Grammaticalization Path Research Articles

From negative to conjunctive

Abstract In the Jieyang Southern Min dialect, the negative 無 bo55 has evolved into a conjunctive that is used in multiple constructions: negative conditionals, cause and effect, disjunctives, and proposals. This paper aims to describe the multiple functions of 無 bo55 and to construct its grammaticalization path as compared with those of 否則 fouze ‘otherwise or else’, and 要不 yaobu ‘if not’, in Mandarin. It is common in Chinese and other languages for a negative to combine with its adjacent conjunctive to develop a new conjunctive. However, the Jieyang dialect exhibits a unique feature in that 無 bo55 is grammaticalized into a conjunctive per se by applying a complicated process of reasoning involving the logical relations among clauses without the support of any conjunctive constituents. This phenomenon can provide a new model for the study of grammatical evolution.

A Syntactic and Discoursal Analysis of halaʔ ‘Now’ in Jordanian Arabic

This study investigates the syntactic behavior and the discoursal roles of halaʔ in Jordanian Arabic, which corresponds to the English ‘now’ and is frequently used as a discourse marker. Specifically, the syntactic distribution of this discourse marker in everyday conversations, its function in establishing coherence between discourse units, and its communicative and discoursal meanings are scrutinized. The data necessary for the study was obtained from almost a 15-hour corpus of naturally-occurring conversations recorded by the researchers through 30 interviews with 80 (40 males and 40 females) Jordanian students from Al-Balqa Applied University. The data analysis revealed that halaʔ can be used as an adverb conveying temporal meaning and as a discourse marker conveying coherence-related meanings. Semantically, it is a temporal adverb that has a semantic meaning parallel to that of its English adverbial counterpart ‘now’. However, it was found that halaʔ can also serve six pragmatic functions: Changing a topic, introducing a contrast or comparison, marking disagreement, initiating reasons, explanations or clarifications, listing, and marking shifts in participation framework (Marking a change in the speaker’s orientation and marking a change of footing). The study concludes with a suggested grammaticalization path for the development of this discourse marker from a lexical source.

A Contrastive Study of the Grammaticalization Between “Gan Jing” and “Clean” Based on Corpus

Based on corpus study, this paper makes a diachronic study of the grammaticalization process of the Chinese word “Gan Jing” and English word “clean”. The study shows that both “Gan Jing” and “clean” gradually lose their original meaning and change from a content word to a functional word. The mechanisms of the grammaticalization include reanalysis, analogy, semantic bleaching, metonymy and metaphor, as well as subjectivity. These changes can be attributed to the principle of economy. Though “Gan Jing” and “clean” share many similarities in grammaticalization path, mechanisms and motivations, the use frequency of them varies. The lowly grammaticalized form of “Gan Jing” is most used while the highly-intensified meaning of “clean” is used more widely.

Optative constructions in Meadow Mari and Hill Mari

Grammaticalization of optative forms and constructions remains understudied from a typological perspective. The goal of this study is to describe and investigate the grammaticalization paths of optative constructions in four Mari lects, namely in Morki-Sernur Mari, Volga Mari ( Meadow Mari) and in the Hill Mari lects of Mikryakovo and Kuznetsovo. The following constructions are considered: 1) construction with the 3rd person imperative (jussive) form, 2) construction with the -aš-infinitive, 3) construction with the non-past 1SG form (NPST.1SG), 4) construction with the debitive form in -šaš. The compatibility of these constructions with different subjects (namely, 1SG and 3SG) is discussed. As it turns out, the optative construction with jussive retains the restrictions of the original form: it is only possible with 3rd person subjects. The construction with the infinitive in three lects is only compatible with 1SG subjects, while in the Volga dialects it can be used with 3SG subjects as well. Paradoxically, the construction with NPST.1SG form is used with 3SG subjects. Finally, the optative use of the form in -šaš in Meadow Mari lects is restricted to 1SG subjects, whereas in Hill Mari it can be used with both 1SG and 3SG subjects. Possible grammaticalization mechanisms for these constructions are discussed. The construction with jussive develops from the imperative form, which is “softened” by the retrospective shift particle. The optative construction with infinitive emerges from independent uses of the -aš infinitive. The most important for the diachronic typology of optative is the construction with the NPST.1SG form. I propose that it had grammaticalized from counterfactual uses of the NPST.1SG form. Finally, the fourth optative construction developed based on the debitive form in -šaš.

Грамматикализация местоимений “you” и “Sie” в английском и немецком языках

The research aims to prove the similarity of the processes of grammaticalization of personal pronouns, used as a polite form of address to one person, in two Germanic languages of different structure, English and German. Scientific originality of this research lies in the fact that the grammaticalization paths of the English and German pronouns ‘you’ and ‘Sie’ have been studied for the first time, with their etymology being analyzed and grammaticalization mechanisms being compared. The research findings have shown that the processes of grammaticalization of the pronouns under study are similar and caused by the same mechanisms: the desemanticization of original lexical items and the context extension. In both languages, as a result of grammaticalization, no changes have been identified on the morphological and phonetic levels. Grammaticalization caused the pronouns ‘you’ and ‘Sie’ to be used as a polite form of address to one person, spelt and pronounced as second- and third-person singular and plural pronouns ‘you’ and ‘sie’ ‘she, they’. The research proves the similarity of the processes of grammaticalization of the personal pronouns under study in two languages of different structure belonging to the same language group. This similarity is due to their common meaning.

Interrogatives of reason in Tibeto-Burman languages of Sichuan

Abstract This is a typological study of the why-interrogative expressions in Tibeto-Burman languages, or the non-Chinese Sino-Tibetan languages, in Sichuan, southwest China. After examining 22 languages/dialects, the interrogative category of reason is grouped into three types, viz. the distinct why-type, the how-type, and the what-type, according to the interrogative categories from which they are derived. It is discovered that the what-type is the dominant strategy for languages in Sichuan to derive the reason category. It is also common for Tibeto-Burman languages to use verbal interrogatives, namely interrogative verb phrases and interrogative words with verbal origins, dominantly in the sense of ‘to do what’ and ‘to become what’, to ask for reason. After a focused investigation of the verbal interrogatives, it is found that Tibeto-Burman languages in Sichuan distinguish purpose from cause via word/phrase distinction, sentential positions and semantic differences. A path of grammaticalization of the verbal interrogatives is thus proposed and analyzed. Finally, the derivation maps of interrogatives in Cysouw (2005) and Hölzl (2018) are complemented with a refined distinction between purpose and cause.

Sortal classifiers and noun categorization in Zauzou

Abstract This paper investigates the sortal classifier system in Zauzou, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Southwest China. Three etymological subclasses – repeater, non-repeater, and quasi-repeaters – are identified in two morphosyntactic contexts: the bare classifier phrase [n+clf] and the full noun phrase [n+mod+clf], serving as an “individualizer” that transforms unindividualized nominal concepts into referential individuals. The three types of classifiers classify nouns on the basis of different semantic parameters that differ in terms of semantic contrastiveness. Animacy, shape, size, rigidity and quanta are non-contrastive semantic parameters commonly found among non-repeaters. Repeaters and quasi-repeaters categorize nouns primarily on the basis of semantically contrastive taxonomy, meronomy, or arrangement. With respect to the function of quantification, repeaters, quasi-repeaters, and non-repeaters are identical in [n+mod+clf] but diverge in [n+clf]. They do not uniformly render the singular interpretation with all kinds of referents in [n+clf]. Non-repeaters are more grammaticalized classifiers than (quasi-)repeaters. The Zauzou data provide evidence for the development from repeaters to non-repeaters, on a par with the commonly recognized grammaticalization path from nouns to classifiers, which is conditioned by two types of “parameter shift”. This study offers a descriptive model that effectively captures the relationship between semantic-functional properties of sortal classifiers and their historical development in “repeater” languages.

The grammaticalization path DEICTIC SPATIAL ADVERB > ADPOSITION

In addition to the grammaticalization of nouns and verbs into adpositions, which has been widely discussed in the grammaticalization literature, this paper identifies and describes a much less well known grammaticalization path, by which deictic spatial adverbs (i.e., words such as English here or there) are converted into adpositions. Based on data from two sub-Saharan languages (Tswana, Bantu and Jóola Fóoñi, Atlantic), this study proposes that in this grammaticalization process, the source construction is the LOCATIVE APPOSITION CONSTRUCTION, defined as a construction consisting of the juxtaposition of two coreferential spatial expressions, a deictic spatial adverb and a spatial expression whose nucleus is a noun (as in English here in the village or there on the table). Considering also some other languages, such as Hoocąk (Siouan), Baule (Kwa), Beng (Mande), and Classical Nahuatl, the study defends the idea that the initial stage of the grammaticalization path DEICTIC LOCATIVES > SPATIAL ADPOSITIONS is the routinization of the locative apposition construction, eventually leading to its reanalysis as an adpositional phrase in which the role of adposition is fulfilled by the former deictic spatial adverb.

The origin of instrumental postpositions in Cahita (Uto-Aztecan): A new account

This paper presents a diachronic analysis of instrumental postpositions in Cahita languages ( Tehueco, Yaqui and Mayo; Uto-Aztecan). Based on historical data from the beginning of the 17th century (Buelna 1890) and hypotheses about the possible bridging contexts (Heine 2002) that may have favored the grammaticalization processes at the origin of the instrumental morphemes, this study proposes that the origin has to be found in the possessive noun phrase, an origin different from those proposed by Dedrick & Casad (1999) and Haugen (2008). This historical reconstruction also brings to light the connections within the domain of postpositions between instrumental and causal meanings, as well as the connections between postpositions and non-subject nominalizers, since the same marker was used to encode these different functions, exhibiting an interesting polysemy. This paper aims to explain this polyfunctionality from a diachronic perspective, trying to clarify the grammaticalization paths that may have originated such syncretism.

Reported speech and its extensions in Beserman

Abstract This paper presents a descriptive account of reported speech, understood in terms of Spronck & Nikitina (2019), in Beserman (Uralic > Permic). Two phenomena are described in particular. First, it is demonstrated that, although Beserman generally prefers the direct speech strategy, the interpretation of indexicals in certain contexts may be affected by pragmatic factors. Second, Beserman allows for agreement mismatch between the subject and the predicate of the reported clause, known as “monstrous agreement”. This phenomenon has not been attested in Permic languages before. Apart from that, extended uses of two Beserman reported speech markers are described, whereby they convey pragmatic meanings that resemble English kind of or like. This semantic development reverses a well-known grammaticalization path that turns such pragmatic elements into reported speech markers. The study is based on both corpus and elicited data.

Motion verbs and future constructions: the case of Hebrew omed le-V ‘standing (up) to-V’/‘(be) about to-V’

This paper focuses on the constructionalization and grammaticalization path of the Hebrew construction omed le-V ‘standing (up) to-V’/‘about to-V’ as denoting ‘near future’. The investigation will be a diachronic and historical one, from biblical to contemporary Hebrew, stage by stage, and will discuss the evolution of the omed le-V ‘standing (up) to-V’ construction from a posture verb within a motion verb construction V1 to V2 into a ‘near future construction’. i.e., We will focus on the affinity of the meaning of the motion verb with the type of future it comes to denote and we will claim that the evolution of the omed le-V construction is based on three main sources: 1. Literal omed ‘standing up’ meaning is the basis of the near future grammaticalization: standing up from a sedentary posture marks the beginning of involvement in a certain upcoming action, thus perfect as the source conceptual schema for immediacy marking. 2. The shift from spatial to temporal motion maps spatial image schemas onto timelines that correlate with temporal domains. 3. The intrinsic future-orientation of a goal action gave rise to a pragmatic (metonymic) inference from purpose to futurity, later conventionalizing as futurity. Thus, the construction omed le-V ‘standing (up) to-V/about to-V’ shifted from the literal ‘standing up in order to perform an action’ to the near future ‘about to-V’ meaning via the conditioned or interdependent temporal relation of the standing (up) action and its consecutive goal action in real-world scenarios. Lastly, a comparison to two other Hebrew motion verb-based future constructions will be conducted: the constructions holex le-V ‘walking/going to-V’ and ba le-V ‘coming to-V’. The former will be claimed to denote an ‘undefined’ future (either near or distant) and the latter: an ‘unfulfilled future’ (an action that was about to be conducted but wasn't conducted or wasn't conducted on time). This will shed additional light on the evolution of posture and motion verb constructions into future marking constructions. Our conclusions will also be supported by the results of a questionnaire examining the future realization (either ‘near’, ‘undefined’ or ‘unfulfilled’) of the three constructions among native speakers of Hebrew.

韩汉语话语标记“솔직히(말하면)”与“说实话”的对比研究

The Korean and Chinese discourse markers 'soljjiki (malhamyon)’ and 'shuoshihua' are expressions with strong subjective nature. This paper mainly uses the expectancy theory, the three-domain theory, and the relevant principles of communicative pragmatics to conduct a comparative analysis of the two. Preliminarily, we can get make the following summary. First, from the perspective of interpersonal function, both have the functions of expressing positions, counter-expectation, and agreement of the viewpoint, but the subjectivity and flexibility of the Chinese 'shuoshihua' in the three conceptual domains are stronger than Korean 'soljjiki (malhamyon)’. Second, from the perspective of discourse functions, both of them can express the functions of cohesion, explanation and supplement, summary evaluation, and topic transfer. However, on the whole, the information on Korean 'soljjiki (malhamyon)’ is relatively concentrated and highly correlated, while the information on Chinese 'shuoshihua' is relatively scattered. Third, from the perspective of the motivations for the similarities and differences, we believe that they are mainly related to the grammaticalization path, language economy, syntactic cartography, expectation, and evidentiality. The Korean discourse marker 'soljjiki (malhamyon)’ does not involve many sentence patterns in the grammaticalization process, the syntactic cross-level is relatively weak, and the source of information is relatively indirect. In the grammaticalization process, Chinese 'shuoshihua' has strong sentence pattern permission, obvious syntactic cross-level, and a fairly direct source of information, which determines that it has relatively strong subjectivity.

Combinatorial Productivity of Spanish Verbal Periphrases as an Indicator of Their Degree of Grammaticalization

Studies on the constitution of the Spanish periphrastic system show that there is a great ease with which verbal periphrases admit different lexical items in the second verb slot as they go through their grammaticalization process. However, it has not been sufficiently explored whether the evolution of combinatorial patterns in near-synonymous periphrases follows similar grammaticalization paths. Adopting a constructionist, usage-based approach, we investigate the evolution of the so-called near-synonymous periphrases dejar de + inf and parar de + inf, as in Deja de/Para de gritar, ‘Stop shouting.’ More specifically, we discuss the semantic areas they cover, the functional distribution between the two throughout time, their evolution in terms of collostructional patterns, and their realized and potential productivity, paying special attention to the Aktionsart of the predicates in the Vinf slot. All tokens in the corpus were extracted from CORDE and analyzed in terms of morphosyntactic and semantic-pragmatic parameters, as well as contextual elements. We conduct a distinctive collexeme analysis to investigate which lexemes are strongly attracted or repelled by the Vinf slot in each construction. This analysis shows that the evolution of parar de + inf is not parallel to that of dejar de + inf and that there is a clear distribution of labor between the two constructions.

Types of autonomous V-final clauses

Abstract In German (and Dutch), main clauses and dependent clauses differ clearly with respect to form. Main clauses are always V2 and autonomous (with speech act status) while dependent ones are verb-final/VL (V-last) and nonautonomous (without speech act status). This paper is about autonomous clauses with the form of dependent clauses (i.e. VL-form, also captured in the literature under the term insubordinate subordination, coined by Evans, Nicholas. 2007. Insubordination and its uses. In Irina Nikolaeva (ed.), Finiteness: Theoretical and empirical foundations, 366–431. Oxford: Oxford University Press). In the recent literature, it has been argued that in order to explain the occurrence of autonomous dependent clauses in the historical development of German, the introducing main clause fell elliptically leaving behind a dependent form with autonomous status. The present paper argues that this account is false. Dependent forms can exist independently. Since speech act autonomy of dependent forms exists with certain (albeit not all) complementizers, a special account is provided. It is argued that this development typical of modern German, matches with the tendency toward an illocutionary semantics in its own right. Parallels for the latter path of grammaticalization are drawn from several languages other than German. The importance of the concerns for modern generative grammar is a twofold one: first, it provides insights into how independent (autonomous), but formally dependent sentences divide into several kinds of modality that are expressed in the left sentential periphery; and, second, it shows in which ways speaker-perspective is grammaticalized.

From verb to epistemic marker: bini in Hamedanian Persian

Abstract This paper provides data from a regional dialect of Persian, Hamedanian Persian, where a verb is grammaticalized to be used as epistemic modality marker, frequently used in interrogatives. The verb didan, objectively means ‘to see’, but subjectivized in many instances to mean ‘understand’. However, in this dialect, bini, originally the subjunctive second person singular form of the verb didan ‘to see’, is used as epistemic marker. It is used in content and polar questions, where uncertainty is a common feature. Our fieldwork data show that the verb didan is used rarely to mean ‘to see’ and it extended to mark epistemic modality, used as probability marker. This modal marker is only used in questions, which share the stance of uncertainty with epistemic markers. The various features of this grammaticalization path are discussed and an explanation based on egophoricity is provided.

Comitative Constructions in Reefs–Santa Cruz

This paper describes and compares comitative constructions across the Reefs–Santa Cruz languages Äiwoo, Engdewu, Nalögo, and Natügu. Each of these languages shows a complex array of constructions, with considerable variation across languages both in the forms used, in which constructions are used for genuine comitative versus depictive constructions (as in I climbed with the basket, where I am climbing but the basket is not), and in which additional functions the different constructions can be extended to. At the same time, there are commonalities across the four languages, as would be expected from a low-level Oceanic subgroup such as Reefs–Santa Cruz; but the commonalities are complex and crosscut constructions and language groupings. Our historical account of this situation takes as its starting point the Proto-Oceanic comitative forms *ma, *ma-i, and *aki[ni] and assumes different grammaticalization paths and functional extensions across the languages, in particular, in Äiwoo, on the one hand, and the Santa Cruz languages, on the other. We thus contribute to disentangling the complex historical relationships within this language group, which has only fairly recently been recognized as Oceanic.

Grammaticalization in MSA: The Case of 9abra as a Preposition

This study examined the use of the linguistic form 9abra (through) in Modern Standard Arabic within the framework of grammaticalization using authentic data available online. The goal of the study is to investigate the actual usage patterns of this form and its evolution into a grammaticalized preposition with different semantic sense. The study revealed that the form was grammaticalized in the 19th and early 20th centuries as a form of contact-induced grammaticalization (Heine 2005). The paper presented formal and functional motivations for considering the form as a grammaticalized preposition and the changes that accompanied its grammaticalization. The study showed that 9abra has evolved from the spatial to the temporal domain and then was further abstracted to mean instrument (means) along with its spatial and temporal reference. Following Heine's model of grammaticalization processes (Heine 2003), the study also showed that the path of grammaticalization involved decategorialization, desemanticization, and expansion. It is hoped that this study has made  a contribution to Arabic prepositions and to grammaticalization research.

Language change and the actuation problem: grammaticalization in Vedic Sanskrit

Abstract One of the structures denoting the future in Sanskrit is the so-called -tā́-future, based on an agent noun and a present tense copula. Typologically, this grammaticalization path is unique. In this paper, this astonishing fact is tied to another unique feature of hysterotone -tŕ̥-nouns, their situative semantics, which forces a presupposition relating the event depicted by the noun to another event taken from the context. In ambiguous contexts, this relation could be (re-)interpreted by hearers as one between the event and the speech act itself. The grammaticalization, then, is hearer-based and triggered by semantic reanalysis. The process is essentially identical to phonemicization. The scenario developed in this paper thus further strengthens the position that grammaticalization is ontologically not distinct from other types of language change based on speaker–hearer interaction.

From narrative past to mirativity and direct evidentiality: the case of Moldavian (Csángó) Hungarian

AbstractThis paper describes the evolution of grammaticalized evidentiality in the Moldavian dialect of Hungarian. It documents how the suffix-a/e, originally the marker of narrative past, became a rare, elevated marker of past tense highlighting significant past events; how it assumed a mirative overtone; and how the features ʻwitnessedʼ and ʻimmediate pastʼ, often present in mirative utterances, became inherent parts of its meaning. This grammaticalization path has resulted in an evidential system with typologically unique features. It is a two-term system based on the opposition of direct evidentiality and no evidentiality – violating the alleged universal that if a language has grammaticalized direct evidentiality, it has also grammaticalized indirect evidentiality. Mirative meaning is expressed by the same -a/esuffix that also encodes direct evidentiality – whereas it is claimed to be the extension of inferred evidentiality elsewhere. The unique properties of Moldavian Hungarian evidentiality are derived from the historical evolution of the -a/esuffix.

The grammaticalization of verbs of location movement into noun-phrase conjunctions in Archaic Chinese

Abstract Previous studies of the grammaticalization paths of Chinese Noun-Phrase Conjunctions (NP-AND) have mainly focused on their development from comitative verbs, as in the cases of 與 yú ‘to be together with’, 共 gòng ‘to share’, 和 hé ‘to mingle’, and 同 tóng ‘to be the same’ > ‘to accompany’. This study focuses on the development of NP-AND from verbs of location movement (位移動詞, with the feature set [+verb, +motion, +goal]), such as 于 yú ‘to go to’, 越 yuè ‘to jump over to’, 暨 jì ‘to arrive at’, and 及 jí ‘to reach’, identifying changes that occurred in pre-Archaic Chinese (used from the 14th to the 11th c. BC), early Archaic Chinese (used from the 10th to the 6th c. BC), and late Archaic Chinese (from the 5th to the 2nd c. BC). To elucidate the origin and the grammaticalization path of each verb indicating goal of motion, this study examines their occurrences in excavated texts, such as the Oracle-Bone Inscriptions and Bronze Inscriptions, and in Archaic Chinese transmitted texts, such as The book of documents (Shàngshū 尚書), The book of odes (Shījīng 詩經), and Zuo’s commentary (Zuǒzhuàn 左傳). Based on this data, the study analyzes the core meaning of each verb and their grammaticalization paths. In addition, possible etymological relationships among 于, 越, 暨, and 及 are investigated. The grammaticalization path of each verb into an NP-AND can be formulated as V [+motion, +goal] > end point of a scope (from X to Y) > additive particle > NP-AND. Finally, cross-linguistic parallels are adduced to support the plausibility of the proposed grammaticalization path.