G. A. Dzagurov and the Japhetic theory of academician N. Ya. Marr: Commented re-edition of the text

At the end of the eighteenth century, between 250 and 700 languages were spoken on the Australian continent. No genetic link has been proven between these languages and those elsewhere, and there was remarkably little contact between speakers of Australian aboriginal languages and others during the tens of thousands of years that intervened between the first occupation of the continent and the arrival of English speakers. Although there are many hallmarks of Australian phonologies, morphology and syntax, as well as recurrent themes in semantic categorization and the linguistic reflexes of cultural preoccupations, there is considerable current debate over which of these may be attributed to shared inheritance from a common ancestor and which to more recent contact between linguistic groups. A course on the aboriginal languages of Australia might cover: (i) the structural features typical of Australian languages (highlighting those that are atypical in global perspective); (ii) whether and how these can be related to typical features of Australian cultures; (iii) the particular challenges Australian languages have posed to linguistic theories and typologies developed on the basis of other languages; and (iv) the genetic relationships between Australian languages and how well these are modelled by traditional methodologies.

Evidentiality is a universal morphosyntactic category of text that can be expressed by morphological, syntactic and lexical means. However, its linguistic expression is diverse not only in non-related but also in related languages (Margiani, Kurdadze, Lomia 2019: 427). Evidentiality as a universal grammatical category “is directly linked to the semantics of the utterance, expressing the attitude of the speaker to the provided information and pointing to the reliable source (direct or indirect) of information“ (Margiani, Kurdadze, Lomia 2019: 17). The category of evidentiality is expressed on the levels of text and discourse by various means, of which the construction with indirect speech is of utmost importance. Special literature has proved that “indirect speech is historically secondary. It is obtained as a result of processing-transformation of direct speech“ (Kvachadze 1977:441). An empirical analysis has yielded proverbs of simple structure that are expressed by means of subordinate clauses only. Such proverbs are especially productive in the Kartvelian languages. The main clause in such proverbs implies the present and past tense forms of verbs of saying (‘they say’, ‘it is said’, ‘they have said’ and so on). These verbs are omitted due to ellipsis. Such proverbs mention neither a speaker nor an addressee. In such cases, the omitted part (i.e. the main clause) is compensated by particles like Georgian o which indicate indirect speech.Indirect speech particles are distributed among the Kartvelian languages as follows: It should be underlined that in Kartvelian proverbs the indirect speech particles of the 3rd person are used systematically while the particles of the 1st and 2nd persons are extremely rare. This can be explained by the fact that the indirect speech particle of the 3rd person in the Kartvelian proverbs generalises the expressed viewpoint and enhances the reliability of the context.The use of the indirect speech particles in Georgian, Megrelian, Laz and Svan can also be analysed from the viewpoint of evidentiality. As it is known from the scholarly literature, evidentiality is expressed both morphologically and semantically in the Kartvelian languages. Different types of evidentiality are expressed differently on various language levels. For instance, in Georgian, evidentiality is expressed by perfect forms of verbs, by lexical means, by indirect speech markers, by evidential particles, etc. (Topadze-Gäumann 2011). Interestingly enough, in the Kartvelian proverbs evidentiality can have single (morphological or syntactic), double, and even multiple markers. In the latter case, it is simultaneously expressed by indirect speech particles and by evidential tenses. However, it should be noted that the natural structure of Georgian paremiological units is represented by evidential forms with single markers (mostly indirect speech particles).

Reviewed by: Essays in the history of linguistics by E. F. K. Koerner Marc Pierce Essays in the history of linguistics. By E. F. K. Koerner. (Studies in the history of the language sciences 104.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2004. Pp. viii, 271. ISBN 1588115364. $119 (Hb). This book reprints selected papers by one of the foremost historians of linguistics working today. It is divided into four sections: ‘Programmatic papers in the history of linguistics’, ‘Studies in linguistic historiography’, ‘Sketches historiographical and (auto)biographical’, and ‘Addendum’ (which consists entirely of a bibliography of Zellig S. Harris’s writings). As space limitations preclude a full review of every paper, I shall instead mention several papers I particularly enjoyed. ‘Ideology, politics, and social science scholarship: On the responsibility of intellectuals’ (19–42) looks at connections between linguistics and ideology, focusing on Nazi Germany and more recent events in India. ‘Myths in the history of linguistics: The case of the goals of Georg Wenker’s dialectology’ (43–64) critically examines the widely held belief that Wenker’s nineteenth-century research on German dialects was intended to ‘either support or disprove the neogrammarian tenet of the exceptionlessness of sound laws’ (42). Koerner argues convincingly that Wenker did not see his work in this light (Wenker never made reference to Neogrammarian ideas in his published work, for instance), and that this belief is therefore a myth, most likely rooted in statements made by Wenker’s colleague Ferdinand Wrede. ‘The place of geology in W. D. Whitney’s linguistic argument’ (145–58) looks at ‘to what extent Whitney introduced notions derived from geology into linguistic theory and practice’ (146). K argues convincingly that while Whitney clearly saw parallels between linguistics and geology, he tended to view them as analogies, albeit useful ones. While there is much to admire in this collection, a few criticisms should be made. There is a surprisingly high number of typographical errors, bibliographical mistakes, and stylistic glitches in the book. More importantly, some of the papers do not seem to fit with the others. For instance, ‘My Edinburgh connections, 1964–present’ (207–21), while certainly interesting reading, seems somewhat out of place in a collection of this kind. On a similar note, the Zellig Harris bibliography could also have safely been omitted, especially since at least two earlier versions have already been published. Leaving out such papers would have left space for articles of more general interest. Be that as it may, the advantages of this volume far outweigh its drawbacks. It is highly informative, and most historians of linguistics should find its contents of interest. Marc Pierce University of Michigan Copyright © 2007 Linguistic Society of America

Reviewed by: Transformations of Sensibility: The Phenomenology of Meiji Literature Douglas Howland (bio) Transformations of Sensibility: The Phenomenology of Meiji Literature. By Kamei Hideo. Translation edited and with an introduction by Michael Bourdaghs. Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2002. lxxii, 300 pages. $60.00. This is an expert translation of Kamei Hideo's monumental work of 1983, Kansei no henkaku, which figured prominently in the revitalization of Japanese literary criticism during the feverish 1980s. As the discipline turned away from routine emphases on the positivistic construction of literary history, the publication history of given texts, and author studies (p. lx), Kamei's unique contribution to this retheorization of Japanese literature was to investigate the literary expression of "sensibilities." These sensibilities include both overt and incipient attitudes and awarenesses on the part of an author and the characters that he or she creates, and they are objectified in the language of an author's narrative, which makes them available as knowledge of—and for—authors, characters, and readers. Kamei is especially interested in how objectified sensibilities contribute to self-knowledge and self-consciousness, for he argues that the transformation of sensibilites in literature can be related causally to the transformation of sensibilities in readers. This is literature's critical effect upon the world. Michael Bourdaghs has done a commendable job of editing the work of a team of translators into a consistent whole; they artfully balance a faithfulness to Kamei's original and a judiciousness with his dense syntax. But Kamei's book is difficult. The argument is painstaking and finely nuanced; it also meanders as it develops—a quality in part due to the fact that the book was and remains in translation a series of articles. One wishes for points of summation, integration, and clarification; instead, the reader must turn back and forth through the book in order to gather an understanding of [End Page 431] key concepts and their interrelations. That said, the effort is rewarding, for Kamei's readings of texts both minor and familiar are original—many still fresh after two decades—and the book as a whole offers a rich understanding of the relations between Meiji and Edo-period prose. Bourdaghs has added a helpful introduction for readers new to Kamei and the scholarship of modern Japanese literature (pp. vii-xxviii); and Kamei has included a fascinating new preface for this English translation (pp. xxix-lxxii), which locates the impetus for his work in the context of Japanese linguistic and literary theory of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. In particular, Tokieda Motoki, Miura Tsutomu, and Yoshimoto Takaaki, who developed original critiques of Ferdinand de Saussure's linguistic theory, and theories of self-expression and subjectivity, compose the group who informed Kamei's point of departure. Perhaps to better situate the book among theoretical perspectives, and to lend a greater coherence to the whole, Bourdaghs and Kamei have added a subtitle to this English translation: The Phenomenology of Meiji Literature. But what is a phenomenology of literature? Kamei dispenses with any formal discussion of phenomenology—his sole reference to phenomenology, the "phenomenological reduction," occurs early in the text (p. 2). Instead, he foregrounds his central concept of "visual intentionality," a technical adaptation of phenomenological theory (pp. 5, 30). To make sense of Kamei, understand that phenomenology began as a theory of knowledge based on perception, which proposed a distinction between perceptual properties (or perceptual phenomena) and abstract properties (or essences). When we look at a ball (or some other real object), for example, we see a round object that, as it reflects light and shade, appears in a number of instances of blue; but we will describe it as "blue" on the basis of our shared understanding of blueness, an abstracted essence. This is an example of the phenomenological reduction of perceptions to essences, which Kamei wants to undertake with passages of narrated prose, description, direct and indirect speech, and other elements of literary language, in order to identify "essential" types of narrators and sensibilities. Kamei asserts that literature is "the site where the sensibility-laden expression of an object produces in turn an objectification of our sensibilities" (p. 3); the act...

ABSTRACT: The present paper examines the simultaneous development of the two linguistic competences of the bilingual child. It has been observed that language mixing, defined as the indiscriminate combinations of elements from each of the component languages, is most frequent during a very early phase of language acquisition. However, as the child acquires greater competence in the two languages, the language contact which is in evidence (if any at all) increasingly takes the form of code‐switching, defined as language alternations which are constrained by syntactic principles. In the present study, special attention is devoted to the role of functional categories in the development patterns attested, and we defend a position intermediate between the strong continuity and weak continuity hypotheses. Thus, our overview of childhood bilingualism may be viewed as reflecting the convergence of developments in linguistic theory, language acquisition, and language contact.

German loanwords in Varaždin vernacular

Linguistic theory has traditionally defined language in terms of speech and has, as a result, labelled sign languages as non-linguistic systems. Recent advances in sign language linguistic research, however, indicate that modern linguistic theory must include sign language research and theory. This paper examines the historical bias linguistic theory has maintained towards sign languages and refutes the classification of sign languages as contrived artificial systems by surveying current linguistic research into American Sign Language. The growing body of American Sign Language research demonstrates that a signed language can have all the structural levels of spoken language despite its visual-spatial mode. This research also indicates that signed languages are an important source of linguistic data that can help further develop a cognitive linguistic theory.

The use of Kantian schemata as valuable theoretical elements (constructs) in the explication of our cognitive architecture has been for some time a recurring topic in the philosophy of mind.The relevancy of schemas and processes of schematization as organizing principles of language structures has been repeatedly pointed out in linguistic theory, especially within the framework of cognitive linguistics.In this paper we discuss how Kant's notion of the schematization of the mind, as discussed in his Critique of Pure Reason, i.e. the central notion of the schema, provides us with relevant insights into a novel critical approach to schematization in linguistics.At the same time, we strive to show that linguistic analyses provide a corroboration and enrichment of Kant's theoretical philosophy by means of linguistic data, reinforcing Kant's position with linguistic arguments and thus making him relevant in contemporary linguistic discussions.

In this article the author elucidates the main aspects of Gustave Guillaume's (1883-1960) linguistic theory and demonstrates that, despite Guillaume's frequent references to the Cours, central portions of his system are quite distinct from Saussure's position. Apart from a number of other differences between the two, there are in particular two important components that receive special treatment, namely, G's attempt at introducing the dynamic aspect into the (synchronic) system of language, and the renunciation of the bilateral concept of the sign (signifie/signifiant) within langue. In an effort to avoid the essentially static conceptions of certain structuralist trends, G regards the content of individual signs as such as not actually existing. In his understanding, on this linguistic level, only a given series of programmes is entitled to be taken as an entity within which individual moneme-signifiers represent merely virtual positions. Whenever needed in actual linguistic expression, these programmes begin ab ovo with each speech-act and may be halted as the case may be by other co-existing and superimposed programmes with different functions. Actualization of these programmes always takes place within a certain minimal, albeit real, time span, the temps operatif. However, the semantic structures thus conceived frequently diverge from the 'semiological' or expression system, and, consequently, its individual constituents (signifiants) are ignored on the level of 'programmes'. In fact, it is only on the threshold between langue and discqurs that these signifiers are related to the contents generated within the framework of a given temps operatif, in order to form a sentence, the basic unit of discours.Taking Saussure's theory as a starting-point, Guillaume's linguistic argument is critically analyzed. In effect, it is shown that G misunderstood S frequently, to the extent that on some occasions it may appear that G knowingly misinterpreted S's doctrine in order to fit its components into his own, at times idiosyncratic, theoretical system.

Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis » 2010 » Volume 127, Issue 1 » On the form-function dichotomy in linguistic theory A A A

Every language has been influenced in some way by other languages through contact-induced linguistic change. Potentially any features can be transferred from one language to another if the sociolinguistic and structural circumstances are right. New languages –pidgins, creoles and mixed languages- can come into being as the result of language contact. This book examines the various forms of contact-induced linguistic change and the levels of language which have provided instances of these influences. In addition it provides accounts of how language contact has affected some twenty languages, spoken and signed, from all parts of the world. Each chapter is written by experts, in many cases native speakers of the language in question, each with many years of studying and analysing the field. Drawing on the most up-to-date work on relevant language an themes, this book is an invaluable account of the possibilities and products of contact-induced linguistic change.

This guide accompanies the following article : ‘Noun Incorporation: Essentials and Extensions’ Language and Linguistics Compass 3 (2009): 1076–1096 DOI: 10.1111/j.1749‐818x.2009.00171.x Author’s Introduction Noun incorporation (NI) refers to a family of grammatical constructions that stand at the center of grammar, integrating morpho‐phonology and semantics, and crossing the lexical‐syntactic divide. It is thus an ideal topic of study, allowing extensions in all directions. In general, a NI structure is one in which a nominal that would canonically (either in the given language, or in languages in general) be expressed as an independent argument or adjunct is instead in some way incorporated into the verbal element of the sentence, forming part of the predicate. The construction raises many issues in empirical and theoretical grammar. At the heart of many of these issues is the question whether NI is a word formation rule or whether it interacts with syntax, manipulating sentential predicates. The study of NI thus raises questions as to whether there is a distinct word‐formation component. Empirically, languages exhibit myriad forms of NI, both morpho‐syntactically and semantically. In early work, morphology and syntax were the main areas of attention, in particular the role of polysynthesis and compounding in NI, but in recent years, the meanings of both the parts and the whole of incorporation complexes have taken center stage. In some languages, the predicate must denote a customary activity and the object is modificational, whereas in others, the process is fully productive and the incorporated nominal can be referential. Of further interest, there is a close relation between NI and other grammatical phenomena such as possessive, classificatory, complex predicate, and existential constructions, and through its study questions of nominal semantics, transitivity, discourse focus, and sentential aspect arise. The literature on NI is particularly discoursal, from its origins to the present day, which allows as well for close study of styles of linguistic analysis and argumentation. NI can thus be used as a springboard for discussion of many issues in current and historical linguistic theory. Author Recommends (in chronological order) Sapir, Edward. 1911. The problem of noun incorporation in American languages. American Anthropologist 13.250–82. A famous early paper on the topic, addressing the issue of whether NI is a word‐forming or predicate forming construction, thus laying the groundwork for a century of work on the topic. Mithun, Marianne. 1984. The evolution of noun incorporation. Language 60.847–95. Perhaps the most important paper on the topic, as it presents a thorough overview of all the types of NI across a wide range of languages, suggesting an implicational hierarchy between the different types. The paper takes a lexicalist approach to NI. Sadock, Jerrold M. 1986. Some notes on noun incorporation. Language 62.19–31. A heated reply to Mithun (1984), taking issue with the view of NI as lexical, which he argues is based on the wrong approach of setting aside some types of NI. Baker, Mark C. 1988. Incorporation: a theory of grammatical function changing (in particular, Chapter 3) . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. A highly influential work on the topic within Government and Binding theory, presenting a structural blueprint for dealing with a wide range of NI phenomena. Rosen, Sarah Thomas. 1989. Two types of noun incorporation: a lexical analysis. Language 65:2.294–317. An alternative to Baker (1988), which argues that NI should be treated as lexical process, rather than a syntactic one, and which presents an analysis along these lines. Baker, Mark C. 1996. The polysynthesis parameter (in particular, Chapter 7) . New York: Oxford University Press. A discussion of NI as found in polysynthetic languages, arguing that true NI is limited to such languages by a macro‐parameter. Gerdts, Donna B. 1998. Incorporation. In A. Spencer and A. Zwicky (eds). The handbook of morphology . Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 84–100. A useful overview of the NI literature up until 2001, with emphasis on the empirical range of phenomena. Massam, Diane. 2001. Pseudo noun incorporation in Niuean. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 19.153–97. An examination Niuean phrasal incorporation, opening the door to more abstract (or pseudo‐) incorporation. Van Geenhoven, Veerle. 2001. Noun incorporation. State of the article. Glot International Vol. 5:8.261–71. An overview of noun incorporation literature, with emphasis on semantic issues raised by the construction. Farkas, Donka, and Henriëtte de Swart. 2003. The semantics of incorporation: from argument structure to discourse transparency . Centre for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University. An in‐depth analysis of semantics and pragmatic aspects of incorporation. The introduction gives a good overview of the issues addressed in the book. Gerdts, Donna B. 2003. The morphosyntax of Halkomelem lexical suffixes. International Journal of American Linguistics 69.4.345–56. An examination of one type of obligatory incorporation in which the nominal cannot stand alone. Chung, Sandra, and William Ladusaw. 2004. Restriction and saturation . MIT Press. A study in the semantics of noun incorporation, arguing for a new type of predicate‐argument relation, termed Restrict. (In particular, Chapter 3) Dayal, Veneeta. 2007. Hindi pseudo incorporation . Ms. Rutgers University. http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/%7Edayal/Pincorp‐07.pdf A study of the semantics of Hindi noun incorporation, with a focus on the role of number and aspect. Johns, Alana. 2007. Restricting noun incorporation: root movement. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory

After decades of debate in linguistic theory, the lexical/functional status of adpositions is still controversial. Lexicon-Grammar mixed languages such as Media Lengua, spoken in Northern Ecuador, are excellent testing cases for such grammatical categories: This mixed language displays a conservative Quichua morphosyntactic frame while approximately 90% of its lexical roots are relexified from Spanish. Thus, due to the lexical-functional split Media Lengua displays, whether adpositions in this language are realized in Quichua or Spanish can speak to their status as a lexical/functional category. This study reports data from recent field research, conducted with speakers trilingual in Media Lengua, Quichua and Spanish who participated in two tasks (video description and translation). The results show a split between lexical and functional adpositions in Media Lengua, manifested in the dual-language realization of complex (multimorphemic) items: The lexical part of these complex items is relexified from Spanish while the functional part is retained in Quichua – even when participants are structurally primed. This suggests that Media Lengua across communities systematically follows Quichua morphosyntactic rules.

Problems in the interpretation of legal provisions often lead to disagreements in the establishment of statutory meaning in law. When facing real or potential conflicts of opinion, legal practitioners generally provide reasons to support one interpretation over another, resorting to different types of arguments to support their claim. Such arguments were tentatively categorized by MacCormick and Summers (Interpreting statutes. Routledge, New York, 1991) in the form of an interpretative model for statutes. In this paper, I explain how this model overlaps with general principles of text analysis as proposed by Textual Discourse Analysis, a theory of text linguistics, and how statutory interpretation and text analysis are intertwined. I reconsider the notion of interpretative arguments as suggested by the model, arguing how linguistic arguments in fact function as a gateway to all other argument types, and discuss certain analytical possibilities when applied to the interpretation of commitments in hypothetical contexts adopting Multilateral Environmental Agreements as a central point of reflection. It is suggested that a framework could be developed with the purpose of providing a tool for establishing statutory meaning based on textual data from a linguistic perspective, while also considering the role played by interpretative argumentation in this process. It is further proposed how pragma-dialectics could contribute to this endeavor, taking into account, for example, its theoretical affinities with Textual Discourse Analysis and distinct heuristics for the analysis and evaluation of argumentation, after which I reflect on how argumentation structures could be used as descriptive tools of statutory meaning.KeywordsTextual discourse analysisInterpretative argumentationStatutory meaningPragma-dialecticsMultilateral environmental agreements

The probing methodology allows one to obtain a partial representation of linguistic phenomena stored in the inner layers of the neural network, using external classifiers and statistical analysis. Pre-trained transformer-based language models are widely used both for natural language understanding (NLU) and natural language generation (NLG) tasks making them most commonly used for downstream applications. However, little analysis was carried out, whether the models were pre-trained enough or contained knowledge correlated with linguistic theory. We are presenting the chronological probing study of transformer English models such as MultiBERT and T5. We sequentially compare the information about the language learned by the models in the process of training on corpora. The results show that 1) linguistic information is acquired in the early stages of training 2) both language models demonstrate capabilities to capture various features from various levels of language, including morphology, syntax, and even discourse, while they also can inconsistently fail on tasks that are perceived as easy. We also introduce the open-source framework for chronological probing research, compatible with other transformer-based models. https://github.com/EkaterinaVoloshina/chronological_probing