets verbal system]. Voprosy jazykoznanija 4.88-100. Vakhtin, Nikolaj B. 2001. Jazyki narodov severa v XX veke: ocherki jazykovogo sdviga [Languages of the people of the North in the 20th century: essays on language shift]. St Petersburg: Bulanin.
GRAMMATICIZATION AND RELATIVE CLAUSES IN EASTERN KHANTY OLGA POTANINA Tomsk Polytechnic University 1.
Introduction Relative clauses in Eastern Khanty, an SOV language, are pre-nominal modifiers and clause-initial. Most of the examples below reveal the tendency in Eastern Khanty towards the avoidance of complex sentences: most of the examples represent non-finite (participial) relative clauses and are by far more frequent than finite relative clauses which are more recent and very rare. Most of the sentences resemble a string of clauses, loosely linked, often without any overt syntactic indication of subordination (like overt linkage markers, for instance). But all the clauses seem to perform the main function of subordination to combine several ideas into one linguistic unit. The paratactic character of the Khanty complex sentences reveals the semantic relation between clauses by inference. One of the reasons for considering them relative clauses can be conceptual dependence. There is of course some semantic dependence between clauses. As far as we can tell given the data we had access to, subordination is not well developed in Eastern Khanty. From the point of view of evolution of syntactic constructions, “human languages have had complex sentence structure available throughout recorded history” (Hopper & Traugott 2003: 177) but Khanty preserved the earlier “paratactic” features of clause combining. 2.
Relative clauses in Eastern Khanty To introduce a relative clause in Eastern Khanty interrogative pronouns can be used: kojˆ “who, whose (typically only for persons)”, mo_ƒo_l'i “what” (typically for animals and other non-human animates, as well as for lifeless things), and “what (used possessively)” (Gulya 1966: 82-83). The relative pronoun strategy of relative clause formation in Eastern Khanty is not the main strategy and is infrequent.
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Here are some examples of the use of these pronouns: (1a) kojˆ ´nt´ ropˆlt´-w´l, ´nt´ li-w´l who NEG work-PRES.3SG NEG eat-PRES.3SG “Whoever does not work, does not eat”. (Gulya 1966: 86) (1b) mo_ƒo_l'-a_ koj´mp-ˆn, no_N-a_ m´-l-im what-LAT want-PRES.2SG 2SG-LAT give-PRES-1SG/SG “I give you what you want”. (Gulya 1966: 86) (1c) mo_ƒo_l'i ma_n-a_ mas-w´l, t'u m´ji-ƒil´-ƒa_s what 1SG-LAT must-PRES.3SG DEM give-PAST-3SG “He gave me what I need”. (Gulya 1966: 86) Such constructions appeared in Eastern Khanty under the influence of Russian. Example (1a) is the translation of the well-known Russian proverb. This relative clause forming strategy places the relative clause at the beginning of a sentence and introduces it by a relative pronoun, which may be case marked. All clausal arguments tend to precede the verb. These relative clauses are headless and this strategy does not seem to mark the grammatical function of the missing head in the matrix clause. The grammatical function of the missing argument can be easily identified due to a rather fixed word order. The term ‘headless’ is sometimes applied to relatives meaning “the one who”, “whoever”. Examples (1a, b, c) given above demonstrate hypotactic combining of clauses: the matrix clause and the subordinate clause are interdependent. Relative clauses in examples (1a, b) are introduced by relative pronouns that refer to an antecedent, while (1c) contains a resumptive pronoun t'u that marks the return to the matrix clause. Examples (1a, b) are different from (1c): in the former we find no trace of the missing head noun while in the latter this position is occupied by the demonstrative pronoun t'u which is a highly referring alternative and corresponds to the non-referring and indefinite interrogative pronoun. Probably in (1a, b) the missing head has no specific semantic content and sentences are more general (generic statements) and denote some fact (which is one of the uses of the Present Tense). Example (1c) is more specific and the use of the Past Tense requires this argument that is referentially identical to the interrogative pronoun that introduces the relative clause. The use of demonstrative and deictic particles as an argument of one clause to refer to another whole clause is an important device for indicating some relationship among sentences. The use of tense and aspect has the same function (Mithun 1984: 498), when the relationship is that of temporal
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sequence. The following examples demonstrate the obligatory presence of the highly referring argument in the main clause – toƒ´pa – that is coreferential with an entire clause: (2a) kol't'´ƒ jo_-s-´n, toƒ´-pa m´n-a_ whence come-PAST-2SG there-ALL go-IMPR.2SG “From where you came, there you go”. (Gulya 1966: 96) (2b) ko&l´-pa kit-l-im, toƒ´-pa m´n-a_ti where-ALL send-PRES-1SG/SG there-ALL go-IMPR.3SG “Where I send him, there he should go”. (Gulya 1966: 142) These examples also express some general idea and the use of the Imperative Mood in the main clause implies, as in (2a), that it does not matter where one came from, one should go back, or, as in (2b), that it is more important that one obeys the order and no matter where one is sent to, one should go. Moreover, toƒ´pa is used to refer to the place that is not visible, not concrete and is more independent of the context. These examples are not typical for the Khanty culture where speaking contributes much to general communication. It is more characteristic of written languages in which reference is often made to entities and events that are not visible to the writer or reader (Perkins 1992: 67). Eastern Khanty makes a robust use of various non-finite constructions for a variety of functions. Non-finite embedded subordinate clauses are the most productive means of making complex sentences in Eastern Khanty. Often syntactically and semantically these clause-size modifiers bear a systematic relation to full-fledged clauses. In Eastern Khanty, which is primarily a spoken language, the more concrete word taƒˆ “place” seems to be a major and obligatory device of forming relative clauses and denoting direction or location: (3a) t'utˆ nomˆƒsˆ-l-´m, taƒa-pa ap-ˆm joƒ´n-a_ k´l-as, thus think-PRES-1SG place-LAT father-POSS.1SG river-LAT die-PAST.3SG lo_ƒ´nta pa_ taƒˆ-n´ joƒ´n t'el´ƒ-´ki surely other place-LOC river not frozen-PRED “So (I) think: probably (my) father drowned where the river is not frozen”. (Tereshkin 1961: 105) (3b) kul wel-ta_-l taƒˆ-j-a wa_n t´ƒˆ kˆt'-´s fish kill-NPP-3SG place-EP-LAT near place exist-PAST.3SG “That place where he was fishing was not far”. (Tereshkin 1961: 106)
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(3c) k´lƒos kartovja amt-´m taƒˆ-j-a joƒ-m-am´n, kolkhoz potatoes put-PP place-EP-LAT come-PP-1DU ma_ lo_ƒ-a_, ´t'-ˆm-a, t'u ko_l at-l-´m 1SG 3SG-LAT brother-POSS.1SG-LAT DEM word say-PRES-1SG “When we approached the place where the kolkhoz grows potatoes, I say to him, my elder brother”. (Tereshkin 1961: 106) Examples (3a, b, c) represent a relatively explicit type, i.e., the case when an overt noun phrase can be found in both clauses. The relative clause constructions (3a, b) are somewhat emphatic constructions which foreground some part of the sentence (similar to English cleft sentences). Example (3a) represents a more complex construction of a sentential complement of the verb with an embedded relative clause with a finite verb, while (3b) and (3c) contain participial relative clauses. Moreover, (3a) has another structural peculiarity, as the relativized position is case marked while participial construction in (3b) allows relativization of unmarked arguments. Since the NPs in (3a) already contain case markers, additional use of relative pronouns is not important for maintaining co-reference. As illustrated by examples (3a, b, c), in Eastern Khanty taƒˆ “place” is a frequent device for relative clause formation indicating direction or location. However, in the examples below, taƒˆ “place” is no longer the head of the relative clause construction: (4a) m´N pu_t'k-a_l'i lulp´nˆ-t´ taƒˆ kol´nt´-ƒal-oƒ 1PL bird-DIMIN sing-NPP place listen-PAST-1PL “We listened to the birds singing (lit., “birds’ singing place”)”. (Gulya 1966: 92) (4b) lop´l-t´ j´-min taƒˆ angle-NPP become-CONV place “Fishing” (= “place that has become fishing”) (Gulya 1966: 137) (4c) ma_ ˆl-´lˆnt´-l-´m iƒ-n´ ma_n-t 1SG down-lie-PRES-1SG bear-LOC 1SG-ACC nu-li-t´ taƒˆ ´nt´ wu-t-am-a up-eat-NPP place NEG see-IMP.P-1SG-ILLAT “I lay down (so as) not to see the bear ripping me apart”. (= “the bear’s place ripping me apart”) (Gulya 1966: 129) This process turns a relative clause construction into a noun phrase denoting a more abstract phenomenon that “place”. The analysis of examples (4a, b, c) suggest that the postpositional noun taƒˆ “place” is undergoing
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grammaticalization, and now turns into a nominalizer performing the function of linguistic representation of highly abstract notions for which Eastern Khanty lacks nouns. The original locative meaning of taƒˆ “place” limits the use of this nominalizer to the relative clause constructions. But now it has assumed a more general abstract meaning as the original locative meaning “place” has bleached out. The noun is gradually undergoing desemanticization. Moreover, examples (5a, b, c) below demonstrate a case of the postpositional noun taƒˆ “place” taking on a different, and more abstract temporal meaning. The stable syntactic position of this nominalizer, together with its occurrence in certain combinations, contributes to the loss of the referential meaning of this word. The lexeme “place” has acquired some grammatical properties of a functional word, namely, in examples under (4) and (5) functioning as a nominalizer it is not marked for case, it does not have plural and dual forms and is used in non-finite relative clause constructions only. The degree of grammaticization of taƒˆ is high due to its stable and fixed syntactic position. Most of the relative clauses with the nominalizer taƒˆ serve to express the time of an action or other abstract notions: (5a) ajƒ´ wo&l-´m taƒˆ little be-PP NMLZ “The place that was little”. (=childhood) (Csepregi 2005) (5b) ma&ki wo&l-´m taƒˆ past be-PP NMLZ “The place that was in the past”. (Csepregi 2005) (5c) ´jnam to&N´mt´-t´ taƒˆ to&j-´l everything understand-NPP NMLZ have-PRES.3SG “Everything has sense”. (Ajpin 2003: 81) The nominalizer taƒˆ “place” seems to be found mainly in the Eastern dialects of Khanty. Eastern Khanty has most of the cross-linguistically attested nominalizers, including qu “man”, ot “thing”, wer “affair”. Two different ways of forming relative clauses in Khanty (with a finite verb and an interrogative pronoun and with a participial verb and no relative pronoun) can be explained in terms of underlying causal principles of possible change in language type as the result of areal contacts with the speakers of a different language type (in this case SVO Russian language of their neighbors). Hopper & Traugott (2003: 126) give the example of Estonian, historically an OV language with a prenominal participial relative clause, which under the influence of its Germanic and Slavic neighbors has assumed some VO features
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and the newer type of relative clause formation — with a finite verb and a relative pronoun. The participial constructions, illustrate a process that is common in Eastern Khanty as well as typologically across languages: the conversion of a finite verb phrase into a component of a noun phrase in another clause, a typically pre-nominal clause-initial attributive nominal modifier. Most Eastern Khanty examples demonstrate use of the gap strategy, where the missing co-referent argument is omitted without a trace. According to Givón, such languages may simply extend their discourse anaphora strategy to the more syntactic environment of relative clauses (Givón 2001: 185). The examples below also represent the result of nominalization, with clauses having less of a verbal character. Perfect participles designate a resultant state, while imperfect participles denote more complex, verb-like relations. (6a) ma_ wer-m-a_m rˆt 1SG do-PP-POSS.1SG boat “The boat I have made”. (Field Notes) (6b) no_N m´n-t-a_n lo_k 2SG go-NPP-POSS.2SG way “The way along which you go”. (Field Notes) The majority of the Eastern Khanty examples demonstrate this nominalization strategy when the matrix clause has fully finite syntax while relative clauses are nominalized. The ‘nominal’ examples in Eastern Khanty function exactly like the examples of adjectives combined with nominal inflections: it refers to an object involved in the action denoted by the verb, not the action itself (Croft 1991: 75). Eastern Khanty permits the relativization of subjects, direct objects, locatives, and instrumentals: (7a) jaƒ m´n-´m-´n qat-´t j´m qat-´w people go-PP-3PL house-PL good house-ATTR “The people who had abandoned the(ir) houses (now) have good houses”. (Field Notes) (7b) ma_ kolente-l-´m mer´m muƒuj jatesw-w´l aNk-im 1SG listen-PRES-1SG tale DET tell-PRES.3SG mother-POSS.1SG “I listen to the tale that my mother is telling”. (Field Notes)
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(7c) tS'ul'a_n´ ´j´mkit´m quj-t ´nt´ qoƒ nom´ƒs´k-min then young man-PL NEG long think-CONV noƒ wer-´t m´n-´t toƒ-l-a down do-PRES.3PL go-PAST.3PL DET-3SG-ILLAT qo w´l-´t tS'u jaƒ where live-PAST.3PL DET people “Then the young men, not thinking much, made arrows and went where those people lived”. (Field Note) (7d) ma_ wel-ka_s-im ko_tS´ƒ` ti ni o_ƒo_-w´l n'an' 1SG do-PAST-1SG knife DEM woman cut-PRES.3SG bread “I made the knife which that woman cuts the bread with”. (Field Notes) There are also occasional (7a) that show embedded post-head but prematrix non-finite relative clauses with no relativizer. Increasingly in the recent data there are examples of the relative clauses not only following the head but also coded by the finite dependent clauses. In examples (7a–d) the syntactic and semantic features of the relative clauses show that these clause-size nominal modifiers bear systematic identity to full-fledged independent clauses. 3.
Conclusion The investigation of the relativization strategies in Eastern Khanty demonstrates that the most frequent non-finite relative clause constructions gave rise to the nominalizer taƒˆ “place”. This element is undergoing grammaticalization and serves now to express highly abstract ideas like “childhood”, “the past”, “fishing”, etc. for which Eastern Khanty lacks nouns. The postpositional noun taƒˆ “place” has undergone a semantic shift, resulting in a more abstract temporal meaning. The stable syntactic position of this nominalizer, along with its high frequency in certain combinations, contributes to the loss of the referential meaning of this word. Abbreviations ALL – allative case; ATTR – attributive; CONV – converb; DEM – demonstrative; ILLAT – illative case; IMP – imperative; INF – infinitive; INSTR – instrumental case; LAT – lative case; LOC – locative case; NEG – negative; NMLZ – nominalizer; NPP – non-past participle; O – object; POSS – possessive; PL – plural; PRED – predicate; PRES – present tense; PROLAT – prolative case; PP – past participle; SG – singular.
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REFERENCES Ajpin, Eremej. 2003. Ja slushaju zemlju [I listen to the earth]. St. Petersburg: Prosveshenie. Croft, William. 1991. Syntactic categories and grammatical relations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Csepregi, Martha. 2005. “Prichastnye oboroty v khantyjskom jazyke”. Paper presented at the 10th Finno-Ugric Congress, August 15–21, 2005. JoshkarOla. Givón, Talmy. 2001. Syntax. Vol. 2. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Gulya, Janos. 1966. Eastern Ostyak Chrestomathy. (Indiana University Publications. Uralic and Altaic Series, Vol. 51). The Hague, Netherlands: Mouton de Gruyter. Hopper, Paul & Elizabeth Traugott. 2003. Grammaticalization. Cambridge University Press. Mithun, Marianne. 1984. “How to Avoid Subordination”. Proceedings of the 10th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistic Society, February 17–20. 493–509. University of California: Berkeley Linguistic Society. Perkins, Revere. 1992. Deixis, grammar and culture. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Potanina, Olga. 2005. “Relativization strategies in Eastern Khanty”. Proceedings of the University of Cambridge Third Postgraduate Conference in Language Research, 403-410. Cambridge: CIRL. Tereshkin, Nikolaj. 1961. Ocherki dialektov khantyjskogo jazyka. [Grammar sketches of Khanty dialects]. Moscow & Leningrad: Akademija Nauk SSSR.
TOWARD A SEMANTIC TYPOLOGY OF COORDINATION1 ELENA RUDNITSKAYA Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow ELENA URYSON Vinogradov Russian Language Institute, Moscow 1.
Introduction The object of our study is the semantics of coordination. The present article investigates two types of linguistic units: 1) Main coordinate conjunctions linking clauses, cf. the Russian i, a, no (cf. Poshel dozhd’, i stalo prokhladnej; Poshel dozhd’, no prokhladnej ne stalo), or the English and, but (cf. It started raining and got cooler; It started raining, but didn’t get cooler); 2) Semantically similar entities (affixes) in a language without Europeanlike conjunctions or syntactic coordination, cf. Korean -ko, -myense, -se, (u)na, -ciman, -(nu)ntey. Coordinate conjunctions/affixes in a given language are a subsystem of linguistic units. We aim to establish semantic oppositions that are typologically relevant for such a subsystem. A typological classification of coordinate constructions has already been created (Haspelmath 2004). However, the account of the semantic features of a conjunction/affix is restricted in this study by the traditional terms ‘conjunctive’ or ‘adversative’. We will use more detailed semantic meta-language and describe the meaning of ‘conjunctive’ (or ‘coordinative’) and ‘adversative’ units with a set of simple semantic elements. In this paper, we will explore two hypotheses: (A) Coordinating conjunctions/affixes in different languages express a unitary set of meanings. So, one can to some degree predict the meaning of coordinate conjunctions/affixes in any given language. We ignore idiomatic semantic components that are irrelevant for typology. (B) The choice of a conjunction in the P-Q coordination construction can be conditioned by two factors: (a) the meaning of P and Q; (b) the strategy of 1
We thank Hwan Sogen for her extensive help in getting and discussing the Korean data. We also thank Maria Polinsky and our LENCA-3 audience for helpful comments. Elena Uryson is grateful for financial support from “RGNF” (project 06-04-00289a), “OIFN RAN”, and the Russian President Science Program (project NSH-5611.2006.6).
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linking P and Q chosen by the Speaker. The set of such strategies is universal. Languages, however, differ in strategies preferred in this or that context/ situation. The present investigation is the first stage of checking these hypotheses. As a start, we have taken the set of meaning oppositions contained in a sub-system of Russian coordinate conjunctions i, a, no (Uryson 2000, 2004a,b, 2006). In the paper we test whether Korean data meet these oppositions; we also draw English data. 2.
Coordination patterns in Korean Clause coordination constructions in Korean (an Altaic language) can be divided into two types. For the sake of simplicity, we consider only bi-clausal coordination: a) The predicate in each clause P and Q is a full verb; P and Q are linked by a connector (an adverb-like word, not an affix). Such structures can be represented as PFINAL CONN QFINAL. (1) [Swuni-nun Yenge-lul kaluchy-ess-ta] kuliko [Swuni-TOP English-ACC teach-PAST-DECL] KULIKO [Hakswu-nun Ilpon mal-ul pauw-ess-ta] [Hakswu-Top Japanese word-ACC learn-PAST-DECL] “Swuni taught English, and Hakswu studied Japanese”. b) Q’s predicate has a full form, but P’s predicate is a converb, cf. (Haspelmath 1995). In a coordinate sentence, this converb ends with a “coordinate” affix. The scheme of such sentences is: PCONV-AFF QFINAL. In (2), the converb kaluchi-ko has the -ko “conjunctive” affix. (2) [[Swuni-nun Yenge-lul kaluchi] -ko [[Swuni-TOP English-ACC teach] -KO [Hakswu-nun Ilpon mal-ul pauw]] -ess-ta [Hakswu-TOP Japanese word-ACC study]] -PAST-DECL “Swuni taught English, and Hakswu studied Japanese”. There are different ways of looking at the syntactic status of (1) and (2). In (1), it is not entirely clear whether we face one complex sentence or two subsequent sentences in a two-sentence micro-text. An alternative translation of (1) would be “Swuni taught English. And Hakswu studied Japanese”. Cases like (2) can be regarded both as coordinate and subordinate because they meet only some of syntactic coordination tests and criteria, cf. (Yi 1994, Yoon 1994, Rudnitskaya 1998). In this article we do not consider this issue.
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In this paper we restrict ourselves to affix coordination such as (2). We consider only the affixes -ko, -se, -una, -ciman, leaving out -myense and nuntey for the sake of brevity). This set was obtained via translating Russian sentences with i, a, no into Korean. Russian sentences can also be translated with connectors as in (1), but in our data, connectors occur much more rarely. Russian, English and Korean conjunctive and adversative units are given in the Table 1. Conjunctive Adversative
Russian i a, no
English and but
Korean -ko, -se -ciman, -(u)na
Table 1. Cross-linguistic comparison of conjunction forms and functions
3.
Semantic oppositions in the system of coordinate conjunctions/ affixes The only distinctive features usually employed for the semantic analysis and classification of coordinate conjunctions/ affixes are ‘conjunctive’ and “adversative”. Note that we do not discuss the analysis of conjunctive affixes as contextual converb affixes (Alpatov & Podlesskaya 1995). These two features cannot adequately account for all uses of the coordinate units. In particular, you cannot identify the class of certain uses of a (cf. Kolja bogatyj – Vanja bednyj “Nick is rich, and/ but John is poor”). We use a more detailed set of features that reveals the semantic essence of the ‘conjunctive’ and ‘adversative’ units and therefore accounts for meta-textual functions of the conjunctions/affixes. As a result, we can fix typologically relevant distinctions both in the classes of conjunctive and adversative units. Our description is based on two well-known ideas, cf. for instance (Lakoff 1971, Carlson 1985, Blakemore 1987, Kitis 2000, Levin 1970, Sannikov 1989, Uryson 2000, 2004a,b, 2006). First, an adversative conjunction (such as but, Russian no) is associated with “cancelled expectation”. Cf.: (3) (P) It started raining in the morning, BUT (Q) the children were taken to the beach. Here the first conjunct P induces the expectation “the children were not taken to beach”, and this expectation falls in the second conjunct Q. Second, a conjunction such as and, Russian i, is the unmarked member of the sub-system. In particular, the conjunction and/ i confirms the expectation, as illustrated in (4): (4) (P) It started raining in the morning, AND (Q) the children were not taken to the beach.
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Here the first conjunct P induces an expectation “the children were not taken to beach”, and the second conjunct Q coincides with this expectation. A serious difficulty for the semantic analysis of coordinate conjunctions is that they are used not only in cases of ‘cancelled’ or ‘confirmed’ expectations, but also in other contexts: (5) (P) The sun hid behind a cloud, BUT (Q) then showed again. According to the analysis above, the expectation in (5) would be something like “the sun is going to be behind a cloud for a long time or forever”. However, P in (5) does not induce any expectations of this sort. Such contexts require additional analysis. Cf. also (6). (6) (P) Nick is rich, BUT (Q) John is poor. In (6), but does not obviously imply any ‘cancelled’ expectations. In Russian contexts such as (6), the conjunction a is used; this use of a is called “a of comparison” by Russian grammarians. A goal of the present article is to describe cases like the ones illustrated in (5) and (6). It is natural to interpret a ‘cancelled’ expectation as contrariness-toexpectation. Therefore, the main feature used in our account is ‘in accordance with vs. contrary to expectation’. A contrariety to expectation is marked by an adversative conjunction/affix; an accordance to expectation — by a conjunctive one. If, however, a language has more than one adversative or conjunctive unit (such as Russian and Korean), the choice of a concrete entity depends on the nature of the expectation. The feature of accordance/contrariety to expectation thus falls into several sub-features. 3.1 Expectation based on prior knowledge of the scenario In the P-Q coordination construction, the first conjunct P induces an expectation based on our knowledge of the reality and its laws, that is, of scenarios. The second conjoint Q denotes a situation that accords to or contradicts this expectation. 3.1.1 Correspondence to the “scenario” expectation. The simplest case involves a situation P, which is the reason for situation Q, or in other words, Q is implied by P; as in (4). Cf. also (7a). (7a) (P) Temno, I (Q) nichego ne vidno “(P) It is dark, AND (Q) you cannot see anything”.
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Here a situation like P typically induces the situation described in Q. So, P induces an expectation ‘nothing can be seen’, with Q expressing the expected situation. Cf. the Korean equivalent in (7b): (7b) (P) Etwuwe-SE / Etwup-KO, (P) dark-SE /-KO, (Q) amwu kes-to poi-ci anh-nun-ta (Q) any thing-ALSO be-seen-CONV not-PRES-DECL “(P) It is dark, AND (Q) you cannot see anything”. Ex. (8a) illustrates another case: (8a) (P) Temno, I (Q) u nas net fonarja “(P) It is dark, AND (Q) we have no lantern”. Situations like P and Q usually cause the same situation “nothing can be seen”. The Korean equivalent appears in (8b): (8b) (P) Etwup-KO/ *Etwuwe-SE, (P) dark-KO/ *dark-SE (Q) wuli-hanthye-nun tung-i eps-ta (Q) we-LOC-TOP lantern-NOM be.NEG-DECL “(P) It is dark, AND (Q) we have no lantern”. In (8a) and (8b), both P and Q induce the expectation “nothing can be seen”. So in (8a), Q confirms the expectation already induced by P. P and Q are both reasons for a certain situation R. These examples require some commentary. Korean, unlike Russian or English, has two conjunctive units: -se and -ko. The morpheme -se has a semantic component ‘P is the reason for Q’. That is why -se cannot be used in (8a). -Ko does not involve any casual relation between P and Q, neither it marks the absence of this relation. Thus, -ko is possible both in (7a) and (8a). If -ko is used in (7), the causal relation between P and Q is implied from the context. Cf. also (11a), (12b), (13a) and (14a). English and Russian do not differentiate between sentences such as (7a) and (8a). Both types require and, i. 3.1.2 A cancelled scenario expectation. We have distinguished two types of accordance to expectation. Types of contrariety are the same. In the simplest case the second conjoint Q negates the expectation, as in (3). Cf. also: (9a) (P) Temno, A/ NO (Q) my vse vidim “(P) It is dark, BUT (Q) we see everything”.
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Here, a situation like P usually causes a situation “not-Q”; so, P induces an expectation “nothing can be seen”. Q “we can see everything” cancels this expectation.]. Example (9a) gives the Korean equivalent: (9b) (P) Etwup-CIMAN/ Etwuw-UNA, (P) dark-CIMAN/ dark-UNA (Q) wuli-hanthye-nun motun ke-i (Q) we-LOC-TOP all thing-NOM “(P) It is dark, BUT (Q) we see everything”.
poi-n-ta. be.seen-PRES-DECL
Here P expresses a typical reason for not-Q. Therefore, P induces an expectation of not-Q. The adversative in (9a) and (9b) corresponds to the conjunctive in (7a) and (7b). The Russian sentence and its English equivalent in (10a) illustrate another type of contrariety-to-expectation: (10a) (P) Temno, NO (Q) u nas est’ fonar’ “(P) It is dark, BUT (Q) we have a lantern”. Example (10b) gives the Korean equivalent: (10b) (P) Etwup-CIMAN/ Etwuw-UNA, (P) dark-CIMAN/ dark-UNA (Q) wuli-hanthye-nun tung-i (Q) we-LOC-TOP lantern-NOM “(P) It is dark, BUT (Q) we have a lantern”.
iss-ta exist-DECL
In (10a) and (10b), P induces the same expectation as in (9a) (“nothing can be seen”). But Q (“we have a lantern”) does not directly cancel this expectation, but instead gives an additional sufficient reason for the expectation to be cancelled. So, P and Q are two reasons for a not-R (“something can be seen”). Example (10a), with an adversative conjunction, corresponds to (8a) with a coordinating conjunction. For the sake of brevity, we will not consider other types of adversative contexts here and will limit ourselves to a few comments on the example already discussed. English has only one adversative but; it is used in both cases under discussion. Korean and Russian each have two morphologically distinct adversatives: -una and -ciman; no and a. As far as we could ascertain, Korean adversatives -ciman and -una have no semantic differences. There is only stylistic distinction between them: -una is more literal, but -ciman is neutral and often used in a spoken discourse. We do
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not consider syntactic distinction between -una and -ciman not directly relevant to the semantic topic of this paper. Russian adversative conjunctions are most interesting. In case (i), both can be used. Subtle semantic distinctions between them are described in (Sannikov 1989, Paducheva 1997, Uryson 2004a). In Russian sentences such as (10), no is normally used. But in a reply a is natural: -Ne khodite tuda! Temno! – A u nas fonar’ est’! “Don’t go there! It is dark! – But we have a lantern!” 3.2 An expectation related to the “inertness” of consciousness The Russian, English and Korean examples in (11a) and (11b) illustrate what can be called the “inertness” of consciousness, as the coordinating conjunctions linking the second clause of these sentences express an expectable elaboration of the situation expressed in the first clause: (11a) (P) Utrom nachalsja dozhd’ I (Q) lil ves’ den’. “(P) It started raining in the morning, AND (Q) (it) poured all day long”. (11b) (P) Achim-ey (P) morning-LOC
pi-ka rain-NOM
o-ki sicakhay-ss-KO, go-NOMIN begin-PAST-KO
(Q) halwu congil ssotacy-ess-ta (Q) day entire pour-PAST-DECL “(P) It started raining in the morning, AND (Q) (it) poured all day long”. One could ask whether there is any ‘confirmed expectation’ in such sentences. In (11a) and (11b), P introduces a certain situation (‘it started raining’). Having fixed P in his consciousness, the subject/ reader/ hearer gets used to it, so to say, gets ‘tuned’ in to it. It is kind of difficult to get tuned to a new situation. In other words, because of the ‘inertness’ of the consciousness, we are ready for the rain to continue rather than to stop. This ‘expectation’ (or, better said, ‘tuning’) holds not because of any scenario (if the rain starts, it may or may not continue for a long time), but because of the inertness of consciousness. Therefore, Q “the rain poured all day” confirms this ‘tuning’ of consciousness; Q accords to ‘expectation’. In this case, a conjunctive is normally used. An ‘adversative’ illustration is provided by the Russian and English examples in (12a) and their Korean equivalent in (12b): (12a) (P) Solnce sprjatalos’ za oblako, NO/A (Q) potom pokazalos’ opjat’. “(P) The sun hid behind a cloud, BUT (Q) then showed again”. (12b) (P) Hay-ka
kwulum
twi-lo
swum-ess-CIMAN/-UNA,
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(P) sun-NOM
cloud
back-DIR
hide-PAST-CIMAN/-UNA
(Q) taum-ey tasi naw-ass-ta. (Q) later-LOC once.more show-PAST-DECL “(P) The sun hid behind a cloud, BUT (Q) then showed again”. Here, the situation P “the sun is behind a cloud and does not shine” is fixed in the consciousness, and the subject is ready for perceiving it. In other words, this situation is ‘expected’ to keep. The expectation holds not because of any scenario (if the sun hides behind a cloud, it may or may not stay there for a long time), but because of the inertness of consciousness. Therefore, Q “the sun then showed again” cancels this ‘tuning’ of consciousness. Thus, Q contradicts the ‘expectation’; in this case, an adversative is normally used. ‘Expectation’ due to the inertness of consciousness is an important case for us because its analysis allows one to understand the meta-text (discourse) functions of conjunctives and adversatives. These functions are closely related to strategies of linking P and Q chosen by the Speaker. We will have a brief outlook on this issue. 4.
Strategies of linking P and Q In this section, we consider Speaker’s different strategies that determine the choice of conjunctives vs. adversatives. We show that in certain contexts, Russian, English, and Korean differ in strategies preferred. 4.1 Different strategies in a given language Sometimes we can use an adversative or a conjunctive for describing the same situation. Cf. examples (12a) and (12b), which contain adversative conjunctions with the coordinating conjunctions in Russian and English (13a) and Korean (13b): (13a) (P) Solnce sprjatalos’ za oblako I (Q) potom pokazalos’ opjat’. “(P) The sun hid behind a cloud, AND (Q) then showed again”. (13b) (P) Hay-ka (P) sun-NOM
kwulum cloud
twi-lo swum-ess-KO, back-DIR hide-PAST-KO
(Q) taum-ey tasi naw-ass-ta. (Q) later-LOC once.more show-PAST-DECL “(P) The sun hid behind a cloud, AND (Q) then showed again”. In (13a, b), P has a general interpretation “something happens to the sun”. Therefore, the consciousness is ‘tuned’ to changes with the sun going on. In other words, the state of affairs “happenings with the sun” will keep, or
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something else will happen to the sun. Q “the sun showed again” confirms this expectation. So, a conjunctive marks accordance to ‘expectation’. In (12a, b), P has a more specific interpretation “the sun hid behind a cloud”. The tuning of the consciousness (the ‘expectation’) induced is that the sun will stay behind the cloud for a considerable time. The second conjoint Q “the sun showed again” cancels this expectation; an adversative is used. In this case, the choice of an adversative or a conjunctive depends on the Speaker’s interpretation of the situation P. We believe that in any language with conjunctives and adversatives, the choice between them can depend on this factor. 4.2 Distinctions between languages (strategies in comparison contexts) The languages under discussion differ in strategies used in some contexts. The Russian, English and Korean (14a) examples provide a sample comparison context. (14) [Spoken to compare two friends.] (P) Kolja bogatyj, (Q) Vanja bednyj. “(P) Nick is rich, AND/ BUT (Q) John is poor”. (14a) (P) Kkollya-nun (P) Nick-TOP
pwuca-KO/-CIMAN/-UNA rich-KO/-CIMAN/-UNA
(Q) Panya-nun kananha-ta (Q) John-TOP poor-DECL “(P) Nick is rich, AND/ BUT (Q) John is poor”. Here, Russian allows only the adversative conjunction a, whereas English and Korean often allow both an adversative and a conjunctive (but and and; -ko and -ciman/-una). The situation of comparison presupposes three components: (a) the (two) compared objects; (b) the base of comparison; (c) the result of comparison (in our case, the difference between the objects). The Speaker can specially highlight one of these three components. For the Russian sentence in (13a), it is important that first Nick and then John is in focus. The change of the object in focus is marked by the adversative a. P is about Nick, it induces the expectation (the ‘tuning’) that Q will be about the same object as P (also about Nick). The expectation is due to the inertness of consciousness. However, John is the focus of Q. The expectation induced by P is cancelled; an adversative is used. Russian thus highlights the change of object in focus, as well as the difference between the objects; cf. Kalkova & Podlesskaya (2001), Uryson (2004b).
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English uses two strategies in such contexts. According to one of these strategies, the adversative but is chosen for linking P and Q. But marks the contrast between the compared objects; this contrast breaks the inertness of the consciousness. That is why the adversative can be used in (13). According to the other strategy, the conjunctive and is chosen in the same case. The conjunctive can be used here because P and Q have a joint component in the situation of comparison. It is the base of comparison (in (13), Nick’s and John’s incomes). This component gets fixed in P and remains in Q. The base of comparison’s not changing in Q accords to “tuning” of the Speaker’s consciousness induced by P; so and can be also used in (14). Korean possesses the same two strategies as English does for expressing these types of meanings. A different situation pertains in the case of dialog or narration shaped as comparison. Example (15a) shows a Russian dialog between persons A and B, the same is reproduced for Korean in (15b). (15a) A: B: “A: B:
Chto delajut deti? Katja risuet, A Petja s koshkoj igraet. What are the children doing? (P) Kate is drawing, AND/BUT (Q) Peter is playing with the cat”.
In this sentence, BUT requires a special continuation, such as “as always”, expressing irony and disapproval. (15b) A: Ai-tul-un mwues-ul ha-ko iss-e yo? child-PLUR-TOP what-ACC do-CONV be-INF POLITE B: Kkacya-nun kulim-ul kuli-KO/-CIMAN/-UNA, Kate-TOP picture-ACC draw-KO/-CIMAN/-UNA Ppeyccya-nun koyangi-lang nol-a yo Peter-TOP cat-COMIT play-INF POLITE Even though (15a, b) resembles a comparison context; the Speaker does not compare Kate and Peter, but instead simply reports what are they doing. It is important that Kate and Peter are doing different things. The Russian sentence in (15a) uses the same ‘adversative’ strategy as for sample comparison. In English, the conjunctive and is preferred in such contexts. And is used here because P and Q have a joint component (‘general topic’ - ‘children’s actions’). P fixes this component; Q keeps it. The base of comparison’s not changing in Q accords to “tuning” of the Speaker’s consciousness in P, so and can be used in (15a). But if the Speaker wants to express irony, sarcasm, etc., s/he can also employ non-standard strategies and use but in cases like this.
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In the Korean equivalent (15a), one can choose between ‘adversative’ and ‘conjunctive’ strategies, similar to sample comparison in (14a, b). Thus, dealing with the choice of these strategies, Russian is the most rigid language, Korean is the most democratic one, whereas English is somewhere in the middle. 5.
Conclusions The main coordinate conjunctions have often been described in terms of ‘confirmed/cancelled expectations’. We have fixed two psychological types of expectations. The first type is already well described; the expectation is based on our common knowledge (probably shaped as scenarios/frames). The expectation of the second type emerges due to the ‘inertness’ of the mind. ‘Confirmed expectation’ of any type is marked by a conjunctive. ‘Cancelled expectation’ of both types is marked by an adversative. Finally, the languages under discussion differ in preferred strategies of conjunctive/adversative item choice. REFERENCES Alpatov, V. M. & V. I. Podlesskaya. 1995. “Converbs in Japanese”. Converbs in Cross-Linguistic Perspective ed. by Martin Haspelmath & Ekkehard König, 465-486. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Blakemore, Diana. 1987. Semantic Constraints on Relevance. Oxford: Blackwell. Carlson L. 1985. Dialogue Games: An approach to discourse analysis. Dordrecht: Reidel. Haspelmath, Martin. 1995. “The Converb as a Cross-Linguistically Valid Category”. Converbs in cross-linguistic perspective ed. by Martin Haspelmath & Ekkehard König, 1-56. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Haspelmath, Martin 2004. “Coordinating Constructions: An overview”. Coordinating Constructions, Typological Studies in Language ed. by Martin Haspelmath, 3-40. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Kalkova, T. & V. I. Podlesskaya. 2001. “The Order of Syntactic Constituents vs. the Order of Discourse Units: The case of Russian adversative constructions”. Item Order: Its variety and linguistic and phonetic consequences ed. by Bohumil Palek & Osamu Fujimura, 377-397. Prague: Karolinum Press. Kitis, Eliza. 2000. “Connectives and frame theory: The case of hypotextual antinomial ‘and’”. Pragmatics and Cognition 8:2.357-409. Lakoff, Robin 1971. “If’s, And’s, and But’s about Conjunction”. Studies in Linguistic Semantics, 114-149. New York: Holt, Reinhart & Williams.
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Levin, Yu. I. 1970. “Ob odnoj gruppe sojuzov russkogo jazyka” [About one group of Russian conjunctions]”. Mashinnyj perevod i prikladnaja lingvistika [Machine translation and applied linguistics] 13.64-87. Paducheva, E. V. 1997. “Egocentricheskaja semantika sojuzov a i no [Egocentric semantics of Russian conjunctions a and no]”. Slavjanskie sochinitel’nye sojuzy [Slavic coordinative conjunctions] ed. by. T. M. Nikolaeva, V. S. Efimova & I. Fuzheron, 36-47. Moscow: Institut Slavianovedenija i Balkanistiki. Rudnitskaya, Elena. 1998. “Syntactic Properties of the Altaic Coordination Construction in Korean”. STUF 51:2.179-198. Sannikov, V. Z. 1987. Russkie sochinitel’nye konstrukcii [Coordinate constructions in Russian]. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”. Uryson, E. V. 2000. “Russkij sojuz i chastica i: struktura znachenija [The Russian conjunction and particle i: semantic structure]”. Voprosy jazykoznanija 3.97-121. Uryson, E. V. 2004a. “Sojuzy a i no i figura govorjashchego [The Russian conjunctions a and no and ‘the figure of speaker’]”. Voprosy jazykoznanija 6.64-83. Uryson, E. V. 2004b. “Nekotorye znachenija sojuza a v svete sovremennoj semanticheskoj teorii [Some meanings of the Russian conjunction a in the light of modern semantics theory]”. Russkij jazyk v nauchnom osveshchenii [Russian language in scholarly perspective] 2.64-83. Uryson, E. V. 2006. “Semantika sojuza no: dannye o dejatel’nosti soznanija [The semantics of the conjunction no “but”: data on the functioning of consciousness]”. Voprosy jazykoznanija 5.22-42. Yi, E.-Y. 1994. Adjunction, Coordination and their Theoretical Consequences. Cornell University. [Unpublished Ms.] Yoon, J. H.-S. 1994. “Korean Verbal Inflection and Checking Theory”. Working Papers in Linguistics, ed. by Colin Phillips & Heidi Harley, 251270. Cambridge, MA: Department of Linguistic and Philosophy, MIT.
QUESTION PARTICLES OR WHAT? OPEN ALTERNATIVE QUESTIONS IN UDEGHE
MARIA TOLSKAYA Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies (Harvard University) INNA TOLSKAYA University of Tromsø 1.
Introduction Depending on the logical structure, two main types of alternative questions (Alt-Qs) are traditionally described: (i) A or B, asking for a choice between two distinct propositions, and (ii) A or not A, asking for a choice between two alternatives that differ only in truth value. There seems to be one more type of Alt-Qs, ‘open alternative questions’. In this case the answer does not involve picking one out of two (or more) mutually exclusive and jointly exhaustive values for a variable, as is it happens in (i) and (ii). In the first part of open AltQs the speaker is wondering about a proposition, and the second part, containing an interrogative word, signals uncertainty or incompletion. Typical examples are Are you kidding, or what?; Is the Universe Expanding, Contracting, or What?. Since open Alt-Qs sound less categorical than yes-no questions and A or not A Qs, and leave room for discussion, they have made their way into media news headlines, imitating informal style of speech. Consider the following Russian and German examples from the Internet: Pugajut ili chto? (“Are they frightening or what?’); (4) Leben oder leiden oder was sonst? (“To live, to suffer, or what else?”). However, open Alt-Qs have not received focused attention in the literature, with the exception of the passing example in (Bolinger 1978: 89): Is today the seventeenth, the sixteenth, the eighteenth, or what? In a more generalized form, the interpretation of open Alt-Q could be represented as follows: Is proposition A true; and if not, then what subset of not-A is true? Then open Alt-Qs are naturally analyzed as coordination of two underlying questions: one, corresponding to a polar (yes-no) question and the other one, corresponding to a reduced wh-Q. Open Alt-Qs cannot be answered by choosing one of two distinct propositions, as expected for other types of alternative Qs. The two underlying questions taken separately may demand two different replies: ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for the polar question, and a portion of relevant
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information for the wh-Q. Thus, despite not being a recognized question type, open Alt-Qs undoubtedly form a separate class. They seem a widespread property of world languages, although there is a lot of cross-linguistic variation in their formal structure. Remarkably, in Tungusic languages one of the disjuncts can be expressed by a pro-verb, as illustrated by the examples below: (1) Si min-tigi eme-zeNe-i you me-LAT come-FUT-2SG “Will you come to me or what?”
ja-zaNa-i?1 PROV-FUT-2SG
(2) Negidal KoskoN-dula˘-s eme-ča˘-v bu˘-ze˘-s=ku e˘-za-s=ku? cat-LOC-2SG come-PAST-1SG give-FUT-2SG=DIS PROV-FUT-2SG=DIS “I came to take your cat; will you give it (or not)?” (Tsintsius 1982: 85) (3) Oroch Agduči-za-i=nu, ja˘-za-i=nu? tell-FUT-1SG=DIS PROV-FUT-1SG=DIS “Should I tell or what? (Avrorin 2001: 40) (4) Oroqen TarI g´n´-r´-n yE:-ra-n that go-AOR-3SG PROV-AOR-3SG “Is he going or not (lit.: or what)?” (Whaley 2005) We will examine several possibilities of the morphological and pragmatic analyses of open Alt-Qs in Tungusic languages. Section 1 of this paper outlines the basic information about the Tungusic languages and sources of the data. The second section is for the most part descriptive: it presents the two main strategies of forming Alt-Qs in Udeghe. Section 3 approaches the problem from the information structure perspective, comparing intonation of various types of Alt-Qs and discussing their conventionalization. Section 4 examines open Alt-Qs, from the speech production viewpoint. Section 5 addresses this construction as an example of possible grammaticalization in progress. Section 6 contains a summary and conclusions. 2.
Tungusic languages Tungusic (Manchu-Tungus) languages, considered to form a branch of Altaic, are spoken in Siberia, North China and Mongolia. They are generally subdivided into three groups: the Northern group (Evenki, Even, Oroqen, 1
The language and the source are indicated for each example, except where the language is Udeghe and the example from our materials. Glosses are ours, except for Evenki and Oroqen.
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Solon and Negidal), the Southern (Nanai, Orok, Ulcha, Oroch and Udeghe) and the Manchu group (Manchu, Xibo (Sibe) and the extinct Jurchen). The dividing line between these groups of Tungusic languages cannot be drawn sharply. The main techniques of inter-clausal coherence are parataxis (juxtaposition without overt linkage), and hypotaxis (the use of participial and converbial clauses). The use of sentence-final particles, head-finality and presence of postpositions are the most striking SOV features of Tungusic languages. An essential property of these languages is the fully conjugated negative auxiliary. Another noteworthy feature is the inflected pro-verb, derived from the same root as interrogative pronouns. According to published descriptions, the proverb is attested in Udeghe, Oroch, and Oroqen (je-/ja-yE- respectively); Nanai, Orok and Ulch (xai-); Sibe (ana-); and in Evenki and Negidal (e:-). We have no information on pro-verbs in other Tungusic languages. This paper is based mainly on the data from Udeghe; other Tungusic languages are used occasionally for comparison. Data comes from a variety of published sources, as indicated following each example. Examples not identified by source come from our own field materials2. 2.1 Udeghe Udeghe (Udihe) is spoken in the Maritime and Khabarovsk districts of the Russian Far East. It belongs to the southern branch of Tungusic languages and has been affected by Chinese and Russian. Udeghe is only used by the older generation in everyday oral communication. Fewer than 100 speakers remain. Udeghe, like Tungusic languages in general, is an agglutinating language, using suffixation. Pronominal arguments (subjects, objects and possessors) are easily omitted, when they are predictable due to agreement affixes or context. The word order is largely dictated by the information structure, but, crucially, the focused element must be preverbal. In Udeghe, the negative auxiliary verb inflects for voice, mood, aspect, tense, and person/number, and is immediately followed by the unchangeable present stem of the matrix (content) verb, which can be deleted under ellipsis, as in A or not (A) Alt-Qs: (5) Guline-ze-fi=es e-ze-fi=es [guline]? leave-SUBJ-1PL.IN=DIS NEG-SUBJ-1PL.IN=DIS leave “Shall we leave or not?”
2
The Udeghe material was collected during fieldwork in 1989–2006, supported by the Cultural Initiative Foundation sponsored by George Soros and by the Endangered Languages Fund.
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3. Alternative questions 3.1 The pro-verb jeThough typologically rare, pro-verbs occur in Tungusic and other languages of Altaic family, such as Buryat, Tuvan, and Altai. The Udeghe proverb is derived from the root je-/ja-/i- that crosscuts the boundaries of several word classes:
j’eu je-we je-du je-le je-digi je-li je-uxi j’e-fe jeu-ze je-ze-Nezi je-me ja-Nnaja-mu˘ije-ne-mi
(NOM) (ACC) (DAT) (LOC) (ABL) (PROL) <what-LAT.ADV> <what-ACC.ADV> <what-N> <what-N-ABL.ADV> <what-ADJ>
“what” “what” “where” “where” “from where” “where (on which place)” “where to” “where, on which place” “what side” “from what side” “what kind of” “(go) for what purpose” “what want” “what for, why”, etc.
The root je- is not intrinsically interrogative, and may occur in noninterrogative sentences with or without negation; cf. ex. (6) and (7). The polarity of the indefinite pro-words depends on the general polarity of the sentence in which they occur, so je- is non-specific in this respect. (6) E-i=de
olokto e-i=de ja˘. cook NEG-PRP-FOC PROV “She is not cooking or doing anything”. NEG-PRP=FOC
(7) Sita-na-fi je-ne-fi b’a-mi child-DEST-REF.PL what-DEST-REF.PL get-INF teu ute bagdi-e-ti all that live-PAST-3PL “Having had children and things, they carried on living”. (Kormushin 1998: 200) The pro-verb can be transitive, as in (8) or intransitive, as in (9) and (10). It is compatible with Causative, Desiderative, Inchoative and Directive suffixes, as shown in (10) below:
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(8) Si je-we ja-zaNa-i? you what-ACC PROV-FUT-2SG “What will you do?” (9) Ja-za-ti? PROV-SUBJ-3PL
“What can they do?” (10) Si ja-Nna-sa˘-i min-tigi? you PROV-DIR-EXP.PAST-2SG me-LAT “What did you come to me for?” The pro-verb is frequently modified by the interrogative pronoun ono “how” to mean “What’s going on? What’s happening?” (11) Ono ja˘-ni sul’ai? how PROV.PAST-3SG fox “What happened to the fox?” To sum up this section, let us reiterate the properties of the pro-verb je-: it is non-specific with respect of polarity, neither is it interrogative per se. It has its own semantics, can function as a full finite matrix verb and can attach derivational suffixes and interrogative modifiers. Crucially, je- is not an auxiliary, unlike the negation e-. 3.2 Open alternative questions and the “A or not A” questions Udeghe open Alt-Qs and the A or not A questions have much in common. First, semantically, they are very close to a regular yes-no question (12). Although a shade of uncertainty distinguishes open Alt-Qs from A or not A questions, not biased with respect to their answer, both are answered in the same way, as yes-no questions. Second, they look very similar from the morphological viewpoint: both alternative questions contain a seemingly superfluous element in their last disjunct — an interrogative pro-verb or a negative auxiliary, respectively. The pro-verb je- in (13) and the negative verb in (14) copy the inflection markers of their first (propositional) disjuncts; though, unlike the negative auxiliary, the pro-verb may mirror derivational morphology of the first disjunct. Third, both negative and interrogative verbs immediately follow the first disjunct and occupy strictly final position in AltQs. Two disjuncts may optionally join identical word-final stressed disjunctive
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particles: -nu...-nu, as in (15), or -(A3)s...-(A)s (13, 14, 16). Or the question may be formed by the mere juxtaposition, as demonstrated earlier in (1). (12) Guli-ne-ze-u=nu? leave-DIR-SUBJ-2PL=FOC “Are you leaving?” (13) Guli-zeNe-fi=es ja-zaNa-fi=es? leave-FUT-1PL.IN=DIS PROV-FUT-1PL.IN=DIS “Shall we leave or what? “ (14) Guli-ne-ze-fi=es e-ze-fi=es? leave-DIR-SUBJ-1PL.IN=DIS NEG-SUBJ-1PL.IN=DIS “Shall we leave or not?” (15) TineNi kino bi-s’e=nu ja˘=nu? yesterday movie be-PERF=DIS PROV.PERF=DIS “Was there a movie yesterday (or what)?” Next, both open Alt Qs and A or not A questions may function as indirect questions and may be embedded (examples 16, 17, 19). (16) Bi ei-mi sa˘ o-du niNka bagdi-ze=es ja-za=as. me NEG-1SG know this-DAT Chinese live-SUBJ=DIS PROV-SUBJ=DIS “I don’t know whether the Chinese people will live here”. (17) Ni˘-de e-i sa˘ anana ni˘ who-IND NEG-PRP know long.ago man o-du bi-si-me-ni=de e-si-me-ni=-de. this-DAT be-PP-ACC-3SG=FOC NEG-PP-ACC-3SG=FOC “Nobody knows whether people used to live here before or not”. 4.
Information structure and intonation Normally, question words are associated with the focus, which is strictly preverbal in Udeghe and is marked with high pitch. But, although each disjunct may be followed by a focus particle, only the first one is marked with the focal stress - high pitch (Figure 1). (18) Si jeuxi xuli-s'e-i Ima-tigi=es Samarga-tigi=es? you where travel-PERF-2SG Iman-LAT=DIS Samarga=DIS “Where did you travel: to Iman or to Samarga (river)?”
3
Tungusic languages exhibit vowel harmony; ‘A’ represents a harmonizing vowel.
103
OPEN ALTERNATIVE QUESTIONS IN UDIHE
250
75
si jeuxi
xuli-
s'ei
ima-
tigi-es
samarga-
tigi-es
0
2.89384 Time (s)
Figure 1: Pitch contour (Example 18)
This pattern is also characteristic of A-or what questions: the high pitch only falls on the first disjunct final particle (if any), and pitch considerably lowers on the pro-verb. Though the particles, attached to the two verbs are identical, only the first verb is marked prosodically as focused, as is demonstrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Pitch contour (Example 13)
Indirect open alternative questions with accusative-marked participles (17, 19) exhibit the same pitch contour (see Figure 3): (19) Sa-Nna-ja sata bi˘-we-ni=de je-we-ni=de. know-DIR-IMP sugar be-ACC-3SG=FOC PROV-ACC-3SG=FOC ”Go ask if there is sugar (in the store) or not”. 270
saNnaja
120
(aha)
sata
biwen-
de
0
je-wen-
de 2.848
Time (s)
Figure 3. Pitch contour (Example 19)
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MARIA TOLSKAYA & INNA TOLSKAYA
Comparison of pitch contours shows that different types of Alt-Qs have similar pattern: focal stress on the first disjunct, and low-pitch on the second disjunct. In terms of intonation, in Alt-Qs the pro-verb behaves exactly like the negative auxiliary and like the full verb, which is unexpected. In Udeghe, interrogative word occupies the focus position and, hence, is expected to be marked with high pitch. The surprising lack of the focus pitch on the pro-verb je- (prosodic reduction) can be explained by bleaching of its interrogative function, which is the first step towards its grammaticalization. 4.
Speech production and speech planning perspective Having started a sentence as an alternative question, the speaker may change course or may not be able to find the appropriate second disjunct. In this situation, when it is too late to adjust the design and the rhythm of the sentence, the use of the indefinite pro-word (je-) allows keeping the sentence structure and the melodic contour, characteristic of Alt-Qs. The pronoun je- has a similar pragmatic function in contexts of unfinished enumeration, where it designates a constituent similar to the preceding one and its meaning is close to ‘and such; and the like; anything of the sort’. In this case, too, it occupies the position immediately after the word it replicates, as in Alt-Qs (7). This substitute function of the je-pro-words resembles that of the hesitation marker aNi-, which may replace a forgotten word, be it a verb, or a noun. Unlike je-, the fully inflecting pro-word aNi- precedes the recollected word (if any), foreshadowing its morphology. The recollected word usually can be found in the same sentence, as in the example below: (20) ZoNku mafasa mine-we aNi -e -ni ute bede cemine˘-ni”. poor old.man me-ACC IND-PAST-3SG this like cheat.PAST-3SG “The poor old man – what do you call it? – cheated me like this”. Similar substitute words are attested in other Tungusic languages as well, for example, aNi˘- in Evenki (Bulatova 2000: 26). The pro-verb aNi- functions as a typical “hesitation marker in spontaneous spoken discourse to signal [speech] production difficulties. A pronoun/pro-verb can serve as a preparative substitute (‘a placeholder’...) for a delayed constituent and typically appears with the same morphological marking and often the same prosodic encoding as the upcoming constituent” (Podlesskaya 2006). The two pro-words aNi and je- clearly differ in their functions. Thus, aNi is abundant in spontaneous speech, especially in storytelling, but it does not occur in the autobiographical book by A. Kanchuga (2003), which is not surprising, given the planned character of the written discourse. The je- prowords, found both in the written and oral discourse, by no means are signs of
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disfluency. From the speech production viewpoint, their original function in Alt-Qs may be described as the default substitute of the second disjunct. 5. Grammaticalization approach 5.1 Pro-verb as a question marker in Oroqen Open Alt Qs stand on the borderline between simple and complex sentences. Structurally, they are formed by coordination of two propositions. Yet, being collapsed into a single sentence, they have standard illocutionary force and intonation of a single question. If open Alt question is a simple sentence, the second disjunct can be viewed as some kind of question marker. In the next section we will discuss the implications of this treatment of Alt-Qs. Whaley (2005) suggests that in Oroqen — a close relative of Udeghe — the pro-verb yE˘- has been re-analyzed as one of the sentence final particles. This ‘question particle’ can be inflected for voice, aspect, tense, and person/number, exactly like the Udeghe pro-verb. In our opinion, this approach, probably valid for Oroqen, cannot be extended to other Tungusic languages. First, the pro-verb in open Alt-Qs can attach derivational affixes, as in (21) and (22) below, which is unexpected for a particle. Besides, as has been demonstrated in examples earlier, the pro-verb in Udeghe, Negidal, and Oroch may attach a focus, disjunction or contrastive particle, mirroring the particle on the content verb, so the supposed ‘question particle’ becomes rather long. (21) Oroqen Si˘ b´yu-mun -ni yE˘-mUn -nI you hunt-DESD-2S QM-DESD-2S “Do you want to hunt or what?”4 (Whaley 2005) (22) Olokto-kco -i=es ja-kca -i=es? cook-INT-2SG=DIS PROV-INT-2SG=DIS “Are you going to cook or what?” Second, in Oroqen there is an indisputable unchangeable question particle yE˘, matching the Udeghe particle j'eu. Similar particles, derived from ‘what’ interrogatives, occur cross-linguistically. Their use is shown in the two examples below, the first (23) representing Oroqen, the second (24) Udeghe: (23) TarI g´n´-r´-n yE˘ he go-AOR-3S QM “Is he going?” (Whaley 2005)
4
The translation is ours..
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(24) Em'e-i j'eu?5 come.PERF-2SG what “Have you come?” (rhetorical question) Third, the embedding of Alt-Qs, as demonstrated in examples (16), (17) and (19), hampers the question particle analyses. 5.2 Echo reduplication The Udeghe open Alt-Qs show similarities with echo-reduplication. Since the first disjunct and the pro-verb have the same morphological marking, identical stress pattern, and differ merely in their onsets, they are perceived as a rhyme. This impression is striking, when two verbs in open Alt-Qs are adjacent and each of them is followed by a stressed focus particle. Like with prototypical echo-reduplications, the order of the elements is fixed: ‘je-copy’ (pro-word) immediately follows ‘reduplicandum’. Although reduplication as a grammatical and lexical means is typical for Tungusic, instances of echo-reduplication are scarce. The only traces evident in Udeghe are idiomatic expressions shundur mundur ‘odds and ends; stuff’, borrowed from Turkic, and sa-dam ja-dam (lit. “knowing or what”) “making a random guess”.. One of the possible meanings of echo-reduplication in Turkic and other languages of the area is associative plural, meaning “and related stuff, and the like”, as in Turkish kitab-mitab “books and such”. Though the reduplication analysis of the Tungusic Alt-Qs might seem overstated, a similar approach to Mandarin Chinese is a widespread idea in literature Huang (1991), McCawley (1994), Zhang (1996), Gasde (2004), among others. The Mandarin polar A-not-A questions represent grammaticalization of what earlier were alternative questions. The A-not-A construction is a kind of reduplicative morpheme with an infixation of the negation element: (25) N"& x"&huān bu x"&huān? you like not like “Do you like it?” (Hagstrom 2006) Among the reasons for preferring a morphological analysis of the Chinese A-not-A questions to a syntactic one, is the fact that they may be formed by reduplication of the first syllable of a disyllabic word (x"& bu x"&huān), which violates the lexical integrity principle. Although the Tungusic Alt-Qs with proverbs are clearly not a free disjunction of two propositions, but rather a kind of a syntactic construction, close to syntactic copying and echo-reduplication, this has not yet led to a full reanalysis of their syntactic properties. 5
The meaning of the particle j'eu is better rendered by the Russian c&to li.
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Analyzing the open Alt-Qs as complex sentences with two (or more) independent verb heads and with shared arguments and modifiers explains the presence of derivational affixes and particles on the pro-verb in the second disjunct, but does not account for the interdependence of the two disjuncts. 6.
Conclusion The approach developed in this paper accounts for the intuition that a third logical type of alternative questions needs to be recognized, namely ‘open alternative questions’. In Tungusic languages they employ a pro-verb, immediately following the first disjunct and mirroring its morphology. The second disjunct does not express a proposition of its own and does not demand an answer. It has been proposed that from the pragmatic viewpoint, the proverb je- in open Alt-Qs has a default substitute function. The crucial semantic component of the default substitutes, unspecific similarity (‘and the like’, ‘of the sort’), is also typical for echo-reduplications. The analysis of the pro-verbs as question markers, proposed in Whaley (2005) for Oroqen has been shown to be not viable for Udeghe. Still, the possibility of more than one analysis of open Alt-Qs is a piece of evidence in favor of grammaticalization in progress. Like the Chinese A-not-A Qs, the Tungusic Alt-Qs are syntactically disjunctive questions, which through grammaticalization may have acquired a conventional interpretation as a sort of polar questions. However, the degree of grammaticalization and, hence, the syntactic structure of Alt-Qs and their semantics could be the subjects of future investigation. Data has been collected on only a small number of Tungusic languages, and a detailed study of this construction in typological perspective remains to be undertaken. Abbreviations – accusative, ADJ – adjective, ADV – adverb, AOR – aorist, DAT – dative, – desiderative, DEST – destinative, DIR – directive, DIS – disjunctive particle, FOC – focus particle, FUT – future, IMP – imperative, LAT – lative, LOC – locative, N – noun, NEG – negation, QM – question marker, PERF – perfective, PROL – prolative, PROV – pro-verb, PRP – present participle, REF – referential, SUBJ – subjunctive ACC DES
REFERENCES Avrorin, Valentin A. 1959–1961. Grammatika nanajskogo jazyka [A grammar of Nanai]. Moscow & Leningrad: Izd. Akademii nauk SSSR. Avrorin Valentin A. & Boris V. Boldyrev 2001. Grammatika orochskogo jazyka [A grammar of Orok]. Novosibirsk: SO RAN.
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Bolinger, Dwight. 1978. “Yes–No Questions are not Alternative Questions”. Questions ed. by Henry Hiz, 87-105. Dordrecht: Reidel. Gasde, Horst-Dieter. 2004. “Yes/No Questions and A-not-A Questions in Chinese Revisited”. Linguistics 42:2.293-326. Han, Chung-Hye & Maribel Romero 2004. “The Syntax of whether/Q... or Questions”. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 22.527-564 Hagstrom, Paul. 2006. “A-not-A Questions”. The Blackwell Companion to Syntax (Syncom). Vol. 1, 173-213. Oxford: Blackwell. Huang, C.-T. James. 1991. “Modularity and Chinese A-not-A Questions”. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Language ed. by Carol Georgopolous & Robert Ishihara, 305-322. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Kanchuga, Alexandr A. 2002–2006. An Udehe Autobiographical Text with Russian Translation. (Ed. by Toshiro Tsumagari.) Kyoto: Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim Publications. Kormushin, Igor V. 1998. Udygejskij jazyk [The Udehe language]. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”. McCawley, James. 1994 “Remarks on the Syntax of Mandarin Yes–No Questions”. Journal of East Asian Languages 3:2.179-194. Nedjalkov, Igor. 1997. Evenki. London & New York: Routledge. Nikolaeva, Irina & Maria Tolskaya. 2001. A Grammar of Udihe. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Nikolaeva, Irina, Elena Perekhvalskaya & Maria Tolskaya. 2003. Udeghe (Udihe) Texts. Kyoto: Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim Publications. Nikolaeva, Irina, Elena Perekhvalskaya & Maria Tolskaya. 2002. Udeghe (Udihe) folktales. (Tunguso-Sibirica 10.) Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. Podlesskaja Vera I. 2006. “Disfluency, Cataphora or Serialization: Pro-verbs as discourse markers of hesitation”. Paper presented at the International Symposium on the Grammar and Pragmatics of Complex Sentences in Languages Spoken in Europe and North and Central Asia (LENCA-3), June 27–30, 2006, Tomsk. Simonov, Mikhail, Valentina Kjalundzjuga & Marina Khasanova. 1998. Fol’klor udegejtsev: Nimanku, tėlungu, jexe. [Udihe folklore]. Novosibirsk: SO RAN. Tsintsius, Vera I. 1982. Negidal’skij jazyk [The Negidal language]. Leningrad: Izd. “Nauka”. Whaley, Lindsay J. 2005. “An Inflecting Question Particle in Oroqen”. Paper presented at the Association for Linguistic Typology 6th Biennial Meeting, Padang, Indonesia, July 21–25, 2005. Zhang, Ning. 1996. “A-not-A and S-not”. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 14:2.159-175.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF DECONVERBAL PREPOSITIONS REANALYSIS OR GRAMMATICALIZATION?
∗
SANDRA BIRZER University of Regensburg 1.
Introduction The question of whether reanalysis is compatible with or even equal to grammaticalization has prompted scholars to take different, and often contradictory stances: Both Lehmann (2004) and Haspelmath oppose “attempt[s] at reducing grammaticalization to reanalysis” (Haspelmath 1998: 317) — often made by generativists, as records Lehmann (2004: 152). They also oppose the assumption “that reanalysis is one of the main mechanisms of grammaticalization changes” (Haspelmath 1998: 315), since reanalysis is an important issue for both grammaticalization and lexicalization (cf. Brinton & Traugott 2005: 7). Still united in the belief that reanalysis and grammaticalization are two concepts that have to be strictly kept apart (cf. Lehmann 2004: 160; Haspelmath 1998: 315), their positions on the interaction of reanalysis with grammaticalization seem to differ. Lehmann takes the clear stance that “reanalysis may occur as a component of a grammaticalization process” (2004: 160), whereas Haspelmath’s argumentation is somewhat cloudy. He first mentions “‘pure’ grammaticalization” (1998: 315), thus making his reader think about the existence of a second, ‘impure’ kind of grammaticalization involving reanalysis, just to state in his conclusion that “not even this role of reanalysis [i.e., an abrupt change in syntactic structure] in grammaticalization changes is needed” (1998: 345). This last statement implies that — contrary to Lehmann (2004: 160) — reanalysis cannot figure as component of a grammaticalization process. Furthermore, Haspelmath (1998: 327) gives a list of major differences between grammaticalization and reanalysis. I will apply these features to the question whether the development of adpositions from converbs represents grammaticalization or reanalysis. In the following, reanalysis will be understood as an abrupt change of the underlying sentence structure with the surface structure remaining unaltered,
∗
I owe thanks to Adam Przepiórkowski and Björn Hansen for discussing this paper with me.
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and grammaticalization will be understood as a gradual process involving, among others, semantic bleaching and change of syntactic scope. The development of deconverbal adpositions requires study for several reasons. So far, the development of deconverbal adpositions as reanalysis or grammaticalization has been analysed mainly for English with a sideglance towards other Germanic and Romance languages (cf. König & Kortmann 1991, Kortmann 1992, Brinton & Traugott 2005: 111-122). Other synthetic subgroups of the Indo-European language family, such as the Slavonic languages, have not been considered; nor have languages of the agglutinative type, such as the Turkic languages. These shortcomings are probably the reason why scholars cannot make a definite decision regarding which ‘label’ to stick on the development of deconverbal adpositions: where Brinton & Traugott (2005: 111-122) see grammaticalization at work, König & Kortmann (1991) detect reanalysis, and according to Kortmann (1992: 430) “both terms [i.e., grammaticalization and reanalysis] are equally well applicable to the development of verbal forms into prepositions and conjunctions”. These findings are not too surprising, given that reanalysis describes a change of the underlying sentence structure with the surface structure remaining unaltered, and that English is a language of the analytical type. Being analytical deprives English of such strategies for indicating changes in the underlying sentence structure as oblique case marking. By way of illustration, example (1) contains a converb clause and (2) a PP: (1) She said nothing, regarding him closely. [IP [IP [NP She] [VP said [NP nothing]], [IP [NP ø] [VP [VP regarding [NP him]] [ADV closely]]]] (2) She said nothing regarding him. [IP [NP She] [VP said [NP nothing [PP regarding [NP him]]]]. Russian and Turkish, however, make use of oblique case marking for indicating such changes: (3) Iskrenne blagodarja svoikh roditelej, on Sincere:ADV thank:CON his parents:ACC he:NOM prinimaet Nobelevskuju premiju. receive:3SG:PRES Nobel Prize:ACC [IP [ IP [NP ø] [VP Iskrenne blagodarja [NP svoikh roditelej]], [IP [NP on] [VP prinimaet [NP Nobelevskuju premiju]]]]. “Sincerely thanking his parents, he receives the Nobel prize”.
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(4) Blagodarja roditeljam, on prinjal Owing to:PREP parents:DAT he:NOM receive:3SG:PAST Nobelevskuju premiju. Nobel Prize:ACC [IP [PP Blagodarja [NP roditeljam]], [NP on] [VP prinjal [NP Nobelevskuju premiju]]]. “Owing to his parents, he received the Nobel Prize”. (5) Kardeşimi göre geldim. brother:my:ACC see:CON come: 1SG:PAST. [IP [IP [NP ø] [VP [NP Kardeşimi] göre]] [IP [pro] [VP geldim]]]. “I came to see my brother”. (Yüce 1973: 6) (6) Owen’a göre Bret biraz Owen:DAT according to:PREP Bret:NOM a bit:ADV kendini zorlaşaydı. himself:ACC force:IRR:PAST:3.SG. [IP [PP [NP Owen’a] göre] [NP Bret] [VP biraz kendini zorlasaydı]]. “According to Owen, Bret should have tried a bit harder”. Therefore they may serve as counterevidence in my argumentation against the assumption that the development of deconverbal prepositions is a case of ‘pure’ reanalysis as described by Haspelmath (1998). Due to the size limitations of this paper, it will not be possible to treat each of the three languages and each of the features decisive for distinguishing grammaticalization and reanalysis with equal thoroughness. Therefore syntagmatic behavior, semantic bleaching and univerbation during the development of deconverbal adpositions will be analyzed only for the three Russian prepositions blagodarja “thanks to, owing to, because of”, nachinaja s/ot “starting from” and nevziraja na “regardless of, despite”, with some side glances towards English and Turkish adpositions. 2.
Syntagmatic behavior The development of deconverbal adpositions implies the loosening and final cutting of ties with the verbal paradigm and the gradual integration into the category of adpositions. Argument structure is a good means to track this categorial change: A covert subject coreferent to the subject of the matrix clause is typical for the converb phrase and gets lost when the converb turns into an adposition. Therefore it is possible to make two paratactic sentences out of a sentence containing a converb phrase, but not out of a sentence containing a preposition phrase (cf. especially 6). Furthermore, oblique case marking in the PP may change (3–6). For Russian, epenthetic n is another means to mark
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the word’s status within the category of prepositions: as the pronominal NP of a PP, the personal pronouns of the 3rd person may display an epenthetic n in the anlaut — but only if the preposition belongs to the core (cf. Hill 1977). 2.1 Argument structure 2.1.1 Historical development. Although the development of deconverbal prepositions is an 18th century phenomenon, this study of argument structure starts in the 11th century and includes both Old Church Slavonic and Russian text materials1 for two reasons: First, the verbs in question came into Russian via Old Church Slavonic; second, the different argument structures of derivans and derivatum in Contemporary Standard Russian can be traced back to the historical syntactic behavior of the derivans. This is best illustrated by blagodarja, the deconverbal preposition which has so far gained most attention in scientific literature (cf. Finkel’ 1962: 190-222) due to the different argument structure of converb and preposition: in Contemporary Standard Russian the preposition exhibits dative government, whereas the deriving verb blagodarit’ governs the accusative. As can be seen from tables (1–2), the verb blagodarit’ historically governed alternatively dative or accusative. word form blagodarit’
subject 9
dat NP 3
acc NP 6
∑ sentences 9
Table 1. Old Church Slavonic sample for the verb blagodarit’
Although the Dictionary of 18th Century Russian is the first dictionary to give an own lemma to the preposition blagodarja, we are still dealing with a transitional phase, since two out of the five examples for prepositional usage may be interpreted as having a covert subject coreferent to the subject of the matrix clause, and both verb and preposition may govern both dative and accusative. The demarcation between verb and preposition becomes clearer only in the 19th century, when the verb governs only the accusative, whereas the prepositions exhibit mainly dative governees. Furthermore, there are two other constraints on argument structure for the preposition: only the verb may take as facultative complementizer a PP which governs the accusative and represents the reason for thankfulness, and the preposition loses the covert subject typical for the converb. The latter constraint applies to all deconverbal adpositions, but is mentioned here once for all cases analysed in the following.
1
“Russian” here refers to all developmental stages from Old East Slavonic to Contemporary Standard Russian; the sample is gathered from the original texts and historical dictionaries given in the list of references.
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DECONVERBAL PREPOSITIONS
century 11-17 18 19
word form
subject2
dat NP
acc NP acc PP
blagodarit’ blagodarja blagodarit’ blagodarja blagodarit’ blagodarja
26 – 7 2? 5 –
1 – 4 4 – 4
21 – 2 1 3 2
– – – – 4 –
∑ sentences 26 – 7 5 5 6
no object 2 – 1 – 2 –
Table 2. Russian sample for the development of blagodarja
This contradicts Finkel’s explanation that by the time blagodarja became prominent as a preposition – namely in the 18th and 19th century, the verb had already lost dative government: “the preposition’s dative government strictly demarcated the preposition from the deeprichastie [i.e., converb: SB] both formally and by content” (1962: 214; my translation: SB). The differentiation in case marking did not trigger the prominence of the preposition; rather the prominence of the preposition triggered the differentiation in case marking. The complex preposition nachinaja s/ot, formed from the converb nachinaja of the verb nachinat’ ‘to start’ and alternatively one of the primary prepositions s or ot, shows a similar tendency. For the verb nachinat’ the genitive PP governed by s or ot is merely optional (cf. Tables 3-4): word form nachinat’
subject 5
acc NP 4
instr NP 1
∑ sentences 5
instr PP 2
Table 3. Old Church Slavonic sample for the verb nachinat’
The argument structure of the preposition, however, is constrained to the genitive PP, and has been so since nachinaja s/ot came into existence. century
word form
subject
gen NP
genPP
dat PP
acc NP
acc PP
instr NP
∑ sentence
1117 18
nachinat’ nachinaja nachinat’ nachinaja nachinat’ nachinaja
19 – 6 – 13 –
5 – – – – –
3 – 1 3 3 4
– – 1 – – –
10 – 4 – 9 –
1 – – – – –
1 – – – 1 –
20 0 6 3 13 4
19
Table 4. Russian sample for the development of nachinaja s/ot
2
This column indicates how many sentences with the given (finite) verb display an overt subject, and how many of the analysed converbs have a covert subject, since the converb clause can be paraphrased as a paratactic sentence.
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A surprising constraint on argument structure shows nevziraja na “despite”, a complex preposition built with the negated converb of vzirat’ “to look, to gaze” and the primary preposition na. word form vzirat’
subject 13
dat NP 3
acc PP 8
instr NP 1
loc. PP 1
∑ sentences 13
Table 5. Old Church Slavonic sample for the verb vzirat’
The only argument slot of nevziraja na allows for a PP governing the accusative. This is the argument which is also most frequent with the verb vzirat’ (cf. Tables 5–6). century 1117 18 19
word form vzirat’ nevziraja vzirat’ nevziraja vzirat’ nevziraja
subject
gen NP
dat PP
acc NP
acc PP
36 – – – 4, 1? 2?
1 – – – – –
1 – – – – –
1 – – – – –
26 – – 3 5 2
instr NP 3 – – – 1 –
∑ sentences 36 0 0 3 5 2
Table 6. Russian sample for the development of nevziraja na
At first glance, this seems to contradict the tendency of strict demarcation between preposition and converb form, which has been shown for blagodarja. Yet in the case of nevziraja na another strategy than case marking is at work for distinguishing preposition from converb, namely the linking together of negation and converb that finally leads to orthographic univerbation. 2.1.2 Synchronic state. The rise of a separate lemma for the preposition is one indication for loosening ties with the verbal paradigm and can be observed for blagodarja and nevziraja na since the 18th century.3 Nachinaja s/ot, on the other hand, figures only as one meaning of the corresponding verb, but not as a separate lemma, well into the 19th century. Only the Russian and Church Slavonic Dictionary of 1867–1868 presents it as a lemma of its own. Today all three analysed prepositions have a separate lemma. Corpus research is a means to establish which of the two competing forms — preposition or converb — is the more frequent one. Since nevziraja na does not possess a competing form due to the univerbation it underwent, only the usage of blagodarja and nachinaja s/ot is examined in the Uppsala Corpus of 3
That such lemmata started being noted in dictionaries may be considered only a fact about lexicography, and not necessarily about language. However, this fact indicates that quite a large and expert public has perceived the loss of the covert subject typical of converbs.
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Russian. In 73 times out of 74, blagodarja is used as preposition4 and governs the dative, whereas the only instance with accusative government displays also other verbal features, namely an accusative PP as complementizer and modification by an adverbial: (7) Eshche raz blagodarja nashe televidenie za once again thank:CON our:PRON television:ACC for:PREP prekrasnuju vozmozhnost’ nabljudat’ […] tennisistov, wonderful:ACC opportunity:ACC watch:INF tennis.players:ACC mnogie ljubiteli sporta otmechajut, chto … many:ADJ fans:NOM sport:GEN remark:3PL:PRES that:CONJ “Once again thanking our television for the wonderful opportunity to watch […] tennis players, many sport fans remark that…” (Sovetskij sport [Soviet sports] 07-02-88). From the 42 instances of nachinaja s/ot a less clearly organized picture has to be drawn; the overwhelming majority of 38 sentences display usage as a preposition, twice the item in question is used as converb. Two other cases could be interpreted both as prepositional and converbal usage, because it was possible both to develop the phrase in question into a full sentence with overt subject and to replace nachinaja s/ot by a primary preposition without loss of meaning or grammaticity. These results imply that “pure” blagodarja, i.e., without any modificator or PPs as complementizer, functions only as preposition and automatically triggers a dative NP, whereas nachinaja s/ot still oscillates between the prepositional and the converbal function. To verify this hypothesis and the other hypotheses that follows below, two questionnaires were developed and handed out to two groups of five respondents each. The first group had to classify two sentences with a blagodarja phrase — the first unmodified, the second one modified by an adverb, but both followed by an accusative NP — as “right”, “sounding odd” or “wrong” and underline the part of the sentence that served as reason for their judgement. As shown in Table 7 below, the broad majority of respondents rejected “pure” blagodarja with accusative governance, and about half of them even classify modified blagodarja followed by an accusative PP as weird, although modification stresses the verbal character of blagodarja. This can be seen as evidence that blagodarja is primarily perceived as a preposition governing the dative, i.e., the linkage to the verbal paradigm becomes ever less retraceable.
4
Once the preposition is used in the complex conjunction blagodarja tomu, chto “thanks to the fact that”.
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sentence
right
Blagodarja svoego professora (ACC) molodoj fizik prinimaet nobelevskuju premiju. “Thanks to his professor the young physicist receives the Nobel Prize” Iskrenne (MOD) blagodarja svoikh roditelej (ACC), aspirant zakanchivaet svoj doklad na zashchite. “Sincerely thanking his parents, the PhD graduate ends his talk at the disputation”.
---
sounds wrong ∑ odd 4 5 1
3
2
5
---
Table 7. Respondents’ classification of blagodarja test sentences for oscillation hypothesis
This is corroborated by the results from the second group, who were asked to fill NPs into the gaps after blagodarja in the same sentences: sentence
dative NP
Blagodarja ___ (svoj professor) molodoj fizik prinimaet nobelevskuju premiju. “Thanks to his professor the young physicist receives the Nobel Prize”. Iskrenne (MOD) blagodarja ___ (svoi roditeli), aspirant zakanchivaet svoj doklad na zashchite. “Sincerely thanking his parents, the PhD graduate ends his talk at the disputation”.
∑
5
accusative NP ---
5
---
5
5
Table 8. Respondents’ gap filling in blagodarja test sentences
All respondents placed a dative NP into the gap after “pure” blagodarja, thus showing that in active language usage unmodified blagodarja is treated only as a preposition. All respondents chose an accusative NP after modified blagodarja because when filling in gaps more attention is paid to words beyond the usual focus of attention, so that the verbal character of the modified blagodarja phrase was recognized better than in the classification test. Since nachinaja s/ot does not employ case marking for differentiating preposition and converb, a test with gaps is not feasible. Therefore, in the second part of both questionnaires respondents were asked to classify modified phrases with nachinaja: wrong
∑
---
sounds odd 4
1
5
1
4
5
10
sentence
right
Letom, nachinaja obychno ot skhoda l’da i pochti do nachala sentjabrja, voda ozer kholodnee okruzhajushchego vozdukha. “In the summer, starting usually from ice drift and nearly until the beginning of September, the water of the lakes is colder than the surrounding air”. Tikho nachinaja s prababushki, djadja rasskazyvaet istoriju sem’i. Starting slowly from great-grandmother, uncle tells the family history”.
Table 9. Respondents’ classification of modified nachinaja sentences
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In both sentences of Table 9 nachinaja takes the genitive PP typical for prepositional use but is modified in a way untypical for a preposition. Even the second sentence with a typical prepositional usage of nachinaja s, which is countervened by the modifier quite typical for verbal usage, is accepted — at least as odd — by half of the respondents. This shows that nachinaja s/ot is still not mainly perceived as prepositional, but can rather be interpreted according to the reader’s taste. 2.2 Epenthetic n Epenthetic n before the pronominal NP of a PP indicates that the given prepositions belong to the core of the category. Since nachinaja s/ot and nevziraja na are both complex prepositions built with the help of a primary preposition, i.e., a preposition from the core, testing them for epenthetic n does not produce any conclusions about their status, whereas for blagodarja it does. Therefore, sentence (8), which exhibits epenthetic n, was included into the questionnaire for classifying sentences in the hope that respondents would read over the n and mark the sentence as right. (8) Svetlana – ochen’ opytnaja khozjajka. Blagodarja nej v kvartire vsegda ujutno. “Svetlana is a very experienced housewife. Thanks to her the flat is always comfortable”. It was also included into the fill-in questionnaire with a gap after blagodarja. The whole first group marked blagodarja with epenthetic n as wrong, and the whole second group filled ej (PRON:DAT) without epenthetic n into the gap. Therefore, blagodarja is still as far away from the category core as Hill’s (1977) corpus study showed it to be. The changes in the argument structure which take place during the development of deconverbal adpositions are gradual ones whose duration stretches over several centuries. Furthermore, these changes concern both the underlying and the surface sentence structure, as the example of blagodarja shows especially well. The development of the Turkish postposition göre “according to”, which governs the dative but is derived from görmek “to see” taking an accusative NP (cf. examples 5–6), shows similarities to blagodarja. Furthermore, all Turkish deconverbal postpositions differ from their derivational bases both in surface and underlying structure (cf. Kononov 1956: 674-676, 679), although it has to be assumed that the differentiation in case marking has taken place already in ProtoTurkic.5 5
I owe thanks to Andreas Waibel for this information.
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All of these facts speak against pure reanalysis and support the idea that grammaticalization has taken place. 3.
Semantic bleaching For all analysed adpositions a certain tendency towards abstraction can be observed; nevziraja na “despite” is an abstraction from the derivational basis ne vzirat’ na “not to look at” and nachinaja s/ot has been developed out of one of the five meanings of nachinat’ attested in the Dictionary of 18th Century Russian. Kortmann (1992: 436) also states semantic bleaching for such English prepositions as excepting, barring or touching. The furthest abstraction show blagodarja ‘owing to; because of’ from blagodarit’ “to thank” and Turkish göre “according to” from görmek “to see”. Whereas the verb blagodarit’ requires an animate accusative object, the preposition blagodarja may also take inanimate objects as dative governed (9). (9) Blagodarja svoej sumashedshej skorosti […] on doletaet ot Solntsa do Zemli vsego za 8 minut 18 sekund. “Owing to its incredible speed, […] it flies from the Sun to the Earth within only 8 minutes 18 seconds”. However, the semantic abstraction of blagodarja is not as far reaching as Finkel’ (1962) claims: He states that blagodarja, which is derived from blagodarit’ “to thank”, is able to express the reason not only for positive and neutral results, but also for negative ones (205-208). Yet classification of the sentence (10) Blagodarja samoubijstvu syna, mat’ posedela za odnu noch’. “Owing to her son’s suicide, the mother turned grey over night”. by all ten informants showed that seven persons considered the sentence wrong, two persons considered it sounding weird, and only one person considered it right. This result indicates that the semantic bleaching of blagodarja has not yet reached its maximum. In any case, semantic bleaching as such is a gradual process and its occurrence is therefore typical for grammaticalization. 4.
Univerbation Univerbation, defined as the diachronic process of combining a fixed expression of several words into a new single word, typically involves lexicalization or grammaticalization (cf. Brinton & Traugott 2005) but not reanalysis. Nevziraja na constitutes a union of the negation particle ne and the converb vziraja, forming a complex preposition together with the primary
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preposition na. At least one other case of univerbation working in the same way, namely nesmotrja na, is attested in Russian. In the development of English deconverbal prepositions univerbation also plays a role (cf. Kortmann 1992: 437); the English word notwithstanding provides one example. In our case, univerbation is part of a grammaticalization process. This becomes clear from the fact that semantic bleaching is also part of the process. Lexicalization, in contrast, would involve increased opacity of the entity’s meaning (cf. Brinton & Traugott 2005: 76-85) 5.
Conclusion Of the three analysed features, semantic bleaching is overtly typical of grammaticalization. Univerbation also indicates grammaticalization, because in our case it cooccurs with semantic bleaching. Argument structure change, which is observable in both grammaticalization and pure reanalysis, displays gradualness in the case of deconverbal adpositions. Only “grammaticalization is a gradual process” (Lehmann 2004: 161); reanalysis is not. All this indicates that the development of deconverbal adpositions is a clear case of grammaticalization, and reanalysis at best “occur[s] as a component of [the] grammaticalization process”. Furthermore, adpositions seem to follow their own path toward grammaticalization, beginning with loss of the subject coreference typical of converbs. The next step is loss of autonomy and/or substance: semantic bleaching is to be subsumed here as well as the morphological and phonological erosions, established by Kortmann (1992: 437) for English deconverbal prepositions. Then disambiguation of converb and adposition by different government patterns takes place. Differentiation by case marking is an especially refined means of disambiguation, which analytical languages, such as English are deprived of. Another strategy for disambiguating converb and adposition is the univerbation of converb form and another member of the complex adposition. The whole process of disambiguation can be characterized as an instance of repartition, i.e., the “solving of a situation of competition by complementary assignment of the originally shared functions to the competitors” (Hansen 2001: 401; my translation: SB). In the final step of the grammaticalization path the adposition remains and the original converb form is replaced by a suppletive form. So far, none of the discussed adpositions has reached this stage; however, the tendency that Russian blagodarja “thanks to, owing to” is usually perceived only as a preposition and not as a converb any more points into that direction. The same holds true for Turkish as well, since göre “according to” is formed with the suffix -E that is becoming unproductive (cf. the phraseological doubling of converbs in -E in Kononov (1956: 974-
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975), i.e., only the adposition will survive. One replacement of the original converb by a suppletive form has already taken place in Russian, but with the deconverbal conjunction6 khotja “although”, derived from khotet’ “to want”: the verbal paradigm of khotet’ lacks the converb form khotja, which is replaced by the suppletive form zhelaja “wishing”. These phenomena can be treated as cases of crystallization, i.e., the supplanting of competing items by the dominant one (cf. Hansen 2001: 400). This means that both repartition and crystallization are involved in the path of grammaticalization taken by deconverbal adpositions, but contrary to the usual circumstances pointed out by Hansen (2001: 400) they can be kept apart fairly well. They occur at different time stages, as the Russian preposition blagodarja “thanks to; owing to” and the deconverbal conjunction khotja “although” show. Abbreviations – accusative, ADJ – adjective, ADV – adverb, CON – converb, CONJ – conjunction, DAT – dative, GEN – genitive, INF – infinitive, IP - inflectional phrase, IRR – irrealis, MOD – modifier, NOM – nominative, NP – noun phrase, PAST – past, PL – plural, PP – preposition phrase, PREP – preposition, PRES – present, PRON – pronoun, SG – singular, VP – verb phrase ACC
REFERENCES A. Sources Clozianus. Staroslovĕnský Hlaholský Sborník Tridentský a Innsbrucký. Ed. by Antonín Dostál. Praha: Nakladatelství Ceskeslovenské Akademie Vĕd, 1959. Codex Glagoliticus olim Zographensis nunc Petropolitanus. Ed. by Vatroslav Jagić. Berlin: Weidmann, [n.d.]. Codex Marianus: Glagoliticus. Characteribus Cyrillicis Transcriptum. Ed. by Vatroslav Jagić, 1883. (Repr., Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1960.) Euchologium Sinaiticum. Starocerkvenoslovanski Glagolski Spomenik. Ed. by Rajko Nahtigal. Ljubljana: Akademija znanosti i umetnosti v Ljubljani, 1942. Lavrent’evskaja letopis’ [Lavrentian chronicle]. (= Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisej. Tom pervyj [Complete collection of Russian chronicles. Vol. 1]). Moscow: Jazyki Russkoj Kul’tury, 1997. Novgorodskie gramoty na bereste [The Novgorod birch bark letters]. Ed. by V. L. Janin & A. A. Zaliznjak. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”, 1980–. 6
As mentioned in §2.1.2, deconverbal adpositions may also help form (complex) conjunctions.
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Pamjatniki juzhnovelikorusskogo narechija [Monuments of the South Russian Dialect]. Ed. by S. I. Kotkov & N. S. Kotkova. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”, 1977. Pamjatniki juzhnovelikorusskogo narechija: Konets XVI – Nachalo XVII v. [Monuments of the South Russian dialect: late 16th to early 17th century]. Ed. by S. I. Kotkov. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”, 1990. Savvina kniga [Savva’s Book]. Ed. by V. Shchepkin. St. Petersburg: Izd. Otdeleniia russkago iazyka i slovesnosti Imperatorskoi akademii nauk, 1903. (Repr., Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1959). Sinajskaja psaltyr’ [Sinai Book of Psalms]. Ed. by Sergej Severjanov. Petrograd: Petrograd Otdelenie Russkago Jazyka i Slovesnosti Rossijskoj Akademii Nauk, 1922. (Repr., Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1959.) Slovar’ tserkovno-slavjanskogo i russkago jazyka [Dictionary of Church Slavonic and Russian]. St. Petersburg: Imperatorskaja Akademija Nauk, 1867–1868. Slovar’ jazyka Pushkina v chetyrekh tomakh [Dictionary of Pushkin’s language in four volumes]. Moscow: Azbukovnik, 2000. Slovar’ russkogo jazyka XI-XVII vv. [Dictionary of 11th–17th century Russian]. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”, 1975–. Slovar’ russkogo jazyka XVIII veka [Dictionary of 18th century Russian]. Leningrad: Izd. “Nauka”, 1984–. Slovar’ sovremennogo russkogo literaturnogo jazyka [Dictionary of Contemporary Standard Russian]. Vols. I–XVII. Moscow & Leningrad: AN SSSR, 1948–1964. Suprasl’skaja rukopis’ [Suprasl’sky manuscript]. Ed. by Sergej Severjanov. St. Petersburg: Imperatorskaja Akademija Nauk, 1903. (Repr., Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt Graz, 1956.) Uspenskij sbornik. XII – XIII vv. [Uspenski collection. 12th–13th centuries]. Ed. by S. I. Kotkov. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”, 1971. Vesti-Kuranty. 1600–1639 gg. Ed. by S. I. Kotkov. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”, 1972. Vesti-Kuranty. 1642–1644 gg. Ed. by S. I. Kotkov. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”, 1976. Vesti-Kuranty. 1645–1646, 1648 gg. Ed. by S. I. Kotkov. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”, 1980. Vesti-Kuranty. 1648–1650 gg. Ed. by S. I. Kotkov. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”, 1983. Vesti-Kuranty. 1651–1652 gg. 1654–1656 gg. 1658–1660 gg. Ed. by V. S. Vomperskij. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”, 1976.
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B. Secondary literature Brinton, Laurel J. & Elizabeth C. Traugott. 2005. Lexicalization and Language Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Finkel’, A. M. 1962. Proizvodnye prichinnye predlogi v sovremennom russkom literaturnom jazyke: Ikh vozniknovenie, razvitie, znachenie, upotreblenie [Derived causal prepositions in Contemporary Standard Russian. Their emergence, development, meaning and usage]. Khar’kov: Izd. Khar’kovskogo universiteta. Hansen, Björn. 2001. Das Modalauxiliar im Slavischen. Semantik und Grammatikalisierung im Russischen, Polnischen, Serbischen/Kroatischen und Altkirchenslavischen. (= Slavolinguistica, 2.) Munich: Otto Sagner. Haspelmath, Martin. 1998. “Does Grammaticalization Need Reanalysis?”. Studies in Language 22:2.315-351. Hill, Steven P. 1977. The N-factor and Russian Prepositions: Their development in the 11th–20th century texts. The Hague: Mouton. König, Ekkehard & Bernd Kortmann. 1991. “On the Reanalysis of Verbs as Prepositions”. Approaches to Prepositions ed. by Gisa Rauh, 109-125. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. Kononov, A. N. 1956. Grammatika sovremennogo turetskogo literaturnogo jazyka [Grammar of Contemporary Standard Turkish]. Moscow & Leningrad: AN SSSR. Kortmann, Bernd. 1992. “Reanalysis completed and in progress: participles as source of prepositions and conjunctions”. Diachrony within Synchrony: Language history and cognition. Papers from the International Symposium at the University of Duisburg, 26–28 March 1990 ed. by Günter Kellermann & Michael D. Morrissey, 429-453. Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang. Lehmann, Christian. 2004. “Theory and Method in Grammaticalization”. Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik 32:2.152-187. Yüce, Nuri. 1973. Gerundien im Türkischen: Eine morphologische und syntaktische Untersuchung. Doctoral Dissertation, Universität Mainz.
IMPERATIVES IN CONDITIONAL AND CONCESSIVE SUBORDINATE CLAUSES1 NINA DOBRUSHINA State University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 1.
Introduction It has been repeatedly observed that dependent clauses in conditional, concessive conditional, and concessive constructions may contain the forms of volitional moods. Haspelmath & König (1988: 48) examined the usage of optative forms in conditional concessive clauses, while Viktor Xrakovskij mentions imperatives that convey conditional meaning (Khrakovskij 1992: 48, Birjulin & Xrakovskij 2001: 46-49, Fortuin 2008; cf. also the bibliography on the Russian conditional imperative in Kuznetsova, in print). There is a vast discussion of conditional usage of the English imperative (cf., for example, Bolinger 1967: 340, Davies 1986). Some explanations were suggested for the semantic motivation of using imperative-optative forms in concessive constructions. What still remains unclear is the distribution of different volitional forms among different types of conditional-concessive dependent clauses. Typological studies and surveys of the problem tend to use general labels such as ‘imperative’ or ‘optative’ without going into details. Thus, M. Haspelmath and E. König refer to these forms as optative (Haspelmath & König 1988: 592, 598), though none of the forms they mention can be qualified as an optative proper. Conventional labels such as ‘imperative’ and ‘optative’ cover a range of various forms, depending on the person of the main participant or on semantic variations and connotations. The examples examined in the present article demonstrate a correspondence between specific imperative forms and specific conditionalconcessive meanings. I describe the distribution of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person imperative forms in the following four types of dependent clauses:
1
I’m very grateful to Timur Majsak, Michael Daniel, Anna Verschik and Ceyhan Temurcu for their comments on an earlier version of this paper and to Edward Vajda for his efforts in editing and improving the final version.
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a. counterfactual conditional clauses: If only he’d come to help, we’d have finished on time. b. hypothetical conditional clauses: If he comes to help, we will finish our work on time. c. concessive conditional clauses: Even if he comes to help, we won’t finish our work on time. d. concessive clauses proper: Although he came to help, we didn’t finish our work on time. Table 1. Types of conditional and concessive clauses
There is a terminological complication concerning different persons of the imperative category. While everyone agrees that imperatives exist in the 2nd person, commands toward the 1st person inclusive and the 3rd person are often excluded from the imperative paradigm. Since this paper does not focus on the discussion of this problem (cf. van der Auwera, Dobrushina & Goussev 2004), I will simply give a brief functional outline of the forms considered here. In addition to the 2nd person imperative, most languages of the world possess grammatical categories or highly grammaticalized constructions used to urge the addressee to carry out an action together with the speaker (Let’s go!) or to convey an indirect command toward the person absent from the speech act situation, a non-locutor (Let him go). Below I consider all types of imperative constructions in this broad sense, and independently of the way they are expressed (i.e., morphological, analytic, etc.). Though imperative marking of conditional-concessive clauses is widespread in the languages of the world, these constructions usually co-exist with other types of marking used in the same (or a similar) function. As a result, grammars mention ‘imperative’ conditional-concessive clauses relatively rarely. Doing this research, I approached collecting the data from the following methodological perspective: working with a speaker, preferably a linguist, who was asked to translate a set of sentences using imperative forms and, when available, to discuss different ways of expressing the specified meaning by imperative forms. All Russian examples cited in this paper, however, are taken from the National Corpus of Russian Language (www.ruscorpora.ru). The data come from Russian (Slavic, Indo-European), Bulgarian (Slavic, IndoEuropean), Aghul (Nakh-Dagestanian), Estonian (Finnic, Uralic), Hungarian (Ugric, Uralic), and Turkish (Turkic, Altaic)2. It is noteworthy that these data are perfectly compatible with the data available from my typological research in other languages.
2
I express my deepest gratitude to the linguists who consulted with me and helped me to provide the relevant data: Ivan Derzhanski (on Bulgarian), Solmaz Merdanova (Aghul), Anna Verschik (Estonian), Anastassia Zabrodskaja (Estonian), Edith Moravcsik (Hungarian), Valentin Goussev (Hungarian), Szeverényi Sándor (Hungarian), Gyöngyi Boldog (Hungarian), Ceyhan Temurcu (Turkish).
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2. Overview of languages and grammatical forms Russian has a synthetic imperative form for the 2nd person only. In addition, the particle pustJ combines with present or future indicative forms to convey a command toward a third party: (1) PustJ v s&kol-u prid -ut tvo-i roditel-i. PART in school-ACC.SG come.FUT-3PL your.SG-NOM.PL parents-NOM.PL “Let your parents come to school”. The particle pustJ can also be used with 1st and 2nd person pronouns, most often interpreted concessively (see below). It can also be used to express other meanings, such as wish or consent. Bulgarian, like Russian, has only a 2nd person synthetic imperative form. The 1st person inclusive and 3rd person imperatives are expressed periphrastically with the help of the particles neka or da. (2) Da / neka
v´rvi -m ottuk. go.away-1PL from.here “Let’s go away from here”. PART
si
REFL
(3) Da / neka
dojd -at roditel-i-te ti v uc&ilis&Je. come.FUT-3PL parents-Pl-DEF your.PL to school “Your parents must come to school”. PART
Aghul has only a synthetic imperative form in the 2nd person. The 3rd person imperative is expressed by the optative form (ex. 4). The latter is also used to convey blessings and curses addressed to the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person, as in (5)3. (4) Baw mexteb-is adi -raj . mother school-DAT come-OPT “Your mother must come to school”. (5) Za-q / wa-q / di-q para s&u_nuk˘-ar xu -raj . I-POST / you-POST / he-POST many child-PL become-OPT “May I / you / he have many children!” Estonian used to have a complete paradigm of imperative forms excluding the 1st person singular. The contemporary language no longer uses the obsolete 1st person imperative forms; synthetic imperatives exist for the 2nd and 3rd persons only. The form of the 3rd person imperative occurs in contexts typologically unusual for this paradigmatic pattern: in some non-imperative 3
See the discussion of overlapping optatives/imperatives /hortatives in Dobrushina et al. 2005.
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meanings it can be combined with 1st and 2nd person pronouns. It is not used to convey a wish, blessing or curse. (6) Tul -gu vanema-d kooli. go-IMP3 parent-NOM.PL school.ILL “Your parents must come to the school”. (7) Tema ka_ib iga pool ja mina istu -gu kodu-s. he go everywhere and I sit-IMP3 home-INES “S/he visits all kinds of places, and I (am supposed to) stay at home”. Hungarian stands out among European languages in having a complete paradigm of synthetic imperative forms for all three persons. For that reason, I did not consider any periphrastic constructions Turkish, like many other Turkic languages, also has a full paradigm of synthetic imperatives. Although the 1st person plural and 1st person singular imperative forms are traditionally considered as optative forms by Turcologists, from a functional perspective these forms have the same meanings as 1st person imperatives in other languages (cf. Dobrushina 2007). 3. Counterfactual conditional constructions 3.1 Second person imperative It is rather unusual to have a 2nd person imperative in a counterfactual dependent clause. I know of only two languages with this trait, Russian and Aghul. According to my consultants, in Bulgarian, Estonian, Hungarian and Turkish, imperatives do not occur in counterfactual clauses. Nor do they do so in many other languages of the world, according to published descriptions. (8) Russian Neuz&eli
tˆ dejstvitelJno sc&ita-es&, you.SG really think.PRS-2SG c&to, znaj tˆ et-u tajn-u, COMP know.IMP2 you.SG this-F.ACC.SG secret-ACC.SG ty res&i-l-a bˆ vs-e problem-ˆ. you.SG solve-PAST-F SBJV all-PL problem-PL “Is it possible you really believe that, had you known this secret, you’d have solved all (your) problems?” INTERR
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(9) Aghul Tin wun Ku_n-is darman duxtir-di upu-Xildi ge give.IMP you cow-DAT medicine doctor-OBL.ERG say-as this xilik’e-s-t˘uj. die-INF-NEG.PAST “Had you given the cow the medicine, as the doctor suggested, it wouldn’t have died”. Counterfactual use of Russian imperatives may have a diachronic explanation. Slavic imperatives originate from the Indo-European optative. A. A. Zaliznyak suggests (p.c.) that counterfactual usages of the Russian imperative go back to early stages of Slavic and can in fact be considered as functional vestiges of the Indo-European optative. Note that the optative in Ancient Greek was also used in counterfactual conditional clauses. An optative origin for the Russian counterfactual imperative would explain the “counter-typological” behavior of the Russian 2nd person imperative. The Aghul counterfactual imperative could have resulted from Russian influence. This is the most likely explanation, unless we find other languages in Dagestan or elsewhere that also use imperatives counterfactually. Both Aghul and Russian counterfactual imperatives have an important common feature: they can be used with 1st or 3rd person pronouns. When used in their direct, imperative sense these imperatives only apply to the 2nd person; in other words, morphologically, they are 2nd person forms. (10) Russian Sumej ja vovremJa pozvoni-tJ, be.able.IMP2 I on.time call-INF i vsJ-o bˆ-l-o bˆ inac&e and all-N be-PAST-N SBJV otherwise “Had I been able to make the phone call on time, everything would have been different”. (11) Russian Moz&no predstavi-tJ, kak-oj bˆ u stran-ˆ possible imagine-INF what-M.NOM.SG SBJV at country-GEN.SG segodnJa bˆ-l svetl-ˆj prazdnik today be-PAST bright-M.NOM.SG festival doz& i v -i on do nas&-ix dn-ej. live-IMP2 he until our-GEN.PL day-GEN.PL “One can imagine how (our) country would celebrate (what a bright festival the country would have), had he lived to the present day”.
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(12) Aghul WaXt˘una zenq aq ’e zun, fira q’a-s-t˘uj. on.time phone.call make.IMP2 I nothing happen-INF-NEG.PAST “Had I made a phone call on time, nothing would have happened”. There are two more facts that indicate that counterfactual imperatives are not genuine imperatives. First (I owe this observation to A. A. Zaliznyak, p.c.), when combined with a 2nd person plural pronoun, the counterfactual imperative does not take the otherwise obligatory 2nd person plural affix, a fact which markedly contrasts with regular imperative contexts. Counterfactual imperatives behave as non-personal (or, better stated, as ‘person-indifferent’) forms. In (13) the singular budJ is combined with the plural 2nd person personal pronoun vˆ. In (14) we find the same verb marked as 2nd person plural, since the context is imperative (interpreted as optative), rather than counterfactual. (13) Russian BudJ vˆ xudoz&nik, vˆ bˆ ume-l-i be.IMP2 you.PL artist you.PL SBJV be.able-PAST-PL upravlJa-tJ svo-im voobraz&eni-em, izliva-tJ control-INF POSS.REFL-INSTR.SG imagination-INSTR.SG pour.out-INF jego ` izlis&k-i v tvorenij-ax its excess-ACC.PL in creation-LOC.PL “Were you an artist, you would know how to control your imagination, pouring out its excesses in (your) creations”. (14) Russian BudJ -te // *BudJ be.IMP2-PL *be.IMP2 “Be cursed! (you plural)”
vˆ you.PL
proklJat-ˆ. cursed-PL
The National Russian Corpus provides evidence of another unusual fact about Russian counterfactual imperatives. Counterfactual imperatives tend not to be used with 2nd person pronouns, typical contexts being 1st and 3rd person constructions. Table 1 below summarizes statistics of distribution of counterfactual imperative constructions between persons as it appears in the corpus. Of 213 examples, 21 are in the 1st person (singular and plural together), three in the 2nd person, and 134 in the 3rd person. Note that negative constructions with a genitive-marked subject, although constituting a separate line in the Table, are simply negative counterparts of the positive constructions with a nominative 3rd person subject.
CONCESSIVE AND CONDITIONAL USES OF IMPERATIVE FORMS
Personal reference I we you.SG you.PL you (general reference) 3rd person (pronouns and nouns) negative constructions with genitive subject impersonal constructions Total:
129
number of examples 20 1 1 2 2 134 50 3 213
Table 2. Counterfactual imperatives in the National Russian Corpus
V. I. Podlesskaja (2004: 548) observed that the counterfactual imperative is infelicitous with the 2nd person pronoun. Interestingly, Solmaz Merdanova, a speaker of Aghul, reaches the same conclusion: counterfactual imperative constructions are clearly less felicitous with 2nd person than with 1st and 3rd persons. Thus, the Russian counterfactual imperative has two properties that distinguish it from regular imperative forms. First, it tends to combine with non-second rather than 2nd person subjects. Second, in 2nd person plural forms it has no 2nd person plural marker. Of these properties, Russian shares the first with Aghul, the second being inapplicable since Aghul lacks personal agreement altogether (though some dialects of Aghul are reported to have number agreement in the imperative). Below, I will call these forms ‘quasiimperative’. Formally identical to the 2nd person imperative they have different behavioral properties; cf. Table 34. Russian Aghul Bulgarian Estonian Hungarian Turkish
1st person + + -
2nd person rare rare -
3rd person + + -
Table 3. 2nd person imperatives in counterfactual conditional clauses
3.2 Non-second person imperative forms and constructions There is no language I know of that uses any non-second imperative forms or constructions in counterfactual conditionals; cf. Table 4:
4
In Table 3 and similar tables below (those dealing with 2nd person imperatives), the columns ‘1st person’ and ‘2nd person’ indicate whether the 2nd person imperative may be used in the relevant function in constructions with 1st or 3rd person reference.
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Russian, Aghul, Bulgarian, Estonian, Hungarian, Turkish
1p -
2p -
3p -
Table 4. Non-second person imperatives in counterfactual conditionals
I suggest that the Russian forms that appear in counterfactual conditional constructions are homonymous with the 2nd person singular imperative forms but actually represent a different grammatical constructions. This is in keeping with their origins as optative forms in Early Slavic (see above). 4. Hypothetical conditional constructions 4.1 Second person imperative In all languages of the sample, the 2nd person imperative can be used in hypothetical conditional constructions. Ivan Derzhanski, my Bulgarian consultant, considered Bulgarian examples containing hypothetical imperatives as possible, though not widespread. (15) Russian Po-nas&-emu, after-our-DAT.SG svo-imi
vot
postroj odin dom build.IMP2 one house ruk-ami, togda inz&ener bud-es&. POSS.REFL-INSTR.PL hand-INSTR.PL then engineer be-2SG “In our opinion, go build a house with your own hands, then you’ll become a (construction) engineer”. PART
(16) Aghul Alix Xal s&uw-an Xil-ar-ildi build.IMP2 house REFL-GEN hand-PL-SUP.LAT aXp˘a xa-se wak-a-s du_z Xuzajin. then become-FUT you-CONT-EL real master “Build (your) house with your own hands, then you will become a real master (landlord)”. (17) Estonian Tee kasvo‚i va_ike prohmakas, ja sin-d make.IMP2 even small mistake, and you-PART usalda-ta-kse va_h-em trust-IMPERS-PRES little-COMP “If he makes even a small mistake, confidence in him will be suffer”. (18) Turkish Bir dakika geC kal, kimse bekle-mez. one minute late stay.IMP2 nobody wait-NEG.IMPF.3SG “If you are one minute late, nobody will wait for you”.
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131
In Russian and Aghul, hypothetical imperatives can be used with 1st and 3rd person pronouns. (19) Russian Ujd -i on, i tak-oj parti-i ne stan-et. leave-IMP2 he and such-F.GEN.SG party-GEN NEG become-3SG “If he leaves, there will be no such (political) party anymore”. When comparing Russian hypothetical and counterfactual imperatives, one encounters two crucial differences: the former lacks both peculiar properties of the latter. Indeed, hypothetical imperatives take the regular 2nd person plural marker -te when used with a 2nd person plural pronoun (cf. 20). They also occur much more rarely in non-second person (see Table 4). (20) Zaves& c & a j -te mn-e kartin-u Rokotov-a, bequeath.IMP2-PL I-DAT painting-ACC.SG Rokotov-GEN.SG i ja sdelaj-u dlJa va-s vsJ-o. and I do.FUT-1SG for you.PL-GEN everything-N.ACC.SG “If you bequeath me the Rokotov painting, I will do anything for you”. The relevant contexts in the National Russian Corpus count the following distribution of persons among constructions with hypothetical imperatives: Personal reference I we you.SG you.PL you (general reference) 3rd person (pronouns and nouns) negative constructions with genitive subject impersonal constructions Total:
number of examples 0 0 21 21 12 3 0 2 61
Table 5. Hypothetical imperatives in the National Russian Corpus
The same is true for Aghul: the hypothetical imperative is much more felicitous with 2nd person subjects, though non-second hypothetical imperatives are also possible: (21) Aghul Aq ’e zun gi-s wuri uc&i-s k˘ane-Xildi, do.IMP2 I he-DAT all REFL-DAT want-as ge uq’a-se za-qaj. he sit-FUT I-COMIT “If I do everything the way he wants, he’ll stay with me”.
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Examples like (20) and (21) are rare in both Russian and Aghul. Data of the sample thus show that hypothetical usage of 2nd person imperatives is characteristic of the imperative proper: the hypothetical imperative attaches personal inflection in Russian, prefers 2nd person reference in Russian and Aghul, and is generally widespread across the world’s languages; cf. Table 6. Russian Aghul Bulgarian Estonian Hungarian Turkish
1st person rare rare -
2nd person + + rare + + +
3rd person rare rare -
Table 6. Second person imperatives in hypothetical conditionals
4.2 Non-second person imperative forms and constructions According to our data, Hungarian and Turkish permits imperatives of all three persons in hypothetical conditional constructions. The Estonian 1st person imperative is identical to the indicative, but the 3rd person imperative (traditionally called jussive) can also be used hypothetically. (22) Hungarian Ko_ v es -sen el ba@r-mily kis hiba@-t, follow-IMP.3SG PRVB although-what small mistake-ACC az ira@nt-a val-o@ bizalom meg-csappan. DEF towards-3SG be-PTCP trust PRVB-decrease “If he makes even a small mistake, confidence in him will suffer”. (23) Turkish Bir dakika geC kal -ay"m, kimse bekle-mez. one minute late stay-IMP.1SG nobody wait-NEG.IMPF.3SG “If I am one minute late, nobody will wait (for me)”. Russian, Bulgarian and Aghul do not use non-second person constructions in hypothetical conditional clauses. The data are summarized in Table 7: Russian Aghul Bulgarian Estonian Hungarian Turkish
1st person 3rd person imp. 1st person imp. 1st person imp.
2nd person 2nd person imp. 2nd person imp.
3rd person 3rd person imp. 3rd person imp. 3rd person imp.
Table 7. Non-second person imperatives in hypothetical conditionals
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133
5. Concessive conditional constructions 5.1 Second person imperative Second-person imperatives can be used in concessive conditionals in all languages of the sample. (24) Russian Prorabotaj tˆ xotJ sorok let, work.IMP2 you.SG even forty years.GEN.PL xotJ pol-vek-a, vsJo ravno ostan-es&-sJa nis&c&-im. even half-century-GEN.SG all equal stay-2SG-REFL poor-M. INSTR.SG “Even if you work 40 years, half a century, you’ll still be poor in the end”. (25) Bulgarian Glasuvaj, ne glasuvaj, vse jedn-o s&Je vote.IMP2 NEG vote.IMP2 all same-N FUT “Whether you vote or not, the result will be the same”.
je. COP
(26) Hungarian Üs -se@ -l ba@r agy-on, nem meg-yek oda. hit-IMP-2SG.SG although brain-SUP NEG go-1SG.S there “Even if you kill me (lit., hit me on the head), I won’t go there”. Russian permits the use of 2nd person imperatives with reference to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd persons. However, an overview of examples from the Corpus shows that 1st person constructions are extremely rare. (27) Russian Skaz& -i ja va-m tak, vy vedJ vse ravno. say-IMP2 I you.PL-DAT so you.PL PARTICLE all equal ne poveri-te. NEG believe.FUT-2PL “If I tell you that, you won’t believe me anyway”. (28) Russian VsJak-ij c&inovnik, budJ on xotJ rukovoditel-em any-M.NOM.SG official be.IMP2 he even manager-INSTR.SG pravitelJstv-a, dolz&en otveti-tJ deputat-u government-GEN.SG must.M answer-INF deputy-DAT.SG v tec&enie tridtsat-i dn-ej. in course thirty-GEN day-GEN.PL “Any civil servant, even the head of state, must report to a deputy’s query in thirty days”.
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In Aghul, 2nd person imperatives can also be used with reference to any of the three persons. (29) Aghul K˘anc&i Xab xibu inst˘ut ku_teK q ’e gi, even again three institute end do.IMP2 he.ERG gi-s fis&tira kar Z&ik’as-t˘awa. he-DAT anyway job find.INF-NEG “Even if he graduates from three more institutes, he still won’t find work”. Russian Aghul Bulgarian Estonian Hungarian Turkish
1st person rare + -
2nd person + + + + + +
3rd person + + -
Table 8. Second person imperatives in concessive conditionals
5.2 Non-second person imperative forms and constructions The Russian particle pust’ in concessive conditional constructions combines with all three persons. (30) Russian PustJ ja potrac& -u pJatJ, s&estJ let, PART I spend-1SG five six year.GEN.PL no ja svo-ego dobj-u-sJ, but I POSS.REFL-GEN.SG obtain-1SG-REFL “Even if I (have to) spend five or six years, I’ll still get what I want”. (31) A bim-a ja vse ravno najd-u. And Bim-ACC I all equal find.FUT-1SG pustJ daz&e vˆ menJa i ne otpusti-te. PART even you.PL I.ACC and NEG let.go.FUT-2PL “As for Bim, I’ll find him anyway even if you won’t let me go”. (32) Zac&em z&e otnima-tJ u nego edinstvenn-ˆj Why PART deprive-INF from he.GEN sole-M.SG podvig, pustJ daz&e on je-go ne sovers&i-l? exploit PART even he it-GEN NEG do-PAST “Why deprive him of (his) only exploit, even if he never did it?”
CONCESSIVE AND CONDITIONAL USES OF IMPERATIVE FORMS
135
In Aghul concessive conditionals, the optative may also be used. The concessive conditional optative is only possible with 3rd person reference. (33) Aghul K˘anc&i Xab xibu inst˘ut ku_teK q ’u -raj even again three institute end do-OPT gi-s fis&tira kar Z&ik’as-t˘awa. he-DAT anyway job find.INF-NEG “Even if he graduates from three more institutes, he still won’t find work”. In Bulgarian concessive conditionals, the particles neka and da can be used in all persons. (34) Bulgarian Da / neka ne
prav, pak je naj-dob´r right again COP SUP-good “Even if he is not right, he’s still the best of all”. PART
NEG
je
COP
ot vsic&k-i. from all-PL
The 3rd person imperative is used in concessive conditionals in Estonian. It combines not only with 3rd person reference, but appears in 1st person constructions, as well. Note that in some contexts the Estonian 3rd person imperative (the so-called jussive) combines with 1st and 2nd person, as well (cf. section 1). The Estonian 3rd person imperative is similar to Russian in that it is not limited to 3rd person reference. However, these constructions are peripheral, and in all contexts a conditional form would be preferable. (35) Estonian To_ o _ t a -gu ma kasvo‚i neliku_mmend aasta-t, work-IMP3 I PART forty year-PART nagunii ja_a_-n kerjuse-ks anyway remain-1SG poor-TRANSL “Even if I work forty years, I will still be poor”. In Hungarian, 1st and 3rd person imperatives are also used in concessive conditional clauses. (36) Hungarian Durran -ja -k bar szet, de ez-t burst-IMP-1SG.S although PRVB but this-ACC a malna-t meg-esz-em. DEF raspberry-ACC PRVB-eat-1SG.O “I’ll eat this raspberry even if I burst”.
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In Turkish, too, 1st and 3rd person imperatives occur in concessive conditional clauses. (37) Turkish Iste-r-se yu_ksek derece-li memur want-IMPF-COND.3SG high degree-PROPR official ol -sun, yine de hesap ver-ecek. be-IMP3 still CONT account give-FUT.3SG “Even if he holds high office, he will still have to account for his deeds”. Table (9) illustrates the distribution of imperative forms across the three persons in the languages sampled. Russian Aghul Bulgarian Estonian Hungarian Turkish
1st person pust’ neka / da 3rd person imp. 1st person imp. 1st person imp.
2nd person pust’ neka / da 2nd person imp. 2nd person imp.
3rd person pust’ optative neka / da 3rd person imp. 3rd person imp. 3rd person imp.
Table 9. Non-second person imperatives in concessive conditionals
6. Concessive constructions proper 6.1 Second person imperative None of the languages in the sample used 2nd person imperatives in concessive constructions proper. Russian, Aghul, Bulgarian, Estonian, Hungarian, Turkish
1p -
2p -
3p -
Table 10. Non-second person imperatives in concessive clauses
6.2 Non-second person imperative forms and constructions Other imperative forms are widely used in concessive constructions. Thus, the Russian particle pustJ, the Aghul optative, and the Bulgarian neka (more rarely da) all occur in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person reference constructions. (38) Russian PustJ mˆ bˆ -l -i pioner-ami, no na Pasx-u PART we be-PAST-PL pioneer-INSTR.PL but on Easter-ACC n-as odeva-l-i v c&ist-ˆe rubas&k-i. we-ACC dress-PAST-PL in clean-NOM.PL shirt-NOM.PL “Although we were pioneers, on Easter they’d dress us in clean shirts”.
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137
(39) Russian PustJ tˆ, LJov-a, i uc&itelJ, PART you.SG Leva-NOM.SG and teacher no ja tebJ-a ne ponimaj-u. but I you.SG-ACC NEG understand-1SG “Even though you, Leo, are a teacher, I still can’t understand you”. (40) Russian PustJ et-ot opˆt bˆ -l nesovers& e nn -ˆm, PART this-M.NOM.SG experience be-PAST imperfect-M.INSTR.SG vaz&n-ee, c&to on bˆ-l. important-CMPR COMPL he be-PAST “Even if this experience was imperfect, it is more important that it happened at all”. (41) Aghul UXu -rAj wa zun / wun / gi — zun / wun / ge drink-OPT PART I.ERG / you.ERG / he.ERG I / you / he fis&tira ?akW xast˘i {ajs&i-ne eXir. anyway light before get.up-PERF PART “Even though I (you, he) drank (too much), I (you, he) still got up early”. Estonian concessive clauses use a periphrastic construction that includes jussive forms of ‘be’: ‘let it be that + indicative’. (42) Estonian Ol -gu -gi, et ta armasta-s teis-t kuid oma elu be-IMP3-PART that s/he love-IMPF other-PART but own life.GEN on a_ra ela-nud ikka minu-ga be.3SG away live-PTCP.PAST still I-INSTR “Does it matter if she loved another man, (when) she still lived with me all her life?” Notably, Hungarian 1st and 3rd person imperatives are not used in concessive constructions. Turkish is once again similar to Hungarian in that it does not use imperative forms in concessive clauses. According to Ceyhan Temurcu, the only option to use a 3rd person imperative in concessive clauses is to split the polypredicative construction into two separate sentences. However, the construction would be appropriate in the spoken language only.
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(43) Turkish Hatal" ol -sun. Yine de ilginC bir hayat-" wrong be-IMP.3SG still PART interesting a life-POSS.3SG “Okay, he’s wrong. But his life is interesting”.
var. COP
Table 11 shows the types of non-second person forms that appear in concessive clauses in languages of the sample. Russian Aghul Bulgarian Estonian Hungarian Turkish
1st person pustJ optative neka, da (rare) dedicated construction with jussive marker -
2nd person pustJ optative neka, da (rare) dedicated construction with jussive marker -
3rd person pustJ optative neka, da (rare) dedicated construction with jussive marker -
Table 11. Non-second person imperatives in concessive clauses
7. Conclusion The data in the sample show several tendencies. First, the imperative proper (the 2nd person imperative) is widely used in hypothetical conditionals and in concessive conditionals. On the contrary, I know of no language that uses 2nd person imperatives in concessive clauses. Russian and Aghul have counterfactual imperatives. However, these imperatives are distinct from regular imperatives in terms of their morphosyntactic properties. They are rarely used with a 2nd person pronoun. Furthermore, in Russian the counterfactual imperative does not combine with the 2nd person plural agreement marker (Aghul has no subject agreement in any context). What do the two categories (hypothetical conditionals and concessive conditionals) have in common? Unlike counterfactual conditionals and concessives proper, they refer to a hypothetical situation, in other words, to a situation that has not yet actually taken place but has some chance to occur in the future. They thus occupy the central part of the irreality scale (cf. Table 12). The localization on the scale perfectly correlates with imperative semantics: imperatives normally designate actions that are to be carried out in the future. Second, other (i.e., non-second person) imperative forms and constructions are used in concessive clauses exclusively, independent of the degree of (ir)reality. These forms occur in concessive dependent clauses because they are semantically close to concessives. Even though the main function of these imperative forms is to denote inducement directed towards the 3rd person (Let
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139
him go!), they also have a set of other usages. I believe that the concessive semantics originate in their capability of conveying the meaning of the speaker’s accepting the fact being stated: (44) Jesli tˆ ostav-is& zdesJ mas&in-u, if you.SG leave-2SG here car-ACC.SG mog-ut zalez-tJ malJc&is&k-i. can-3PL get.into-INF boy-NOM.PL “If you leave your car here, boys could into it”. (45) PustJ
lez -ut. (Mn-e PART get.in-3PL I-DAT “Let them. (I don’t care.)”
vsJ-o all-N
v in
nejo she.ACC
ravn-o.) equal-N
It is this connotation of indifferent attitude that produces concessive usages. The speaker is acknowledging that an undesirable situation exists, even though the situation described by the main clause contradicts it. Note that some of the 3rd person imperative forms considered above are used concessively, though they have no optative meaning at all. This is the case in Estonian; it is also typical of Archi, a Nakh-Dagestanian language not analyzed in this paper. On the other hand, I am not aware of any language that uses a pure optative (i.e., not combined with imperative) to mark a concessive clause. This proves our suggestion that these are 3rd person imperatives that are used with concessive meaning rather than optative forms, contrary to the claim made by Haspelmath & Konig (1988).
2nd person imperative non-2nd person imperative forms and constructions
counterfactual hypothetical concessive condition condition condition IRREAL HYPOTHETICAL “quasi-imperative” in Russian and Aghul + +
-
-
+
concessive REAL -
+
Table 12. Protasis (ir)reality, 2nd person imperatives, and other volitionals
Especially interesting are the cases of Hungarian and Turkish. These languages have imperative forms in all three persons. As to the conditionalconcessive clauses, all these imperative forms behave similarly to the 2nd person imperative in other languages. Irrespective of their person, they are used in hypothetical condition and concessive condition constructions and are not used in concessives proper. The fact that non-second person imperatives in
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Hungarian and Turkish are expressed morphologically appears to bring them closer to their 2nd person correlate5. Abbreviations ACC – accusative, AOR – aorist, CMPR – comparative, COMIT – comitative, COMP – complementizer, COND – conditional, COP – copula, DAT – dative, DEF – definite, ERG – ergative, F – feminine, FUT – future tense, GEN – genitive, ILL – illative, IMP – imperative, IMPF – imperfective, INES – inessive, INF – infinitive, INSTR – instrumental, INTERR – interrogative, LOC – locative, M – masculine, N – neuter, NEG – negative, NOM – nominative, OBJ – oblique stem, OPT – optative, PART – particle, PERF – perfective, PL – plural, POSS – possessive, POST – localization behind the landmark, PRES – present tense, PROPR – proprietary, PRVB – preverb, PTCP – participle, REFL – reflexive, SBJV – subjunctive, SG – singular, SUP – supine, TRANSL – translative.
REFERENCES Birjulin, Leonid A. & Viktor S. Xrakovskij. 2001. “Imperative Sentences: Theoretical problems”. Typology of Imperative Constructions ed. by Viktor S. Xrakovskij, 3-50. Munich: Lincom Europa. Bolinger, Dwight. 1967. “The Imperative in English”. To honor Roman Jacobson: Essays on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. Vol. 1 ed. by Morris Halle, 336-362. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Davies, Eirlys. 1986. The English Imperative. (Croom Helm Linguistics Series). London: Croom Helm. Dobrushina, N. R. 2007. “Optative ili imperativ? [Optative or imperative?]”. Misharskij dialekt tatarskogo jazyka: ocherki po sintaksisu i semantike [The Misharsk dialect of Tatar: essays on syntax and semantics], 252-266. Kazan’: Magarif. Fortuin, Egbert. 2008. “Polisemija imperativa v russkom jazyke [Polysemy of the Russian imperative]”. Voprosy jazykoznanija 1.3-24. Goussev, Valentin Yu. 2005. Tipologija specializirovannykh glagol’nykh form imperativa [The typology of specialized forms of the imperative]. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Moscow. Haspelmath, Martin & Ekkehard König. 1988. “Concessive Conditionals in the Languages of Europe”. Adverbial Constructions in the Languages of
5
Another cross-linguistic correlation between non-second person forms and concessive clauses needs further verification and is not accounted for in theoretical terms. Those forms and constructions that are used concessively may combine with all three persons, while those that may not be used in this way combine only with the 3rd person.
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Europe ed. by Johan Van Der Auwera, 563-640. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Khrakovskij, Viktor S. 1992. “Povelitel’nye predlozhenija: problemy teorii [Imperative sentences: theoretical problems]”. Tipologija imperativnykh konstruktsij [The typology of imperative constructions] ed. by Viktor S. Khrakovskj, 5-55. Saint Petersburg: Izd. “Nauka”. Kuznetsova, Julia L. (in press). “Semanticheskie i strukturnye svojstva uslovnoj kvaziimperativnoj konstruktsii [Semantic and structural qualities of the conditional imperative construction]”. Russkij jazyk v nauchnom osveshchenii [The Russian language from a scientific perspective]. Podlesskaja, Vera I. 2004. “Ob odnoj uslovno-ustupitel’noj konstruktsii [One type of conditional-concessive construction]”. Tipologija ustupitel’nykh konstruktsij [The typology of concessive constructions] ed. by Viktor S. Khrakovskij, 545-555. Saint Petersburg: Izd. “Nauka”. Van Der Auwera, Johan, Nina Dobrushina & Valentin Goussev. 2004. “A semantic map for imperative-hortatives”. Contrastive Analysis in Language: Identifying linguistic units of comparison ed. by Dominique Willems, Timothy Colleman, Bart Defrancq & Dirk Noel, 44-66. Palgrave: Macmillan.
MORPHOLOGICAL STRATEGIES FOR ‘COMPLEX SENTENCES’ AND POLYSYNTHESIS IN CENTRAL ALASKAN YUPIK (ESKIMO) OSAHITO MIYAOKA Osaka Gakuin University 1.
Preliminary Clauses embedded using various morphological strategies, coupled with syntactic embeddings, are capable of forming highly complex sentences in certain languages. The present paper offers a survey of ‘morphological’ clauses illustrating how a language can achieve polysynthetic ‘articulation’ of the nonslot type. The survey is preceded by some preliminary information (§1–2).1 1.1 Non-slot type of polysynthesis2 by exclusive suffixation Central Alaskan Yupik or CAY 3 is an agglutinative language with suffixation as the only productive morphological process for easily expressing inflection (§1.3) and derivation (§1.4) on both verbs and nominals. There is a large stock of highly productive (versatile) and functionally diverse suffixes, 1
This paper is largely based upon three presentations (Miyaoka 2004a, b, c) at the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology (RCLT), La Trobe University, with some corrections. I am grateful to Professor R. M. W. Dixon and Professor Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald for the opportunity to work in a stimulating and enlightening environment and atmosphere. Dr. Masayuki Onishi and Professor Honoré Watanabe kindly supplied me with valuable comments on earlier drafts. Last but not least, my thanks to Professor Edward Vajda for going beyond the call of duty as editor of this volume. Any errors and inadequacies that still remain are, needless to say, my own responsibility. 2 Despite the renewed lively discussion on polysynthesis, linguists have not reached a consensus on what type of languages it refers to (e.g., Fortescue 1994, Evans & Sasse 2002, Mattissen 2004). The messiness of the problem may come partly from the general arbitrariness in what are taken as words. 3 CAY is spoken with certain areal and generational differences by about 40% (10,400) of the 25,000 Yupik people living in Southwest Alaska (Krauss 2007: 414), including urban dwellers and children in some villages. The description here is based on Kuskokwim and Yukon dialects, called General Central Yupik. Of the available grammatical documentations, Jacobson (1995) is the most detailed, while Miyaoka (1996) is sketchy, with a more extensive one (ca. 1,200 pages) forthcoming.
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which nevertheless do not include lexical or nominal suffixes of the type as found in the ‘Mosan’ languages. 4 With very few exceptions, the suffixes are pure and simple, unknown to have been derived from stem morphemes. Like other Eskimo languages, CAY is polysynthetic with a remarkably high degree of synthesis. Unlike many other polysynthetic languages of the North Pacific Rim,5 CAY precludes a slot-and-filler template analysis of the type used since Sapir and Hoijer for Athabaskan languages, with their rigid affix ‘positions’. The high degree of polysynthesis with non-slotness is attained through cumulative and recursive occurrence of a great number of derivational suffixes (cf. §1.4). Semantic compatibility rather than position class is the guiding structural principle, so that different orders of suffixes are possible on semantic grounds. The primary morphological device behind this type of polysynthesis is the more or less fixed and grammaticalized combination of suffixes that change the word’s overall form class and which I call (unfelicitously perhaps) cyclic expansions (§1.4.5). 1.2 Double marking Core relations in a clause are marked on the verb and NP(s) using an ergative pattern, and a possessive construction (attributive phrase) is marked both on the possessum and possessor NP. Intransitive verbs [Vi]6 – including those called ‘half-transitive’ [HTR] in Eskimo linguistics – mark only an S-argument marked. Transitive verbs [Vt] mark O and A, except that appositionalis-mood verbs mark only S or O). A dependent NP does not have to be external in either construction. A verb in an independent mood can stand as a sentence in its own right. An NP is either a single nominal, nominal phrase, relative clause (§4), or complement clause (§5). Constituent order in a clause or a nominal phrase is relatively free, although commonly SV/AOV and GN, with variation due to discourse/pragmatic factors. 1.3 Inflection Verbs (V) and nominals (N) are inflecting words except for verbal exclamations (e.g., 17), which are inflectionless. Inflecting words has 4
Except for a few cases of suppletion, reduplication, and prefixation. Stem compounding is alien to CAY except two anomalous cases of ‘phrasal compounds’ — hence the lack of noun incorporation (in the Sapir-Mithun tradition) characteristic of many polysynthetic languages. 5 See Krauss (2003) and Miyaoka et al. (eds.) (2007:xiii-xiv) for the ‘North Pacific Rim’. 6 ‘Adjectival’ predicates are intransitive verbs. There is no word class of adjectives.
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constitution of STEM 1 + DERIVATIONAL SUFFIXES 0 + INFLECTIONAL SUFFIXES 1 3, where the stem is either verbal or nominal (subscript 1 implies no compounding; fn. 4). A stem and a combination of not more than three inflectional suffixes (given without morpheme divisions in the glosses because of their fusional properties) are obligatory. Derivational suffixes are not obligatory but have no definable upper limit theoretically at least (as subscript indicates). A stem, followed by derivational suffix(es), is an expanded 0 stem.7 Nominals include deverbalizations (§1.4.1). Basic Verbs are monovalent (S – intransitive; “die, be big”), bivalent (O and A – mostly ambitransitive; “eat”, “break”), or trivalent (O, O2 [indirect], A – ditransitive; “give”, “ask”; subject to obligatory valency reduction). Bivalents are either agentive (S=A; e.g., “eat”) or non-agentive (S=O; e.g., “break”). Argument modification (increase, decrease, rearrangement) is either obligatory (morphosyntactically) or optional (due to discourse-pragmatic factors); cf. §1.4.4 (examples 3–4). Non-inflecting words or particles [PCL], including enclitics [ENC – monosyllabic ‘bound words’], are adverbial, coordinating, interjectional, modal, and discourse/pragmatic. Though most are monomorphemic (unanalyzable), some retain traces of inflection or derivation. An enclitic is bound to a clause-initial word except that one coordinator is bound to the final constituent of the phrase or clause concerned. CAY enclitics are clearly distinct from suffixes, with no gradient. 1.3.1 Inflectional categories. Nominal inflection encodes case, number, and person (possessor). Three numbers – singular (SG), dual (DU), and plural (PL) – and four persons – first (1), second (2), third (3), and reflexive third (3R; “own”) each in one of the three numbers – are distinguished. 3R person is triggered by the main clause’s third person subject (S/A) as the syntactic pivot. There are two syntactic cases: absolutive (ABS)8 and relative (REL)9, and five oblique cases for peripheral arguments: ablative-modalis (ABM: ‘with’), allative (ALL: “to”), locative (LOC; “at/in”); perlative (PRL: “through”), and equalis (EQL: “as/like”), of which the first two (ABM and ALL) may also mark demoted core arguments.10 7
A root cannot inflect until it is expanded by a special class of derivational suffixes, i.e., root expanders ( EXP). 8 Absolutive NPs have oblique roles (especially time reference) as well. 9 The term ‘relative’ is bivalent, referring to a nominal case (traditionally in Eskimo linguistics for ergative/genitive) and a clause (§4). 10 Not all kinds of nominals have full inflection. Some have fewer inflectional possibilities, with no possessor, with case inflection only (as adverbial demonstratives), etc. Some have
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Verb-internal subject/object agreement encodes four persons and six moods. There are four independent moods: indicative (IND), participial (PPL), interrogative (INT), and optative (OPT), used only with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person inflection; and two dependent moods: appositionalis (APP or ‘subordinative’ as often called) and connective (CNN), which have 3R inflection (“-self/selves”) coreferential with a 3rd person referent in the main clause. A participial form is predicative only with a modal or conjunctional particle but, otherwise, is a nominal (relative clause; cf. examples (6) and (8), as well as (3) and, true to the original nomenclature. 1.3.2 Verb moods and clause linking. A multi-clausal complex sentence, which consists of two or more (morphologically non-embedded) clauses, can be linked in different ways – coordination, cosubordination, and subordination (Van Valin 1993: 100-124). 1) Two or more clauses, each with a predicate verb in one of the four independent moods and the appositionalis-mood verb (§1.3.1), are linked as a coordinate construction to express addition, sequence, contrast, or alternative. Various combinations of moods are attested. Coordinate clauses are typically linked by a coordinating particle. 2) A connective-mood clause (§1.3.1) is in subordination to its main clause as an adverbial adjunct – temporal, causal, conditional, etc. – distinguished by the mood marker immediately preceding the person marker. 3) An appositionalis-mood clause, basically cosubordinate, is wide in function, the most versatile of all the six moods or ‘certainly more versatile than the Inuit/Inupiaq one’ (Knut Bergsland, p.c.), and the highest in frequency of occurrence in utterances and texts perhaps of any genre, with the semantic range being all the wider owing to many derivational suffixes selected by the mood. It typically serves as non-restrictive adnominal adjunct (Miyaoka 1997: 66) to the S or A core argument of the other clause,11 describing miscellaneous attendant or additional circumstances, temporal settings, etc. The other clause with which an appositionalis clause is in cosubordination is predominantly indicative. The mood may also occur in coordinate clauses like an independent mood, accompanied by a coordinate particle and potentially articulated in two intonation groups with pause. Again, it may be an independent sentence on its own. In coordinate and independent uses, an appositionalis clause commonly occurs in succession, supplying additional information or connected events. This is particularly true of narratives. Most of vocative (VOC) forms as well. 11 Cf. e.g.. ‘comment clauses’ (Dixon 1991: 31) and ‘predicate appositive’ (Curme 1931: 6C [30–32]).
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the predicates in a paragraph may contain mainly appositionalis clauses rather than indicative, with a full range of tense/aspect/modality and evidentiality specification. Appositionalis-mood verbs have morphological and syntactic idiosyncrasies not shared by any other moods (Miyaoka 1996, 1997). 1.4 Derivation Derivational suffixes, most of which are productive, belong to two distinct class-changing types – deverbalization [V -> N; §1.4.1] and denominalization [N -> V; §1.4.3] and of two elaborating types – i.e., nominal elaboration [N -> V; §1.4.2] and verb elaboration [ V -> V; §1.4.4]. Some suffixes are more or less grammatical, while others are lexical and concrete in content. The four types are indicated by two-letter abbreviations. 1.4.1 Deverbalization (VN). Suffixes that change a verb into a noun are of three kinds: complementizers, used to convey the meaning “that/whether/if he –, his –ing” (§5); nominalizations, which represent action/state nominals (§5.1): and relativizers, which denote “[the one] that he –”, “[the one] who –ed” (§4). Complementizers often appear in more or less lexicalized combinations. 1.4.2 Nominal elaboration (NN). Nominal suffixes added to nouns without changing the part of speech are used to convey adjectival modification. Such suffixes add meanings of the type “big”, “small”, as shown in ex. (2), as well as many others, e.g., “bad, old”, “past / former”, “future”, “genuine”, “imitation of”, “little bit of”, “lots of”, “one having”, “one belonging to”, “inhabitant of”, “associate with”, etc. 1.4.3 Denominalization (NV). Suffixes that change nouns into verbs are used to derive an expanded verb stem. The resultant verb stem may be monovalent (“be” / “become” [RLVi], “exist, have”, “lack, have no [PRV]”,”have a good, bad”, “have much”, “have little”, “acquire”, “catch”, “use, wear, eat”, “deal with”, “take along”, “be affected / painful in (body part)”, “be at”, “go to”, “be far”, etc. Or the derived verb stem may be bivalent (“be someone’s” / “become someone”s” [“have/get – as”: RLVt], “make, build for” (e.g., 4), “supply with, have plenty of”, “catch a lot of”, “deprive of, de-”, etc. Relational verbs – intransitive (RLVi) and transitive (RLVt) – indicate a relation of identity or equation between the referent of the original noun stem and the verb’s S- or O-argument (logical subject; “someone/thing to be identified or equated”), while an A- argument functions as possessor (“be / become someone’s”; e.g., 3a,b, 7) of the noun stem referent. ‘Be’ relational verbs particularly permeate CAY grammar in more or less fixed combinations with various nominal roots, stems, and suffixes. Comparative clauses (§6) will
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be shown to represent a kind of relational verb derived from comparative phrases, with intransitive and transitive distinctions (exactly like the “be” and “become” distinctions in relational verbs). 1.4.4 Verb elaboration (VV). Suffixes that derive verb forms from another verb form can be grouped into four types, depending upon the type of semantic modification they produce with respect to the meaning of the original verb stem. These types will be referred to as: verbal modifications, verbal additions, argument modifications, and complex transitives. Verbal modifications are VV suffixes that specify degree, location, time, manner, polarity, attitude/evaluation, and evidentiality. Verbal additions that do not change the underlying subject include tenseaspect and modality (often fused with polarity) as well as non-complex embedding verbs (§3.1). Argument modifications include argument increase (without adding a new clause), decrease, and rearrangement.12 Complex (multilayered) verbs (§3), which may recur, introduce an upper subject (A’, A”, and so forth) for an embedding superordinate clause. 1.4.5 Cyclic expansion (VN+NV, VN+NV). Class changes by VN or NV may occur in succession within a single word. More or less fixed combinations of the two types 1) NV+VN and 2) VN+NV yield what I call cyclic expansion by converting the given stem to the original class: 1) N to V to N for nominal elaboration with semantic “twist” like secondary categorization – e.g., (8) 2) V to N to V for grammatical or functional elaboration – comparative markers (§6.2), valency increase (e.g., 20), past-tense (16), polarity (16), etc. Cyclic expansion is a morphological mechanism that synchronically permeates the language. It is responsible for the high degree of non-slot polysynthesis in CAY, and greatly increases semantic richness and functional complexity. The primary morphemes responsible for VN cyclic expansion are relativizers, complementizers, etc.; while NV cyclical expansion relies on relational verbs, privatives, etc.
12
E (extension to core) includes an applicative and an adversative (benefactive) experiencer, etc. Adversative verb system, still productive in CAY, is arguably the historical matrix for halftransitive verbs (HTR), i.e., antipassives for S=O ambitransitives. A’, A”, etc. are the subject for complex transitives (§3).
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2.
Polysynthesis illustrated To show what derivational suffixes can do in CAY, a gradual expansion is illustrated based on the noun stem angyar- “boat”13 Each one of the examples, ranging from the simple stem in (1) to the ‘heavy’ strings in (15–18), unmistakably represents a single word as a minimal form of ‘articulation’ at the content plane. Although each sequence is either a nominal (N) or a verb (Vi or Vt), there are significant differences in the semantic and functional content packed therein. (1) Basic stem with no derivational suffix ángyaq boat.ABS.SG = N “(the) boat” (2) Stem with nominal elaboration (§1.4.2) ángyà-cuar boat-small.ABS.SG = N-NN “(the) small boat” The intransitive (3a) and transitive (3b) denominalizations (§1.4.3) made from (2) are relational verbs. Note that angya(-cuara)- “(small) boat” in (3) is not a ‘copula complement’ (Dixon 2002); nor is it an O-argument in (4), despite the English gloss: (3a) ángyà-cuárá-u-guq boat-small-RLVi(be)-IND.3SG = N-NN-NV-Vi “it [S] is a small boat”
13
Segmental representation is made in the practical orthography now widely used for pedagogical, religious, and public materials in the area. VOWELS: a, i, u, e for /a/, /i/ [i-e], /u/ [u-o], /ˆ/ [non-low central], STOPS: p, t, c, k, q for /p/, /t/, /c/ [c&], /k/, /q/, VOICED FRICATIVES: v, l, s, g, r, uÉg, uÉr for /v/, /l/, /z/, /ƒ/, /“/, /ƒW/, /“W/, VOICELESS FRICATIVES: vv-v, ll-l, ss-s, gg-g, rr-r [single next to voiceless] for /f/, /¬/, /s/, /x/, /X/ and w, uÉrr for /xW/, /XW/, APPROXIMANTS: w-v, y for /w/, /y/, VOICED NASALS: m, n, ng for /m/, /n/, /N/, VOICELESS NASALS: m#-m, n#-n, n#g#ng [without bar after voiceless] for /m8/, /n8/, /N8/. An apostrophe indicates unpredictable gemination (in the environment of C_V), non-devoicing of a fricative or a nasal (C_C, #_, or #), word-final truncation (_#), deviation from general accentuation pattern (V_V and V_C), and to distinguish the consonant sequence /ng/ (+ g) from the velar nasal /N/, (ng). The signs (), (=), and (≠) mark morpheme boundaries respectively inside words, enclitic and non-enclitic ‘bound-word phrases’, three of which are clearly distinguishable as different phonological (prosodic) units based upon iambic accentuation (´), with positionally conditioned regression (`) (Miyaoka 1971, 1985, 1996).
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(3b) ángyà-cuár-q-aqa boat-small-RLVt(have.as)-IND.1SG.3SG = N-NN-NV-Vt “it is my (lit. I [A] have it [O] for a) small boat” (A-argument = possessor (“my”) of noun stem referent (“small boat”) (4a) ángyà-cuárà-li-uq boat-small-make-IND.3SG = N-NN-NV-Vi “he [S] is making a small boat” (4b) ángyà-cuárá-li-ánga boat-small-make-IND.3SG.1SG = N-NN-NV-Vt “he [A] is making me [O] a small boat” (5) Verb elaboration (§1.4.4) on (4a) ángyà-cuára-lí-sciígat-uq boat-small-make-cannot-IND.3SG = N-NN-NV-VV-Vi “he cannot make a small boat” (6) Relative clause (§4) deverbalized from (5) ángyà-cuára-lí-sciígal-nguq boat-small-make-cannot-RCL.ABS.SG = N-NN-NV-VV-VN “the one who cannot make a small boat” (7) Relational verb (like 3a) denominalized from (6) ángyà-cuára-lí-sciígàl-ngu-ú-guq boat-small-make-cannot-RCL+RLVi-IND.3SG = N-NN-NV-VV-VN+NV-Vi “he is the one who cannot make a small boat” (cyclic expansion with VN -ngu(r)-, suppletive to -lria- in 8 below). (8) Secondary categorization (§1.4.5) by two-fold relativization through cyclic expansion on (6) via (7) ángyà-cuára-lí-sciígàl-ngu-ú-lria boat-small-make-cannot-RCL-RLVi+RCL.ABS.SG = N-NN-NV-VV-VN-NV+VN “the kind/type of one who cannot make a small boat (lit. the one who is one who cannot make a small boat)” (9) Complex verb (§3) with A’-argument (‘I’) from (7) ángyà-cuára-lí-sciígàl-ngu-ú-yuk-áqa boat-small-make-cannot-RCL-RLVi-A’.think-IND.1SG.3SG = N-NN-NV-VV-VN-NV-VV-Vt “I think he [is the one who] cannot make a small boat”
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(10) ‘Concatenated relative clause’ derived by relativising (9) (cf. Jespersen 1927: 10.7-8; §5.1) ángyà-cuára-lí-sciígàl-ngu-ú-yuké-l-qa boat-small-make-cannot-RCL-RLVi-A’.think-RCL-ABS.1SG.SG = N-NN-NV-VV-VN-NV-VV-VN-N “the one who I thought could not make a small boat” (11) Complement clause (§5) by deverbalizing (5) ángyà-cuára-lí-sciígàl-úci-a boat-small-make-cannot-way.NCL-ABS.3SG.SG = N-NN-NV-VV-VN-N “whether he cannot make a small boat” – can be an O-argument, e.g., for nallu-aqa ‘I don’t know’ (unknown-IND.1sg.3sg.), cf. (12a). Examples (12) and (13) illustrate complex verbs: (12a) ángyà-cuára-lí-sciígàl-úci-ít-aqa boat-small-make-cannot-way.NCL+PRV[A’.not.know]-IND.1SG.3SG = N-NN-NV-VV-VN+NV-Vt “I don’t know that (why) he cannot make a small boat” (12b) ángyà-cuára-lí-sciígàl-úci-ít-uq boat-small-make-cannot-way.NCL+PRV[A’.not.know]-IND.3SG = N-NN-NV-VV-VN+NV-Vi “he is not sure if he is able to make a small boat” – cyclic expansion with VN -(u)cir- (cf. 11) followed by privative NV -(ng)it-. (13) ángyà-cuára-lí-sq-aánga boat-small-make-A’.ask.-IND.3SG.1SG = N-NN-NV-VV-Vt “he wants me to make a small boat” Compare (13) to the cumulative verb elaborations (§1.4.4; ex. 2) illustrated below. Examples (15–18) use as their base the expanded stem angyacuara-li- ‘make a small boat’, which appeared in (4) above. Example (14) is clearly distinct from a complex verb like (13). (14) ángyà-cuára-lí-yùg-aánga boat-small-make-DES-IND.3SG.1SG = N-NN-NV-VV-Vt “he wants to make me a small boat” (15) Adverbial clauses (§1.3.2) in the connective (‘whenever’) mood ángyà-cuára-lí-yu-kápìgt-aqámia boat-small-make-DES-ITS-CNN.3RSG.1SG = N-NN-NV-VV-VV-Vt “whenever he really wants to make me a small boat”
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(16) Verbal elaborations (§1.4.4): ángyà-cuára-lí-yu-kápigté-llru-nrìc-aáq-sugnárqè-llru-yúgnàrq-áanga boat-small-make-DES-ITS-PST-NEG-CTR-INF-PST-INF-IND.3SG.1SG = N-NN-NV-VV-VV-VV-VV-VV-VV-VV-VV-Vt “I’m in doubt he actually didn’t really want to make me a small boat (when he did anyway)” – with VV -llru- (PST) from VN + NV -llr-(ng)u(PST+RLV) and VV -aaq- (INF) presupposed by -llru-yugnarq. Finally, heavy verbs as above may be put into an exclamation with no inflection (§1.3): (17) ángyà-cuára-lí-yu-kápigté-llrù-nrìc-aáq-vaá=lli boat-small-make-DES-ITS-PST-NEG-CTR-EXC(=EXC) = N-NN-NV-VV-VV-VV-VV-VV-PCL(=ENC) “how I/you/he/they really didn’t want to make a small boat (but did)!” All these examples, with their increasing synthesis, are by no means awkward or artificial for fluent Yupik speakers. With their subtle, yet distinctive, overtones, they are used and easily understood by older speakers. The younger generation, with its more limited command of the already eroded language, tend to limit themselves to shorter, more straightforward words. 3.
Complex verbs In multilayered complex transitives with one or more clauses embedded, as illustrated in (12, 13, 20b), the upper verb with its own subject (separate from the subject of the embedded verb) is realized by VV suffixes (§1.4.4; ex (4): -cic- / -vkar- “cause”, -sqe- “ask, want” (13=18), -cuke- “think, presume” (10, 21), -nayuke- “think (might), expect”, -ni- “say, mention” (19), -(u)ciit“unknown, unsure, be confused” (12, 20), etc. (18) angya-cuara-li-sq-aanga (=13) boat-small-make-A’.ask-IND.3SG.1SG “he [A A’] asks/wants me [O S] to make a small boat”; cf. (23) (19) pissur-ni-a arna-m A angun O go.hunt-A’.say-IND.3SG.3SG woman-REL.SG man.ABS.SG “the woman [A A’] said the man [O S] went seal hunting” A complex verb can be either (a) transitive or (b) intransitive, as is also the case with (12):
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(20a) na-ni=qapiar kuvya-llru-ciit-aqa May’aq O where-LOC=ITS net-PST-A’.unknown-IND.1SG.3SG name.ABS.SG “I [A A’] don’t know exactly where May’aq [O S] drift-netted” (20b) na-ni=qapiar kuvya-llru-ciit-uq May’aq S where-LOC=ITS net-PST-A’.unknown-IND.3SG name.ABS.SG “May’aq [S A’] does not know exactly where he drift-netted” A complex verb may be embedded into another (upper) complex verb with its own subject A’, which in turn can be imbedded further into another with A’’, and so on. Three or more layered complex verbs (with A’, A’’,..) necessarily have different readings depending upon which argument(s) are demoted or are co-referential: (21) pissur-ni-qa-llru-yuk-aqa arna-mun Adem angunO. go.hunt-A’.say-just-PST-A’.think-IND.1SG.3SG woman-ALL.SG man.ABS.SG “I [A A’] think that the woman [A’↓] briefly mentioned that the man [O S] went spotted-seal hunting” If arnamun is omitted in (21), A’ would more naturally be co-referential with S, meaning: “the mani briefly mentioned that hei went”. In (22), for example, the two demoted “someone’s” may or may not be co-referential. (22) pissu-u-sq-uma-ni-qa-llru-yuk-aqa hunt-EV-A’.ask-CNT-A’.say-just-PST-A’’.think-IND.1SG.3SG “I [A A’’] thought someone said someone wanted him to go hunting” 3.1 Non-complex embedding verbs Complex verbs have a different subject from the embedded clause (though it can be coreferential). This makes them distinct from non-complex embedding verbs realized by VV suffixes (§1.4.4; ex. (2) with meanings such as “begin”, “try”, “wish”, “pretend”, “get tired”, etc. Compare (13=18) with (14=23), where -yug- shares a co-referential subject with -li-: (23) angya-cuara-li-yug-aanga (=14) boat-small-make-want-IND.3SG.1SG “he [A] wants to make me [O] a small boat” This group of verbs and complex verbs may be cumulative: (24) angut-ngu-ngua-lngu-ng-uq man-RLVi-pretend-tired-begin-IND.3SG “she is beginning to get tired of pretending to be a man” (referencing a custom based religious belief about namesakes)
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A non-complex verb imbedding may occur together with a complex verb embedding within a single verb, as in the following pair where opposite suffix orders yields a semantic difference: (25a) issuri-ssur-uar-ni-uq angun S seal-go.hunt-pretend-A’.say-IND.3SG man.ABS.SG “the mani [SA’=S] says hei is pretending to be spotted-seal hunting” (25b) issuri-ssur-ni-nguar-tuq angun S seal-go.hunt-A’.say-pretend-IND.3SG man.ABS.SG “the mani [SA’=S] pretends to say hei went spotted-seal hunting” 4.
Relative clauses As illustrated in (6, 8, 10), a CAY relative (semantically restrictive) clause is a participant nominalization by one of several NV suffixes or relativizers (§1.4.1(3)): 1) O/S selecting -llr- [past; 26] and O and S selecting -ke- and -lria/ -ngur- (post-final t) [non-past; 27] (participial – §1.3.1) respectively, 2) agentive -(s)t(e)- [28, 29], and 3) passive -kengar- and -(g)ar- / -(g)arkar[future; 30]. If the head NP argument occurs externally, it forms an appositive phrase with the relative-clausal nominalization. The case marking of a relative construction depends upon the function it fulfils within the main clause. Examples (26a,b) and (27a,b) illustrate the function of O and S selecting suffixes. Headless relative clauses are underlined: (26a) [angute-m atu-llr-a] yuar-un man-REL.SG sing-VN-ABS.3SG.SG sing-VN.ABS.SG “the song which the man sang (the song, the one [O] the man sang)” cf. angute-m A atur-aa yuar-un O man-REL.SG sing-IND.3SG.SG sing-VN.ABS.SG “The man is singing the song”. (26b) angun atu-lleq man.ABS.SG sing-VN.ABS.SG “the man who sang (lit. the man, the one who sang)” cf. angun S atur-tuq man.ABS.SG sing-IND.ABS.SG “the man [S] is singing/sang”
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(27a) atu-qi-i sing-ABS.3SG.SG “the one which s/he is singing” (27b) atu-lria sing-ABS.SG “the one who is singing” Agentive suffixes are illustrated in (28) and (29). If the original clause is transitive, O-argument becomes the possessor (in G function). (28a) angun [atur-ti-i yuar-ute-m] man.ABS.SG sing-VN-ABS.3SG.SG sing-VN-REL.SG “the man who is singing the song (the man, singer of the song)” (28b) angun [atur-ta yuar-ut-mek] man.ABS.SG sing-VN.ABS.SG sing-VN-ABM.SG “the man who sings / is singing a song (the man, singer of a song)” In contrast to S=A ambitransitive verbs such as atur- ‘sing’ in (28), S=O ambitransitve verbs like tuqut- ‘kill’ (from tuqu-c- ‘die’ with A addition) in (29) behave differently between (a) and (b) – see tuquce-sti-i vs. tuquc-i-sta: (29a) angun [tuquce-sti-i qimugte-m] man.ABS.SG. kill-VN-ABS.3SG.SG dog-REL.SG “the man that killed the dog (who is a killer of the dog)” (29b) angun [tuquc-i-sta qimugte-mek] man.ABS.SG kill-HTV-VN.ABS.SG dog-ABM.SG “the man who kills a dog (who is a killer of a dog)” Example (29b) requires the half-transitive stem in -i- for the purpose of conveying that the “man” a killer. Compare tuqut-aa “he kills it”, tuqut-uq “it was killed, choked itself”, tuquc-i-uq “he kills (someone or something)” with tuquc-i-sti-i “killer for him (of someone or something), his (hired/paid) killer (of someone or something). Example (30) contains a passive construction: (30) yuarun atur-arkar-put song.ABS.SG sing-VN.FUT-ABS.1PL.SG “the song we are to sing / our song to be sung” Two other relativizers select oblique L (location) and I (instrument) arguments for an action verb: “place where…” and “instrument by which…”.
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A relative construction may involve a nominal demonstrative which serves as a determiner, with a more or less typical constituent order of nominal demonstrative + (external) head noun + restrictive clause. 4.1 Concatenated relative clauses As exemplified in (10), a ‘concatenated relative clause’ is a relative clause derived from a complex verb clause (§3). Compare (26a) also with: (31) [angut-mun atur-ni-llr-at] yuar-un man-ALL.SG sing-A’.ask-VN-ABS.3PL.SG sing-VN.ABS.SG “the song [O] which they [A’] said the man [A↓] sang” cf. angut-mun Adem atur-ni-llru-at yuar-un O man-ALL.SG sing-A’.ask-PST-IND.3PL.3SG sing-VN.ABS.SG “they [AA’] said the man [A↓] sang the song [O]”. Example (31) shows regular demotion of A (REL angute-m in 26a) into ALL in complex verbs. A further concatenation could be readily made from a tri-layered complex verb such as (21) – “the man [I think [the woman briefly mentioned [went spotted-seal hunting]]]”. 5.
Complement clauses As illustrated in (11), a CAY complement clause is a deverbalized nominal, which functions as a core or an oblique/demoted argument for the main-clause predicate or may be in G function in an attributive phrase. Complementizers (VN suffixes; §1.4.1; ex. 1) include -ll(e)r- (examples 32, 34, 35, 38) / -llerkar- [FUT] “the act/fact that, of –ing”; -(u)cir- (33) / (u)cirkar- [FUT] “that, whether, wh-, ...”, and -yarar- (38) “the (usual) way that, of –ing”, and -n(e)r- (38, 39) “state, action of –ing”; §5.1) functionally overlap in parts and are interchangeable to a certain extent. The deverbal clause, which has to be in the singular (agreeing with the main clause argument it fills), takes absolutive-case marking if it is an S- or O-argument (of the main clause) but relative-case if an A argument. This requires any O-argument in the original clause to be demoted into ablative-modalis owing to single-absolutive restriction within a clause; cf. (33). Except for -n(e)r-, the clause may be inflected for person, which refers to the logical subject. If the subject is external, the NP occurs in the relative (genitive) case (like the man’s eating [fish] in the evening), whether it is originally S or A. As such the external subject constitutes an attributive phrase with the head nominal (deverbalized clause itself).
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A complement clause has the same possibilities as a main clause (except for evidentiality), retaining categories (e.g., tense, aspect, voice, polarity, adverbials) from the original verb, together with its cosubordinate clause (§1.3.2) and argument NPs (with necessary case change). As such a complement it can be a heavy construction with a number of elements. (32) S-argument in a relativized construction [angute-m angya-cuara-li-yu-kapigte-llr-a] S pellug-tuq man-REL.SG boat-small-make-DES-ITS-VN-ABS.3SG.SG pass-IND.3SG “the man no longer has a strong wish to make a small boat” (lit. “that the man wishes very much to make someone a small boat has passed” Note that the derivational morphology is retained in (32) from the following example with absolutive subject of an indicative verb: (32a) angun angya-cuara-li-yu-kapigt-uq man.ABS.SG boat-small-make-DES-ITS-IND.3SG.SG “the man wants to make a small boat very much” Example (33) contains an O-argument: (33) nallu-aqa [arna-m neq-mek Odem unknown-IND.1SG.3SG woman-REL.SG fish-ABM.SG nere-llru-ci-a ataku-mi] O eat-PST-VN-ABS.3SG.SG evening-LOC.SG “I don’t know whether the woman ate fish in the evening” Note the demotion of the O-argument neqa into ABM neq-mek in (33a) from (33a): (33a) arna-m A neqa O nere-llru-a ataku-mi woman-REL.SG fish.ABS.SG eat-PST-IND.3SG.3SG evening-LOC.SG “the woman ate fish in the evening” In this particular case with deverbalizer -ucir- and the complementing verb nallu-, the complementation can be morphologically done by a complex verb nere-llru-ciit-aqa “I don’t know it”; cf. (11) in contrast to (12a) and (20). Finally, example (34) illustrates an A-argument: (34) mernu-qapigte-ll-ma A manar-yar-cete-nrit-aanga tired-ITS-VN-REL.1SG.SG fish-go-A’.make-NEG-IND.3SG.1SG “my great tiredness prevented me from going fishing”
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5.1 Lexical nominalizations The VN suffixes as complementizers above may yield nominalizations (in the singular only). If they (except -n(e)r-) inflect for person (like -llr-a in 36), it is not the (logical) subject but a modifier of the deverbal nominal, unlike complement clauses (35). As VN -ll(e)r- also serves as relativizer (26, 37), the same attributive phrase neqe-m nere-llr-a can have three readings: (35) Complement clause [neqe-m nere-llr-a ciissi-nek] O nallu-aqa fish-REL.SG eat-VN-ABS.3SG.SG bug-ABM.PL unknown-IND.1SG.3SG “I don’t know that the fish ate bugs (i.e., the fish’s eating bugs)” (36) Lexical nominalization [neqe-m nere-llr-a]S piciryara-u-guq Yup’ig-tun fish-REL.SG eat-VN-ABS.3SG.SG custom-RLVi-IND.3SG Eskimo-EQL.SG “fish eating is the Eskimo (genuine man) way of life” (37) Relative clause [[neqe-m nere-llr-a] ciissiq] S fish-REL.SG eat-VN-ABS.3SG.SG bug.ABS.SG “(I found that) the bug which the fish ate is small”
mik-lini-uq small-EVD-IND.3SG
5.2 Unpossessed nominalizer As stated, VN -n(e)r- has no person inflection. The sequence nere-llr-a in (35) is not interchangeable with *nere-nr-a, unlike the situation with the other (unpossessed) nominalizations. It refers to an abstracted activity or state (generic, non-particularized, non-realized). See Comrie & Thompson (1985: 384) for nominalization with ‘unexpressed subjects’ referring to an abstract type of activity or state: (38) assik-aqa [ner-neq /-lleq /-yaraq neq-mek ataku-mi] O like-IND.1SG.3SG eat-VN.ABS.SG fish-ABM.SG evening-LOC.SG “I like eating [in general / in some particular instance / in the tradition way] fish in the evening”. However, the abstract VN -n(e)r- does occur with person inflection (39a, b). In this case it expresses comparison (§6), serving as INDEX, with the person representing the STANDARD (instead of the subject or the modifier). Compare (39a) with (39b, c):
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(39a) ang-neq big-NV.ABS.SG “being big (bigness)” (39b) ange-nr-a big-VN-ABS.3SG.SG “its being big (bigness), i.e., the one bigger than it” (39c) ange-nr-at big-VN-ABS.3PL.SG “their being big (bigness), i.e., the one biggest of them” A comparative phrase with possessed -n(e)r- (39b) is embedded in a relational verb, yielding a comparative clause (cf. 40a, b, and §6.2). 6. Comparative clauses 6.1 Intransitive and transitive A CAY comparative construction is mono-clausal. May be either intransitive or transitive; cf. Dixon (2004). The COMPAREE (e.g., “boat” below) is an S-argument for intransitive predicates but an O-argument for transitive ones. In both cases the argument in question takes absolutive-case marking, while the argument of the STANDARD (“my boat”) takes the locative (40a) and the relative (40b) respectively. The verb stem, which is PARAMETER of comparison (e.g., “big”), is followed by VV suffix -nru- (intransitive) or -nqe(transitive) as the INDEX (“—er, more”), which in turn is followed by respective inflection, as in the two items of the following pair, which are synonymous: (40a) angyaq S boat.ABS.SG
ange-nru-uq big-more-IND.3SG
angya-mni boat-LOC.1SG.SG
(40b) angyaq O ange-nq-aa angya-ma A boat.ABS.SG big-more-IND.3SG.3SG boat-REL.1SG.SG “the boat is bigger than my boat” (lit. “my boat has the boat for the big(ger) one)” CAY transitive comparative clauses like (b), with STANDARD as a core argument, are far from being scanty fossilized or lexicalized forms (as is the case with Greenlandic; Michael Fortescue, p.c). Though not documented previously, they are quite commonly used (except for younger speakers).14 14
There is another type of transitive comparative clause, which is nonetheless obviously derived from intransitive one. This is the case with adjectival stems or roots expanded by VV
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The PARAMETER is not necessarily an adjectival stem, but can be an action verb (41) or denominalized relational verb (42). In both examples, (a) and (b) are completely synonymous: (41a) nere-nru-uq eat-more-IND.3SG
angut-mi / man-LOC.SG
akwauga-mi yesterday-LOC.SG
(41b) nere-nq-aa angute-mA / akwauga-mA eat-more-IND.3SG man-REL.SG yesterday-REL.SG. “he is eating more than the man / than yesterday” Each of the synonymous sentences in (42) has two semantic interpretations: (42a) angyar-pa-u-nru-uq boat-big-RLVi-more-IND.3SG
u-u-mi this-EXP-LOC.SG
(42b) angyar-pa-u-nq-aa u-u-mA boat-big-RLVi-more-IND.3SG.3SG this-EXP-REL.SG 1) “it is a bigger boat than this” 2) “he has a bigger boat than this (person)” In the first semantic interpretation, -pag- “big” characteristically refers to a thing, while in the second it refers to its possessor. Parameters may be compared in intransitive construction with a complement clause for the standard (in the locative): (43) [U-ku-k yaassiig-e-k]S take-nru-uk this-EXP-ABS.DU box-EV-ABS.DU long-more-IND.3DU iqtu-ta-ci-megni. wide-that.much-VN-LOC.3R.DU.SG “this box (lit. ‘[composite dual] boxes) is longer than it is wide” 6.2 Comparative clauses as relational verbs As stated, the nominalization -n(e)r- with impersonal inflection emphasizes abstractness of the verbal event (44a, 45a). But, if inflected for person, it serves as the INDEX of comparison, with the person as its STANDARD. If the suffix -ke- “A finds that O (< S) is”, or “S is to A” (probably related with bivalent relational verb NV -ke-); cf. Jacobson (1955: 257). Compare the intransitive (40a): angyaq (boat.ABS.SG) ang-ke-nru-aqa (big-find-more-IND.1SG.3 SG) angya-mni (boat-LOC.1SG.SG.) “(I find) the boat is bigger than my boat”, and note the intransitive INDEX and locative STANDARD just like the intransitive (40a) but unlike transitive (40b). See also Miyaoka (2006) where superlative constructions are discussed (cf. 39c, 44c).
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person is externally expressed, the NP — “boat” in (44b) and “man” in (45b) — forms an attributive phrase with the nominalization, i.e., a comparative phrase: (44a) ange-neq (=39a) big-VN.ABS.SG “being big, bigness” (44b) ange-nr-a (=39b) angya-m big-VN-ABS.3SG.SG boat-REL.SG “the one (that is) bigger than the boat” (44c) ange-nr-at (=39c) angya-t big-VN-ABS.3PL.SG boat-REL.PL “the (one that is) biggest of the boats” (45a) ner-neq eat-VN.ABS.SG “eating” (45b) nere-nr-a angute-m eat-VN-ABS.3SG.SG man-REL.SG “the one eating more than the man” It is revealing to juxtapose these comparative phrases with the comparative clauses in (46b, c) and (47b, c) — where (46b, 47b) are intransitive and (47b, 47c) are transitive. The latter are denominalizations of the former by a relational verb. The intransitive index -nru- and the transitive -nqe- are cyclic derivations by nominalization -n(e)r- plus relational -(ng)u- / -ke-. In reference to (40) and (41), note the exact parallelism between (46, 47) and (44, 45), respectively: (46a) ange-nr-u-uq big-VN-be-IND.3SG “it is bigness itself” or “it is exciting!” (less common)15 (46b) ange-nru-uq angya-mni big-more-IND.3SG boat-LOC.1SG.SG “it is bigger than my boat”
15
The use of the locative as in ange-nr-u-uq wang-ni (1SG-LOC) “it is exciting to me (as far as I am concerned)” suggests its relatedness to the use as STANDARD.
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(46c) ange-nq-aa angya-ma big-more-IND.3SG.3SG boat-REL.SG “it is bigger than my boat” (47a) nere-nr-u-uq eat-VN-be-IND.3SG “she is eating and eating, always eating” (47b) nere-nru-uq angut-mi eat-more-IND.3SG man-LOC.SG “she is eating more than the man” (47c) nere-nq-aa angute-m eat-more-IND.3SG.3SG man-REL.SG “she is eating more than the man” The intransitive and the transitive INDEX of comparison can likewise be formed also from the transitional relational verbs -(ng)urc- / -ksaguc- “become / be now (–’s)”, respectively. Again, the exact parallelism becomes obvious when one compares (46b, c) with the two synonymous sentences in (48a) and (48b): (48a) ange-nr-urt-uq irnia-mni (LOC) big-more-RLVi-IND.3SG child-LOC.1SG.SG “she has become bigger than my child” (48b) ang-ne-qsagut-aa irnia-maA (REL) big-more-RLVt-IND.3SG.3SG child-REL.1SG.SG “she has become bigger than my child” 7.
Final remarks A hallmark of Central Alaskan Yupik is the use of successive layers of nominalizing or verbalizing suffixes capable of changing form class membership of the word form as a whole. The foregoing discussion and examples demonstrate that the essence of CAY polysynthesis lies in the creation of multi-layered clausal constructions such as complex transitives and reverbalizations of clausal nominalizations or relative clauses. In CAY these structures are built up morphologically through the addition of successive layers of suffixes. Because some of these suffixes convey the function of relativization, what is complex sentence formation in many languages of the world is subsumed within the word-internal morphology of Eskimoan languages.
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Abbreviations – transitive subject, A’, A”,.. – upper subject, ABM – ablative-modalis, ABS – absolutive, ALL – allative, APP – appositionalis, C – consonant, CAY – Central Alaska Yupik, CNN – connective, CTR – contrary, CUS – customary, DEM – demoted, DES – desiderative, DU – dual, E – extended argument, ENC – enclitic, EQL – equalis, EV – epenthetic vowel, EVD – evidence, FUT – future, G – genitive, HTR – half-transitive, IND – indicative, INF – inference, INT – interrogative, ITS – intensifier, LOC – locative, N – nominal, NCL – nominal clause, NEG – negation, NN – nominal elaboration, NV – denominalization, O – transitive object, O1 – direct object, O2 – indirect object, OPT – optative, PCL – particle, PL – plural, PPL – participle, PRL – perlative, PRV – privative, PST – past, QST – question, RCL – relative clause, REL – relative case, RLV – relational verb, S – intransitive subject, SG – singular, V – vowel / verb (Vi – intransitive, Vt – transitive), VN – deverbalization, VOC – vocative, VV – verb elaboration, 3R – reflexive third. A
REFERENCES Comrie, Bernard & Sandra A. Thompson. 1985. “Lexical Nominalization”. Language Typology and Syntactic Description 3: Grammatical categories and the lexicon ed. by Timothy Shopen, 349-398. Avon: The Bath Press. Curme, Otto. 1931. Syntax: A grammar of the English language, Vol. 3. Boston & New York: D. C. Heath & Company. Dixon, R. M. W. 1991. A New Approach to English Grammar, on Semantic Principles. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dixon, R. M. W. 2002. “Copula Clauses in Australian Languages: A typological perspective”. Anthropological Linguistics 44.1-36. Dixon, R. M. W. 2004. “Comparative constructions: Position paper for RCLT Workshop”. Draft document. La Trobe University. Dixon, R. M. W. & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, eds. 2000. Changing Valency: Case studies in transitivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dixon, R. M. W. & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, eds. 2002. Word: A crosslinguistic typology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dixon, R. M. W. & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, eds. 2002. “Word: A typological framework”. Word: A Cross-Linguistic Typology ed. by R. M. W. Dixon & A. Y. Aikhenvald, 1-41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jacobson, Steven A. 1995. A Practical Grammar of the Central Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo Language. University of Alaska Fairbanks: ANLC. Jespersen, Otto. 1927. Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles, Part 3. Syntax, Vol. 2. London: George Allen & Unwin.
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Krauss, Michael E. 2003. “The Languages of the North Pacific Rim, 1897– 1997, and the Jesup Expedition”. Constructing Cultures Then and Now: Celebrating Franz Boas and Jesup North Pacific Expedition ed. by Laurel Kendall & Igor Krupnik, 211-221. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History. Krauss, Michael E. 2007. “Native Languages of Alaska”. The vanishing languages of the Pacific Rim ed. by O. Miyaoka et al., 406-417. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Miyaoka, Osahito. 1971. “On Syllable Modification and Quantity in Yuk Phonology”. IJAL 37:4.219-226. Miyaoka, Osahito. 1985. “Accentuation in Central Alaskan Yupik”. Yupik Eskimo Prosodic Systems: Descriptive and comparative studies ed. by Michael E. Krauss, 51-75. University of Alaska Fairbanks: ANLC. Miyaoka, Osahito. 1996. “Sketch of Central Alaskan Yupik, an Eskimoan Language”. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 17: Languages ed. by Ives Goddard, 325-363. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Miyaoka, Osahito. 1997. “A Chapter on the Alaskan Central Yupik Subordinative Mood”. Languages of the North Pacific Rim 2, 61-146. Kyoto University: Graduate School of Letters. Miyaoka, Osahito. 2000. “Morphologie Verbale en Yupik Alaskien Central”. Les Langues Eskaléoutes (Sciences du langage: Collection dirigée par Christian Hudelot) ed. by Nicole Tersis & Michèl Therrien, 225-48. Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Miyaoka, Osahito. 2000. “A Reflection on the Word ‘Articulation’ in Natural Languages” [in Japanese]. Valedictory Speech, Mar. 11, 2000. Kyoto University. Miyaoka, Osahito. 2002. What is a ‘Word’?: Japanese viewed from Eskimo [in Japanese]. Tokyo: Sanseido. Miyaoka, Osahito. 2004a. “Antipassive (or Half-Transitive) vs. Adversative/ Benefactory Verbs in Central Alaskan Yupik”, Seminar Handout, Mar. 17, 2004. La Trobe University. Miyaoka, Osahito. 2004b. “Comparative Constructions in Central Alaskan Yupik”, Workshop Handout, March 25, 2004. La Trobe University: RCLT. Miyaoka, Osahito. 2004c. “Complementation in Central Alaskan Yupik (Eskimo)”, RCLT 2004 International Workshop, Aug. 16–21. La Trobe University. Miyaoka, Osahito. 2006. “Transitive Comparative Constructions in Central Alaskan Yupik”. Handout. 15th Inuit Studies Conference, Oct. 25–28, Paris. Miyaoka, Osahito. 2007. “Linguistic Diversity in Decline: A functional view.” The Vanishing Languages of the Pacific Rim ed. by Miyaoka, Osahito,
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Osamu Sakiyama & Michael E. Krauss, 144-62. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Miyaoka, Osahito, Osamu Sakiyama & Michael E. Krauss, eds. 2007. The Vanishing Languages of the Pacific Rim. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Van Valin, Robert D. 1993. “A Synopsis of Role-and-Reference Grammar”. Advances in Role-and-Reference Grammar ed. by Van Valin, 1-164. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Woodbury, Anthony. 2002. “The Word in Cup’ik”. Word: A cross-linguistic typology ed. by R. M. W. Dixon & A. Y. Aikhenvald, 79-99. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
CONVERBS IN NORTHERN SELKUP RIITTA-LIISA VALIJÄRVI Uppsala University 1.
Introduction The purpose of this study is to provide a functional-typological study of Northern Selkup converbs using the latest theoretical models. Selkup, also known as Ostyak Samoyed(ic), is a Uralic language spoken in Western Siberia between the Ob’ and Yenisei rivers. Selkup has 1,570 speakers, the majority (1,400) of whom speak Northern Selkup (Gordon 2005). The focus here is on the Taz dialect of Selkup. The material consists of previous descriptions of Northern Selkup and a small corpus of fairy tales published in Kuznetsova et al. (1993). The collection includes 28 stories by 14 different informants. Since a father and son pair narrates of one of the stories, the total number of informants could be said to be fifteen. The original texts were recorded between 1970 and 1973, and in 1977. Selkup converbs have been described by a number of linguists, notably Vojevodika (1976), Kuznetsova et al. (1980), Cheremisina & Martynova (1991), Kuznetsova (1995), and Helimski (1998). The present study, in contrast to previous treatments, focuses on the semantics of Northern Selkup converbs in light of general typological tendencies governing converbs as well as areal and genealogical features specific to the Samoyedic languages of northwest Siberia. Some tentative quantitative remarks will also be made, despite the limited material. 2.
Converb A converb has been defined basically as “a nonfinite verb form whose main function is to mark adverbial subordination” (Haspelmath 1995: 3). Converbs are usually optional elements in the sentence because they are not required by the argument structure of the predicate (V. Nedjalkov 1995: 7). This seems to apply especially to conjunctional and coordinative converbs (cf. V. Nedjalkov 1995: 98-99). Conjunctional converbs are equivalent to the conjunction-initial subordinate clauses used by many European languages to express different temporal and causal relations, e.g., coming home ~ when I
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came home. Coordinative converbs express events that happen in sequence or simultaneously but are not subordinate to each other, e.g., he read while eating. Coordinative converbs represent instances of co-subordination. So-called converbs proper express manner in simple sentences, e.g., she came running (V. Nedjalkov 1995: 98). In many cases they cannot be left out without the sentence becoming grammatically unacceptable. Haspelmath (1995) would not regard the coordinative usages as converbs since they are not embedded in the sentence. His view on converbs is narrower than V. Nedjalkov’s (cf. Van Der Auwera 1998 for a more detailed discussion on the two concepts). Morphologically, converbs are most typically either fossilized participles, or adpositional or case forms of verbal nouns (Haspelmath 1995: 17). Other, more marginal ways of forming a converb include: prefixes, adpositions, confixes, reduplication of a non-finite verb form, stress shifts and pure verb stems (I. Nedjalkov 1998b: 428). These techniques are not relevant for this study, although some Southern Selkup converbs do consist of bare verb stems (Helimski 1983: 46). The term converb was introduced by the Finnish Altaicist Ramstedt (1903: 55) for the description of Mongolian. It was first used in typological linguistics by V. Nedjalkov & I. Nedjalkov (1987). Converbs have often been referred to by a variety of other names, such as adverbial/conjunctional participles, gerunds, absolutives, verbal adverbs and, in Russian, deeprechastie (Masica 1976: 109-110, Haspelmath 1995: 45-46). 3.
Complex sentences in Selkup Converbs are not the only means of coordinating clauses or forming complex adverbial sentences in Selkup. Parataxis and conjunctions are also used (cf. Helimski 1998: 576-577). Parataxis and the use of the adverb ny#ny “then” appear to be the most frequent strategies in my material. (1) Mç#tty tulty-Nyty, qumo#-qI-m-ty apstç#l-nyty, home take-PRES.3SG man-DU-ACC-POSS.3SG feed-PRES.3SG ny#ny qonty-Nyty Illa_. then lay-PRES.3SG down “S/he takes the two people home, feeds them (and) then lies down”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 39) Inflected infinite verb forms were presumably the main means of expressing subordination in Proto-Uralic (Janhunen 1982: 39). Conjunctioninitial subordinate clauses are becoming more and more common in Uralic languages, and several of the conjunctions are loans from neighboring
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languages (Comrie 1988: 474-475). This tendency is visible in Selkup as well. For example, the conjunction i “and” is used, as in (2). (2) I tamyt t´tty tç# ily-nty ima-nty-sa_. and this until through live-PRES.3SG wife-POSS.3SG-INS “And till this day he has lived with his wife”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 25) Converbs are widely used in Selkup, at least in my material. This suggests that the analytic tendency has not proceeded as far in Selkup as in Western Uralic languages such as Hungarian and Saami (Tauli 1966: 87-96). Selkup is therefore a rather typical Eurasian language, where subordination is expressed primarily by means of converbs, as opposed to the serial verbs found in Far Eastern languages or the conjunction-initial subordinate clauses of European languages (Bisang 1998). The system of converbs is not as rich as in many other languages of Siberia (I. Nedjalkov 1998a). The general syntactic simplicity of Selkup has been explained as resulting from the language’s use as a lingua franca in the area (Helimski 1998: 549). 4. Converbs in Northern Selkup 4.1 -la_ The converb -la_ is the most frequent converb in my material. It is used to express a variety of meanings, such as manner (3), means (4), attendant circumstance (5), temporal simultaneity (6), close/contact anteriority (7), also (12) and concession (8). (3) na na_ta_-t tu_m-myntç#tyt tI#mpy-la_. that girl-PL come-NARR.3PL fly-CONV “Those girls came flying”. (Kuznetsova et al.1993: 42) (4) Il'ca-mty picyl’a-nty-sa_ paccal-la_ ny# q´ttE#-Nyty uncle-POSS.3SG axe-POSS.3SG-INS chop-CONV there kill-PRES.3SG “The uncle chops him up with an axe”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 17) (5) s&itty su#r-"#ja#-qI til'tyr-nç#qI cicyrympy-la_. two bird-child-DU fly-PRES.3DU twitter-CONV “Two chicks fly twittering”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 21) (6) Mç#t s&er-la_ nIk k´t-ç#tyt: home go.down-CONV so say-PRES.3SG “Ima-l qu-mpa, Ica”. wife-POSS.2SG die-NARR.3SG Ica “When they get home they say this: ‘Your wife died, Ica’”. (Kuznetsova et al.1993: 25)
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(7) Lo#s-ira n@en@n@ymç##l-la_ laNkys&qolam-ny […]. devil-old.man get.angry-CONV shout.start-PRES.SG “Getting angry, the old devil starts to shout…”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 29) (8) Mat Illa_ s&Inty ´sty-la_ ukkyrna mç#nty s&Inty a-mtak. I down you.ACC take-CONV still you.ACC eat-FUT.1SG “Even though I’ve taken you down I’ll still eat you”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 19) The diverse semantic functions of -la_ make it a contextual converb of simultaneity (I. Nedjalkov 1998: 432ff). Converbs of this type may express close anteriority, as in (7). Attendant circumstance, also called concomitance, is also typical for converbs of this type. This converb could also be regarded as expressing anteriority (6). The concessive meaning in this particular sentence is triggered by the adverb ukkyrna mç#nty “still”. On its own -la_ does not seem to have developed a concessive meaning, nor is it used to express cause and condition, as it could as a contextual converb. -la_ is primarily a same-subject converb as examples (3–8) show. In my material it never appears with a subject of its own. The subject may, however, be expressed with a noun in the genitive case as in example (9) below. (9) Lo#sy-n Illa_ panyccEnty-la_ po#-t qç#sy tal'y-mmynty. devil-GEN down come-CONV tree-GEN bark fall.off-NARR.3SG “When the devil came down, the tree bark fell off”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1980: 256) The lack of different-subject -la_ in the material is not surprising: differentsubjecthood is cross-linguistically more marked than same-subjecthood (I. Nedjalkov 1998: 422). Etymologically -la_ is possibly connected to the participle -tV of Northern Samoyedic languages, which would have developed as follows in Selkup: -TV > -la_ (for references, cf. Kuznetsova 1995: 195-196). The -la_ ending appears also in adverbs not derived from verbs, such as ola_ “just, only”, qošykç#la_ “badly” and Illa_ “down”. One could speculate that the converb -la_ consists of the verb stem and an adverb suffix or some case form. In addition to its adverbial use, -la_ is used as a complement to verbs of motion (10) and aspectual auxiliaries (11). (10) Nymty tu_-mpç#tyt imal'-l'a_ then come-NARR.3PL propose-CONV “Then they come to propose”. (OPSJ 1993: 25)
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(11) Qumy-t amyr-la_ u#kytal-tç#tyt. Amyr-la_ qy##qyl-nç#tyt people-PL eat-CONV start-PRES.3PL eat-CONV finish-PRES.3PL “People start to eat. They finish eating”. (OPSJ 1993: 9) This makes -la_ a so-called multi-functional (V. Nedjalkov 1995) or nonstrict (I. Nedjalkov 1998) converb. Multi-functional converbs may be identical with participles and verbal nouns, and appear as infinitives. An alternative interpretation for the converb in example (10) is that it expresses posteriority: “Then they came and proposed”. This interpretation would make -la_ even more versatile semantically. Similar overlap between the converb and the infinitive can be detected in English with the aspectual verb start. Anterior use of converbs, as shown for -la_ is typical of Eastern languages (Masica 1976: 122-123, 128-129; V. Nedjalkov 1995: 98, 128-129). Narrative use of converbs is also frequent in Eurasian language spoken to the east of Europe. Narrative use refers to converbs being used in clause chaining, where the actions expressed by the converb follow each other in sequence; the number of converbs in these constructions is three or more (V. Nedjalkov 1995: 109). My material contains no examples of narrative use of -la_, although it apparently is frequent in Northern Selkup as well (Kazakevich, p.c.). Participles are not used adverbially in Northern Selkup, which is typical of Indo-European and European languages (Masica 1976, I. Nedjalkov 1998). If the morpheme -la_ derives from an earlier participle marker, this development may have something to do with the absence of adverbial participles in Modern Taz Selkup. 4.2 -la_ pu#la_ The analytic converb -la_ pu#la_ consists of the -la_ converb form of the lexical verb and the -la_ form of the verb pu#- “go across”. It is a specialised mono-functional converb of temporal anteriority, as is shown in (12) and (13). (12) Üìtyt-qo w´s&y-la_ amyr-ny, amyr-la_ pu#la_ beach-TRANSL stop-CONV eat-PRES.3SG eat-CONV aj qos kucca_ q´n-ny. after again somewhere go-PRES.3SG “He stops at the beach and eats; after eating he goes somewhere again”. (OPSJ 1993: 18) (13) Äsa_-ny qu-la_ pu#la_ man aps-qo father-GEN.POSS.1SG die-CONV after I hunger-TRANSL qu-mpak. die-NARR.1SG “After my father died I starved”. (Kuznetsova et al.1980: 257)
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The difference with the meaning of contact anteriority expressed in (6) seems to be the familiarity of the event to the listener; often the verb stem is repeated before the -la_ pu#la_ construction, as in (12). On the basis of limited material, longer time span and emphasis cannot be excluded either as semantic differences to - la_. -la_ pu#la_ tends to share the subject of the predicate, as in (12). It may also have a genitive subject of its own, as in (13). 4.3 -kun@cç#lyk The form -kun@cç#lyk is a negative converb. Negative synthetic converbs can be found in Uralic, Turkic and Dagestanian languages (I. Nedjalkov 1998: 437). The ending consists of the negative participle suffix -kun@c-, caritive case suffix -ç#l- (< -kç#lyN) and adverbial suffix -yk (Kuznetsova et al.1980: 257). The meaning of -kun@cç#lyk is often negative concomitance, as in the examples below. A temporal or conditional interpretation is also possible, as in (15). (14) K´ty-kun@cç#lyk to# p"#qyl-pa. say-CONV there return-NARR.3SG “He went back there without saying (anything)”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1980: 257) (15) Mat kuttar ilEntak a_sa_-ny s&Ip pElty-kun@cç#lyk I how live-FUT.1SG father-GEN.POSS.1SG me help-CONV “How will I live when/if my father does not help me?” (Kuznetsova et al. 1980: 256) -kun@cç#lyk is a varying-subject converb: it can mark forms where subject is either the same or different from the subject of the main clause. In (14) shares the subject with the matrix predicate, while in (15) it has a genitive subject of its own. There were no examples of the negative converb in the material. Negated finite clauses tend to be used instead. 4.4 -qo-POSS-qo Purposive infinite verb forms are also converbal in the sense that they are not always required by the argument structure of the predicative (cf. Ylikoski 2003). The sequence -qo-POSS-qo is actually a purposive, or final converb, although it has not been treated as such in previous descriptions of Selkup. -qo-POSS-qo either shares the subject of the predicate (16) or appears in sentences where the matrix subject is different (17); in the latter case, the
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difference in subject is indicated by the possessive suffix not being coreferential with the subject of the predicate. (16) Il'caty na ç#l'cy-mmynty n@Is&qylty-qo-nto#-qo. uncle-POSS.3SG PTL lie.down-NARR.3SG rest-TRANSL-POSS.3SG-TRANSL “The uncle lay down to rest”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 16) (17) Catkysa_ qa_lympy-NylI# ce#lympyla_ tulys&-qy-nyt-qo. quickly go-IMP.2PL in.daylight arrive-TRANSL-POSS.1PL-TRANSL “Go quickly so we get there while it is still daylight”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 39) The converb -qo-POSS-qo consists of the infinitive ending -qo, a possessive suffix, and a translative suffix. The infinitive marker is etymologically the same as the translative suffix. The lativity of infinitives is frequent cross-linguistically: the English infinitive marker to and the Swedish att are both lative prepositions. The Finnish infinitive *-TAk > -TA contains the lative case marker -k, and the infinitive -mAAn is in the illative case. Reinforced infinitives function as purposives cross-linguistically and may in turn develop into unmarked infinitives (Haspelmath 1989). The basic infinitive marker -qo is used with modal and inchoative verbs, with verbs of motion, in necessitative constructions, as an imperative, and as a subject. There is overlap in usage between -qo and -qo-POSS-qo, especially with verbs of motion; compare (16) to (18), for example. (18) Lōs-ira ç#l'c-a qonty-qo. devil-old.man lay.down-PRES.3SG sleep-INF “The old devil lies down to sleep”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993:19) The verbs of motion and aspectual verbs that create lative forms are generally not the same as those that take -la_, an exception being q´- “leave, go”. 4.5 Inflected verbal noun and verbal noun with adpositions Inflected verbal nouns and verbal nouns followed or preceded by adpositions are generally not considered grammaticalized or verbal enough to be converbs (I. Nedjalkov 1998: 428-429). However, since converbs may have their origins in verbal nouns, the classification becomes a matter of establishing a continuum between inflected or adpositional verbal noun and converb. There are two verbal noun suffixes in Northern Selkup: -pta_- and -ku-. When they appear in adverbial constructions they express specialized temporal
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and causal meanings. For example, the locative form of -pta_- expresses temporal simultaneity (19) and the translative form of -pta_- expresses reason (20). (19) W´tto#-t q´nty-ptaì-_ qyn-tyt copa#-qI-ty road-LOC go-VN-LOC-POSS.3PL brother-3DU-POSS.3SG me#lty qaly-mpç#qI. all.the.time stay.behind-NARR-3DU “When they were walking on the road, his two brothers stayed behind all the time”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 36) (20) Qumy-ty-t qos&kç#l mannympy-pta_-ntyt-qo people-GEN-PL bad look-VN-POSS.3PL-TRANSL apsy-sa_ mi-sap food-INSTR give-PAST.1SG “Because the people looked bad, I gave them food”. (Kuznetsova et al.1980: 251) Locativity is often used in temporal expressions cross-linguistically and lative cases frequently express reason (Heine et al. 1991: 257). When -pta_- appears with the postposition kunty “during” it expresses durativity (21) and with the postposition t´tty “until” it expresses terminativity (22), which cannot be expressed in conjunction with the synthetic converbs. (21) Q´nty-pta_-ny kunty cu_nty-sak. go-VN-GEN.POSS.1SG during shoot-PAST.1SG “I shot while I was walking”. (Kuznetsova et al.1980: 251) (22) omty-pta_-n-ty t´tty sit.down-VN-GEN-POSS.2SG until “until you sat down” (Kuznetsova et al. 1980: 251) The coordinative case form -sak of the verbal noun -ku- seems to express degree/extent, e.g., pe#kus&s&al “search-VN-COORD” > “so that people had to search” (Kuznetsova et al. 1980: 251). Of the constructions only the locative form of -pta_- appears repeatedly in my material. 5.
Fossilized converbs The term ‘fossilized converb’ refers here to both lexicalized and grammaticalized converbs. Some converbs have lexicalized into adverbs: ca_ka_rtyla / c´ka_rtyla “fast, quickly” < ca_ka_rty- “to hurry” exemplified in (24), ce#lympyla “in daylight” < ce#lympy- “to dawn” (17), ce#lynty tç#tyla_
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“day by day” < “sun-GEN-POSS.3SG move-CONV” (25) and pu_ntyrla_ “fumbling” < pu_ntyr- “to touch”. (23) Qa_ly-mpyNylI# ca_ka_rtyla_! go-IMP.2DU fast “Go quickly!” (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 37) (24) Ījal'a aj su#r"#-ty ce#lynty tç#ty-la_ child and beast-POSS.3SG sun-GEN-POSS.3SG move-CONV orymnEty-loryn@n-@ ç#tyt. grow-CONT-PRES.3PL “The child and his beast grow more every day”. (Kuznetsova et al.1993: 42) The phenomenon is attested in other Uralic languages as well, such as Finnish ylla_tta_-en “suddenly” < “surprise-CONV” and Hungarian rang-rejt-ve “incognito” < “social.class-conceal-CONV”. Lexicalized converbs lack the arguments the verb would otherwise take or they appear only with a certain argument of the verb (Valijärvi, to appear). The converb -la_ pu#la (12, 13) is an example of a grammaticalized converb construction, where pu#la resembles an adposition. It does not seem to appear outside constructions with nominal complements. Another deverbal adposition can be found in example (25) below. (25) Ima-m-ty n@o#la_ q´-ssa. woman-GEN-POSS.3SG behind (< follow-CONV) go-PAST.3SG “He walks behind the woman”. (Kuznetsova et al. 1993: 28) The continuative tense marker -lorys&- found in example (24) consists of the converb -la_ and the verb orys&- “to be busy with”. Converbs appear in several languages of the Siberian areal in similar aspectual constructions (Helimski 1997, Klumpp 2002), as they do in the Volgaic areal (Bartens 1979). All the languages involved have undergone influence from Turkic, where the construction is also frequent. Interestingly, Southern Selkup uses the converb more often as a complement to aspectual verbs (Cheremisina & Martynova 1991: 38). Speakers of Southern Selkup have been in more intensive contact with speakers of Turkic languages than is the case for Taz and other northern dialects of Selkup. The optative mood has as its marker -la_- followed by possessive suffixes. It is not clear whether it is based on the converb.
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6.
Summary and discussion Northern Selkup possesses a contextual varying-subject converb -la_, a specialised varying-subject converb of anteriority -la_ pu#la, a negative contextual varying-subject converb of simultaneity -kun@cç#lyk, a specialized varying-subject purposive converb -qo-POSS-qo, a compositional converb of temporal simultaneity -pta_-LOC-POSS, as well as several other specialized but compositional converb constructions consisting of a verbal noun and a case suffix and/or postposition. Previous studies have only regarded the first three forms as converbs. Converbs have become lexicalized and grammaticalized in Selkup. Further study should be undertaken to determine how converb usage in Selkup participates in areal patterns. Abbreviations 1/2/3 – first, second or third person, ACC – accusative, CONV – converb, COORD – coordinative case, DU – dual, FUT – future, IMP – imperative, INF – infinitive suffix, INS – instrumental case, NARR – (past) narrative, NEG – negation word, PAST – past tense, PL = plural, POSS – possessive suffix, PTL – particle, SG – singular, TRANSL – translative case REFERENCES Bartens, Raija. 1979. Mordvan, Cheremissin ja Votjakin Konjugaation Infiniittisten Muotojen Syntaksi [The syntax of non-finite forms in Finnish, Cheremis and Votyak]. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura. Bisang, Walter. 1998. “Adverbiality: The view from the Far East”. Adverbial Constructions in the Languages of Europe ed. by Johan Van der Auwera & Dónall P. Ó Baoill, 641-812. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter Cheremisina, M. I. & E. I. Martynova. 1991. Sel’kupskij glagol: formy i ikh sintaksicheskije funktsii [The Selkup verb: forms and their syntactic functions]. Novosibirsk: Izd. Novosibirskogo Universiteta. Comrie, Bernard. 1988. “General Features of the Uralic languages”. The Uralic Languages: Description, history and foreign influences ed. by Denis Sinor, 451-476. Leiden, New York, København & Köln: E. J. Brill. Gordon, Raymond G. Jr., ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 15th ed. Dallas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com. Haspelmath, Martin. 1989. “From Purposive to Infinitive: A universal path of grammaticalization”. Folia Linguistica Historica 10.287-310. Haspelmath, Martin. 1995. “The Converb as a Cross-Linguistically Valid Category”. Converbs in Cross-Linguistic Perspective ed. by Martin Haspelmath & Ekkehard König, 1-55. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
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Heine, Bernd, Ulrike Claudi & Friedrike Hünnemeyer. 1991. Grammaticalization: A conceptual framework. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press. Helimski, Eugene. 1983. The Language of the First Selkup Books. Szeged: Attila József University. Helimski, Eugene. 1997. Die matorische Sprache. Szeged: SZTE Finnugor Tanszék. Helimski, Eugene. 1998. “Selkup”. The Uralic Languages ed. by Daniel Abondolo, 548-579. London & New York: Routledge. Janhunen, Juha. 1982. “On the Structure of Proto-Uralic”. Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen XLIV.23-42. Klumpp, Gerson. 2002. Konverbkonstruktionen im Kamassischen. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrossowitz. Kuznetsova, N. G. 1995. Grammaticheskije kategorii juzhnosel’kupskogo glagola [Grammatical Categories of the Southern Selkup Verb]. Tomsk: Izd. Tomskogo Universiteta. Kuznetsova, A. I., O. A. Kazakevich, L. J. Ioffe & E. A. Khelimskij. 1993. Ocherki po sel’kupskomu jazyku: tazovskij dialekt, teksty, slovar’ [Essays on the Taz dialect of Selkup: texts and dictionary]. Moscow: Izd. Moskovskogo Universiteta. Kuznetsova, A. I., E. A. Khelimskij & E. V. Grushkina. 1980. Ocherki po sel’kupskomu jazyku. Tazovskij Dialekt. Tom I [Essays on the Taz Dialect of Selkup: texts and dictionary, Vol. 1]. Moscow: Izd. Moskovskogo Universiteta Masica, Colin P. 1976. Defining a Linguistic Area: South Asia. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press. Nedjalkov, Igor. 1998a. “Converbs in the Languages of Eastern Siberia”. Language Sciences 20.339-351. Nedjalkov, Igor. 1998b. “Converbs in the Languages of Europe”. Adverbial Constructions in the Languages of Europe ed. by Johan Van der Auwera & Dónall Ó Baoill, 421-455. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. 1995. “Some Typological Parameters of Converb”. Converbs in Cross-linguistic Perspective: Structure and Meaning of Adverbial Verb Forms – Adverbial Particples, Gerunds, ed. by Martin Haspelmath & Ekkehard König, 97-136. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. & Igor V. Nedjalkov. 1987. “On the Typological Characteristics of Converbs”. Symposium on Language Universals ed. by Toomas Help, 75-79. Tallinn: Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR. Ramstedt, Gustaf John. 1903. Über die Konjugation des KhalkhaMongolischen. Helsingfors: Finnische Litteraturgesellschaft.
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Tauli, Walter. 1966. Structural Tendencies in Uralic Languages. London, The Hague & Paris: Mouton & Co. Valijärvi, Riitta-Liisa (to appear). Defining the Degree of Lexicalisation and Grammaticalisation of Finnish Converbs. Uppsala: Uppsala University. Van Der Auwera, Johan. 1998. “Defining Converbs”. Typology of Verbal Categories. Papers Presented to Vladimir Nedjalkov on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday ed. by Leonid Kulinov & Heinz Vater, 273-282. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. Vojevodika, N. M. 1976. “Funktsii deeprichastij i deeprichastnykh oborotov v predlozhenii: na materiale sel’kupskogo jazyka [Functions of verbal adverbs and adverbial clauses: based on Selkup]”. Jazyki i toponimija 1.92-101. Ylikoski, Jussi, 2003. “Defining Non-Finites: Action nominals, converbs and infinitives”. SKY Journal of Linguistics 16.185-237.
HEAD-NEGATING ENCLITICS IN KET EDWARD J. VAJDA Western Washington University & Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology 1.
Introduction This article investigates the morphosyntactic status of postposed bound relational morphemes (henceforward RMs) in Ket, an endangered language spoken in Central Siberia. Considerable debate surrounds the question of whether Ket has a case system. Based on semantic parallels with inflectionalsuffixing languages of Eurasia, Werner (1997) identifies a dozen case suffixes, including a vocative. Vall & Kanakin (1990: 68-69), citing the absence of case marking for subject and object and ability of certain of these markers (dative, ablative, adessive) to appear without a preceding noun or pronoun in certain discourse contexts, conclude that Ket lacks a true case system. However, Vall & Kanakin offer no alternate explanation of why the morphemes in question can also be added to conjugated verb forms. While a subset RMs in Ket has traditionally been described as a case system, many others are usually identified as postpositions. But not even those identified with such typical case-like functions as “dative” or “ablative” display all of the properties identified by Plank (2002) as characteristic of canonical case markers. Many can attach to finite verbs as well as nouns or pronouns, imparting analogous meanings in both combinations. Formal differences among RMs, such as the presence or absence of a pronominal stem augment, fail to coincide with any functional division between case-like markers with highly generalized semantics and postposition-like morphemes with more specific meanings. As will be shown below, a prosodic analysis reveals Ket RMs to be clitics rather than affixes; this casts additional doubt on their capacity to build true word forms. The present article argues that all Ket relational enclitics negate the head status of nominals or finite verb forms and thus represent a unified morphosyntactic category in their ability to convert head-bearing form classes into adjuncts. Unlike true case suffixes, they do not build discrete inflectional paradigms of lexemes belonging to a particular part of speech. This interpretation supports Krjukova & Grishina’s (2004) observation that Ket syntax is founded
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on a basic form-class division between noun, finite verb, and modifier (i.e., non-head). Syntactic units created by the addition of a head-negating enclitic simply represent the set of morphologically marked non-heads. Postposed bound relational morphemes in Ket transform nominals (pronouns and nouns) as well as conjugated verb forms into adjuncts. A core subset of these morphemes has traditionally been regarded as a case system (Castrén 1858, Dul’zon 1968, Werner 1997, Vajda 2004), the remainder being assigned the status of postpositions (Sherer 1983, Werner 1997). This interpretation will be referred to as the traditional analysis, despite the lack of consensus on how to distinguish Ket “case markers” from “postpositions”. The main problem is that the primary formal difference among these morphemes – the presence vs. absence of a pronominal possessive augment – fails to coincide with any functional distinction between case-like vs. non case-like semantics. Formally, Ket RMs fall into two groups. Some attach directly to the noun, pronoun, or finite verb over which they have syntactic scope. These will be referred to as “simple” or “non-augmented RMs”. They include four of the morphemes traditionally regarded as case suffixes, including locative ka (1, 3), as well as many that Werner (1997) labels postpositions. The latter group includes the translative morpheme -EsaN, used for assigning predicate complements such meanings as “in order to find, get, be, become” (2, 4). (1) The locative morpheme used with a noun sE@s-ka qa@ddçq aqta@m river-LOC very good-N.PRED “It is very nice at the river”. (2) The translative morpheme on a morphologically intransitive verb bu# qç@j-EsaN dbu@Nlu“ç he bear-TRANSL he.looked “He was looking for a bear”. Many RMs — whether traditionally regarded as case suffixes or postpositions — may also attach to conjugated verb forms. Their uses as converbs often imparts a temporal meaning analogous to the spatial relation they add to nouns and pronouns. After conjugated verb forms1, these morphemes typically signal
1
Due to their complexity, finite verb forms are divided into constituent morphemes only when their internal structure is relevant to the discussion. All bound RMs are attached to their host by a hyphen. Except where noted, examples derive from my fieldwork in Tomsk in April-May 2005 with V. A. Romanenkova and M. M. Irikova, native speakers of Southern Ket. Note that /d/ is realized between vowels as the rhotic flap [R] in the dialect transcribed.
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the subordination of one event to another and represent one of the language’s primary resources for creating the function equivalent of a complex sentence: (3) The locative morpheme used as a converb (clausal subordinator) sç@ç$N dçl"@n-ka is-qç@ aqta@m there they.lived-LOC fish-kill.INF good-N.PRED “When they lived there the fishing was good”. (4) The translative morpheme used as a converb (clausal subordinator) qç@jataq-EsaN da-qç/t he.becomes.bear-TRANSL MASC.POSS-wish “He wants to become a bear (His wish is that he becomes a bear)”. A much smaller set of RMs requires a connector morph agreeing in person, number, gender, and class with the preceding word. In the examples below, these connectors will be glossed MASC for masculine animate singular, FEM for feminine animate singular, ANIM.PL for animate plural, and N for inanimate class. The last appears after singular and plural inanimate-class nouns as well as after finite verbs. Etymologically, these connectors derive from the homonymous 3rd person pronominal clitics used in possessive constructions (§3.1), which likewise agree in person, number, gender, and class with the word form over which they have semantic scope. RMs requiring connectors will be called “augmented RMs”. They include three of the remaining the “case suffixes” (5) as well as a majority of the “postpositions” (6): (5) Use of the ablative formant -Nal as part of a nominal “case suffix” h"@ssej-di -Nal dç/N dE/N d"@mEsin forest-N-ABL three men they.came “Three men came from the forest”. (6) Use of ugdE “long” plus a connector augment to mean “during” u@l-Es-da -ugdE ç$n bç@lba-n s"@aNtançq water-weather-MASC-long many mushroom-PL they.appeared “Many mushrooms appeared during the rainy weather”. (e#>s 'sky, weather' is masculine class) As stated earlier, the formal difference between augmented RMs (5, 6) and simple RMs (1–4) does not parallel any semantic distinction that might be useful for distinguishing case suffixes from postpositions. Both simple (7) and augmented RMs (8) may attach to finite verb forms, in which case they function like converbs (clausal subordinators):
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(7) Use of the ablative morpheme -Nal as part of a converb construction ´@t-na o#>p du@nç-di -Nal kisE@N qa@ddçq sE@l-am we-ANIM.PL.POSS father he.died-N-ABL here very bad-N.PRED “Since our father died it has been very bad here”. (8) Use of ugdE “long” in converb construction meaning “while, as long as” ulç@lta-d -ugdE ´#t tsE@sçltan qu@s-ka it.rained-N-long we we.sat tent-LOC “While it was raining, we sat in the tent”. The present article argues that all simple as well as all augmented RMs represent a unified functional category, irrespective of whether they attach to nominals or finite verbs and regardless of their degree of semantic specificity. Section 2 describes some basic features of Ket prosodic phonology to demonstrate that only a few categories of bound morphemes — namely roots, derivational affixes and plural suffixes — form a single phonological word with their base. Section 3 discusses three prosodic subgroups of relational clitics: augmented RMs, simple RMs, and possessive pronominal morphs, which may appear as proclitics or enclitics. When prosodic information is considered, all postposed RMs turn out to be enclitics rather than suffixes. Section 4 demonstrates that so-called case markers, postpositions, and converbs all serve the identical morphosyntactic function of negating the head status of their hosts by converting them into adjuncts. Since they neither encode grammatical relations nor are restricted to nominal forms, RMs differ significantly from the canonical case markers of languages like Russian or Latin, as Vall & Kanakin (1990) first pointed out. Our conclusion reiterates the basic premise that RMs represent a general morphosyntactic category of head-negating enclitics rather than a system of inflections that build discrete paradigms of word forms belonging to a single part of speech. 2.
Prosody and the phonological status of bound morphemes in Ket This section offers a brief excursus into Ket lexical and prosodic phonology, needed to show that RMs are clitics rather than true affixes that integrate with their base to yield a unified phonological word. Their status as clitics helps explain why most RMs attach to conjugated verbs as well as to nouns and pronouns, since they do not actually generate word forms of the lexemes they combine with. The combination of word form plus RM creates a morphosyntactic unit but not a phonological word. A form created in the syntax by the addition of an RM shares more in common with a free phrase than with a morphological word.
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As argued in Vajda (2003, 2004), Ket monosyllabic phonological words are distinguished by a system of four phonemic suprasegmental contrasts. These prosodemes are not simple melodic tones, but rather are based on an amalgam of pitch, length, vowel quality, and phonation state. Table (9) shows the features that interact to build the four Ket prosodemes: (9) Feature bundles that create Ket monosyllabic prosodemes melody
qo#>j 'uncle, aunt'
high-even
qç/j 'wish' qç@ç$j 'neighboring' qç$j 'bear'
abrupt rising rising-falling falling
vowel length (syllable type) half-long (closed or open)
phonation type neutral
mid-vowel quality tense [e, F, o]
short (closed or open) long (closed or open)
creaky
lax [E, √, ç]
neutral
lax [E, √, ç]
short (closed only)
neutral
lax [E, √, ç]
The four-way prosodic distinction shown in (9) is largely absent in longer phonological words. Prosody in disyllables, including root compounds, reduces to a rising pitch on the initial syllable and falling pitch on the second. In most cases, this pitch contour is identical to that of long-vowel monosyllables. For this reason Vajda (2003) marked both types using the symbol @ $. (10) Words with rising-falling pitch qç@ç$j 'neighboring' qç@qpu$n 'cuckoo'
qç@kN$ 'body armor'
A smaller number of disyllabic phonological words possess an inherent rising/high-falling melody, which Vajda (2003) marked using the symbol @ %. (11) Words with rising-high falling pitch qç@qpu%n 'cuckoo' qç@Nlç%q 'bell'
qç@ppE%s 'tent smoke hole'
In this prosodic type, the falling portion descends from a higher register than in the simple rising/falling contour. Minimal pairs between these two prosodic types of disyllables do occur (12) but are relatively uncommon since rising/high-falling pitch mainly occurs in disyllables originating from the elision of a segment in the second half of the word: (12) The etymology of rising/high-falling pitch in one disyllabic word qç@qpu%n 'cuckoos' < qç@qpu$n 'cuckoo' + n 'plural suffix'
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These disyllabic tonal contours pattern as allophonic variants of certain monosyllabic prosodemes, with which they sometimes stand in free variation due to optional elision of intervocalic gutturals in fast speech: (13) Free variation between monosyllabic and disyllabic pitch contours slower speech rising/falling pitch in disyllable = k√@“µ$n “fox”
faster speech rising/falling pitch in monosyllable k√@√$n “fox”
rising/high falling in disyllable k√@“µ%n “foxes”
high-even tone in monosyllable kF#>n “foxes”
=
Both monosyllabic and disyllabic phonological words tend to lose some or all of their inherent lexical prosody unless pronounced in isolation or under pragmatic focus. The disyllabic pitch contours are replaced by a non-melodic word accent on the peak syllable whenever the word is defocused. (14) Prosody in disyllables reflecting functional sentence perspective pitch contour retained under focus k√@“µ$n “fox” k√@“µ%n “foxes”
non-melodic accent when unfocused k√@“µn “fox” k√“µ@n “foxes”
The next two sections examine the prosodic effects produced when morphemes are joined into lexical or syntactic units. Our analysis shows that proclitics never alter the prosodic phonology of their hosts, while enclitics do so to varying degrees depending on information structure in the sentence. Affixes obligatorily alter the prosody of their base. To avoid defining the notion of clitic using semantic criteria alone, an independent formal test is needed to distinguish between the prosodic effects of enclitics as opposed to that of lexically integrated suffixes. One such test is available using the rightmost subject agreement marker found in many finite verbs. These markers form part of the morphological verb yet encliticize to any available word in the same breath group, including adverbs and particles with which they share no special functional relationship. Since these morphemes are obviously not lexical suffixes on the preceding word, they provide an unambigous test for measuring the prosodic effects of enclisis. Compare (15), where no enclisis occurs because the frequentative particle receives contextual emphasis, with (16), where the subject agreement morph has attached to the preceding particle:
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(15) No enclisis of subject agreement morph da on the preceding particle ba/t a#>m t-hu@n-d-iNa ba / t (pause) da-qa@iNna mother FEM.POSS-daughter-FEM-ADESS FREQ FEM.SBJ-told “Mother used to tell her daughter”. (16) Enclisis of subject agreement morph da on the preceding particle ba/t a#>m t-hu@n-d-iNa ba@-Ra qa@iNna mother FEM.POSS-daughter-FEM-ADESS FREQ-FEM.SBJ told “Mother used to tell her daughter”. The next section will show that postposed RMs produce the same type of optional prosodic erosion in the preceding word depending on speech style and functional sentence perspective. They are therefore enclitics rather than lexically integrated affixes. All of the RMs traditionally regarded as cases, postpositions, or converbs turn out to be enclitics by this measure. Recognizing the difference between affix and clitic in Ket also helps elucidate the phonological status of the three mid-vowel pairs [e, E], [F, √], and [o, ç], which are revealed as allophonic variants rather than phonemes when prosodic domains are fully taken into account. 2.1 Lexically integrated vs. non-integrated bound morphemes Vajda (2007) showed that Ket possesses relatively few derivational affixes, with root compounding being the preferred morphological means of creating new lexical stems. The derivational affixes that do exist resemble bound roots in that, when combined with another root, they integrate prosodically to form a single phonological word. Consequently, disyllabic root compounds and derived stems have rising-falling prosody when pronounced in isolation or under focus. When defocused, their pitch tends to be replaced by a non-melodic accent on the first syllable. Some examples appear in (17) and (18): (17) Example of prosodic leveling during root compounding i/ k + ko#>n -> i@kkç$n (non-tonal i@kkçn in fast speech or when defocused) “male” + “horse” -> “stallion” (18) Example of prosodic leveling during suffixal derivation su#>l + tu -> su@ltu$ (non-tonal su@ltu in fast speech or when defocused) “blood” + “adjective” -> “bloody”
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RMs do not obligatorily trigger prosodic leveling in the forms to which they encliticize. Although they may trigger full prosodic leveling of their host (19a), at least some of the host’s prosodic qualities tend to remain intact under contextual focus (19b): (19) Non-tonal prosody in nouns combined with grammatical morphemes a. Pragmatically neutral pronunciation with full prosodic erosion se#>s “river” o#>p “father” ç@va%N “fathers” sE@s-ka ç@b-da-Na ç@vaN-na-Na river-LOC father-MASC.SG-DAT fathers-ANIM.PL-DAT “at the river” “to the father” “to the fathers” b. Pronunciation under focus showing varying degrees of prosodic erosion se#>s “river” o#>p “father” ç@va%N “fathers” se#>s-ka ~ se#s-ka o#>b-da-Na ~ o#b-da-Na ç@va%N-na-Na ~ çva@N-na-Na river-LOC father-MASC.SG-DAT fathers-ANIM.PL-DAT “at the river” “to father” “to the fathers” This prosodic variability helps express information structure. Exactly the same pattern is evident in free phrases, where attributive adjectives show varying degrees of prosodic erosion in connection with contextual emphasis (20a,b): (20) Degrees of prosodic erosion in the roots ki/ “new” + kE/t “man” a. Free phrase with prosodic erosion of modifier: ki kE/t “new man” b. Free phrase with contextual focus on the modifier: ki/ kE/t “new man” c. Compound with prosodic erosion in both roots: ki@ƒEt “young man” This variability in prosodic reduction is not available to roots joined in lexical compounds (20c), whose internal constituents are no longer accessible to pragmatically conditioned rules. Plural suffixes are likewise identifiable as lexically integrated affixes since they obligatorily trigger prosodic erosion in their base. Their phonological status differs from the bound grammatical morphemes we have identified as RMs, which level their host’s prosody in degrees regulated by functional sentence perspective. Like roots and derivational affixes, plural suffixes form a single phonological word with the stems they attach to. When a plural suffix adds a syllable to a monosyllabic stem, it triggers a reduction in phonemic prosody that cannot vary by degree to express functional sentence perspective:
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(21) Prosodic changes in noun roots triggered by plural suffixation te>#m “goose” -> tE@mn$ “geese” hµ/p “son” -> hµ@va$N “sons” hu@u$l “hammer” -> hu@la$N “hammers”2 "$t “tooth” -> i@ta$N “teeth” Prosodic leveling obligatorily occurs regardless of stylistic or pragmatic factors. Plural suffixes thus pattern with derivational affixes and bound roots as lexically integrated elements. Interestingly, these morphemes resemble derivational suffixes morphologically, as well, in having the ability to appear on nouns (22a) and adjectives (22b) incorporated into finite verb forms: (22) Plural morphemes added to incorporates in finite verbs a. Finite verbs with singular vs. plural noun incorporates da"@nlivEt da"@naNlivEt da-in -l-bet da-in -aN -l-bet 3FEM.SBJ-needle-PAST-make 3FEM.SBJ-needle-PL-PAST-make “She made a needle”. “She made needles”. b. Finite verbs with singular vs. plural adjectival incorporates tqa@tapsin tqa@NtaNsin di-qa -t-aj-sin di-qa -N -t-aN-sin 1SBJ-big-cause-3M.OBJ-become 1SBJ-big-PL-cause-3PL.OBJ-become “I make him bigger”. “I make them bigger”. By contrast, relational enclitics cannot be added to incorporates3. The next two sections further demonstrate that postposed RMs, unlike plural suffixes, are not part of the same word form as their host prosodically or morphologically, though they form a syntactic unit with it. 3.
The prosodic patterning of relational morphemes in Ket Werner (1997) lists 12 cases for Ket. Prosodically, the morphemes involved can be divided into four groups. The first is the vocative, which repre2
Roots containing two full vowel moras constitute a partial exception, as vowel length may remain in some lexical items: su@u$l “snowsled” -> sç@u$laN “snowsleds”. The reduction of long vowels during word formation appears to be morphophonological and dependent on etymological rather than on synchronic phonological factors. This also suggests that long-vowel nuclei are the prosodic equivalent of disyllables, an observation that concurs with the risingfalling stress in long-vowel monosyllables as well as disyllables. 3 Possessive proclitics can, however, be added to intransitive verbs whose logical subject is expressed verb-internally by a possessive construction as incorporate: p-s"@v Erej-bata “I whisper” (literally, “my whispering resounds”).
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sents a special type of intonation phrase requiring full leveling of the lexical prosody with a distinctive pitch rise on the final syllable: (23) Example of a vocative form dµlaRç@˘ “Oh, children!” (< dµ@lga$t “children”) No other word forms obligatorily stress the absolute final syllable, and vocatives can be considered a special type of intonation phrase. The second caselike suffix with exceptional prosodic characteristics is the possessive pronominal clitic that also serves as an augment for certain other RMs (§3.1). In its literal possessive function, this morpheme can occur as either a proclitic or enclitic, depending on context, just like the rightmost subject agreement markers discussed above. The two remaining groups of case-like morphemes are enclitics. Case-like markers and postpositions that require augmentation by the possessive clitic – the forms we have been calling augmented RMs – are regular clitics; i.e., they occur as full words under certain circumstances. Combinations of possessive augment plus relational morpheme are pronounced as independent phonological words whenever their host is dropped in discourse (§3.2). Simple RMs, which include case-like markers and postpositions not requiring a possessive augment, are obligatory enclitics and their hosts cannot be dropped in discourse (§3.3). Since the vocative does not interact syntactically with other elements in the phrase or sentence, it is not a true RM and will not be considered further here. 3.1 Possessive pronominal clitics. Ket possessive pronouns agree in person, number, gender, and animacy with the possessor in the following way: (24) Pronominal possessive clitic singular b – 1p k – 2p da – 3p masculine-class di – 3p feminineor neuter-class
plural na – animate (includes 1p, 2p, and all 3p masc. or fem.-class nominals) di – inanimate (includes all neuter-class nominals, as well as finite verb forms)
These markers may be realized either as proclitics or enclitics, depending upon context. All other bound RMs in nominal morphology are invariably postposed. The positional variability of possessive morphemes is illustrated in (25) using 3rd-person da “his” and d “her”. In the same breath group, possessive morphemes encliticize to the possessor nominal (25a) or any preceding word (25b), but must be realized as a proclitic whenever preceded by a pause (25c):
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(25) Possessive pronominal clitics a. enclitic on possessor bu#-Ra (pause) su@u$l he-MASC.POSS sled
“his sled”
bu#-d (pause) su@u$l she-FEM.POSS sled “her sled”
b. enclitic on unrelated word c. proclitic on possessum (available word)-da (pause) su@u$l (pause) da-su@u$l (available word)-MASC.POSS sled MASC.POSS-sled
“his sled”
“his sled”
(available word)-da (pause) (available word)-FEM.POSS
su@u$l sled
“her sled”
(pause) da-su@u$l FEM.POSS-sled
“her sled”
Notice that whenever the possessive morpheme is realized as a proclitic, it has no effect on the prosody of its host (26a). When realized as an enclitic, it triggers varying degrees of prosodic leveling in the host (26b). (26) Degrees of prosodic leveling in the host of possessive enclitics a. no leveling under focus bu#>N-na (pause) su@u$l they-ANIM.PL.POSS sled
b. more leveling when pronounced without emphasis bu@N-na (pause) su@u$l they-ANIM.PL.POSS sled
“their sled”
“their sled”
Possessive morphemes that appear as enclitics thus induce exactly the same pragmatically conditioned prosodic leveling in their host as other RMs, but have no effect on host prosody if they appear as proclitics. The chart in (27) categorizes monosyllabic prosodic features according to their susceptibility to reduction by enclitic attachment. (27) Variability in host prosody triggered by RM enclisis most likely to reduce laryngealization >
melody
>
length
>
less likely to reduce mid-vowel tenseness
Example 28 illustrates this pattern using monosyllabic hosts representing the four types of phonemic prosody. The prosody is partly to completely reduced by enclisis (28a) but remains fully intact under proclisis (28b): (28) Contrast in prosodic effects of enclitics (a) vs. proclitics (b): a. su@> l-d (pause) E$tl su@l-da (pause) hç@Ra$p su@u$l-d (pause) qç@vE$t su@l-d (pause) ku#>p blood-N.POSS color salmon-MASC.POSS tail sled-N.POSS back hook-N.POSS tip “the color of blood” “salmon”s tail” “the sled’s back” “the hook’s tip” b. d-su@>l d-su/l FEM.POSS-blood FEM.POSS-tail “her (or its) blood” “her (or its) tail”
d-su@u$l FEM.POSS-back “her (or its) back”
d-su$l FEM.POSS-hook “her (or its) tip”
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da-su@>l MASC .POSS-blood “his blood”
da- su/l MASC.POSS-tail “his tail”
na-su@>l na-su/l ANIM.PL.POSS-blood ANIM.PL.POSS-tail “their blood” “their tail”
da-su@u$l MASC .POSS-back “his back”
da-su$l MASC .POSS-hook “his tip”
na-su@u$l ANIM.PL.POSS-back “their back”
na-su$l ANIM.PL.POSS-hook “their tip”
This demonstrates that a special type of clitic-host boundary separates the possessive morphemes from the following word form. Across this boundary, proclitics generate the only word-initial consonant clusters found anywhere in Ket: (29) Examples of onset clusters created by possessive pronominal proclisis p-qç/j k-hu/n d-la@Na$t d-bµ@ƒa$j “my wish” “your daughter” “her forearm” “its drumming” The position 8 subject markers in finite verb forms are the only other type of bound morpheme in Ket capable of attaching to either the preceding or following word (ex. 14 and 15 above). As proclitics, they likewise create onset clusters (cf. the verb in ex. 2 above). The morphemes we have been calling RMs differ from possessive clitics in two ways. First, they never appear as proclitics. Second, they encliticize only to the word over which they have scope and must form a syntactic unit with their host. Like all enclitics in Ket, they trigger varying degrees of prosodic erosion in their host to help express functional sentence perspective. The next two sections argue that all other RMs besides the possessive morpheme are enclitics. 3.2 Augmented enclitics. As already shown, relational enclitics comprise two formal groups based on the presence or absence of a preceding connector morph. This formal distinction, however, has no semantic correlate, since both groups contain case-like as well as postposition-like morphemes, many of which can also be used as converbs. Case-like RMs are those that require augmentation by a possessive connector: -da for masculine-class singular; -di for feminine-class singular or inanimate-class of either number; and -na for any masculine-class or feminineclass plural noun. Southern Ket has three RMs that require possessive aug-
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ments. These are traditionally known as the ablative, dative, and adessive morphemes.4 (30) Case-like RMs requiring a possessive pronominal augment dative adessive ablative masculine-class (singular) feminine-class (singular) inanimate-class (singular or plural) animate-class plural (all masc.- or fem.class plurals)
hµp- da-Na “to the son” hun-di-Na “to the daughter” qus-di-Na “to the tent” qus-n-di-Na “to the tents” hµv-an-na-Na “to the sons” hun-an-na-Na “to the daughters”
hµp- da-Nta “near, for the son” hun-di-Nta “near, for the daughter” qus-di-Nta “at, near, for the tent” qus-n-di-Nta “at, near, for the tents” hµv-an-na-Nta “near, for the sons” hun-an-na-Nta “near, for the daughters”
hµp- da-Nal from the son” hun-di-Nal “from the daughter” qus-di-Nal “from the tent” qus-n-di-Nal “from the tents” hµv-an-na-Nal “from the sons” hun-an-na-Nal “from the daughters”
Etymologically, at least two of these three morphemes contain adverbial elements denoting spatial relations: a “motion toward”, l “motion away”. The same elements appear as suffixes in spatial adverbs; tosa “motion upward”, tosil “from above”. The element /N/ found in all dative, adessive and ablative forms may have originally been a generic suffix on all possessive morphemes. The majority of RMs listed as postpositions by Sherer (1983) and Werner (1997) are augmented by possessive morphemes in exactly the same way as these three ‘case’ forms. Some are monosyllabic and resemble the so-called Ket case suffixes in having a generalized, abstract meaning, as well: (31) Monosyllabic augmented RMs traditionally regarded as postpositions qus-t -qçn la@m-d -√√t kE@d-da -qçn dE@N-na -tan tent-N-up.to board-N-on man-MASC-up.to people-ANIM.PL-toward “up to the tent” “on the table” “up to the man” “toward people” Most augmented RMs express more specific spatial meanings, however, and also formally consist of complexes of more than one relational morpheme: 4
Previous descriptions of Ket also include a “benefactive case” with the forms -data (masculine-class singular), -dita (feminine-class singular or inanimate class), and -nata (animate-class plural). My recent work with Southern Ket native speakers has revealed these forms as alternate pronunciations of the adessive morphemes -daNta, - diNta (feminine-class singular or inanimate class), and -naNta occurring in the speech of some speakers. There is no separate semantic domain for these variants.
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(32) Postposition-like augmented RMs consisting of several morphemes dE@N-na -hµt -ka "@NGus-n-d -inbal -di -Nal people-ANIM.PL-under-LOC house-PL-N-between-N-ABL “under the people” “from between the houses” All augmented RMs, including those traditionally regarded as case endings, may appear as independent words in contexts where the host is dropped to background it in discourse. This yields what appear to be floating case forms without a lexical base: (33) An example of a ‘floating case form’ in Ket a#>m d"@ -Na daqa@iNna mother FEM.SING-DAT she.told “Mother told her”. The third-person animate singular anaphoric pronoun bu#> is omitted in (32) because the referent is backgrounded in discourse, leaving only the class/number + dative combination di@Na to express the grammatical relation. The phonological-word status of such stranded RMs is evident from the stress on their initial syllable. In contexts where the referent is emphasized in context, the pronoun host bu#> would normally be retained, in which case the class/number + dative combination encliticizes to it and more closely resembles a case suffix: (34) Full pronominal form of the morphological dative a#>m bu@ -Ri -Na daqa@iNna mother 3-FEM-ABL she.told “Mother told her”. The ability of the ablative, dative, and adessive morphemes to appear in the absence of any preceding noun or pronoun significantly distinguishes them from canonical case suffixes. Another problem with the view that these morphemes are case markers is that Ket has dozens of postpositions requiring basically the same system of class/number augments: (35) Examples of postpositional constructions in Ket su@u$l-d -√@ √ $ t o@ks-da -qçn dE@N-na -tan sled-N-on tree-MASC-up.to people-ANIM.PL-toward “on the sled” “toward the tree” “toward the people” Like the ‘case’ suffixes examined above, these and other postposition-like RM are capable of using their possessive augment as a base. They can therefore
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stand independently when the preceding noun or pronoun is dropped in discourse, demonstrating that they, too, belong to the class of regular clitics: (36) Postposition-like RM used without an accompanying nominal form tu qi#>m na -"@ l -ka d√@ƒaRaq that woman ANIM.PL-near-LOC she.lives “That woman lives near them”. There is, however, a formal difference between the dative, ablative, and adessive morphemes and other augmented RMs. The augmented relational morphemes traditionally identified as case markers cannot take word stress when they appear without a preceding host. The stress falls instead on the augment vowel: (37) Case-like augmented RMs stressed as prosodically independent words na@-Nal da@-Nal d"@-Nal d"@-Nal ANIM.PL.POSS-ABL MASC.POSS- ABL FEM.POSS-ABL N.POSS-ABL “from them (anim.)” “from him” “from her” “from it” By contrast, postposition-like RMs attract the stress when no nominal host precedes them, so that their augment appears as a proclitic, exactly like the pronominal proclitic on a possessor noun: (38) Postposition-like augmented RMs as prosodically independent words na-"@l-ka da-hµ@j-ka d-ka@l-ka ANIM.PL.POSS-near-LOC MASC.POSS-in-LOC FEM.POSS-behind-LOC “near them (animate)” “inside him” “behind her” Note also that the feminine- or neuter-class augment in such combinations is non-syllabic d, rather than the syllabic allomorph di that appears before the dative, ablative, and adessive morphemes: (39) Case-like augmented RMs stressed as prosodically independent words ablative adessive dative d"@-Nal d"@-Nta d"@-Na FEM.POSS-ABL FEM.POSS-ADESS FEM.POSS-DAT “from her” “near her” “to her” This formal distinction roughly parallels the semantic difference between more case-like generic meanings (from, by, to, for) vs. more specific spatial meanings (beneath, near, above, between, toward, etc.). Also, the etymology of caselike RMs is completely opaque, while postposition-like RMs are often etymologically connected with a nominal root:
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(40) Examples of nouns (a) and homonymous postposition-like RMs (b) a. Nouns: hµ#>j “stomach” √@“a$t “back” "@nba$l “gap” b. RMs: -hµj “in” -√√t “on” -inbal “between” The inability of certain RMs — namely the dative, adessive, and ablative — to take stress in contexts where they appear without the nominal over which they have semantic scope could be viewed as a step in the development of a case system. However, this formal distinction has no analog among simple RMs, which comprise an equal number of the so-called case suffixes. 3.3 Non-augmented enclitics. The remaining four morphemes traditionally regarded as case markers must in all contexts directly follow the noun or pronoun over which they have semantic scope. They never combine with possessive augments and it is not possible to drop their nominal host in discourse. Because simple RMs never occur as phonological words separate from their host, they must be regarded as obligatory enclitics rather than regular clitics, unlike augmented RMs. The simple RMs traditionally regarded as case suffixes are the morphemes -as denoting instrumentality or comitative meaning, caritive -an used to denote the absence of an item, prosecutive -bes denoting motion along or past, and locative -ka, used to denote general location. The general locative ka is restricted to inanimate-class nouns. Because these morphemes are added to the preceding word form without a possessive connector, they trigger no overt distinctions in person, gender, number, or class. Example (41) shows them attached to both singular and plural forms of a masculine-class noun (hµ/p “son”), a feminine-class noun (hu/n “daughter”), and an inanimate-class noun (qu/s “tent”). (41) ‘Case’ markers that lack a possessive pronominal connector augment instrumental
caritive
prosecutive
hµp- as “with a son” hun-as “with a daughter” qus-as “with a tent” qus-n-as “with a tents” hµv-an-as “with sons” hun-an-as “with daughters”
hµp- da-Na “without a son” hun-di-Na “without a daughter” qus-di-Na “without a tent” qus-n-di-Na “without tents” hµv-an-na-Na “without sons” hun-an-na-Na “without daughters”
hµp- bes “past the son” hun-bes “past the daughter” qus-bes “past the tent” qus-n-bes “past the tents” hµv-an-bes “past the sons” hun-an-bes “past the daughters”
locative -
qus-ka “in, at the tent” qus-n-ka “in, at the tents” -
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Disyllabic relational morphemes that encliticize directly to nominals are traditionally regarded as particles or postpositions rather than case markers. One of these, the translative morpheme -EsaN, was introduced in §1. This group also includes asqa, used in statements of comparison (qç@j-asqa “like a bear”), dçƒçt “on account of”, and several others: (42) The morpheme dçƒçt “on account of”, “due to” used after a noun be#j-dçƒçt assa@nç kE/t tç@nus db"@libEt wind-because.of hunt.INF man lean.to he.made.it “The hunter made a lean-to because of the wind”. Some RMs that do not begin with a possessive connector themselves may be followed by one of the so-called case endings — either augmented or simple — to create what could be called “complex RMs”: (43) Complex RMs containing the relational enclitic baN “time, place” -baN-di-Nta -baN-di-Nta -baN-di-Nal -baN-di-Nal -time-N-ADESS -place-N-ADESS -time-N-ABL -place-N-ABL “until” “to the place where” “since” “from the place where” Complex enclitics of this sort always begin with a postposition-like RM — either simple (44a, b) or augmented (44c, d) — and end with a case-like RM, which may be simple (44a, c) or augmented (44b, d). (44) The four possible combinations in morphologically complex RMs a. simple postposition-like + simple case-like RM: kup-ka beak-LOC “before, in front of” b. simple postposition-like + augmented case-like RM: baN-di-Nal place-N-ABL “from where” c. augmented postposition-like + simple case-like RM: d-√√t-ka N-back-LOC “on top of” d. augmented postposition-like + augmented case-like RM: d-hµt-di-Nal N-under-N-ABL 'from under' The second possessive augment in such combinations is invariably the neuter form, since its underlying host is the immediately preceding RM. Case-like RMs never concatenate with one another in this way, nor are they ever followed by a non case-like RM. This formal patterning lends further credence to the notion that some RMs are nearer to case markers than others. Prosodic evidence indicates that all RMs lacking a possessive connector — including complex ones ending in a case-like morpheme — actually represent a type of special clitic. Like suffixes, they obligatorily follow the form
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over which they have semantic scope. Unlike suffixes, however, they do not integrate lexically with their host to form a unified phonological word. Instead, the host nominal may retain some or all of its underlying lexical prosody when foregrounded in discourse. The degree of prosodic erosion in such host-enclitic combinations is not conditioned by lexical phonology but rather by speech style and functional sentence perspective. As shown in §3, lexically integrated bound morphemes, including plural suffixes, trigger obligatory prosodic leveling in their base regardless of speech style or information structure, since the base itself, as part of the word form, is not independently accessible discoursebased prosodic rules. 4.
Relational enclitics as a general class of head-negating devices Identifying RMs as form-class changing enclitics rather than inflectional suffixes also helps explain why many of them — including most of the caselike morphemes among them — attach to finite verb forms as clausal subordinators. The copious examples in Werner (1997: 349-359) amply illustrate that case-like vs. non case-like RMs, augmented vs. non-augmented RMs, and noncomplex vs. complex RMs – all may serve as converbs to convey a rich array of temporal (45) as well as non-temporal forms of subordination (46): (45) Temporal subordination using kupka “before” (literally, “on the beak”) (Werner 1997: 351) a#t qa@RE E@NNuN bçƒç@tn-kupka a#t qasE@N ki/ qu/s tha@ptç I that village I.walk-before I there new house I.build.it “Before I move to that village, I’ll build a new house there”. (46) Example of non-temporal subordination (Werner 1997: 350) a#t E@milta-N da@NatEt-dçƒçt I cone-PL I.hit.them-since ´@kN a#t qa@riƒa "#>m q√@tnibEtn you.PL I later pine.nuts you.PL.give.them “Since I am knocking down the cones, you give me the pine nuts later”. The same RMs negate the head status of nominals, with the identical effect of converting them to adjuncts (47, 48): (47) Example of a pronoun turned into an adjunct using kupka “before” ´@tn tkç@lin bu@N-na-kupka we we.stood they-ANIM.PL-before “We stood before them”.
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(48) Example of a noun converted to an adjunct using dçƒçt “for the sake of” (Werner 1997: 312) o@>p da-hµp-da-dçƒçt bçgdçm tka@jnam father MASC.POSS-son-MASC-for gun he.took.it “The father bought a gun for his son”. This list of examples could be expanded greatly, but it suffices to illustrate that the function unifying all of the semantically and formally diverse RMs is their ability to delete the morphologically inherent head status of the preceding nominal or finite verb. Head-reducing enclitics are not required, however, to convert finite verb forms into attributive adjectival modifiers. Instead, inflected verbs become attributive modifiers simply by appearing immediately before a head noun: (49) Three examples of inflected verb forms appearing as adjectival modifiers sç@ç$N dçl"@n dE/N u@laqan "#>s s"@batançq i/ there they.lived people it.boiled meat I.was.born day “the people who lived there” “cooked meat” “my birthday” Noun stems, by contrast, generally require morphological marking in order to be converted into attributive modifiers5. Some add a possessive clitic (50), others an adjectival derivational suffix (51). The caritive morpheme also attaches to nouns to form modifiers meaning 'without' (52). (50) Three examples of an inflected verb forms used as adjectival modifiers sE@l-da "@Nçlt çstµ@ƒ-an-na qa/ reindeer-MASC.POSS hide Ostyak-PL-ANIM.PL.POSS speech “reindeer hide” “Ket language” (51) Two examples of simple nominals used as attributive adjectives su@l-tu "#>s a@n-tu kE/t blood-ADJ meat mind-ADJ man “bloody meat” “clever person” (52) Noun + caritive morpheme an forming attributive modifiers denoting lack of the given item sa@l-an dç/n qa@ƒ-an kE/t sharp.edge-less knife speech-less man “dull knife” “silent person” 5
This does not include infinitive forms, which are inherent non-heads and therefore can be used as attributive modifiers (assa@nç kE?t [hunt.INF person] “hunter”) without additional morphological marking.
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Because no other RMs are capable of building attributive modifiers and the morpheme an 'without' in such combinations triggers obligatory prosodic reduction of the root, it might be more appropriate to regard it as a derivational suffix analogous to English -less in speechless, bloodless, etc., rather than as an RM in this usage. This morphological heterogeneity demonstrates that the syntactic class of modifiers (i.e., non-heads) in Ket is not as monolithic a category as Krjukova & Grishina (2004) suggest. Rather, it contains various formal subdivisions, some of which correspond to traditional notions of adjective vs. adverb. This concurs with Dixon’s (2004) argument that all languages possess a formal class of adjectives. However, the generic use of the nominalizing suffix -s to create nouns out of adjectives (53a), possessive attributes (53b), as well as adjuncts created through head-deleting enclisis (53c) — suggests that the distinction between head and non-head in Ket syntax is nevertheless a fundamental one: (53) Nominalizations from adjective (a), possessive (b), and adjunct (c) non-head > nominalized substantive a. su@l-tu “bloody” > su@l-tu-s “something bloody” b. o@b-da “father’s” > o@b-da-s “something belonging to father” c. tµ@s-t-hµt-ka “under a rock” > tµ@s-t-hµt-ka-s “something under a rock” All of these facts taken together demonstrate that the morphological marking of head status in Ket interacts closely with word order patterns. Ket appears to be a language that strongly favors using the rightmost position to signal headedness in any rigidly ordered combination of elements. This generalization explains why attributes precede their head noun, and objects precede their verb. It also explains why a nominalizing suffix is needed to convert adjectives and adjuncts to substantives, but finite verbs become attributive modifiers without morphological modification, since they obligatorily precede their head and therefore do not violate the headedness-final rule. The only major exception is that nominals require morphological marking to convert to attributes, even though attributes obligatorily precede their head noun. Perhaps this is because two bare nominals in succession normally convey syntactic arguments in a verb phrase. Adjuncts are the only type of modifier with relative freedom of movement to precede or follow their head. Therefore, those created from nominals or finite verbs (head classes) nearly always require a head-reducing enclitic6. RMs therefore function to mark unambiguously the non-head status of derived adjuncts irrespective of the position they occupy in the sentence with respect to their syntactic head. Identifying RMs as a general class of head6
A rare exception are temporal nouns such as b"#>s “evening” and qç@nç$ks “morning”, which may function as durational adverbs without morphological modification of any kind.
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reducing enclitics also explains why they attach to nominals and finite verbs, but not to morphological adjectives and adverbs, which are inherently nonheads and therefore require no such identification. The set of enclitics used to “de-head” nominals and finite verbs encompasses all of the morphemes traditionally regarded as case markers, postpositions, or converbs. These seemingly disparate functional groups actually constitute a single morphosyntactic category. Perhaps their basic unity as head-reducing enclitics accounts for the perennial difficulty Ketologists have experienced in trying to divide them into discrete classes based on formal or functional criteria. 5.
Summary and conclusion Our analysis of bound grammatical morphemes in Ket supports the conclusion of Frans Plank (2002) that the concept of ‘case system’ should involves a variety of features and cannot be defined in absolute terms. Although certain RMs display case-like semantic or formal properties, they represent nothing more than an ill-defined subset within a much larger functional category: the set of enclitics used to create adjuncts by “de-heading” nominals and verb forms. Simply stating that Ket possesses a case system (Werner 1997, Vajda 2004) or lacks a case system (Vall & Kanakin 1990) fails to capture the true functional and typological status of these morphemes. The fact that case-like morphemes in Ket do not comprise a functionally discrete group helps explain why they are formally diverse, as well. Ket contains two formally distinct types of relational enclitics – simple and augmented. Membership in each set appears to lack synchronic motivation, though the difference does serve a function in information structure. Simple enclitics must follow their host in all contexts and cannot stand as independent phonological words. Augmented enclitics are capable of forming a free-standing phonological word together with their possessive augment, thus allowing the host to drop when backgrounded in discourse. Among the morphemes traditionally regarded as case suffixes, the set of formally simple RMs include the locative, instrumental, prosecutive, and caritive, as well as several others traditionally labeled postpositions or particles. Augmented RMs include most of the postposition-like morphemes, as well as the dative, ablative, and adessive. Which meanings receive expression through simple as opposed to augmented enclitics is due to etymological factors that merit additional investigation. Head-reducing enclitics in Ket show a different type of prosodic patterning than lexically integrated morphemes. When encliticized to a host — be it a noun, pronoun, or finite verb — some of the host’s inherent prosody may remain to express functional sentence perspective. By contrast, roots, derivational affixes and plural suffixes trigger obligatory prosodic reduction whenever they yield polysyllabic outputs. Enclitic-marked adjuncts therefore repre-
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sent syntactic units rather than phonological words. Ket also contains a possessive pronominal marker, traditionally referred to as the genitive case when it encliticizes to a possessor nominal. This morpheme is distinctive in being able to appear as either proclitic or enclitic. As an enclitic, it need not attach to the word form over which it has semantic scope. Prosodically, it patterns most closely with pronominal clitics in finite verb morphology than with other RMs. The function of head-reducing enclitics in Ket far exceeds the typical role of inflectional case markers. In terms of their capacity to generate syntactic units through morphological modification, head-negating enclitics differ significantly from inflections. Canonical case markers generate word forms without changing form class. Head-negating enclitics in Ket convert multiple form classes (nouns, pronouns, finite verbs) to a single syntactic class (adjuncts). This lends support to the position of Krjukova & Grishina (2004) and Krjukova (2005) that Ket syntax is founded on a primary division between nominal, finite verb, and modifier — in other words, between noun-phrase head, verbphrase head, and non-head. Enclitic-bearing adjuncts represent the set of modifiers created from word forms that might otherwise be misinterpreted as morphological heads. Abbreviations – ablative, ADESS – adessive, ADJ – adjective-deriving suffix, ANIM – animate, CAR – caritive, F or FEM – feminine, FREQ – frequentative particle, INF – infinitive, INSTR – instrumental, LOC – locative, M or MASC – masculine, N – neuter, PL – plural, PRED – predicative, PRES – present tense, PROS – prosecutive, TRANSL – translative, SING – singular ABL
REFERENCES Castrén, Matthias A. 1858. Versuch einer jenissej-ostjakischen und kottischen Sprachlehre. St. Petersburg: Imperatorskaja Akademija Nauk. Dixon, R. M. W. 2004. Adjective Classes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dul'zon, A. P. 1968. Ketskij jazyk [The Ket language]. Tomsk: Tomskij Gos. Universitet. Krjukova, E. A. & N. M. Grishina. 2004. “Novyj podkhod k probleme klassifikatsii chastej rechi v ketskom jazyke: klass slov opredelitelej [A new approach to classifying parts of speech in Ket: a general class of modifying words]”. Sravnitel’no-istoricheskie i tipologicheskie issledovanija jazyka i kul’tury: problemy i perspektivy 2 [Comparative-historical and typological studies of language and culture: problems and perspectives 2] ed. by T. V. Galkina, 33-46. Tomsk: Tomskij Peduniversitet.
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Krjukova, E. A. 2005. Klass slov-opredelitelej v enisejskikh jazykakh [The class of modifying words in Ket]. Candidate Degree Dissertation Abstract. Tomsk: Tomskij Peduniversitet. Plank, Frans, ed.. 2002. Noun Phrase Structure in the Languages of Europe. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Sherer, V. È. 1983. Poslelozhnye konstruktsii v ketskom jazyke [Postpositional constructions in Ket]. Candidate Degree Dissertation Abstract. Leningrad: Leningradskij Gos. Universitet. Vall, M. & I. Kanakin. 1990. Ocherk fonologii i grammatiki ketskogo jazyka [Sketches of Ket phonology and grammar]. Novosibirsk: Izd. “Nauka”. Vajda, Edward J. 2003. “Tone and Phoneme in Ket”. Current trends in Caucasian, East European and Inner Asian linguistics: Papers in honor of Howard I. Aronson ed. Dee Ann Holisky & Kevin Tuite, 291-308. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Vajda, Edward J. 2004. Ket (Languages of the World/Materials, 204.) Munich: Lincom Europa. Vajda, Edward J. 2007. “Ket Morphology”. Morphologies of Asia and Africa (including the Caucasus), Vol. 2 ed. by Alan Kaye, 1277-1325. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Werner, Heinrich. 1997. Die ketische Sprache. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS IN KET MARINA A. ZINN Tomsk State Pedagogical University 1.
Introduction The status of words commonly identified as ‘infinitives’1 in Ket remains controversial. Disagreement centers on how to interpret their relationship to semantically similar finite verb stems and on whether they constitute a distinct word class. The present article investigates the diverse roles that infinitives play in complex predicative structures, as well as their role as subject arguments and attributive modifiers. This survey aims to provide a new vantage for resolving the question of whether the Ket infinitive should be regarded as a type of verb, a nominal form, or a word class distinct from nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Understanding patterns of clausal subordination in Ket provides an important angle from which the Ket infinitive can be understood. Previous descriptions of Ket either treated infinitives apart from subordinate non-finite clause formation (Belimov 1970), or did not specify their role as clause linkage devices (Werner 1997). The present work attempts to offer a comprehensive outline of all infinitive patterns (termed below as ‘infinitive constructions’) with the aim of opening a new discussion in the field of Ket syntax. Section 2 below offers a comprehensive overview of various kinds of constructions containing the so-called Ket ‘infinitive’. Infinitives may fill the subject role of phase verbs such as “end”. They also may serve as nominal attributive modifiers and as adjuncts. Finally, they form integral components in a variety of predicative construction types that function similarly to subordinate clauses in other languages. Based on their syntactic functions and the presence or absence of a connector (subordinating) element, infinitive constructions in Ket can be classified into nearly a dozen types. The part nominal and part verbal profile of infinitival functions suggests that this word 1
The term ‘infinitive’ will be retained here lacking a more suitable designation. The terms ‘action nominal’ or ‘nominalization’ would obscure key properties of the Ket infinitive. Comprehensive descriptions of Ket that list infinitive constructions with references to previous research are Werner (1997), Vajda (2004), and Georg (2007).
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type represents a distinct lexical class in the language and is not merely a subtype of noun or a grammatical form of the finite verb stem. Some of the infinitive constructions described here have not been treated in previous descriptions of Ket. Most of the illustrative examples derive from recent original fieldwork with the language’s last remaining fluent native speakers. 2.
Overview and classification of Ket infinitives The Ket infinitive is best defined as a distinct word class. It resembles the finite verb in its ability to link arguments2 and adjuncts. It approximates the status of a nominal form in its ability to fulfill the role of argument or adjunct. Infinitive constructions (henceforward IC)3 are syntactic patterns containing infinitives that are subordinate to the verb or noun in the matrix clause. Under this unified view on the IC it can be filled with a single infinitive or the infinitive can form a phrase including arguments or adjuncts. The connecting devices that overtly mark the subordinate status of the IC within the matrix clause will be glossed as connectors4. One illustration is the translative connector -esaN used in a purposive infinitive construction. (1) Subordination of the infinitive k√taq “spend the winter” using -esaN qo’p k√taq-esaN on d-imter-a-vet chipmunk spend.winter.INF-CON many 3SG.M.SBJ-nut.hit-PRES-VR(ITER) “A chipmunk gathers many nuts for surviving the winter”. (Field Notes, May 2005.)5 Three parameters are crucial for distinguishing and describing different types of IC in Ket: whether the IC allows adjuncts6, whether it requires a 2
Although Ket texts frequently contain linking arguments in unsuffixed form like regular verb arguments, the genitive case marker -d appears in careful pronunciation. 3 It might prove fruitful to classify the Ket IC as including single infinitives, infinitive + arguments linked to it, and infinitive + arguments and optional adjuncts. The contemporary syntactic theories applicable to cross-linguistic studies offer syntactic categories for the description of structures intermediate between a clause and a single word constituent of the clause; cf. notions of nucleus, core, and clause that can link by means of coordination, subordination and co-subordination (Van Valin & LaPolla 1998). The present article does not differentiate between different constituents, but rather groups all types of infinitive constructions under a single term (IC). 4 Avoiding any specific linguistic terminology here will avoid the need to define the status of these linking devices. For a detailed discussion see Vajda, present volume. 5 The field notes cited reflect the author’s original work with two native Ket informants: M. M. Irikova (May 2005.) and V. A. Romanenkova (February, 2006.). 6 This parameter is important for differentiating different syntactic patterns that employ IC in Ket. It might also contribute to the nominalization criteria for the Ket infinitive or IC, though this feature was never described in previous research on Ket, thus requires more investigation.
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connector and/or matrix clause verb internal agreement marking, and, most important, its syntactic function in the matrix clause. The system of Ket infinitive constructions here will be classified into groups according to the syntactic status of the construction within the matrix clause, as well as according to whether it fills the role of argument, verb modifier, or an adjunct. Two additional groups can be assigned to the function “adjunct” or assigned a separate clause status. They would be differentiated on the semantic basis and include “purposive IC” and “modal IC” linked to expressions of wish and intent. This approach fits neatly into the recent typological view on ‘complementation strategies’ offered by Dixon (2006.). He differentiates between pure complement clauses and complementation strategies. The latter include multi-verb constructions serving the same purpose as complement clauses and following the same restricted set of complement taking verbs. This set is semantically defined and its composition is language sensitive, with typologically relative recurrent semantic verb types including “attention”, “thinking”, “liking”, “speaking” and ‘secondary concepts’ which could involve verbs and expressions of “want”, “wish”, “intend”, “begin”, “stop”, etc.). In many languages other grammatical constructions are linked to the verbs of this set instead of complement clauses proper, they are referred to as “complementation strategies”, and include nominalizations (including clause nominalizations), relative clauses, serial verb constructions and clauses linked together in one sentence (apposition, clause chaining and purposive linking). Ket displays a quaint network of complex structures linking the complement taking verbs and expressions on the one hand and the four complementation strategies involving IC on the other hand7. Ket has five basic patterns corresponding to different complementation strategies: IC occupying matrix clause argument slot, IC occupying modifier slot, IC occupying adjunct slot, purposive IC, and modal IC. The present article will analyze each one of these patterns in turn. Illustrations will be provided for each complement-taking verb that links an IC as its argument, modifier or adjunct. 2.1 IC occupying main-clause argument slot This syntactic pattern corresponds to nominalization complementation strategy in Ket. For the present research we assume that the whole IC is
7
This type of clause chaining and apposition, which is frequently attested for Ket, links finite clauses and therefore is not considered in the present discussion of subordination devices.
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nominalized when IC takes a matrix verb argument slot8. The nominalized IC is linked to the matrix verb as its argument and it is coded as a regular nominal argument depending on the matrix verb’s government properties: through verb internal agreement marking and/or connector, which corresponds to a case marker required by the matrix verb. In the latter case the connector is attached to the infinitive itself, which usually takes the final position in the infinitive phrase. All nominalized IC allow arguments, but no adjuncts (locatives, oblique objects) within the IC. In Ket this strategy embraces IC linked to verbs conveying the following concepts: “think of”, “know”, “ask for”, and “end”. 2.1.1 IC subject + phrasal verb. In this IC pattern the verb internal agreement marker -b- is in concord with the infinitival complement, so that the infinitive functions analogously to a noun. (2) The infinitive h√lsij ‘sew’ used as the subject of a finite verb qu’s sujat h√lsij bim-b-a“ut one dress sew.INF self-3N.SBJ-end “The sewing of the dress comes to an end”. (Field Notes, May 2005.) This type of usage, in which the infinitive approximates a noun, appears to be limited to phase verbs such as “end”. 2.1.2 THINK OF + IC. This IC requires connector -diNt, which corresponds to the adessive case marker, required by the government properties of the verb “think of” in Ket. (3) The infinitive qusber “tent-make” subordinated with adessive connector at bu N-na qus-bet-di Nt d-an-si-bet 1 SG they- GEN tent-make- CON 1SG.SBJ-think-PRES-VR “I think of them making a tent”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) Numerous examples of IC of this type include arguments, but native speakers consistently rejected adjunct insertions. Example (4) was rejected by our informant. (4) Unacceptability of adjunct added between doer and action *at bu N-na kisa N qusbet-di Nt d-an-si-bet 1 SG they- GEN here tent.make- CON 1SG.SBJ-think-PRES-VR “I think of them making a tent here”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) 8
This includes object and oblique object function. They are treated together as one type because the position and structural properties of the IC of that type are determined by one and the same factor — government properties of the matrix clause verb to which the IC is linked.
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Apparently, the constraint here is of a formal rather than a semantic nature. No other element can stand between the word that expresses the doer of the action (bu N “they”) and the infinitive expressing the action. Like possessive noun phrases, this sequence represents a syntactic unit in Ket (E. Vajda, p.c.). 2.1.3 ASK FOR + IC. This pattern requires connector -esaN, which corresponds to the translative case marker required by the government properties of the verb “ask for” in Ket. Here the matrix verb “ask for” contains so-called applicative marker, which resembles an inanimate object marker. Instead in (5) the object is “father” and it is internally coded in the verb. The verb in (6) is intransitive, with no object coding. The infinitival complement is thus not coded verb internally. (5) Example with the infinitive suulber “sled-make” subordinated with -esaN hµ’p da-op suulber-esaN son POSS.father sled.make.INF-CON d-a-t-p-il-a 3SG.M.SBJ-3SG.M.OBJ-DET-APPLIC-PAST-ask “The son asks his father to make sleds”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) In (6) the only external argument in the matrix clause is dµl “girl” (actually “child” with feminine subject agreement); there is no mention of who is being asked. In this case it is still possible to link IC to the matrix verb “ask for” to express the additional meaning of “asking somebody for permission”. (6) IC containing the infinitive ber “make” subordinated with -esaN dµl anaN hu’ n ber-esaN da - t - iv- ij child play.INF daughter make.INF-CON 3SG.F.SBJ-DET-APPLIC-ask “The girl asks to make a doll (literally, play daughter)”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) Compare (6) with the finite clause in (7) below, which allows the inclusion of another referent — the one who is going to make a doll for the girl. (7) Example of a finite verb clause subordinated with -esaN dµl da-t-iv-ij anaN hu’n child 3SG.F.SBJ-DET-APPLIC-ask play.INF daughter du-b-bet-in-esaN 3SBJ-3N.OBJ-make-SBJ.PL-CON “The girl asked that they make a doll for her”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) “The girl asked them to make a doll for her”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.)
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Notice that the referent is cross-referenced only by verb-internal marker in the subordinate clause verb. 2.2 IC occupying modifier slot Ket syntax permits several constructions in which an infinitive serves as a modifier of a head noun. In this way, the infinitive, or infinitive construction, approximates that of an adjective. 2.2.1 Matrix clause argument modifier IC (non-finite relative clause). This syntactic pattern involving IC in Ket corresponds to complementation strategy via a relative clause linking. In Ket this non-finite relative clause is in preposition to the argument of the matrix clause and does not take a connector. Mostly it is linked to the objects of ‘attention’ verbs – see below an illustration to the verb SEE + OBJ + IC. In this case IC as in nominalized construction allows arguments, but not adjuncts within the IC. (8) IC with infinitive hij “erect, put up” as attributive modifier at qus-t hij ke’t da-t-ol-uN I tent-GEN put.up.INF man 1SG.SBJ-3SG.M.OBJ-DET-PAST-see “I saw a man putting up a tent”. (Field Notes, May 2005.) 2.2.2 IC modifying the matrix clause verb. This syntactic pattern links the IC to a matrix clause verb as it would link a manner adverb. This pattern is rare, highly restricted and close to idiomatic constructions in Ket. It is attested with motion verbs in the matrix clause linking an infinitive denoting a style of traveling (by reindeer sled or dogsled). It appears, that the closest correspondence among the complementation strategies is serial verb construction strategy. (9) The infinitive sennij “ride a deer sled” modifying a matrix clause verb k√j-das sennij t-t-aj-ga go.hunt-CON deer.sled.riding.INF 1SG.SBJ-DET-PRES-walk “As he goes hunting he rides in a deer sled”. (Field Notes, May 2005.) 2.3 IC as adjunct The next strategy of embedding IC in Ket does not go that well with the outline of the complementation strategies according to the classification by Dixon (2006.). One type of these constructions, namely purposive IC, corresponds to the purposive linking complementation strategy. However, in addition to that, in Ket there is a whole cluster of syntactic patterns that embrace embedding the IC in the adjunct slot of the matrix clause. These include constructions with co-occurrence of two events in one macro-event,
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and besides modal IC and purposive IC. All IC filling an adjunct slot require a connector, which resembles a case marker in form. However, in contrast to the cases described above, the connector choice depends not on the matrix verb government properties, but on the semantics of the construction itself. Unlike the IC filling argument or modifier slot, this syntactic pattern allows adjuncts as well as arguments within the IC. The next two constructions given below are not frequently used in the contemporary Ket, though it was possible to elicit some contexts enough for the account on their syntactic structure. As the IC are not linked to any particular matrix verb, the attempt is made to give terms close to their semantics. 2.3.1 Simultaneous action IC. This IC is linked to the matrix clause verb and requires the connector -bes, which resembles the prosecutive case marker in Ket. But here the connector depends not on the matrix verb government properties, but on the temporal interplay between two types of actions, one of which occurs in the background of the other. This IC conveys that the cooccurring sub-events are perceived as simultaneous. (10) Simultaneous action connector used with the infinitive kij “tell” kij-bes d-iliN-q-im-n-a tell.INF-CON 3SG.M.SBJ-eat.INF-CAUS-3N.OBJ-PAST-VR.TRANS “While talking he began eating”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) (11) Simultaneous action connector used with the infinitive uN “sit down” dit at d-i-q-aj oks-da-Na uN-bes grouse I 1SG.SBJ-3SG.F.OBJ-PAST-kill tree-M-DAT sit.INF-CON “I killed a wood grouse as it was landing in a tree”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) 2.3.2 Comitative IC. The term ‘comitative’, coined for the present research, means that the action denoted by the matrix clause verb is accompanied by another action denoted by the subordinate clause verb/infinitive. This IC requires connector -das, which resembles a combination of genitive + comitative case markers in Ket. (12) Comitative connector used with k√’j “go hunting” bu k√j-das suul d-u-g-d-a-p-taN he go.hunting-CON sled 3SG.M.SBJ-3N.OBJ-DET-along-PRES-APPLIC-drag “As he goes hunting he drags the sled along”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.)
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Example (13) was rejected by our informant, possibly on semantic rather than structural grounds. Unlike (12), where the action of dragging a sled is pivotal for a hunting trip, the actions of walking along and talking are not linked in the same way. (13) Unacceptable use of the comitative connector *bu k√j-das t-t-a-v-iga 3SG go.hunting-CON 3SG.M.SBJ-DET-PRES-3N.OBJ-tell “He is walking and speaking”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) Further research is needed to determine the nature of such semantic restrictions on the use of this construction. The structurally analogous sentence in (14) did prove acceptable. (14) Infinitive with comitative connector subordinated to an intransitive verb t-k-aj-a-ƒ√√n-das t-t-a-v-iƒa 3SG.M.SBJ-DET-PRES-sit.down-CON 3SG.M.SBJ-DET-PRES-3N.OBJ-tell “As he was sitting down he was speaking”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) The word qo’j “wish” can also appear with the connector -das, as shown by example (15), a sentence taken from a text collected in the 1960s. (15) IC containing the infinitive ber “make” subordinated with -esaN Tµnej qoj-das suul bultet Tynei wish-CON sled foot.board ber-e-ta-N t-ol-aN-daqN snow-PRES-VR-PL DET-PAST-3PL.SBJ-fall “In accordance with Tynei’s wish, snowflakes the size of sled boards fell”. (Dul’zon 1968: 180) Sentences with an infinitive followed by the connector -das seem to represent a previously unattested serial verb construction. What has been called a serial verb construction in previous research on Ket was merely a complex verb stem with incorporated infinitive, e.g. (16) Sentence containing a single verb word with incorporated infinitive bik kunsa sujat da-hulsej-q-ib-it another different dress 3F.SBJ-sew.INF-CAUS-3N.OBJ-VR.TRANS “She begins sewing another different dress”. (Field Notes, May 2005.) Forms such as that in (16) are single morphological words rather than complex predicates. They were not recognized as such due to the tendency for the two lexical roots each to receive their own stress, as well as the tendency
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for the rightmost subject markers to elide in rapid speech, leaving the impression of a multi-verb construction rather than a single verb form. 2.3.3 Purposive IC. This type of IC corresponds to the purposive complementation strategy in Dixon’s classification. Basically, the matrix verbs are restricted to the verbs of motion, dislocation and more seldom location. The basic pattern is given in (8a) below, where the IC is linked with the translative connector -esaN, which has the purposive meaning. The most remarkable fact about how this complementation strategy is realized in Ket is its branching into three patterns for purposive constructions. They display approximately same meaning, but different syntactic structure. There are two cases of employing purposive IC, in the first case the choice of a particular syntactic pattern for purposive IC is unrestricted, in the second case the semantic restrictions apply, though purposive IC is possible with this type of matrix verb. 2.3.4 Supine IC. Ket possesses three structurally distinct equivalents to such English sentences as, “I sat down to drink water”. The first pattern constitutes the basic construction for purposive and modal IC linking, it is marked by connector -esaN, with the purposive meaning, which is not required by the matrix verb government properties, but by the purposive construction itself. This pattern can be assigned a status of the basic purposive IC for Ket. (17)
at k-on-di-ƒ√√n ul-do-esaN 1SG down-PAST-1SG-sit water-drink.INF-CON “I sat down to drink water”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.)
In the second pattern purposive IC is in preposition to the matrix clause verb, it requires no connector. Structurally it is closest to IC that modify the matrix clause verb, and thus resembles a serial verb construction complementation strategy. (18) at ul-do t-k-on-di-ƒ√√n 1SG water-drink.INF 1SG.SBJ-down-PAST-1SG.SJB-sit “I sat down to drink water”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) This pattern is quite frequent in Ket, yet is not sufficiently described so far as it is rather perplexing for description in syntactic terms or in cross-linguistic perspective. It is a construction in Ket with a purposive meaning, which seems to be an embedding of the purposive IC as a copula complement in preposition to the matrix verb.
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(19) at ul-do ke’t t-k-on-di-ƒ√√n 1SG water-drink.INF man 1SG.SBJ-down-PAST-1SG.SJB-sit “I sat down with the aim of drinking water”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) 2.3.5 Location verb + purposive construction. In Ket it is possible to link a purposive IC to the location verb in the matrix clause although this syntactic pattern requires a deeper look into its semantic restrictions, as shown by the unacceptability of (21). In this case, only the copula complement linking strategy (20) appears acceptable. (20) Purposive construction with the infinitive uldo “drink water” at ul-do ke’t t-sesta ul taN I water-drink-INF person 3SG.SBJ-sit water absent “I am sitting waiting to have water offered to me”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) (21) Purposive construction with the infinitive uldo ‘drink water’ *at ul-do ke’t t-sesta I water-drink-INF person 3SG.SBJ-sit “I am waiting to drink water (lit., “sitting as a water-drinking man”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) 2.4 Modal IC This type of IC follows the basic structural type of purposive linking. It requires the connector -esaN and allows both arguments and adjuncts within the IC. The difference between the purposive and modal constructions is semantic: the modal IC is linked to the verbs and expressions with modal meaning rather than to the motion verbs, including such concepts as WISH and INTEND. 2.4.1 Wish + IC. This IC construction is notable for the fact that in the matrix clause it is linked to qo’j “wish”. This word requires additional cross-linguistic research to provide an adequate linguistic description of its grammatical status. Cf. example 13 above, where it is employed as an adjunct to the matrix clause verb in the same manner as the comitative IC construction. (22) Concessive clauses built with the infinitive usperaN “kiss” hiƒ qim-d usperaN-esiN da-qo'j man woman-GEN kiss-CON M.POSS-wish “The man wants to kiss the woman”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.)
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The IC types below are identical in syntactic structure, they are linked to matrix clause verbs with the meaning of “intend”, and they share the same properties as all modal IC. The illustrations below demonstrate a variety of adjuncts included in the IC. 2.4.2 Intend + IC. This type of construction places a form of the verb “intend” in the main clause, but is otherwise semantically and structurally identical with constructions such as that illustrated in (22), where the IC was based on the concessive converb -esaN added to qo’j “wish”. (23) Concessive clause made from the infinitive ber ‘make’ dµl binda anaN hu'n ber - esaN daja - tus girl self play.INF daughter make.INF-CON 3SG.F.SBJ-intend “The girl herself intends to make a doll”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) 2.4.3 Think of (= intend) + IC. The final subtype of modal IC uses the verb “think” in its matrix clause. This type can be extended with adjuncts of various sorts. (24) Concessive clause made from the infinitive qusber “tent-make” at kisa N qusbet-esi N d-an-si-bet 1SG here tent.make-CON 1SG.SBJ-think-PRES-VR “I am thinking of making a tent here”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) (25) Concessive clause made from the infinitive qusber “tent-make” at bu N-na Nt qusbet-esi N d-an-si-bet 1SG they- BENEF tent.make-CON 1SG.SBJ-think-PRES-VR “I am thinking of making a tent for them”. (Field Notes, Feb. 2006.) This concludes the types of IC that fulfill the role of adjunct, as documented in our fieldwork. 3.
Conclusion Infinitive constructions in Ket used for complementation diverge most strongly from cross-linguistic tendencies in the following ways. Ket ICs differ among themselves according to several key syntactic properties. These include the presence or absence of connector, position in the matrix clause, syntactic function as a constituent of the matrix clause and whether the IC allows arguments or adjuncts. IC used as adjuncts can be grouped by the type of subordination effected by the connector morpheme used for complementation, which express simultaneous, comitative, modal, and purposive constructions. They can also be grouped according to internal configurational properties.
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There are three syntactic patterns for purposive constructions, including purposive linking proper, serial verb construction, and embedding IC as a copula complement. Infinitives found in “wish” and “intend” expressions follow the purposive linking strategy to express desire. In all of these constructions, the infinitive functions like a non-finite verb form. We have also observed the infinitive as an attributive modifier. Finally, there is the intriguing feature of cross-referencing of the nominalized IC by the verb-internal agreement marking, where the infinitive approximates a nominal form. The ability of the Ket infinitive to serve as the basic argument of a finite verb, as a modifier, and also to convey a verb-like role in various types of clausal subordination demonstrates that this word type represents a part of speech in Ket distinct from nouns, finite verbs, and adjectives. Abbreviations ADES – adessive, APPLIC – applicative, BENEF - benefactive, COM – comitative, CON – connector, postposed subordinating morpheme, COREF – coreferential verb-internal subject marker, DAT – dative, DET – determiner (semantically opaque verb prefix), F – feminine, GEN – genitive, INF – infinitive, M – masculine, N – neuter, OBJ – object, OPT – optative particle, PL – plural, POSS – possessive, PRES – present tense, SBJ – subject, SG – singular, VR – verb root. REFERENCES Belimov, E. I. 1970. Infinitiv ketskogo jazyka [The Ket infinitive]. Unpublished Candidate Degree Dissertation. Tomsk: Tomskij Pedinstitut. Dixon R. M. W. 2006. “Complement Clauses and Complementation Strategies in Typological Perspective”. Complementation: A cross-linguistic typology, ed by R. M. W. Dixon & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, 1-48. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. Dul’zon, A. P. “Ketskie skazki i drugie teksty [Ket tales and other texts]”. Ketskij sbornik: mifologija, etnografija, teksty [Studia Ketica: mythology, ethnography, texts] ed. by V. V. Ivanov, V. N. Toporov & B. A. Uspenskij, 167-212. Moscow: Izd. “Nauka”. Georg, Stefan. 2007. A Descriptive Grammar of Ket. Part I: Introduction, phonology and morphology. Folkestone: Global Oriental. Vajda, Edward J. 2004. Ket (Languages of the World/Materials 204.) Munich: Lincom Europa. Van Valin, Robert, & Randy La Polla. 1997. Syntax: Structure, meaning and function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Werner, Heinrich. 1997. Die ketische Sprache. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
INDEX ablative, 144, 156, 179-200 absolutive, 144, 156-157 accusative, 11, 103 action nominal, 203 adessive, 179-199 adnominal modification, 67 adposition, 109-120, 168, 175 adverbial clause, 33-35 adversative conjunction, 85 Afrikaans, 4-5 agglutinative, 143 Aghul, x, 123-141 Aikhenvald, A., 17, 22, 24, 26, 143 Ainu, vii, viii, xii, 17-30 Aktionsart, 43 allative, 144 Altai (language), 100 Altaic, 98, 100, 124 alternative questions, 97-107 ambitransivite, 148 anaphora, 82 antipassive, 148 applicative, 148 appositionalis (mood), 146-147 aspect, 157 Athabaskan, 144
Central Alaskan Yupik, vii, x, xii, 143-162 Chinese, 106-107 Cleary-Kemp, J., 17 clitic, xi, 181-202 comitative, 194, 209-210, 212, 214 comparative, 148, 159-162 complement clause, 150 complementation, 205-206 complementizer, 8, 23, 67-68, 148, 156-157, 205 Comrie, Bernard, vii, 1-16. 17, 65 concessive clause, x, 70, 123-140 conditional clause, x, 38-40, 123-140 conjunction, 1-15, 68, 72, 85-95 connective (mood), 146 converb, x, 35, 37, 167-176, 190, 199 converbial clause, 99 coordinate conjunction, 1-15, 85-95 Coordinate Structure Constraint, 2, 6 coordinating conjunction, 2 coordination, vii, ix-x, 1-16, 85-95, 146 coreference, 20-23, 33, 51-60, 146 cosubordination, 146, 157 Cyrillic, 47, 65
backgrounding, 24, 33 benefactive, 148, 191 Birzer, Sandra, ix, 109-122 Boldog, Gyöngyi, 124 Bolin, L., 65 Bolina A., 65 Bolina, N., 65 Bugaeva, Anna, vii, 17-30 Bulgarian, x, 123-140 Buryat, 100
Dagestan, viii, x, 47 Dagestanian (languages), 172 Daniel, Michael, 17, 123 dative, 179-200 deconverbal adposition, 175 deconverbal preposition, ix, 109-120 deixis, 26 dependent marking, 17 Derzhanski, I., 124, 130 desiderative, 100 direct speech, 17-27 directive, 100 Dixon, R. M. W., 143, 205, 209 Dobrushina, Nina, x
caritive, 194, 197, 199 Caspian Sea, viii causative, 100 Centering Theory, 58-59
216 Dutch, 4-5 Eastern Khanty, viii, xii, 31-46, 77-84 enclitic, 179-200 English, 2-8, 85-95, 119 equalis (case), 144 ergative, 144 Eskimo, x, 144-162 Estonian, x, 123-140 Even, 98 Evenki, ix, xii, 98, 104 evidentiality, 148, 157 Filtchenko, Andrei, viii, 31-46 Finnic, 124 Finnish, 173, 175 Finno-Ugric, 33 foregrounding, 33 Forest Enets, viii-ix, xii, 63-75 Fortesque, Michael, 159 future tense, 35 Geniušiene, E., 17 German, 1, 4-5, 97 Germanic, 81 gerund, 168 Givenness Hierarchy, 48, 52-60 Givón, Talmy, 82 Goussev, Valentin, 124 grammaticalization, viii, 73, 98, 104, 106, 107, 109-120, 124, 167-176 Greek, 127 Greenlandic, 159 Grice’s Maxim of Quantity, 58 Güldemann, T., 17 Gundel, Jeanette, 47, 48 Hansen, Björn, 109 Haruai, 12-15 Haspelmath, Martin, 85, 109, 123, 167-168 head marking, 17 Helimski, Eugen, 65 Hellwig, B., 17 Hoijer, Harry, 144 Hokkaido, 17, 26 honorific, 20 Humnick, Linda, viii, 47-62 Humnick, Paul, 47 Hungarian, x, 123-140, 169, 175 hypotaxis, 99
INDEX
imperative, 13, 123-140 imperfective, 35-37, 40 inchoative, 100 incorporation, 187 indirect speech, 17-27 indicative mood, 66-70, 146, 157 Indo-European, 124 infinitive, xi, 49 information structure, 100-102 Innuit, 146 instrumental, 194, 199 intonation, 100-102 interrogative mood, 146 intransitive, 100 Inupiaq, 146 Irikova, M., 180, 204 irrealis, 36, 39, 122-140 Jurchen, 99 Kazakevich, O., 171 Ket, vii, xi, xii, 179-200, 203-214 Khabarovsk, 99 Khanina, Olesya, viii, 63-75 König, E., 123 Korean, x, xii, 85-95 Kumyk, viii, 47-62 Kurile Islands, 17 Kuskokwim (Yupik dialect), 143 La Trobe University, 143 Latin, 182 lative, 33, 173-174 Lehmann, W., 109 locative, 38, 144, 180-181, 194, 199 logophoricity, 17, 21-26 Lyrmin, N., 65 Majsak, Timur, 123 Manchu, 99 Manchu-Tungus, 98-99 Mandarin Chinese, 106 Maritime Province, ix, 99 Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig), 65 Merdanova, Solmaz, 124, 129 Miyaoka, Osahito, x, 17, 143-165 Mongolia, 98 Mongolian, 168 Moravcsik, Edith, 124 Mosan, 144
217
INDEX
Musaeva, R., 47 Nakagawa, H., 17 Nakh-Dagestanian, x, 124 Nanai, 99 National Corpus of Russian Language, 124, 128-131 Nedjalkov, V., 167-168 Negidal, 99, 105 nominalization, 80-82, 147-162, 198 Northern Selkup, x, xii, 167-176 null subject, 47-60 Ob’ River, 167 Oda, I., 17 Old Church Slavonic, 112 Onishi, Masayuki, 143 optative, 71, 123-140, 146, 175 Oroch, 98-99, 105 Orok, 99 Oroqen, ix, xii, 98, 105, 107 Ostyak-Samoyedic, 167 Overall, S., 17 Palkin, V., 65 parataxis, 99, 168 participial mood, 146 participle, 35-38, 80-82, 99, 103, 168 past tense, 5, 78 perfective, 36, 38 perlative, 144 person-number agreement, 10, 138 Plungjan, V., 17 plural, 187 Podlesskaya, V., 129 polarity, 157 Polinsky, Maria, 85 Polish, 9, 12 polypredicative construction, 137 polysynthesis, x, 17, 143-162 possessive, 187-190 postposition, 179-200 Potanina, Olga, viii, 77-84 preposition, 109-120 present tense, 6, 35, 78 proclitic, 182, 187-190 prolative, 38 prosecutive, 194, 197, 199 Proto-Uralic, 168 Przepiórkowski, Adam, 109
Ramstedt, G., 168 reanalysis, 109-120 Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, 143 reduplication, 106-107 relative (case), 145 relative clause, 77-83, 154-156, 208 relativization, 2-4, 10, 80-83, 148 resumptive pronoun, 78-80 Romanenkova, V., 180, 204 Rudnitskaya, Elena, ix, 85-96 Russian, ix, x, 9, 10, 65-73, 78, 85950. 97, 106, 109-120, 123-140, 182 Russian Federation, vii, 17, 47 Saami, 169 Sakhalin, 17 Samoyedic, vii, ix, xi, 65 Sándor, Szeverényi, 124 Sapir, Edward, 144 Satoo, T., 17 Selkup, 167-176 semantic bleaching, ix semi-direct speech, 17-27 Shluinsky, Andrey, viii, 63-75 Sibe, 99 Siberia, vii, 98, 167, 179 Silkin, I., 65 Silkin, N., 65 Skribnik, Elena, 31, 65 Slavic, 9, 12, 81, 124, 130 Slovak, 9, 11 Sogen, Hwan, 85 Solon, 99 Soros, George, 99 Southern Selkup, 168, 175 subject agreement, 47 subject/object agreement, 146 subjunctive mood, 10, 71-72 subordinating conjunction, 2 subordination, vii, ix, 1-16, 65-70, 146, 196 Sultanmuradov, A., 47 supine, 211 switch-reference, 13 Taimyr Peninsula, 65 Taz (dialect of Selkup), x, 167, 175 Temurcu, Ceyhan, 123, 124, 130
218 tense, 157 Tida, S., 17 Tolskaya, Inna, ix, 97-108 Tolskay, Maria, ix, 97-108 Tomsk, vii, 182 Tomsk State Pedagogical University, vii topicalization, 11 transitive, 100, 148 translative, 173, 180-181, 195, 204, 211 Tungus-Manchu, ix Tungusic, ix, 98-107 Turkic, vii, xi, 106, 124, 172 Turkish, x, 106, 110, 117, 119-120, 125-142 Udeghe, ix, xii, 97-107 Ugric, 124 Ulch, 99 univerbation, 118-119 Uppsala Corpus of Russian, 114-115 Uralic, 65, 124, 172, 175 univerbation, ix
INDEX
Uryson, Elena, ix, 85-96 Vajda, Edward J., xi, 123, 143, 179201, 207 Valijärvi, Riitta-Liisa, x, 167-176 Van Valin, Robert, 146 verbal adverb, 168 Verschik, Anna, 123, 124 vocative, 188 voice, 157 Volgaic, 175 Vorontsova, 65 vowel harmony, 102 Waibel, Andreas, 117 Watanabe, Honoré, 143 Xibo, 99 Xrakovskij, V., 123 Yenisei River, 65, 167 Yukon (Yupik dialect), 143 Zabrodskaya, Anastassia, 124 Zaliznyak, A., 127 Zinn, Marina, xii, 203-214
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E. F. K. Koerner, Editor
Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Typologie und Universalienforschung, Berlin [email protected] Current Issues in Linguistic Theory (CILT) is a theory-oriented series which welcomes contributions from scholars who have significant proposals to make towards the advancement of our understanding of language, its structure, functioning and development. CILT has been established in order to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of linguistic opinions of scholars who do not necessarily accept the prevailing mode of thought in linguistic science. It offers an outlet for meaningful contributions to the current linguistic debate, and furnishes the diversity of opinion which a healthy discipline must have. A complete list of titles in this series can be found on the publishers’ website, www.benjamins.com 303 Torck, Danièle and W. Leo Wetzels (eds.): Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2006. Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’, Amsterdam, 7–9 December 2006. viii, 293 pp. Expected December 2008 302 Ferraresi, Gisella and Maria Goldbach (eds.): Principles of Syntactic Reconstruction. xvii, 216 pp. + index. Expected December 2008 301 Parkinson, Dilworth B. (ed.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the annual symposium on Arabic linguistics. Volume XXI: Provo, Utah, March 2007. 2008. x, 206 pp. 300 Vajda, Edward J. (ed.): Subordination and Coordination Strategies in North Asian Languages. 2008. xii, 218 pp. 299 González-Díaz, Victorina: English Adjective Comparison. A historical perspective. 2008. xix, 252 pp. 298 Bowern, Claire, Bethwyn Evans and Luisa Miceli (eds.): Morphology and Language History. In honour of Harold Koch. 2008. x, 364 pp. 297 Dossena, Marina, Richard Dury and Maurizio Gotti (eds.): English Historical Linguistics 2006. Selected papers from the fourteenth International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL 14), Bergamo, 21–25 August 2006. Volume III: Geo-Historical Variation in English. 2008. xiii, 197 pp. 296 Dury, Richard, Maurizio Gotti and Marina Dossena (eds.): English Historical Linguistics 2006. Selected papers from the fourteenth International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL 14), Bergamo, 21–25 August 2006. Volume II: Lexical and Semantic Change. 2008. xiii, 264 pp. 295 Gotti, Maurizio, Marina Dossena and Richard Dury (eds.): English Historical Linguistics 2006. Selected papers from the fourteenth International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL 14), Bergamo, 21–25 August 2006. Volume I: Syntax and Morphology. 2008. xiv, 259 pp. 294 Frellesvig, Bjarke and John Whitman (eds.): Proto-Japanese. Issues and Prospects. 2008. vii, 229 pp. 293 Detges, Ulrich and Richard Waltereit (eds.): The Paradox of Grammatical Change. Perspectives from Romance. 2008. vi, 252 pp. 292 Nicolov, Nicolas, Kalina Bontcheva, Galia Angelova and Ruslan Mitkov (eds.): Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing IV. Selected papers from RANLP 2005. 2007. xii, 307 pp. 291 Baauw, Sergio, Frank Drijkoningen and Manuela Pinto (eds.): Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2005. Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’, Utrecht, 8–10 December 2005. 2007. viii, 338 pp. 290 Mughazy, Mustafa A. (ed.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the annual symposium on Arabic linguistics. Volume XX: Kalamazoo, Michigan, March 2006. 2007. xii, 247 pp. 289 Benmamoun, Elabbas (ed.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the annual symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Volume XIX: Urbana, Illinois, April 2005. 2007. xiv, 304 pp. 288 Toivonen, Ida and Diane Nelson (eds.): Saami Linguistics. 2007. viii, 321 pp. 287 Camacho, José, Nydia Flores-Ferrán, Liliana Sánchez, Viviane Déprez and María José Cabrera (eds.): Romance Linguistics 2006. Selected papers from the 36th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), New Brunswick, March-April 2006. 2007. viii, 340 pp. 286 Weijer, Jeroen van de and Erik Jan van der Torre (eds.): Voicing in Dutch. (De)voicing – phonology, phonetics, and psycholinguistics. 2007. x, 186 pp. 285 Sackmann, Robin (ed.): Explorations in Integrational Linguistics. Four essays on German, French, and Guaraní. 2008. ix, 239 pp. 284 Salmons, Joseph C. and Shannon Dubenion-Smith (eds.): Historical Linguistics 2005. Selected papers from the 17th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Madison, Wisconsin, 31 July - 5 August 2005. 2007. viii, 413 pp. 283 Lenker, Ursula and Anneli Meurman-Solin (eds.): Connectives in the History of English. 2007. viii, 318 pp.
282 Prieto, Pilar, Joan Mascaró and Maria-Josep Solé (eds.): Segmental and prosodic issues in Romance phonology. 2007. xvi, 262 pp. 281 Vermeerbergen, Myriam, Lorraine Leeson and Onno Crasborn (eds.): Simultaneity in Signed Languages. Form and function. 2007. viii, 360 pp. (incl. CD-Rom). 280 Hewson, John and Vit Bubenik: From Case to Adposition. The development of configurational syntax in Indo-European languages. 2006. xxx, 420 pp. 279 Nedergaard Thomsen, Ole (ed.): Competing Models of Linguistic Change. Evolution and beyond. 2006. vi, 344 pp. 278 Doetjes, Jenny and Paz González (eds.): Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2004. Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’, Leiden, 9–11 December 2004. 2006. viii, 320 pp. 277 Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa and Lyle Campbell (eds.): Grammar from the Human Perspective. Case, space and person in Finnish. 2006. x, 280 pp. 276 Montreuil, Jean-Pierre Y. (ed.): New Perspectives on Romance Linguistics. Vol. II: Phonetics, Phonology and Dialectology. Selected papers from the 35th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Austin, Texas, February 2005. 2006. x, 213 pp. 275 Nishida, Chiyo and Jean-Pierre Y. Montreuil (eds.): New Perspectives on Romance Linguistics. Vol. I: Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics. Selected papers from the 35th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Austin, Texas, February 2005. 2006. xiv, 288 pp. 274 Gess, Randall S. and Deborah Arteaga (eds.): Historical Romance Linguistics. Retrospective and perspectives. 2006. viii, 393 pp. 273 Filppula, Markku, Juhani Klemola, Marjatta Palander and Esa Penttilä (eds.): Dialects Across Borders. Selected papers from the 11th International Conference on Methods in Dialectology (Methods XI), Joensuu, August 2002. 2005. xii, 291 pp. 272 Gess, Randall S. and Edward J. Rubin (eds.): Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to Romance Linguistics. Selected papers from the 34th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Salt Lake City, March 2004. 2005. viii, 367 pp. 271 Branner, David Prager (ed.): The Chinese Rime Tables. Linguistic philosophy and historicalcomparative phonology. 2006. viii, 358 pp. 270 Geerts, Twan, Ivo van Ginneken and Haike Jacobs (eds.): Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2003. Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’ 2003, Nijmegen, 20–22 November. 2005. viii, 369 pp. 269 Hargus, Sharon and Keren Rice (eds.): Athabaskan Prosody. 2005. xii, 432 pp. 268 Cravens, Thomas D. (ed.): Variation and Reconstruction. 2006. viii, 223 pp. 267 Alhawary, Mohammad T. and Elabbas Benmamoun (eds.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the annual symposium on Arabic linguistics. Volume XVII–XVIII: Alexandria, 2003 and Norman, Oklahoma 2004. 2005. xvi, 315 pp. 266 Boudelaa, Sami (ed.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the annual symposium on Arabic linguistics. Volume XVI: , Cambridge, March 2002. 2006. xii, 181 pp. 265 Cornips, Leonie and Karen P. Corrigan (eds.): Syntax and Variation. Reconciling the Biological and the Social. 2005. vi, 312 pp. 264 Dressler, Wolfgang U., Dieter Kastovsky, Oskar E. Pfeiffer and Franz Rainer (eds.): Morphology and its demarcations. Selected papers from the 11th Morphology meeting, Vienna, February 2004. With the assistance of Francesco Gardani and Markus A. Pöchtrager. 2005. xiv, 320 pp. 263 Branco, António, Tony McEnery and Ruslan Mitkov (eds.): Anaphora Processing. Linguistic, cognitive and computational modelling. 2005. x, 449 pp. 262 Vajda, Edward J. (ed.): Languages and Prehistory of Central Siberia. 2004. x, 275 pp. 261 Kay, Christian J. and Jeremy J. Smith (eds.): Categorization in the History of English. 2004. viii, 268 pp. 260 Nicolov, Nicolas, Kalina Bontcheva, Galia Angelova and Ruslan Mitkov (eds.): Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing III. Selected papers from RANLP 2003. 2004. xii, 402 pp. 259 Carr, Philip, Jacques Durand and Colin J. Ewen (eds.): Headhood, Elements, Specification and Contrastivity. Phonological papers in honour of John Anderson. 2005. xxviii, 405 pp. 258 Auger, Julie, J. Clancy Clements and Barbara Vance (eds.): Contemporary Approaches to Romance Linguistics. Selected Papers from the 33rd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Bloomington, Indiana, April 2003. With the assistance of Rachel T. Anderson. 2004. viii, 404 pp. 257 Fortescue, Michael, Eva Skafte Jensen, Jens Erik Mogensen and Lene Schøsler (eds.): Historical Linguistics 2003. Selected papers from the 16th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Copenhagen, 11–15 August 2003. 2005. x, 312 pp. 256 Bok-Bennema, Reineke, Bart Hollebrandse, Brigitte Kampers-Manhe and Petra Sleeman (eds.): Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2002. Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’, Groningen, 28–30 November 2002. 2004. viii, 273 pp.
255 Meulen, Alice ter and Werner Abraham (eds.): The Composition of Meaning. From lexeme to discourse. 2004. vi, 232 pp. 254 Baldi, Philip and Pietro U. Dini (eds.): Studies in Baltic and Indo-European Linguistics. In honor of William R. Schmalstieg. 2004. xlvi, 302 pp. 253 Caffarel, Alice, J.R. Martin and Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen (eds.): Language Typology. A functional perspective. 2004. xiv, 702 pp. 252 Kay, Christian J., Carole Hough and Irené Wotherspoon (eds.): New Perspectives on English Historical Linguistics. Selected papers from 12 ICEHL, Glasgow, 21–26 August 2002. Volume II: Lexis and Transmission. 2004. xii, 273 pp. 251 Kay, Christian J., Simon Horobin and Jeremy J. Smith (eds.): New Perspectives on English Historical Linguistics. Selected papers from 12 ICEHL, Glasgow, 21–26 August 2002. Volume I: Syntax and Morphology. 2004. x, 264 pp. 250 Jensen, John T.: Principles of Generative Phonology. An introduction. 2004. xii, 324 pp. 249 Bowern, Claire and Harold Koch (eds.): Australian Languages. Classification and the comparative method. 2004. xii, 377 pp. (incl. CD-Rom). 248 Weigand, Edda (ed.): Emotion in Dialogic Interaction. Advances in the complex. 2004. xii, 284 pp. 247 Parkinson, Dilworth B. and Samira Farwaneh (eds.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Volume XV: Salt Lake City 2001. 2003. x, 214 pp. 246 Holisky, Dee Ann and Kevin Tuite (eds.): Current Trends in Caucasian, East European and Inner Asian Linguistics. Papers in honor of Howard I. Aronson. 2003. xxviii, 426 pp. 245 Quer, Josep, Jan Schroten, Mauro Scorretti, Petra Sleeman and Els Verheugd (eds.): Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2001. Selected papers from 'Going Romance', Amsterdam, 6–8 December 2001. 2003. viii, 355 pp. 244 Pérez-Leroux, Ana Teresa and Yves Roberge (eds.): Romance Linguistics. Theory and Acquisition. Selected papers from the 32nd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Toronto, April 2002. 2003. viii, 388 pp. 243 Cuyckens, Hubert, Thomas Berg, René Dirven and Klaus-Uwe Panther (eds.): Motivation in Language. Studies in honor of Günter Radden. 2003. xxvi, 403 pp. 242 Seuren, Pieter A.M. and Gerard Kempen (eds.): Verb Constructions in German and Dutch. 2003. vi, 316 pp. 241 Lecarme, Jacqueline (ed.): Research in Afroasiatic Grammar II. Selected papers from the Fifth Conference on Afroasiatic Languages, Paris, 2000. 2003. viii, 550 pp. 240 Janse, Mark and Sijmen Tol (eds.): Language Death and Language Maintenance. Theoretical, practical and descriptive approaches. With the assistance of Vincent Hendriks. 2003. xviii, 244 pp. 239 Andersen, Henning (ed.): Language Contacts in Prehistory. Studies in Stratigraphy. Papers from the Workshop on Linguistic Stratigraphy and Prehistory at the Fifteenth International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Melbourne, 17 August 2001. 2003. viii, 292 pp. 238 Núñez-Cedeño, Rafael, Luis López and Richard Cameron (eds.): A Romance Perspective on Language Knowledge and Use. Selected papers from the 31st Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Chicago, 19–22 April 2001. 2003. xvi, 386 pp. 237 Blake, Barry J. and Kate Burridge (eds.): Historical Linguistics 2001. Selected papers from the 15th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Melbourne, 13–17 August 2001. Editorial assistance Jo Taylor. 2003. x, 444 pp. 236 Simon-Vandenbergen, Anne-Marie, Miriam Taverniers and Louise J. Ravelli (eds.): Grammatical Metaphor. Views from systemic functional linguistics. 2003. vi, 453 pp. 235 Linn, Andrew R. and Nicola McLelland (eds.): Standardization. Studies from the Germanic languages. 2002. xii, 258 pp. 234 Weijer, Jeroen van de, Vincent J. van Heuven and Harry van der Hulst (eds.): The Phonological Spectrum. Volume II: Suprasegmental structure. 2003. x, 264 pp. 233 Weijer, Jeroen van de, Vincent J. van Heuven and Harry van der Hulst (eds.): The Phonological Spectrum. Volume I: Segmental structure. 2003. x, 308 pp. 232 Beyssade, Claire, Reineke Bok-Bennema, Frank Drijkoningen and Paola Monachesi (eds.): Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2000. Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’ 2000, Utrecht, 30 November–2 December. 2002. viii, 354 pp. 231 Cravens, Thomas D.: Comparative Historical Dialectology. Italo-Romance clues to Ibero-Romance sound change. 2002. xii, 163 pp. 230 Parkinson, Dilworth B. and Elabbas Benmamoun (eds.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Volume XIII-XIV: Stanford, 1999 and Berkeley, California 2000. 2002. xiv, 250 pp.
229 Nevin, Bruce E. and Stephen B. Johnson (eds.): The Legacy of Zellig Harris. Language and information into the 21st century. Volume 2: Mathematics and computability of language. 2002. xx, 312 pp. 228 Nevin, Bruce E. (ed.): The Legacy of Zellig Harris. Language and information into the 21st century. Volume 1: Philosophy of science, syntax and semantics. 2002. xxxvi, 323 pp. 227 Fava, Elisabetta (ed.): Clinical Linguistics. Theory and applications in speech pathology and therapy. 2002. xxiv, 353 pp. 226 Levin, Saul: Semitic and Indo-European. Volume II: Comparative morphology, syntax and phonetics. 2002. xviii, 592 pp. 225 Shahin, Kimary N.: Postvelar Harmony. 2003. viii, 344 pp. 224 Fanego, Teresa, Belén Méndez-Naya and Elena Seoane (eds.): Sounds, Words, Texts and Change. Selected papers from 11 ICEHL, Santiago de Compostela, 7–11 September 2000. Volume 2. 2002. x, 310 pp. 223 Fanego, Teresa, Javier Pérez-Guerra and María José López-Couso (eds.): English Historical Syntax and Morphology. Selected papers from 11 ICEHL, Santiago de Compostela, 7–11 September 2000. Volume 1. 2002. x, 306 pp. 222 Herschensohn, Julia, Enrique Mallén and Karen Zagona (eds.): Features and Interfaces in Romance. Essays in honor of Heles Contreras. 2001. xiv, 302 pp. 221 D’hulst, Yves, Johan Rooryck and Jan Schroten (eds.): Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 1999. Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’ 1999, Leiden, 9–11 December 1999. 2001. viii, 406 pp. 220 Satterfield, Teresa, Christina Tortora and Diana Cresti (eds.): Current Issues in Romance Languages. Selected papers from the 29th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Ann Arbor, 8–11 April 1999. 2002. viii, 412 pp. 219 Andersen, Henning (ed.): Actualization. Linguistic Change in Progress. Papers from a workshop held at the 14th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Vancouver, B.C., 14 August 1999. 2001. vii, 250 pp. 218 Bendjaballah, Sabrina, Wolfgang U. Dressler, Oskar E. Pfeiffer and Maria D. Voeikova (eds.): Morphology 2000. Selected papers from the 9th Morphology Meeting, Vienna, 24–28 February 2000. 2002. viii, 317 pp. 217 Wiltshire, Caroline R. and Joaquim Camps (eds.): Romance Phonology and Variation. Selected papers from the 30th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, Gainesville, Florida, February 2000. 2002. xii, 238 pp. 216 Camps, Joaquim and Caroline R. Wiltshire (eds.): Romance Syntax, Semantics and L2 Acquisition. Selected papers from the 30th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, Gainesville, Florida, February 2000. 2001. xii, 246 pp. 215 Brinton, Laurel J. (ed.): Historical Linguistics 1999. Selected papers from the 14th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Vancouver, 9–13 August 1999. 2001. xii, 398 pp. 214 Weigand, Edda and Marcelo Dascal (eds.): Negotiation and Power in Dialogic Interaction. 2001. viii, 303 pp. 213 Sornicola, Rosanna, Erich Poppe and Ariel Shisha-Halevy (eds.): Stability, Variation and Change of Word-Order Patterns over Time. With the assistance of Paola Como. 2000. xxxii, 323 pp. 212 Repetti, Lori (ed.): Phonological Theory and the Dialects of Italy. 2000. x, 301 pp. 211 Elšík, Viktor and Yaron Matras (eds.): Grammatical Relations in Romani. The Noun Phrase. with a Foreword by Frans Plank (Universität Konstanz). 2000. x, 244 pp. 210 Dworkin, Steven N. and Dieter Wanner (eds.): New Approaches to Old Problems. Issues in Romance historical linguistics. 2000. xiv, 235 pp. 209 King, Ruth: The Lexical Basis of Grammatical Borrowing. A Prince Edward Island French case study. 2000. xvi, 241 pp. 208 Robinson, Orrin W.: Whose German? The ach/ich alternation and related phenomena in ‘standard’ and ‘colloquial’. 2001. xii, 178 pp. 207 Sanz, Montserrat: Events and Predication. A new approach to syntactic processing in English and Spanish. 2000. xiv, 219 pp. 206 Fawcett, Robin P.: A Theory of Syntax for Systemic Functional Linguistics. 2000. xxiv, 360 pp. 205 Dirven, René, Roslyn M. Frank and Cornelia Ilie (eds.): Language and Ideology. Volume 2: descriptive cognitive approaches. 2001. vi, 264 pp. 204 Dirven, René, Bruce Hawkins and Esra Sandikcioglu (eds.): Language and Ideology. Volume 1: theoretical cognitive approaches. 2001. vi, 301 pp. 203 Norrick, Neal R.: Conversational Narrative. Storytelling in everyday talk. 2000. xiv, 233 pp. 202 Lecarme, Jacqueline, Jean Lowenstamm and Ur Shlonsky (eds.): Research in Afroasiatic Grammar. Papers from the Third conference on Afroasiatic Languages, Sophia Antipolis, 1996. 2000. vi, 386 pp.
201 Dressler, Wolfgang U., Oskar E. Pfeiffer, Markus A. Pöchtrager and John R. Rennison (eds.): Morphological Analysis in Comparison. 2000. x, 261 pp. 200 Anttila, Raimo: Greek and Indo-European Etymology in Action. Proto-Indo-European *aǵ-. 2000. xii, 314 pp. 199 Pütz, Martin and Marjolijn H. Verspoor (eds.): Explorations in Linguistic Relativity. 2000. xvi, 369 pp. 198 Niemeier, Susanne and René Dirven (eds.): Evidence for Linguistic Relativity. 2000. xxii, 240 pp. 197 Coopmans, Peter, Martin Everaert and Jane Grimshaw (eds.): Lexical Specification and Insertion. 2000. xviii, 476 pp. 196 Hannahs, S.J. and Mike Davenport (eds.): Issues in Phonological Structure. Papers from an International Workshop. 1999. xii, 268 pp. 195 Herring, Susan C., Pieter van Reenen and Lene Schøsler (eds.): Textual Parameters in Older Languages. 2001. x, 448 pp. 194 Coleman, Julie and Christian J. Kay (eds.): Lexicology, Semantics and Lexicography. Selected papers from the Fourth G. L. Brook Symposium, Manchester, August 1998. 2000. xiv, 257 pp. 193 Klausenburger, Jurgen: Grammaticalization. Studies in Latin and Romance morphosyntax. 2000. xiv, 184 pp. 192 Alexandrova, Galina M. and Olga Arnaudova (eds.): The Minimalist Parameter. Selected papers from the Open Linguistics Forum, Ottawa, 21–23 March 1997. 2001. x, 360 pp. 191 Sihler, Andrew L.: Language History. An introduction. 2000. xvi, 298 pp. 190 Benmamoun, Elabbas (ed.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Volume XII: Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 1998. 1999. viii, 204 pp. 189 Nicolov, Nicolas and Ruslan Mitkov (eds.): Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing II. Selected papers from RANLP ’97. 2000. xi, 422 pp. 188 Simmons, Richard VanNess: Chinese Dialect Classification. A comparative approach to Harngjou, Old Jintarn, and Common Northern Wu. 1999. xviii, 317 pp. 187 Franco, Jon A., Alazne Landa and Juan Martín (eds.): Grammatical Analyses in Basque and Romance Linguistics. Papers in honor of Mario Saltarelli. 1999. viii, 306 pp. 186 Mišeska Tomić, Olga and Milorad Radovanović (eds.): History and Perspectives of Language Study. Papers in honor of Ranko Bugarski. 2000. xxii, 314 pp. 185 Authier, Jean-Marc, Barbara E. Bullock and Lisa A. Reed (eds.): Formal Perspectives on Romance Linguistics. Selected papers from the 28th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL XXVIII), University Park, 16–19 April 1998. 1999. xii, 334 pp. 184 Sagart, Laurent: The Roots of Old Chinese. 1999. xii, 272 pp. 183 Contini-Morava, Ellen and Yishai Tobin (eds.): Between Grammar and Lexicon. 2000. xxxii, 365 pp. 182 Kenesei, István (ed.): Crossing Boundaries. Advances in the theory of Central and Eastern European languages. 1999. viii, 302 pp. 181 Mohammad, Mohammad A.: Word Order, Agreement and Pronominalization in Standard and Palestinian Arabic. 2000. xvi, 197 pp. 180 Mereu, Lunella (ed.): Boundaries of Morphology and Syntax. 1999. viii, 314 pp. 179 Rini, Joel: Exploring the Role of Morphology in the Evolution of Spanish. 1999. xvi, 187 pp. 178 Foolen, Ad and Frederike van der Leek (eds.): Constructions in Cognitive Linguistics. Selected papers from the Fifth International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, 1997. 2000. xvi, 338 pp. 177 Cuyckens, Hubert and Britta E. Zawada (eds.): Polysemy in Cognitive Linguistics. Selected papers from the International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, 1997. 2001. xxviii, 296 pp. 176 Van Hoek, Karen, Andrej A. Kibrik and Leo Noordman (eds.): Discourse Studies in Cognitive Linguistics. Selected papers from the 5th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, July 1997. 1999. vi, 187 pp. 175 Gibbs, Jr., Raymond W. and Gerard J. Steen (eds.): Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics. Selected papers from the 5th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, 1997. 1999. viii, 226 pp. 174 Hall, T. Alan and Ursula Kleinhenz (eds.): Studies on the Phonological Word. 1999. viii, 298 pp. 173 Treviño, Esthela and José Lema (eds.): Semantic Issues in Romance Syntax. 1999. viii, 309 pp. 172 Dimitrova-Vulchanova, Mila and Lars Hellan (eds.): Topics in South Slavic Syntax and Semantics. 1999. xxviii, 263 pp. 171 Weigand, Edda (ed.): Contrastive Lexical Semantics. 1998. x, 270 pp. 170 Lamb, Sydney M.: Pathways of the Brain. The neurocognitive basis of language. 1999. xii, 418 pp. 169 Ghadessy, Mohsen (ed.): Text and Context in Functional Linguistics. 1999. xviii, 340 pp.
168 Ratcliffe, Robert R.: The “Broken” Plural Problem in Arabic and Comparative Semitic. Allomorphy and analogy in non-concatenative morphology. 1998. xii, 261 pp. 167 Benmamoun, Elabbas, Mushira Eid and Niloofar Haeri (eds.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Volume XI: Atlanta, Georgia, 1997. 1998. viii, 231 pp. 166 Lemmens, Maarten: Lexical Perspectives on Transitivity and Ergativity. Causative constructions in English. 1998. xii, 268 pp. 165 Bubenik, Vit: A Historical Syntax of Late Middle Indo-Aryan (Apabhraṃśa). 1998. xxiv, 265 pp. 164 Schmid, Monika S., Jennifer R. Austin and Dieter Stein (eds.): Historical Linguistics 1997. Selected papers from the 13th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Düsseldorf, 10–17 August 1997. 1998. x, 409 pp. 163 Lockwood, David G., Peter H. Fries and James E. Copeland (eds.): Functional Approaches to Language, Culture and Cognition. Papers in honor of Sydney M. Lamb. 2000. xxxiv, 656 pp. 162 Hogg, Richard M. and Linda van Bergen (eds.): Historical Linguistics 1995. Volume 2: Germanic linguistics.. Selected papers from the 12th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Manchester, August 1995. 1998. x, 365 pp. 161 Smith, John Charles and Delia Bentley (eds.): Historical Linguistics 1995. Volume 1: General issues and non-Germanic Languages.. Selected papers from the 12th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Manchester, August 1995. 2000. xii, 438 pp. 160 Schwegler, Armin, Bernard Tranel and Myriam Uribe-Etxebarria (eds.): Romance Linguistics: Theoretical Perspectives. Selected papers from the 27th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL XXVII), Irvine, 20–22 February, 1997. 1998. vi, 349 pp. + index. 159 Joseph, Brian D., Geoffrey C. Horrocks and Irene Philippaki-Warburton (eds.): Themes in Greek Linguistics II. 1998. x, 335 pp. 158 Sánchez-Macarro, Antonia and Ronald Carter (eds.): Linguistic Choice across Genres. Variation in spoken and written English. 1998. viii, 338 pp. 157 Lema, José and Esthela Treviño (eds.): Theoretical Analyses on Romance Languages. Selected papers from the 26th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL XXVI), Mexico City, 28–30 March, 1996. 1998. viii, 380 pp. 156 Matras, Yaron, Peter Bakker and Hristo Kyuchukov (eds.): The Typology and Dialectology of Romani. 1997. xxxii, 223 pp. 155 Forget, Danielle, Paul Hirschbühler, France Martineau and María Luisa Rivero (eds.): Negation and Polarity. Syntax and semantics. Selected papers from the colloquium Negation: Syntax and Semantics. Ottawa, 11–13 May 1995. 1997. viii, 367 pp. 154 Simon-Vandenbergen, Anne-Marie, Kristin Davidse and Dirk Noël (eds.): Reconnecting Language. Morphology and Syntax in Functional Perspectives. 1997. xiii, 339 pp. 153 Eid, Mushira and Robert R. Ratcliffe (eds.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Volume X: Salt Lake City, 1996. 1997. vii, 296 pp. 152 Hiraga, Masako K., Chris Sinha and Sherman Wilcox (eds.): Cultural, Psychological and Typological Issues in Cognitive Linguistics. Selected papers of the bi-annual ICLA meeting in Albuquerque, July 1995. 1999. viii, 338 pp. 151 Liebert, Wolf-Andreas, Gisela Redeker and Linda R. Waugh (eds.): Discourse and Perspective in Cognitive Linguistics. 1997. xiv, 270 pp. 150 Verspoor, Marjolijn H., Kee Dong Lee and Eve Sweetser (eds.): Lexical and Syntactical Constructions and the Construction of Meaning. Proceedings of the Bi-annual ICLA meeting in Albuquerque, July 1995. 1997. xii, 454 pp. 149 Hall, T. Alan: The Phonology of Coronals. 1997. x, 176 pp. 148 Wolf, George and Nigel Love (eds.): Linguistics Inside Out. Roy Harris and his critics. 1997. xxviii, 344 pp. 147 Hewson, John: The Cognitive System of the French Verb. 1997. xii, 187 pp. 146 Hinskens, Frans, Roeland van Hout and W. Leo Wetzels (eds.): Variation, Change, and Phonological Theory. 1997. x, 314 pp. 145 Hewson, John and Vit Bubenik: Tense and Aspect in Indo-European Languages. Theory, typology, diachrony. 1997. xii, 403 pp. 144 Singh, Rajendra (ed.): Trubetzkoy's Orphan. Proceedings of the Montréal Roundtable on “Morphonology: contemporary responses” (Montréal, October 1994). In collaboration with Richard Desrochers. 1996. xiv, 363 pp. 143 Athanasiadou, Angeliki and René Dirven (eds.): On Conditionals Again. 1997. viii, 418 pp. 142 Salmons, Joseph C. and Brian D. Joseph (eds.): Nostratic. Sifting the Evidence. 1998. vi, 293 pp.
141 Eid, Mushira and Dilworth B. Parkinson (eds.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Volume IX: Washington D.C., 1995. 1996. xiii, 249 pp. 140 Black, James R. and Virginia Motapanyane (eds.): Clitics, Pronouns and Movement. 1997. 375 pp. 139 Black, James R. and Virginia Motapanyane (eds.): Microparametric Syntax and Dialect Variation. 1996. xviii, 269 pp. 138 Sackmann, Robin and Monika Budde (eds.): Theoretical Linguistics and Grammatical Description. Papers in honour of Hans-Heinrich Lieb. 1996. x, 375 pp. 137 Lippi-Green, Rosina L. and Joseph C. Salmons (eds.): Germanic Linguistics. Syntactic and diachronic. 1996. viii, 192 pp. 136 Mitkov, Ruslan and Nicolas Nicolov (eds.): Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing. Selected Papers from RANLP ’95. 1997. xii, 472 pp. 135 Britton, Derek (ed.): English Historical Linguistics 1994. Papers from the 8th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (8 ICEHL, Edinburgh, 19–23 September 1994). 1996. viii, 403 pp. 134 Eid, Mushira (ed.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Volume VIII: Amherst, Massachusetts 1994. 1996. vii, 261 pp. 133 Zagona, Karen (ed.): Grammatical Theory and Romance Languages. Selected papers from the 25th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL XXV) Seattle, 2–4 March 1995. 1996. vi, 330 pp. 132 Herschensohn, Julia: Case Suspension and Binary Complement Structure in French. 1996. xi, 200 pp. 131 Hualde, José Ignacio, Joseba A. Lakarra and R.L. Trask (eds.): Towards a History of the Basque Language. 1996. 365 pp. 130 Eid, Mushira (ed.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Volume VII: Austin, Texas 1993. 1995. vii, 192 pp. 129 Levin, Saul: Semitic and Indo-European. Volume I: The Principal Etymologies. With observations on Afro-Asiatic. 1995. xxii, 514 pp. 128 Guy, Gregory R., Crawford Feagin, Deborah Schiffrin and John Baugh (eds.): Towards a Social Science of Language. Papers in honor of William Labov. Volume 2: Social interaction and discourse structures. 1997. xviii, 358 pp. 127 Guy, Gregory R., Crawford Feagin, Deborah Schiffrin and John Baugh (eds.): Towards a Social Science of Language. Papers in honor of William Labov. Volume 1: Variation and change in language and society. 1996. xviii, 436 pp. 126 Matras, Yaron (ed.): Romani in Contact. The history, structure and sociology of a language. 1995. xvii, 208 pp. 125 Singh, Rajendra (ed.): Towards a Critical Sociolinguistics. 1996. xiii, 342 pp. 124 Andersen, Henning (ed.): Historical Linguistics 1993. Selected papers from the 11th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Los Angeles, 16–20 August 1993. 1995. x, 460 pp. 123 Amastae, Jon, Grant Goodall, M. Montalbetti and M. Phinney (eds.): Contemporary Research in Romance Linguistics. Papers from the XXII Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, El Paso/Juárez, February 22–24, 1992. 1995. viii, 381 pp. 122 Smith, John Charles and Martin Maiden (eds.): Linguistic Theory and the Romance Languages. 1995. xiii, 240 pp. 121 Hasan, Ruqaiya, Carmel Cloran and David G. Butt (eds.): Functional Descriptions. Theory in practice. 1996. xxxvi, 381 pp. 120 Stonham, John T.: Combinatorial Morphology. 1994. xii, 206 pp. 119 Lippi-Green, Rosina L.: Language Ideology and Language Change in Early Modern German. A sociolinguistic study of the consonantal system of Nuremberg. 1994. xiv, 150 pp. 118 Hasan, Ruqaiya and Peter H. Fries (eds.): On Subject and Theme. A discourse functional perspective. 1995. xii, 414 pp. 117 Philippaki-Warburton, Irene, Katerina Nicolaidis and Maria Sifianou (eds.): Themes in Greek Linguistics. Papers from the First International Conference on Greek Linguistics, Reading, September 1993. 1994. xviii, 534 pp. 116 Miller, D. Gary: Ancient Scripts and Phonological Knowledge. 1994. xvi, 139 pp. 115 Eid, Mushira, Vicente Cantarino and Keith Walters (eds.): Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics. Volume VI: Columbus, Ohio 1992. 1994. viii, 238 pp. 114 Egli, Urs, Peter E. Pause, Christoph Schwarze, Arnim von Stechow and Götz Wienold (eds.): Lexical Knowledge in the Organization of Language. 1995. xiv, 367 pp. 113 Moreno Fernández, Francisco, Miguel Fuster and Juan Jose Calvo (eds.): English Historical Linguistics 1992. Papers from the 7th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics, Valencia, 22–26 September 1992. 1994. viii, 388 pp.
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