Pub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/03740463.2020.1743582
S. Gregersen
ABSTRACT The article is an in-depth review of Petar Kehayov’s monograph The Fate of Mood and Modality in Language Death: Evidence from Minor Finnic (De Gruyter Mouton, 2017). The book investigates the development of mood and modality in four moribund Finnic languages spoken in the Russian Federation: Votic, Ingrian, Central Lude, and Eastern Seto. After a detailed summary of the book, I discuss a number of issues relating to (a) the semantic map used to analyze the modal meanings; (b) the difference between language death-related changes and “regular” language change; and (c) the explanation of the observed patterns in terms of conceptual complexity. On the last point, I suggest that usage frequency may provide a better explanation for some of the observed changes.
摘要:本文对Petar Kehayov的专著《语言死亡中语气和情态的命运:来自小芬兰语的证据》(De Gruyter Mouton, 2017)进行了深入的回顾。这本书调查了在俄罗斯联邦使用的四种垂死的芬兰语的语气和情态的发展:Votic, Ingrian, Central Lude和Eastern Seto。在对本书进行了详细的总结之后，我讨论了一些与(a)用于分析情态意义的语义图有关的问题;(b)语言死亡相关变化与“正常”语言变化之间的区别;(c)从概念复杂性的角度解释观察到的模式。关于最后一点，我认为使用频率可能为观察到的一些变化提供了更好的解释。
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Pub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/03740463.2020.1745618
Vladimir Panov
ABSTRACT This paper deals with the typology of elements which, as I argue, are best described as markers of uncontroversial information. In order to be able to speak of this class of functions cross-linguistically, I propose the label enimitive, which is derived from the Latin particle enim. On the basis of the data provided in language-particular descriptions, parallel corpora, and my own questionnaire, I investigate the core functions of the enimitive, and typical polysemy models exhibited by enimitive markers cross-linguistically. The polysemy patterns of enimitive markers of the languages of Europe are presented in the form of semantic maps. I argue that in a part of Europe, the geographical distribution of enimitive marking with a particular polysemy type exhibits an areal pattern. I also investigate some particular language-contact mechanisms in both the functions and morphosyntax of enimitive markers which could have led to the present state of affairs.
{"title":"The marking of uncontroversial information in Europe: presenting the enimitive","authors":"Vladimir Panov","doi":"10.1080/03740463.2020.1745618","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.2020.1745618","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper deals with the typology of elements which, as I argue, are best described as markers of uncontroversial information. In order to be able to speak of this class of functions cross-linguistically, I propose the label enimitive, which is derived from the Latin particle enim. On the basis of the data provided in language-particular descriptions, parallel corpora, and my own questionnaire, I investigate the core functions of the enimitive, and typical polysemy models exhibited by enimitive markers cross-linguistically. The polysemy patterns of enimitive markers of the languages of Europe are presented in the form of semantic maps. I argue that in a part of Europe, the geographical distribution of enimitive marking with a particular polysemy type exhibits an areal pattern. I also investigate some particular language-contact mechanisms in both the functions and morphosyntax of enimitive markers which could have led to the present state of affairs.","PeriodicalId":35105,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hafniensia","volume":"86 1","pages":"1 - 44"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77627191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/03740463.2020.1736747
J. Nash, P. Bakker, Kristoffer Friis Bøegh, Aymeric Daval-Markussen, H. Haberland, Dale Kedwards, John Ladhams, Carsten Levisen, Jón Símon Markússon, Joost Robbe, J. Willemsen
ABSTRACT Islands as specific research sites in their own right have been given little direct attention by linguists. The physical segregation, distinctness, and isolation of islands from mainland and continental environments may provide scholars of language with distinct and robust sets of singular and combined case studies for examining the role of islandness in any appreciation of language. Whether distinct and particular sociolinguistic and typological phenomena can be attributable to islands and their islandness and vice versa remains unexplored. This position article considers the possibility of there being anything particular and peculiar about languages spoken on islands as compared to languages spoken on mainlands and continents. It arose out of a workshop titled ‘Exploring island languages’ held at Aarhus University, Denmark on 30 April 2018. The main question posed was: Is there anything special socially, linguistically, grammatically, and typologically about the languages of islands? If so, is it possible to talk about such a thing as an island language?
{"title":"On languages on islands","authors":"J. Nash, P. Bakker, Kristoffer Friis Bøegh, Aymeric Daval-Markussen, H. Haberland, Dale Kedwards, John Ladhams, Carsten Levisen, Jón Símon Markússon, Joost Robbe, J. Willemsen","doi":"10.1080/03740463.2020.1736747","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.2020.1736747","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Islands as specific research sites in their own right have been given little direct attention by linguists. The physical segregation, distinctness, and isolation of islands from mainland and continental environments may provide scholars of language with distinct and robust sets of singular and combined case studies for examining the role of islandness in any appreciation of language. Whether distinct and particular sociolinguistic and typological phenomena can be attributable to islands and their islandness and vice versa remains unexplored. This position article considers the possibility of there being anything particular and peculiar about languages spoken on islands as compared to languages spoken on mainlands and continents. It arose out of a workshop titled ‘Exploring island languages’ held at Aarhus University, Denmark on 30 April 2018. The main question posed was: Is there anything special socially, linguistically, grammatically, and typologically about the languages of islands? If so, is it possible to talk about such a thing as an island language?","PeriodicalId":35105,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hafniensia","volume":"54 1","pages":"116 - 81"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76939754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/03740463.2019.1695242
K. Davidse, Wout Van Praet, Ngum Meyuhnsi Njende
This issue on Communicative Dynamism brings together contributions investigating various dimensions of what is most commonly called information structure. In terms of theoretical affiliation, all contributors have their roots in the Hallidayan functional tradition, whose indebtedness to Prague School linguistics is well-established (e.g., Halliday 1974; Davidse 1987). By choosing the term Communicative Dynamism coined by Czech linguist Jan Firbas as the theme of the issue, we pay tribute to the pioneering role played by the Prague School and to the lasting modernity and relevance of their work. In this introduction, we first outline the theoretical notions and descriptive distinctions proposed by the Prague School that are relevant to this issue (Section 1). In Section 3, we discuss the various dimensions of information structure and communicative dynamism addressed in the contributions. In tackling specific theoretical and descriptive issues, the contributions incorporate elements not only from Hallidayan and Prague School functionalism but also from other traditions such as Cognitive Grammar, which we cover in Section 2. This eclectic functionalism is in accordance with VilémMathesius’ adage “Language is a fortress that must be assailed from all sides and with every kind of weapon” (Chovanec 2014, 6), which Jan Firbas loved to cite (Firbas 1992b, 167).
本期《交际动力》汇集了研究最常被称为信息结构的各个维度的贡献。在理论联系方面，所有贡献者都植根于哈利达扬的功能传统，其对布拉格学派语言学的负债是公认的(例如，哈利达1974;Davidse 1987)。我们选择捷克语言学家Jan Firbas创造的“交际动力”一词作为本期的主题，是为了向布拉格学派所发挥的先锋作用以及他们工作的持久现代性和相关性致敬。在本引言中，我们首先概述了布拉格学派提出的与该问题相关的理论概念和描述性区别(第1节)。在第3节中，我们讨论了论文中涉及的信息结构和交际动态的各个维度。在处理具体的理论和描述问题时，这些贡献不仅结合了哈利达扬和布拉格学派功能主义的元素，还结合了其他传统的元素，如认知语法，我们将在第2节中介绍。这种折衷的功能主义符合vil mmathesius的格言“语言是一座堡垒，必须从各个方面和各种武器进行攻击”(Chovanec 2014, 6)， Jan Firbas喜欢引用(Firbas 1992b, 167)。
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Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/03740463.2019.1641318
Wout Van Praet
ABSTRACT Studies of types of copular clauses assume that specificational and predicative clauses can be contrasted by their different information foci, as reflected in patterns of intonational prominence. This paper investigates that assumption by looking at the prosodic realisation of 600 specificational clauses with variable noun phrase (NP) subjects and 600 predicative clauses with predicative NP complements. A study of the utterances’ tonality, tonicity, relative pitch and intensity reveals that the two copular types cannot readily be contrasted by a mere background-focus dichotomy. While predicative clauses evince the expected prominence pattern with the focus on the description, specificational clauses give salience to their two arguments. Therefore, I propose that the real difference between specificational and predicative clauses most frequently concerns the foregrounding or backgrounding of the semantically more general NP, i.e., the variable and what I propose to call the ‘describee’, respectively. This I explain in terms of the different communicative dynamism of the variable vs. describee and of the specificational and predicative clause types in general.
{"title":"Focus assignment in English specificational and predicative clauses: intonation as a cue to information structure?","authors":"Wout Van Praet","doi":"10.1080/03740463.2019.1641318","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.2019.1641318","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Studies of types of copular clauses assume that specificational and predicative clauses can be contrasted by their different information foci, as reflected in patterns of intonational prominence. This paper investigates that assumption by looking at the prosodic realisation of 600 specificational clauses with variable noun phrase (NP) subjects and 600 predicative clauses with predicative NP complements. A study of the utterances’ tonality, tonicity, relative pitch and intensity reveals that the two copular types cannot readily be contrasted by a mere background-focus dichotomy. While predicative clauses evince the expected prominence pattern with the focus on the description, specificational clauses give salience to their two arguments. Therefore, I propose that the real difference between specificational and predicative clauses most frequently concerns the foregrounding or backgrounding of the semantically more general NP, i.e., the variable and what I propose to call the ‘describee’, respectively. This I explain in terms of the different communicative dynamism of the variable vs. describee and of the specificational and predicative clause types in general.","PeriodicalId":35105,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hafniensia","volume":"43 1","pages":"222 - 241"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85591861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/03740463.2019.1668621
Gerard O’Grady, Tom Bartlett
ABSTRACT In this article, we show how speakers manage information flow in real time and signal their interactional expectations. Speech unfolds temporally, not only as a series of lexical items which are grouped into grammatical units, but also as a sequence of tone groups which have the potential to achieve an act of telling. While there is a general belief that speakers commence their discourse with information that is shared prior to telling information that updates the common ground, our analysis of a corpus of monologue and dialogue shows that matters are not so simple. Speakers’ informational needs are balanced moment by moment within and between increments which are themselves shaped by the interlocutors’ shifting apprehensions of communicative purpose and the extent of presumed shared information. In our analysis we combine (i) a speech functional analysis, (ii) a description of a hierarchy of informational foci and (iii) prosody in order to develop a detailed description of how speakers manage information flow in real time. This enables us to show how speakers simultaneously balance informational flow while signalling their interactional expectations. Our conclusion is that speakers manage information flow by balancing textual, interpersonal and ideational choices.
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Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/03740463.2019.1677136
K. Davidse, Ngum Meyuhnsi Njende
ABSTRACT This article develops a new account of enumerative there-clauses and enumerative there-clefts, which in the literature have tended to be reduced to purely pragmatic, informationally motivated constructions. They have also been treated as separate phenomena: Enumerative there-clauses have been argued to be part of the unitary existential construction, whose main function is to present hearer-new information. Enumerative there-clefts are viewed as focus-marking devices with semantically empty matrix. Against this, we analyse enumerative there-clauses as reduced enumerative there-clefts. We argue that they convey the same representational, or ideational, semantics. They are secondary specification constructions, which assert the existence of Values corresponding to the Variable, which is overtly coded in the cleft construction and implied in the reduced cleft. It is on the textual level that enumerative there-clauses and enumerative there-clefts contrast with each other. On the basis of quantified corpus study of spoken data, we show that the implied Variable is typically textually evoked in the preceding discourse, whereas the overt Variable typically contains new-anchored information.
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Pub Date : 2019-07-03DOI: 10.1080/03740463.2019.1650607
Tom Bartlett, Gerard O’Grady
ABSTRACT In the present paper, we bring together concepts from the Prague School and Systemic Functional Linguistics to compare the means by which cohesion and information structure are signalled in English and Scottish Gaelic. We start with a brief discussion of textuality across languages and question the universality of Halliday’s concept of Theme. From there, we present a contrastive overview of textuality in the two languages, in which we characterise English as participant-oriented and Gaelic as process-oriented. We then provide a detailed analysis of the range of ways in which the distinct resources of each language combine to structure the flow of a narrative text in its English and Gaelic versions, as translated by the author. In this way we demonstrate: (i) how the form and function of the textual resources available in each language can be related to their distinctive characterologies; (ii) how these individual resources function differently within the two texts; and (iii) how the distinct functions realised at the clausal level nonetheless interact to fulfil broadly equivalent functions in terms of the semantic relations indexed between consecutive stretches of text above the clause. Building on these findings, we suggest more general points regarding the appropriate units of analysis in (crosslinguistic) discourse analysis and typology and the level of abstraction of linguistic universals.
{"title":"Language characterology and textual dynamics: a crosslinguistic exploration in English and Scottish Gaelic","authors":"Tom Bartlett, Gerard O’Grady","doi":"10.1080/03740463.2019.1650607","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.2019.1650607","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the present paper, we bring together concepts from the Prague School and Systemic Functional Linguistics to compare the means by which cohesion and information structure are signalled in English and Scottish Gaelic. We start with a brief discussion of textuality across languages and question the universality of Halliday’s concept of Theme. From there, we present a contrastive overview of textuality in the two languages, in which we characterise English as participant-oriented and Gaelic as process-oriented. We then provide a detailed analysis of the range of ways in which the distinct resources of each language combine to structure the flow of a narrative text in its English and Gaelic versions, as translated by the author. In this way we demonstrate: (i) how the form and function of the textual resources available in each language can be related to their distinctive characterologies; (ii) how these individual resources function differently within the two texts; and (iii) how the distinct functions realised at the clausal level nonetheless interact to fulfil broadly equivalent functions in terms of the semantic relations indexed between consecutive stretches of text above the clause. Building on these findings, we suggest more general points regarding the appropriate units of analysis in (crosslinguistic) discourse analysis and typology and the level of abstraction of linguistic universals.","PeriodicalId":35105,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hafniensia","volume":"47 1","pages":"124 - 159"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75938936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-02DOI: 10.1080/03740463.2019.1594577
Hans-Olav Enger
ABSTRACT There has been some debate over the notion of “morphomes”, i.e., patterns of inflection without any clear motivation outside of morphology. Morphomes are taken as evidence for some autonomy of morphology. However, it has been claimed that there is “very little evidence for change which operates on morphology alone”, in other words that morphology does not change independently – and this has, consequently, been used as an argument against the “morphomic” approach. This paper presents evidence of inflection classes arising or being “strengthened” in Scandinavian, classes that do not have any function outside of morphology. This, then, is evidence of change, operating on morphology alone – even in the relatively “poor” inflection systems of Scandinavian. One of the case studies also shows affixes being changed in order to align better with non-affixal inflection. This goes against the claim that non-affixal inflection is epiphenomenal. The paper also presents criticism of some other arguments that have been used against the morphomic approach. Notably, the “diagnostic problem” suggested for morphomes is hardly more severe than that involved in many other approaches to morphology. The paper also shows a (perhaps unexpected) convergence between the morphomic approach and strands of functionalism. While morphomic patterns may seem redundant and local, this is not unique to them. Many generalisations done by language users may seem redundant and local to linguists.
{"title":"In defence of morphomic analyses","authors":"Hans-Olav Enger","doi":"10.1080/03740463.2019.1594577","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.2019.1594577","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT There has been some debate over the notion of “morphomes”, i.e., patterns of inflection without any clear motivation outside of morphology. Morphomes are taken as evidence for some autonomy of morphology. However, it has been claimed that there is “very little evidence for change which operates on morphology alone”, in other words that morphology does not change independently – and this has, consequently, been used as an argument against the “morphomic” approach. This paper presents evidence of inflection classes arising or being “strengthened” in Scandinavian, classes that do not have any function outside of morphology. This, then, is evidence of change, operating on morphology alone – even in the relatively “poor” inflection systems of Scandinavian. One of the case studies also shows affixes being changed in order to align better with non-affixal inflection. This goes against the claim that non-affixal inflection is epiphenomenal. The paper also presents criticism of some other arguments that have been used against the morphomic approach. Notably, the “diagnostic problem” suggested for morphomes is hardly more severe than that involved in many other approaches to morphology. The paper also shows a (perhaps unexpected) convergence between the morphomic approach and strands of functionalism. While morphomic patterns may seem redundant and local, this is not unique to them. Many generalisations done by language users may seem redundant and local to linguists.","PeriodicalId":35105,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Hafniensia","volume":"192 1","pages":"31 - 59"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72829451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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