Mouton De Gruyter Research Articles

From comparative to causal relations: the case of siccome ‘because’ in the history of Italian

Abstract This article investigates how adverbial causal clauses come into being by tracking the diachronic development of the lexical item siccome ‘because’ from Old to Contemporary Italian. We show that adverbial causal clauses introduced by siccome in Contemporary Italian originate from comparative-similative clauses. By describing the steps of this diachronic change, we demonstrate that in specific contexts the comparative-similative marker has paved the way for a comparison between two events entailing a causal relation. The change is formalized by adopting a free relative clause analysis (Cinque 2020a. On the double-headed analysis of “headless” relative clauses. In Ludovico Franco & Paolo Lorusso (eds.), Linguistic variation: Structure and interpretation, 169–196. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter) to comparative and causal clauses.

A perception-induced /t/-to-/k/ sound change: evidence from a cross-linguistic study.

John Ohala claimed that the source of sound change may lie in misperceptions which can be replicated in the laboratory. We tested this claim for a historical change of /t/ to /k/ in the coda in the Southern Min dialect of Chaoshan. We conducted a forced-choice segment identification task with CVC syllables in which the final C varied across the segments [p t k ʔ] in addition to a number of further variables, including the V, which ranged across [i u a]. The results from three groups of participants whose native languages have the coda systems /p t k ʔ/ (Zhangquan), /p k ʔ/ (Chaoshan) and /p t k/ (Dutch) indicate that [t] is the least stably perceived segment overall. It is particularly disfavoured when it follows [a], where there is a bias towards [k]. We argue that this finding supports a perceptual account of the historically documented scenario whereby a change from /at/ to /ak/ preceded and triggered a more general merger of /t/ with /k/ in the coda of Chaoshan. While we grant that perceptual sound changes are not the only or even the most common type of sound change, the fact that the perception results are essentially the same across the three language groups lends credibility to Ohala's perceptually motivated sound changes.

The typology of negation across varieties of Arabic

AbstractDrawing primarily on the data collated by Alluhaybi (2019.Negation in modern Arabic varieties from a typological point of view. London: SOAS University of London PhD thesis), this article first situates Arabic within the crosslinguistic typology of negative strategies put forward, among others, by Miestamo (2005.Standard negation: The negation of declarative verbal main clauses in a typological perspective. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter). It then surveys the main parameters of variation among different varieties of Arabic in the expression of standard negation, non-verbal negation, and negative imperatives, with a particular focus on the issue of the single versus bipartite expression of negation. The article finishes by looking at some recent debates concerning the diachronic evolution of the observed patterns.

Negotiating Mongolian ethnic identity through the teaching of Mandarin Chinese as a second language

ABSTRACT Despite growing attention paid to the language ideologies of teachers as actors in bilingualism or multilingualism studies, little research has examined whether and how power dynamics between majority and minority languages play a role in the promulgation of a majority language to ethnic minority learners of that majority language. This paper explores how both linguistic and cultural knowledge of Mandarin are understood by a specific group of Mongolian teachers and trainee teachers of Mandarin in Inner Mongolia, China. Drawing on Geeraerts’ (2003. “Cultural Models of Linguistic Standardization.” In Cognitive Models in Language and Thought. Ideology, Metaphors and Meanings, edited by R. Dirven, R. Frank, and M. Putz, 25–68. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter; 2020. “Romantic and rationalist models of linguistic diversity.” SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 17 (3): 2–19) two cultural models of language standardisation, we shall show that the Mongolian teachers and trainees appear to adopt both a ‘rationalist’ and a ‘romantic’ view. On the one hand, they hold a rationalist view of modern Chinese literature, perceiving it as linguistic and cultural capital (Bourdieu, P. 1992. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge and Malden: Polity Press) for Mongolian students in the Han-dominant linguistic market. At the same time, they hold a romantic view of classical Chinese literature, perceiving it as a marker of the dominant, and therefore ‘ideal’, Han ethnic identity. Such mixed perceptions have significant implications for understanding how teaching a majority language may be viewed by an ethnic minority group: as a communicative tool, as linguistic and cultural capital, and/or as an identity marker.

“It’s like the root of a tree that I grew up from….”: parents’ linguistic identity shaping family language policy in isolated circumstances

Abstract A key factor that has been found to be critical in shaping family language policy is parents’ linguistic identities, or “parents’ personal experiences with bilingualism, biculturalism or second language learning” (King, Kendall A. & Lyn Fogle. 2006. Bilingual parenting as good parenting: Parents’ perspectives on family language policy for additive bilingualism. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 9(6). 695–712, p. 703). In other words, parents’ experiences of languages will colour and influence both their aims for their children’s plurilingualism, and the practices that they bring to bear to that end. This proposition was explored in a paper by Sims, Margaret, Elizabeth M. Ellis & Vicki Knox. 2017. Parental plurilingual capital in a monolingual context: Investigating strengths to support young children in early childhood settings. Early Childhood Education Journal 45. 777–787 (p. 779), that “parents construct their own understandings of plurilingualism based on their own experiences with languages” meaning that the parents’ linguistic identity indeed provides the potential and the basis for bringing up their children as plurilinguals. This paper, based on an Australian ARC-funded study, reports on the link between parents’ linguistic identity and their family language policy, on their impact beliefs (De Houwer, Annick. 1999. Environmental factors in early bilingual development: The role of parental beliefs and attitudes. In G. Extra & L. Verhoeven (eds.), Bilingualism and migration, 75–95. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter, p. 83), on the ways in which their aims for their children’s language development are articulated and put into practice, and on how they deal with their children’s emerging linguistic identity as plurilinguals, in a linguistically isolated context in regional New South Wales.

Review of:] N. Hober. Grammaticalization and variation: The case of Mayan motion verbs. Berlin; Boston: Mouton de Gruyter, 2021.

Review of:] N. Hober. Grammaticalization and variation: The case of Mayan motion verbs. Berlin; Boston: Mouton de Gruyter, 2021.

Notícias

Notícias

Zane Goebel (ed.), Rapport and the discursive co-construction of social relations in fieldwork encounters. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2020. Pp. ix, 194. Hb. €87.

Zane Goebel (ed.), Rapport and the discursive co-construction of social relations in fieldwork encounters. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2020. Pp. ix, 194. Hb. €87.

Taking offense: An emotion reconsidered

Taking offense: An emotion reconsidered

Culturally diverse expert teams have yet to bring comprehensive linguistic diversity to intergovernmental ecosystem assessments

Culturally diverse expert teams have yet to bring comprehensive linguistic diversity to intergovernmental ecosystem assessments

Peircean anti-psychologism and learning theory

Abstract Taking influence from Peirce’s phenomenological categories (Firstness, Secondness, Thirdness), a notion of what we call bottom-up modeling has become increasingly significant in research areas interested in learning, cognition, and development. Here, following a particular reading of Peircean semiotics (cf. Deacon, Terrence. 1997. The symbolic species: The co-evolution of language and the brain. London and New York: W. W. Norton; Sebeok, Thomas and Marcel Danesi. 2000. The forms of meaning: Modelling systems theory and semiotic analysis. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter), modeling, and thus also learning, has mostly been thought of as ascending from simple, basic sign types to complex ones (iconic – indexical – symbolic; Firstness – Secondness – Thirdness). This constitutes the basis of most currently accepted (neo-Peircean) semiotic modeling theories and entails the further acceptance of an unexamined a priori coherence between complexity of cognition and complexity of signification. Following recent readings of Peirce’s post-1900 semiotic, we will present, in abbreviated form, a discussion as to the limits of this theoretical approach for theories of learning that draws upon Peirce’s late semiotic philosophy, in particular his late work on iconicity and propositions. We also explore the corollary conceptions of semiotic resources and competences and affordances to develop an ecological perspective on learning that notably does not impose a linear developmental progression from simple to complex. In conclusion, we address some of the implications of this (post-Peircean) conceptualization for transdisciplinary research into learning.

Human Olfaction at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Biology

The human sense of smell can accomplish astonishing feats, yet there remains a prevailing belief that olfactory language is deficient. Numerous studies with English speakers support this view: there are few terms for odors, odor talk is infrequent, and naming odors is difficult. However, this is not true across the world. Many languages have sizeable smell lexicons - smell is even grammaticalized. In addition, for some cultures smell talk is more frequent and odor naming easier. This linguistic variation is as yet unexplained but could be the result of ecological, cultural, or genetic factors or a combination thereof. Different ways of talking about smells may shape aspects of olfactory cognition too. Critically, this variation sheds new light on this important sensory modality.

Objects and materiality in pragmatic development: Here-and-now to then and-there

Abstract Language acquisition involves more than learning how to produce words in complex strings. It involves a diversity of aptitudes about how, when, with whom and in what way to use language abilities. While it is acknowledged that these skills are learned through social interaction (Blum-Kulka, S. (1997). Dinner talk: cultural patterns of sociability and socialization in family discourse. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, Mahwah, NJ; Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford University Press, Oxford), our understanding about precisely how they emerge and how they are taught and learned remains preliminary at best. Additionally, much of our understanding is strictly limited to spoken language. The analysis and arguments herein detail the consequentiality of child directed interaction strategies (CDIS) which facilitate non-verbal actions and motivate episodic retrospection, making a tangible link between the current interaction and past experiences. Through a multimodal interaction analysis (Author and Pirini, J. (2020). Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. In McKinley, J. and Rose, H. (Eds.) The Routledge handbook of research methods in applied linguistics. Rouledge, London, pp. 488–499; Norris, S. (2004). Analyzing multimodal interaction: a methodological framework. Routledge, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203379493; Norris, S. (2011). Identity in (inter)action: introducing Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. de Gruyter Mouton, Berlin & New York. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781934078280; Norris, S. (2019). Systematically working with multimodal data: research methods in multimodal discourse analysis. Wiley Blackwell, Hoboken, NJ; Pirini, J. (2014). Introduction to Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. In: Norris, S. and Maier, C. (Eds.). Interactions, texts and images: a reader in multimodality. Mouton de Gruyter, New York. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614511175.77) of the practice of showing material objects during interaction, I show that non-verbal action, material culture and the physical world are crucial to developing a certain socio-cognitive pragmatic aptitude. CDIS motivating ‘showing’ of tangible objects of personal significance may be the non-verbal antecedent of selecting and introducing new topics during interaction. These CDIS defer interactional agency and motivate non-verbal communicative actions more comfortably within the zone of proximal development. Importantly, the materiality of the objects themselves are of fleeting interactional priority. Instead, the objects provide a bridge between materiality in the here-and-now to past experiences in the there-and-then. Facilitating non-verbal actions of showing help motivate explorations of episodic memory by creating a tangible and immediate link within the unfolding interaction.

The expression of modality in Logoori

Abstract This study presents a theoretically informed description of the expression of modality in Logoori (Luyia; Bantu). We document verbal and non-verbal modal expressions in Logoori, and show how these expressions fit into proposed typologies of modal systems (Kratzer, Angelika. 1981. The notional category of modality. In Hans-Jurgen Eikmeyer & Hannes Rieser (eds.), Words, worlds, and contexts: New approaches in word semantics, 38–74. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, Kratzer, Angelika. 1991. Modality. In Armin von Stechow & Dieter Wunderlich (eds.), Semantics: An international handbook of contemporary research, 639–650. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter; van der Auwera, Johan & Vladimir Plungian. 1998. Modality’s semantic map. Linguistic Typology 2. 79–124. https://doi.org/10.1515/lity.1998.2.1.79; Nauze, Fabrice. 2008. Modality in typological perspective. Amsterdam: Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation PhD thesis). We show that Logoori’s modal system raises some interesting questions regarding the typology and theoretical analysis of modality and its relationship to other kinds of meaning. Our study contributes to the nascent but growing research on modal systems cross linguistically by adding data from an understudied Bantu language.

When hypotaxis looks like parataxis: embedding and complementizer agreement in Teiwa

Teiwa, an Alor-Pantar language of the Trans-New Guinea family, has been characterized as expressing speech reports not with complementation, but with combinations of two clauses juxtaposed under a single intonation contour with no morphological indication for integration (Klamer 2010: A Grammar of Teiwa, Mouton de Gruyter). We argue, contra Klamer, that speech and attitude reports in Teiwa should be analyzed as embedding (or hypotaxis). We present evidence from intonation, syntax and semantics that speech reports are expressed by a single, monosentential structure in Teiwa with embedding of the speech report. Our results also show that purely morphological diagnostics can be unreliable for distinguishing between a monosentential or bisentential structure of speech reports. We describe several formal experiments from our fieldwork that provide more reliable tests. Our result has implications for both the ongoing theoretical discussions of clausal complementation, complementizer agreement, grammaticalization of complementizers and the historical evolution of complementation.

Peirce, Aristotle, metaphor – and comments to Factor

AbstractCharles Peirce provided a few, but interesting we believe, remarks about metaphor. Aristotle on the other hand developed a theory of metaphor that, to this day has been, and still is, influential (even though his theory, especially within recent years, also has been heavily criticized, e.g., by Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson. 1980.Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Chicago University Press). Factor, Lance R. 1996. Peirce’s definition of metaphor and its consequences. In Vincent Colapietro & Thomas Olshewsky (eds.),Peirce’s doctrine of signs: Theory, applications, and connections, 229–235. Berlin/New York: Mouton De Gruyter, as one of very few scholars, makes a comparison between Peirce and Aristotle. Factor claims that Peirce’s definition of metaphor and its consequences undermine and overturn Aristotle’s theory. We do not believe that Factor is right; and this is due to Factor’s misinterpretation of key elements within Aristotle’s theory. We rather believe that Peirce and Aristotle, in fact, have central ideas in common concerning metaphor; perhaps, in particular, when it comes to the function of metaphor. Hence, both see, for example, metaphor as a cognitive mechanism. The article tries to develop this argument.

Idioms, argument ellipsis and LF-copy

In this paper, I make critical use of certain word order and semantic properties of ditransitive expressions to develop an argument for the LF-copy theory of argument ellipsis (Oku in A theory of selection and reconstruction in the minimalist perspective, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1998; Saito in Lang Res 43:203–222, 2007; in: Shibatani, Miyagawa, and Noda (eds) Handbook of Japanese syntax, Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, 2017; Sakamoto in J East Asian Linguist 25:243–274, 2016; Escape from silent syntax, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 2017). Firstly, I summarize and extend Sakamoto’s (in: Paper presented at the 148th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of Japan, Hosei University, Tokyo, 2014; 2016; 2017) argument based on rigid ditransitive idioms and show that the possible ellipsis of a non-idiomatic argument to the exclusion of the idiom chunks and the ditransitive verb is best accounted for in terms of argument ellipsis. Secondly, I point out a hitherto unnoticed observation, that no internal constituent within ditransitive figurative expressions may undergo ellipsis without losing a non-literal, metaphorical interpretation associated with its containing VP, and I demonstrate how this observation presents critical evidence in favor of the LF-copy theory of argument ellipsis over its competing PF-deletion alternative.

Degree achievements and degree morphemes in competition in Southern Aymara

In this paper, I give an account of degree achievements in Southern Aymara, an understudied Andean language. I focus on degree achievements that are derived from gradable bases by means of the verbal suffix -cha, e.g., llusk’a-cha-na ‘to straighten’ or q’anu-cha-na ‘to dirty’. I provide arguments suggesting that Aymara should be analyzed as a degree language (Bochnak in Semant Pragmat 8(6):1–48, 2015b). I further propose an analysis of Aymara degree achievements in terms of a differential measure function (Kennedy and Levin, in: McNally, Kennedy (eds) Adjectives and adverbs: syntax, semantics and discourse. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 156–182, 2008) The main point argued for in this paper is that this language has two degree morphemes in competition (Heim, in: von Stechow, Wunderlich (eds) Semantik: ein internationales Handbuch der zeitgenossischen Forschung. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, pp 487–535, 1991) combining with degree achievements, namely, a covert verbal positive morpheme v.pos and the overt morpheme -su. The latter restricts the standard of comparison to change where maximal values are reached, so it is preferred over v.pos when such values are targeted. v.pos is thus felicitous when the maximum is not reached. I propose an initial typology that distinguishes how telicity is achieved cross-linguistically when degree achievements are considered.

How "mixed" is mixed language phonology? An acoustic analysis of the Michif vowel system.

Michif, a severely endangered language still spoken today by an estimated 100-200 Métis people in Western Canada, is generally classified as a mixed language, meaning it cannot be traced back to a single language family [Bakker (1997). A Language of Our Own (Oxford University Press, Oxford); Thomason (2001). Language Contact: An Introduction (Edinburgh University Press and Georgetown University Press, Edinburgh and Washington, DC); Meakins (2013). Contact Languages: A Comprehensive Guide (Mouton De Gruyter, Berlin), pp. 159-228.]. It has been claimed to maintain the phonological grammar of both of its source languages, French and Plains Cree [Rhodes (1977). Actes du Huitieme congrès des Algonqunistes (Carleton University, Ottawa), pp. 6-25; Bakker (1997). A Language of Our Own (Oxford University Press, Oxford); Bakker and Papen (1997). Contact Languages: A Wider Perspective (John Benjamins, Amsterdam), pp. 295-363]. The goal of this paper is twofold: to offer an instrumental analysis of Michif vowels and to investigate this claim of a stratified grammar, based on this careful phonetic analysis. Using source language as a variable in the analysis, the authors argue the Michif vowel system does not appear to rely on historical information, and that historically similar French and Cree vowels pattern together within the Michif system with regards to formant frequencies and duration. The authors show that there are nine Michif oral vowels in this system, which has merged phonetically similar French- and Cree-source vowels.

Spirantization in Spanish: The role of the underlying representation

AbstractSpirantization is one of the most frequently studied phonological phenomena of Spanish (Barlow, Jessica A. 2003. The stop-spirant alternation in Spanish: Converging evidence for a fortition account.Southwest Journal of Linguistics22. 51–86; Zampini, Mary. 1994. The role of native language transfer and task formality in the acquisition of Spanish spirantization.Hispania77. 470–481; among others). For a majority of dialects, Spanish voiced plosives have been traditionally described as having a continuant and a non-continuant realization in complementary distribution (Navarro Tomás, Tomás. 1977.Manual de pronunciación española. 19th edn. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Hualde, José Ignacio. 2005.The sounds of Spanish. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press; among others). Yet, phonetic studies reveal a more complex picture consisting of a great deal of phonetic variability and gradience among continuant realizations (Carrasco, Patricio, José Ignacio Hualde and Miquel Simonet. 2012. Dialectal differences in Spanish voiced obstruent allophony: Costa Rican versus Iberian Spanish.Phonetica69. 149–179; among others; Simonet, Miquel, José Ignacio Hualde and Mariana Nadeu. 2012. Lenition of/d/in spontaneous Spanish and Catalan. Paper presented at INTERSPEECH) which is not captured by existing generative accounts (Bakovic, Eric. 1997. Strong onsets and Spanish fortition.MIT Working Papers in Linguistics23. 21–39; Harris, James W. 1984. La espirantización en castellano y la representación fonológica autosegmental.Estudis Gramaticals1.149–67; Hualde, José Ignacio. 1989. Procesos consonánticos y estructuras geométricas en español.Lingüística1.7–44; Kirchner, Robert. 2001. Phonological contrast and articulatory effort. In Linda Lombardi (ed.),Segmental phonology in Optimality Theory, 79–117. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; among others). Furthermore, most analyses focus almost exclusively on the general distribution of spirantization, excluding other dialectal patterns (Amastae, Jon. 1995. Variable spirantization: Constraint weighting in three dialects.Hispanic Linguistics6(7). 265–285; among others). The current proposal accounts for the phonetic variability and gradience evinced by phonetic studies, as well as dialectal variation in one optimality theoretic-analysis. Spirantization is explained as the result of effort reduction, rather than the result of assimilation (contra Harris, James W. 1984. La espirantización en castellano y la representación fonológica autosegmental.Estudis Gramaticals1.149–67; Hualde, José Ignacio. 1989. Procesos consonánticos y estructuras geométricas en español.Lingüística1.7–44, among others). Phonetic variability in the general dialects is argued to be related to the underlying representation: voiced obstruents are underspecified for continuancy both in the input and the output of the phonology, which explains gradience in implementation and responds to the need to avoid the marked configuration represented by a combination of voicing and maximal stricture found in voiced stops (Colina, Sonia. 2016. On onset clusters in Spanish: Voiced obstruent underspecification and /f/. In Rafael A. Núñez Cedeño (ed.),The syllable and stress: Studies in honor of James W. Harris. Boston, MA: Mouton de Gruyter). Dialectal variation stems from differences in the underlying representation and in the ranking of the constraints. The proposal is also able to explain variations on the two major dialectal patterns.