Typological Work Research Articles

Multiple meaning as a kind of iterative repetition in the Yakut language

The purpose of the article is to determine the semantic structure and features of the functioning of the means of expressing the proper multiple meaning as one of the subtypes of iterative repetition in the Yakut language. The object of the study is the semantics of an accurate or inaccurate quantitative account of situations. The subject of study is the so-called circumstances of multiplicity or counting complex. Based on the material of the Yakut language, the author, following I. B. Dolinina, adheres to the proposed terminology and suggests considering such cases of repeatability as an independent particular meaning of the iterative type of multiplicity. The main attention in identifying the semantic varieties of this meaning is paid to the use of such quantification features as certainty/uncertainty of the amount of repeatability and its limitation/unlimited. Depending on the correlation of these signs and the intensity of their manifestation, a list of representatives for each of them is determined. The main research method is functional–semantic, which uses the approach "from semantics to its formal expression" when describing linguistic material. Textual examples in the Yakut language are given using the method of morphemic glossing. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the systematization of the means of expression and the allocation of varieties of the actual multiple meaning, which had not previously become the subject of special research in Yakut linguistics. During the analysis of the functioning of adverbs with the semantics of multiplicity or counting, the methods of formation of representatives characteristic of each of the three subtypes of the actual multiple meaning (affixal, by reduplication and combination with the countable element "togul") were established. As an additional conclusion, we can cite the revealed dependence of the definition of the value in question on the temporal form of the predicate (statements with circumstances of multiplicity with a predicate in the form of the present-future and imperfect acquire habitual semantics). The theoretical significance of the results of this study is determined by the contribution to the study of the functional and semantic category of the aspectuality of the Yakut language, and may also be of interest for comparative and typological work in this field. Their practical significance is related to the possibility of their application in lexicographic and translation practice.

Phygital workspace: a systematic review in developing a new typological work environment using XR technology to reduce the carbon footprint

Phygital workspace: a systematic review in developing a new typological work environment using XR technology to reduce the carbon footprint

The links between evidentiality, modality, and grammaticalization

Abstract This paper introduces the main notions that are addressed in this special issue, namely evidentiality, modality, and grammaticalization. It defines each notion and briefly synthesizes the literature. It also presents some of the controversies which surround the ideas that prevail in these research fields. Crosslinguistic examples illustrate the main evidential and modal categories, and clarify why the two domains are both distinct and related. The paper then sketches the main pathways of grammaticalization of modal and evidential markers as they have been documented in typological work. Finally, it introduces the contributions to this special issue, highlights the new insights, and discusses what remains to be investigated on the links between evidentiality, modality, and grammaticalization.

Precedence clauses in the world’s languages: negative markers need not be expletive

AbstractLarge-scale typological work on negation has so far ignored negation in adverbial clause-linkage. The present work makes inroads into this territory by analyzing the world-wide cross-linguistic variation in the expression of negation in precedence clauses (e.g. ‘before he arrived, we had already gone home’) in a variety sample of 155 languages. The research demonstrates that even when languages employ a clause-linking marker for conveying temporal precedence, negative markers may play an important role in that they may be obligatory, optional, or forbidden in the precedence clause. It is proposed that whether the clause-linking marker is semantically monofunctional or polyfunctional is the key to this puzzle. As for precedence clauses containing polyfunctional clause-linking markers and negative markers, it is shown that negation must not be considered expletive. With respect to precedence clauses occurring with monofunctional markers, it is proposed that the precedence clause tends not to license a negative marker. Moreover, it is shown that optional negative markers in precedence clauses may have an evaluative sense, which reflects the epistemic stance of the speaker. The paper also explores whether the analysis of precedence clauses put forward in the present research can be generalized to other adverbial clause-linkage constructions: negative concomitance clauses (e.g. ‘I cooked the soup without stirring it even once’).

Earned citizenship and fairness

ABSTRACT In many Western countries, it has become standard to demand immigrants that earn their right to citizenship by coming to meet a set of citizenship requirements. Moreover, many European governments justify the citizenship requirements on the grounds of fairness, because they are not discriminatory and because the demands of the requirements are to immigrants’ individual efforts. This trend invites exploration of whether this practice is justified. We argue that citizenship requirements are justified from a liberal viewpoint only if differentiated to adjust for factors that are unmoved by the individual exercise of responsibility but have a strong impact on the chances of fulfilling citizenship requirements – such as age, prior education, economic cycles, and ethnic discrimination. Upon this, we develop a differentiated model for fair citizenship requirements inspired by the typological work of John Roemer. The model allows for different degrees of demandingness but preserves respect for fairness in so far as it differentiates requirements on the background of age, education, economic cycles, and ethnicity.

The Typology of Reciprocal Constructions

Reciprocal constructions involve a complex mapping of semantics onto morphosyntax, requiring multiple propositions to be overlaid onto a single clause and the permutation of semantic roles within the set of participants involved. This complexity challenges the standard processes relating predicates to situations, and thus languages arrive at a great diversity of solutions for how reciprocal situations are encoded within a single clausal structure. Recent typological work has showcased this diversity from different perspectives, but further work is needed to determine how different morphosyntactic and semantic properties interact and what implicational connections and correlations exist with other parts of the linguistic system. Theoretical typologies highlight the importance of reciprocal constructions for our understanding of grammatical structure crosslinguistically.

Ancient Glass of South Asia: Archaeology, Ethnography and Global Connections. Alok Kumar Kanungo and Laure Dussubieux, eds. Singapore: Springer, 2021. xxvi + 557 pp., 59 b&w + 245 colour illustrations. Hardcover US$160, ISBN: 9789811636554; softcover US$140, ISBN: 9789811636578; ebook US$109, ISBN: 9789811636561.

Asian Perspectives, Vol. 62, No. 2 © 2023 by the University of Hawai‘i Press. Ancient Glass of South Asia: Archaeology, Ethnography and Global Connections. Alok Kumar Kanungo and Laure Dussubieux, eds. Singapore: Springer, 2021. xxvi + 557 pp., 59 b&w + 245 colour illustrations. Hardcover US$160, ISBN: 9789811636554; softcover US$140, ISBN: 9789811636578; ebook US$109, ISBN: 9789811636561. Reviewed by Ian C. FREESTONE, UCL Institute of Archaeology The marked expansion in the archaeometry of glass which took place in the first decade of the twenty-first century has led to an explosion of interest in glass beads and bangles. Desirable, robust, and portable, they hold important information on trade and connectivity which can be revealed by the analysis of their chemical constituents. While this potential of chemical analysis has been understood for decades (e.g., Basa et al. 1991; Brill 1987; Singh 1989), it is only recently that it has been fully realized, largely due to the application of the technique of laser ablation inductivelycoupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). This method allows a rapid, accurate, and precise analysis of around 60 elements in glass artifacts and, critically, is essentially non-destructive, leaving only a sub-millimetre scar on the surface of the artifact. Where earlier typological work inferred likely longdistance connections (Francis 1990), chemistry has confirmed them. The resultant growth in understanding has served to emphasise the important role of the Indian sub-continent, which was arguably the major producer of glass beads in the last two millennia. Indian beads are found as far afield as eastern Africa and northwestern Europe and are also widely distributed in southeastern and southern Asia. Furthermore, the continuation into the modern period of traditional methods of making and working with glass and glazes allows important insights into the methods and organization of the production of glass ornaments through ethnographic observation and literary accounts. The present book brings together recent and ongoing work on the archaeology, archaeometry, and ethnoarchaeology of South Asian glass, edited by two leading researchers in their respective areas. The chapters are developed from lectures delivered by the eminent list of authors at a conference in Gandhinagar in 2019 and may be considered a good reflection of the state of the art. However, this substantial 550-page book is far from a standard conference volume. It strives not only to provide a comprehensive coverage of its subject matter, but also to serve as an introduction to the study of glass by including a number of chapters by established researchers on broader issues; by and large, it is very successful. The book opens with several chapters providing introductory and background information. Rehren opens with a summary of the current state of play in our understanding of the origins of glass in Egypt and Mesopotamia. In the context of the present volume, Rehren’s chapter in particular brings home how important the analysis of glass and manufacturing debris from Late Bronze Age production sites has been to current understanding, although at present evidence from production sites in South Asia is largely lacking. The following chapter by Gratuze, Schibille, and Pactat covers the radical changes in glassmaking technology that occurred in Europe and West Asia in the later first millennium C.E., in particular the transition from the use of soda from the natron lakes of Egypt to soda obtained from the ashes of halophytic plants. Not only is this an outstanding example of the application of chemical analysis to a technical change, focusing on chronological and regional variations, but it also provides a good introduction to the major glass types which moved along the silk road from West to East and which are encountered later on in the volume. Kenoyer provides a long, comprehensive review of major importance on the faience and glazed steatite of the Indus tradition, focusing on Harappa. This brings together new work and insights with a substantial but dispersed literature, much of which has been generated by the author Early online release of article in press. and his collaborators and which is not always easily accessible. Kenoyer is skeptical about the identification of so-called “steatite faience” or glazed crushed steatite. He calls for more detailed examination of samples removed from...

On the Ways of Forest Typology Researches in Siberia in the 1960s–2000s

The article presents a brief overview of the works on forest typology and zoning of Siberia conducted at the Forest Typology Laboratory of the Institute of Forest and Timber of the USSR Academy of Sciences, later Sukachev Institute of Forest of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The ecological and phytocoenotic line of research and the regional approach to the creation of diagnostic tables of forest types were adopted as a basis for complex field work carried out jointly with forest management throughout Siberia. The principal features of forest typological work in mountains required the improvement of the system of classification units and mapping of forest cover with determining their diagnostic indicators. The significance of these works for the development of the concept of systemic structure of forest cover and its deep connection with the concept of hierarchical structure of landscape cover through the idea of biogeocenosis and terrestrial ecosystem are meaningful for today. The author speaks in favor of the regional approach to classification of forest types but does not close the way to the creation of a generalized classification of forest ecosystems based on climatic ordination and information modeling. The practical use of ecological-phytocenotic regional classifications of forest cover is substantiated for creating medium-scale maps for various purposes and solving environmental management problems, with the access to ecosystem management of forest territories.

Evidentiality in Finnish

AbstractEvidentiality conveys information about the nature – and reliability – of the information source. This paper investigates the Finnish reportative evidential (hearsay particle)kuulemmaand the dubitative particlemuka(‘supposedly, allegedly, as if’). I propose a unifying analysis of two seemingly divergent uses ofmuka, and show how they contrast withkuulemma. My analysis builds on and extends recent work on reportatives regarding the distinction between the Animator (the speaker who utters the sentence) and the Principal (the person whose commitments are being expressed). Furthermore, I suggest that the dubitativemukamay point to the existence of non-assertive discourse moves and has implications for our understanding of the discourse role of ‘Principal.’ This work also informs typological work on evidentials and related expressions by providing a systematic investigation of reportative and dubitative markers in a non-Indo-European language.

Not…Until across European Languages: A Parallel Corpus Study

We present a parallel corpus study on the expression of the temporal construction ‘not…until’ in a sample of European languages. We use data from the Europarl corpus and create semantic maps by multidimensional scaling, in order to analyze cross-linguistic and language-internal variation. This paper builds on formal semantic and typological work, extending it by including conditional constructions, as well as connectives of the type as long as. In an investigation of 7 languages, we find that (i) languages use many more different constructions to convey this meaning than was expected from the literature; and (ii) the combination of polarity marking (negation/assertion) strongly correlates with the type of connective. We corroborate our results in a larger sample of 21 European languages. An analysis of clusters and dimensions of the semantic maps based on the enlarged dataset shows that connectives are not randomly distributed across the semantic space of the ‘not…until’-domain.

Inflectional predictability and prosodic morphology in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara

Lexically stipulated suppletive allomorphy, such as that found in inflection class systems, makes wordforms unpredictable because any one of several exponents may be used to express some morphosyntactic property set. However, recent research shows that apparently complex inflectional paradigms can be organised in such a way that knowing one inflected form of a lexeme greatly reduces the uncertainty of other forms (e.g. Ackerman and Malouf 2013). Further typological work is required to investigate the ways in which inflectional interpredictability is achieved, and what aspects of wordforms may be informative. In this paper we present a case study of interpredictability in verbal inflection in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara (Pama-Nyungan; Australia). We show that a combination of suffix allomorphy, prosodically conditioned stem augmentation, and the prosodic structure of verbal roots all conspire to achieve a paradigm that is totally interpredictable: hearing one inflected verb enables a speaker to produce with certainty any other form of that verb. We also provide a detailed description of metrical structure in the language, clarifying previous analyses.

Pushing SFL out of its comfort zone: The role of SPCA structure in English and Spanish

For several years now, the application of systemic functional theory to the description of languages other than English has been helping to fine-tune descriptive practice. Typological work on Spanish, for instance, has shown some areas in which this language is very different from English and mere transfer comparison does not work. One example is the enactment of communicative exchange, given that the MOOD system does not play a role in Spanish. This paper revises the description of communicative exchange in Spanish, based on the existing literature, to propose a revision of the ‘interpersonal’ status of the SPCA structure (Subject, Finite, Complement, etc.) not only in Spanish but also in English. In this proposal this structure is not regarded as inherently interpersonal in either language. Rather, a point is made for its relocation in the lexicogrammar, specifically as the syntactic component of the logical metafunction, which deploys all its structural potential in close interaction with the other metafunctions. It is argued that the assignation of SPCA structure to the logical metafunction facilitates the contrastive description of the different resources used by English and Spanish for the construal of communicative exchange.

Creating boundaries and stops in German: An analysis in Universal Boundary Theory

This paper discusses the nature of prosodic representations, focusing on a case study from the phonology of Standard High German. This language displays devoicing, previously argued to be sensitive to syllables, and glottal stop epenthesis, previously argued to be sensitive to feet. This seems to require at least two prosodic constituents, the syllable and the foot. However, I show that the data can be analyzed straightforwardly in Universal Boundary Theory (UBT), a non-hierarchical theory of prosodic representations using only a single boundary symbol |. I introduce the central assumptions of UBT, and show that the theory can handle the syllable- and foot-level phonology of German, including affix-specific behavior and phase-based interactions between the syntax and phonology. I argue that UBT provides a better account of devoicing than a class of earlier analyses based on syllables. Moving beyond German, UBT predicts the existence of a new prosodic universal which cannot be captured by a traditional prosodic hierarchy: phonological processes apply top-down, from larger to smaller prosodic units. Future typological work will shed light on the crosslinguistic validity of this prediction.

Learners’ harmonic preferences are modulated by lexical retrieval difficulty

Typological work has established the existence of language universals – features or combinations of features that (co-) occur in unrelated languages more frequently than expected by chance. The origins of language universals are a fundamental question in language sciences as these universals are considered a reflection of cognitive mechanisms underlying human language. In this study, we use a miniature artificial language learning paradigm to explore whether a well-known universal – a preference for harmonic word ordering between adpositional and verb phrases (i.e., placing the head in a consistent position with respect to the complements across the two phrase types) – originates in biases during language learning and whether this preference interacts with memory constraints (operationalized as lexical retrieval difficulty). We first trained participants on miniature languages containing adpositional phrases of a deterministic word order (either prepositional or postpositional inputs) and then briefly exposed them to simple transitive sentences (verb-subject-object and subject-object-verb order, equally frequent in the input). At test, we asked learners to describe simple transitive scenes. We found that in the hard lexical retrieval condition, learners exposed to a postpositional language showed a preference for harmonic ordering but learners of the prepositional language did not, which is only partially consistent to the typological distribution. In the easy lexical retrieval condition, learners of neither the postpositional nor prepositional language showed a preference for harmonic ordering, indicating that this preference is modulated by memory constraints.

Typology of Verbal Violence in Political Discourse: Codification of Sociolinguistics

-Use of language in the political world, especially during regional elections and heads of state almost loses control so that it represents verbal violence, such as provocation, insults, hate speech, etc. Therefore, this study aims to codify the typology of verbal violence in the political discourse of the 2017 DKI Regional Election and 2019 Presidential Election based on Sociolinguistic studies. This research uses a qualitativedescriptive approach andmethod content analysis and is based on typological work steps. Based on Sociolinguistics codified three typologies of the use of verbal violence in the political discourse of the DKI and Pilpres Regional Elections. First, based on his mission andmotivation political, founded a type of verbal hate speechwith four subtypes, namely (a) insults, (b) defamation, (c) provocation, and (d) incitement. Second, based on its social effects,, three types of verbal violence were foundnamely (1) stigmatization, (2) labeling, and (3) stereotyping. Third, based on the form of delivery, found two types of verbal violence, namely (1) repressive with four subtypes: (a) threatening, (b) forcing, (c) yelling, (d) frightening, and (f) humiliating; and (2) an alienative type with two subtypes: (a) alienating and (b) discrediting. Based on the dominance of the data found on its political mission and motivation, which is contempt and provocation, the social effect is stigmatization, and based on repressive forms it is humiliating and alienative is discrediting; it can be concluded that the use of verbal violence in political discourse aims to beat, even bring down political opponents massively on themass online media and social media, so that political language has lost its meaning and is far from politeness.

Differential object marking in sign languages

Sign languages are sometimes claimed to lack argument marking, yet they exhibit many devices to track and disambiguate referents. In this paper, I will argue that there are devices found across sign languages that demonstrate how object marking is a prevalent property and that these devices show clear parallels to differential object marking (DOM) as described for spoken languages. This includes animacy/prominence effects on word order and verbal modification, as well as dedicated object markers used exclusively with [+human] objects. Thus, I propose that DOM phenomena need to be taken into account in any future research on sign language structure, but also that sign languages should be accounted for in typological work on DOM.

Glides and laryngeals as a structural class

AbstractPhonological processes typically affect natural classes of sounds, with the members of such classes sharing some phonetic property to the exclusion of other sounds. Recent typological work shows that not all phonological classes are natural, however (Mielke 2008). This paper considers the class of glides and laryngeals, a combination of sounds which resists a straightforward characterization in terms of shared features. Adopting the framework of Element Theory (Harris & Lindsey 1995;Backley 2011), we argue that class behaviour of glides and laryngeals is due not to their having shared phonetic content, but shared phonological structure: glides and laryngeals contain a single element in their melodic structure. We conclude that phonological processes can be sensitive to the difference between simple and complex expressions.

Phonological typology by Matthew K. Gordon

Reviewed by: Phonological typology by Matthew K. Gordon Paul V. de Lacy Phonological typology. By Matthew K. Gordon. (Oxford surveys in phonology and phonetics.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Pp. ix, 363. ISBN 9780199669011. $50. Gordon’s Phonological typology (PT) is a survey of the crosslinguistic variation found in selected phonological phenomena. There is an emphasis throughout on explaining such variation, resulting in a book that is highly theoretically informed. There are also many discussions of within-language frequency of phonological categories—something rarely found in work of this type. Overall, PT is a masterful work, written by a highly qualified author: G has many publications in theoretical phonology and has presented extensive typological research as evidence for his theories. It is important to say what PT is not. It does not propose any new theories, and it is not a textbook. PT is also not a handbook—it does not provide deep exploration of individual topics. Instead, PT bridges the gap between a textbook and a handbook: it provides an overview of topics and serves as a jumping-off point for deeper study in either handbooks or original sources. Accordingly, much of the book presupposes a strong foundation in phonological theory, so undergraduates would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to understand the discussions without help. While it is a survey, PT is not merely a catalogue of generalizations. There is continual emphasis on explanation, and on the many sources of explanation for typological asymmetries, with an excellent overview in Ch. 2. PT presents constant reminders that theories play a necessary role in typological exploration. PT also has a social goal: to encourage better communication between typologists and theoretical phonologists. Over the past three decades, a great deal of work in theoretical phonology has involved typological research, often driven by predictions of proposals expressed in optimality theory (OT; Prince & Smolensky 2004). At the same time, phonology has been less prominent among typologists, leading to what G calls ‘the impoverished position of phonology in typology’ (5; see also Hyman 2007). PT provides a way for typologists to gain quick insight into the crosslinguistic variation of many phonological phenomena, as well as to understand theoreticians’ motivations for their typological work. In a sense, PT is a theoretician reaching out to typologists. To a lesser extent, it also encourages theoreticians to take note of work in typology; PT discusses many databases and descriptions that will help inform theoretical work. By contrast, PT does not provide extensive discussion of the methods used by typologists in their work—not even on such basic issues as how to provide a balanced sample of languages in a typology, and how such balancing might be relevant to theoreticians. So, while PT is a bridge between typologists and theoreticians, it is mainly one-way. I believe PT will be at its most useful in advanced undergraduate phonology classes and introductory graduate courses. The chapters cover syllables, segmental processes, stress, tone and intonation, [End Page 481] and prosodic morphology. All presuppose familiarity with fundamental phonological concepts; some basic information is provided, but it is rather telegraphic (e.g. the one-page introduction to the syllable: pp. 83–84). In other words, students should be provided with a strong understanding of the syllable before tackling PT’s ‘syllable’ chapter, and the same advice applies for every other chapter in the book. Each chapter is fairly self-contained, and so chapters could be profitably assigned as individual readings. For the student, the value of each chapter is that it provides a high-level overview of broad topics, but with enough depth to identify interesting aspects, and adequate references to launch the student toward deeper exploration. A great strength of the book is its focus on within-language frequency. For example, there is discussion of the within-language relative frequency of short vs. long vowels, singleton vs. geminate consonants, geminate consonants of various manners of articulation, syllable types, and many others (52ff.). It is rare to see such within-language relative frequencies discussed, even though—as G notes—they often follow the same patterns as found crosslinguistically. Any survey faces a basic conundrum: breadth or depth? In terms of...

Result verbs, scalar change, and the typology of motion verbs

In this article we consider the nature of ‘result verbs’, typically defined as verbs describing scalar changes, which have played a significant role in the literature on verb typologies, event structures, and theories of (im)possible word meanings. We argue that the entailment of scalar change and the entailment of a new result state should not be wholly conflated. Rather, various previously proposed diagnostics for scalar change actually pick out at least two distinct notions—entailing change along a scale regardless of whether a new state obtains for the theme argument, more broadly, and change along a scale that does result in a new state, more narrowly. We specifically examine verbs of manner of motion, with a special emphasis on the verb climb , and show that there is a subclass of manner-of-motion verbs that entail scalar change without a new result and are themselves also cross-classified by other standard distinctions among scalar change verbs. These observations have several consequences. First, manner-of-motion verbs are not as distinct from path verbs as prior work in the Talmy typology has suggested. Second, prior diagnostics for identifying result verbs and subtypes of result verbs are sensitive to the various distinctions we propose, producing more nuanced results than previously assumed. Third, the observation that a large swath of manner-of-motion verbs also have result entailments further supports the conclusion in Beavers & Koontz-Garboden 2012 that there is no truth-conditional manner/result complementarity in verb meaning, expanding the base of potential counterexamples and raising questions about how the claim is meant to be interpreted.

Path-expressing constructions: Toward a typology

AbstractThis paper discusses Talmy’s typology of motion events and provides an outline of our own approach. In the first part, we present Talmy’s typology, its origin and evolution, the various objections which have been raised against it, and some data which, in current typological work, have been recognized marginally or not at all. In the second part, we describe our own approach, with a double goal in sight: first, of overcoming the difficulties met by current proposals, and, next, of providing an inventory of constructions used in the encoding of path. This inventory is given in an appendix.