In this study, a construction marginally found in Ancient Greek is addressed, namely the participial clause, which is a clause whose main verb is a participle. This construction displays a considerable increase in frequency in Biblical Greek (mainly between the 2nd century bce and the 2nd century ce), which is the language found in Judaeo-Christian literature and which features, in various ways and to various degrees, the influence of Semitic languages. Since the participial clause is a very common construction in these tongues, wherein it even exhibits increasing productivity and frequency at the time at issue, I suggest that the frequency increase observed in Greek should be attributed to the influence of these Semitic languages, with a crucial role played by multilingualism. The issue is addressed from the perspective of language contact, which provides the theoretical and terminological frame by which the phenomenon is individuated and defined.
{"title":"The spread of participial clauses in Biblical Greek","authors":"Edoardo Nardi","doi":"10.1075/jhl.22040.nar","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.22040.nar","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In this study, a construction marginally found in Ancient Greek is addressed, namely the participial clause, which is a clause whose main verb is a participle. This construction displays a considerable increase in frequency in Biblical Greek (mainly between the 2nd century bce and the 2nd century ce), which is the language found in Judaeo-Christian literature and which features, in various ways and to various degrees, the influence of Semitic languages. Since the participial clause is a very common construction in these tongues, wherein it even exhibits increasing productivity and frequency at the time at issue, I suggest that the frequency increase observed in Greek should be attributed to the influence of these Semitic languages, with a crucial role played by multilingualism. The issue is addressed from the perspective of language contact, which provides the theoretical and terminological frame by which the phenomenon is individuated and defined.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45065979","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}
Abstract While the phenomenon of tonogenesis is well represented in the literature, diachronic tone change in already-tonal languages has received less attention. This paper considers two types of tonal morphology used to mark the “potential” inflectional category on verbs in Coatec Zapotec (aka Di′zhke′). Some verbs are marked with upstep. Coatec upstepped tones are emergent tonal contrasts that are developing out of high register allotones which assimilated to a historical high tone on a now-deleted preceding syllable. Other verbs display patterns of tone ablaut such that a verb with underlying low or falling tone surfaces with high or rising in the potential. Both upstep and tone ablaut in Coatec can be traced to an earlier floating high tone that could dock onto different syllables according to a set of ranked constraints. Using a combination of internal and comparative reconstruction, details of the earlier tonal system are revealed. This is the first published treatment of Proto-Zapotec tone since Swadesh (1947) and the first paper to address tone in Proto-Zapotecan and Proto Core Zapotec. *ʔ is revealed to have been a consonant through the Core Zapotec period, suggesting that the complex systems of phonation contrasts found in some Central Zapotec languages are a recent development. Cases of tonal contrasts developing out of phonation contrasts are known from Southeast Asia, but Zapotec phonation contrasts arose out of interaction between the glottal consonant and pre-existing tonal contrasts. An exploration of the morphological environments conducive to upstep leads to new discoveries about Zapotecan derivational voice prefixes and reveals the origins of perfective allomorphy.
{"title":"The tonal morphology of the potential in Coatec Zapotec (Di′zhke′)","authors":"Rosemary G. Beam de Azcona","doi":"10.1075/jhl.22018.bea","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.22018.bea","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract While the phenomenon of tonogenesis is well represented in the literature, diachronic tone change in already-tonal languages has received less attention. This paper considers two types of tonal morphology used to mark the “potential” inflectional category on verbs in Coatec Zapotec (aka Di′zhke′). Some verbs are marked with upstep. Coatec upstepped tones are emergent tonal contrasts that are developing out of high register allotones which assimilated to a historical high tone on a now-deleted preceding syllable. Other verbs display patterns of tone ablaut such that a verb with underlying low or falling tone surfaces with high or rising in the potential. Both upstep and tone ablaut in Coatec can be traced to an earlier floating high tone that could dock onto different syllables according to a set of ranked constraints. Using a combination of internal and comparative reconstruction, details of the earlier tonal system are revealed. This is the first published treatment of Proto-Zapotec tone since Swadesh (1947) and the first paper to address tone in Proto-Zapotecan and Proto Core Zapotec. *ʔ is revealed to have been a consonant through the Core Zapotec period, suggesting that the complex systems of phonation contrasts found in some Central Zapotec languages are a recent development. Cases of tonal contrasts developing out of phonation contrasts are known from Southeast Asia, but Zapotec phonation contrasts arose out of interaction between the glottal consonant and pre-existing tonal contrasts. An exploration of the morphological environments conducive to upstep leads to new discoveries about Zapotecan derivational voice prefixes and reveals the origins of perfective allomorphy.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135478163","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}
This paper analyzes vowel shifts in Wichi (Mataguayan, South America) between the 18th and early 20th centuries, some of which contributed to the emergence of the Pilcomayeño and Bermejeño dialects. Based on a historical database and using the comparative method, we date the vowel shift over the period we have named as Middle Wichi. At the early stage of this period, the /e/ > /a/ lowering is analyzed as a sporadic change, spread across the dialects in part of the vocabulary. At a later stage, the chain shift /ɑ/ > /o/ > /u/ > /e, i/, the merger of /u/ with /e/ and /i/, and the sporadic change of /i/>/e/ lowering in some words took place in Bermejeño. The paper explores implications in the implementation of sound change, the regular changes and the lexical diffusion, in particular, in chain shifting. It also explores some connections with other Mataguayan languages in both the lowering e>a and the possible causes of the changes. Thus, the paper contributes to the historical study of the Wichi language and the Mataguayan family in the Gran Chaco area in South America.
{"title":"Vowel shifts in Middle Wichi (Mataguayan family, South America)","authors":"Verónica Nercesian, Nicolás Arellano","doi":"10.1075/jhl.22030.ner","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.22030.ner","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper analyzes vowel shifts in Wichi (Mataguayan, South America) between the 18th and early 20th centuries,\u0000 some of which contributed to the emergence of the Pilcomayeño and Bermejeño dialects. Based on a historical database and using the\u0000 comparative method, we date the vowel shift over the period we have named as Middle Wichi. At the early stage of\u0000 this period, the /e/ > /a/ lowering is analyzed as a sporadic change, spread across the dialects in part of the vocabulary. At\u0000 a later stage, the chain shift /ɑ/ > /o/ > /u/ > /e, i/, the merger of /u/ with /e/ and /i/, and the sporadic change of\u0000 /i/>/e/ lowering in some words took place in Bermejeño. The paper explores implications in the implementation of sound change,\u0000 the regular changes and the lexical diffusion, in particular, in chain shifting. It also explores some connections with other\u0000 Mataguayan languages in both the lowering e>a and the possible causes of the changes. Thus, the paper contributes to the\u0000 historical study of the Wichi language and the Mataguayan family in the Gran Chaco area in South America.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49351032","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}
This study sets out to discuss the evolution from oblique to core case as a manifestation of overtly-marked nominative-accusative alignment in Sinitic languages. This is due to the emergence of a type of ‘optional’ marking on preverbal direct objects in a construction type that has become widespread in Sinitic (Chappell & Verstraete 2019). In particular, I examine spoken discourse data from Taiwanese Southern Min whose comitative preposition, ka7 , has grammaticalized into an optional object marker. It is argued that this marker is undergoing morphologization into a direct object index (doi) on the main verb in the predicate, subsequent to the omission of the resumptive pronoun it governs. The new index takes over this function of cross-referencing the lexical direct object, typically located in the immediately preceding discourse, if not in clause-initial position. In an epilogue, I also briefly treat the evolution of local cases such as the allative and the perlative to optional object markers in the Southern Min languages of Shantou and Jieyang, situated in Guangdong Province, China. Both of these are extremely rare sources in the Sinitic family, yet common in Tibeto-Burman and Romance languages. The approach adopted is in harmony with recent diachronic studies which target source morphosyntax in order to explain the emergence of a variety of synchronic patterns, all bearing similar discourse and grammatical functions (Cristofaro & Zúñiga 2018).
{"title":"From oblique to core case in the Southern Min languages","authors":"Hilary Chappell","doi":"10.1075/jhl.21038.cha","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.21038.cha","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study sets out to discuss the evolution from oblique to core case as a manifestation of overtly-marked\u0000 nominative-accusative alignment in Sinitic languages. This is due to the emergence of a type of ‘optional’ marking on preverbal\u0000 direct objects in a construction type that has become widespread in Sinitic (Chappell &\u0000 Verstraete 2019). In particular, I examine spoken discourse data from Taiwanese Southern Min whose comitative\u0000 preposition, ka7\u0000 , has grammaticalized into an optional object marker. It is argued that this marker is\u0000 undergoing morphologization into a direct object index (doi) on the main verb in the predicate, subsequent to the\u0000 omission of the resumptive pronoun it governs. The new index takes over this function of cross-referencing the lexical direct\u0000 object, typically located in the immediately preceding discourse, if not in clause-initial position.\u0000 In an epilogue, I also briefly treat the evolution of local cases such as the allative and the perlative to\u0000 optional object markers in the Southern Min languages of Shantou and Jieyang, situated in Guangdong Province, China. Both of these\u0000 are extremely rare sources in the Sinitic family, yet common in Tibeto-Burman and Romance languages. The approach adopted is in\u0000 harmony with recent diachronic studies which target source morphosyntax in order to explain the emergence of a variety of\u0000 synchronic patterns, all bearing similar discourse and grammatical functions (Cristofaro &\u0000 Zúñiga 2018).","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41928722","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}
This article combines ideas and concepts deriving from grammaticalization studies, cognitive linguistics and construction grammar. Specifically, it takes three important ideas developed within grammaticalization research, namely untypical context, bridging or critical context and isolating or switch context (Evans & Wilkins 2000, 2006; Heine 2002), and remodels them with the concepts construct and construction. This enables the definition of three salient construct types present in historical corpora that are placed in the continuum between individual variation and language change: extensional constructs, ambiguous constructs and adaptive constructs. Each construct type characterizes a specific phase in language change. The data presented as illustration of the construct types stem from historical and contemporary corpora of written French, Italian and Spanish.
{"title":"Construct types in language change","authors":"S. Schneider","doi":"10.1075/jhl.22031.sch","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.22031.sch","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article combines ideas and concepts deriving from grammaticalization studies, cognitive linguistics and\u0000 construction grammar. Specifically, it takes three important ideas developed within grammaticalization research, namely\u0000 untypical context, bridging or critical context and isolating or\u0000 switch context (Evans & Wilkins 2000, 2006; Heine 2002), and remodels them with the concepts construct and\u0000 construction. This enables the definition of three salient construct types present in historical corpora that\u0000 are placed in the continuum between individual variation and language change: extensional constructs, ambiguous\u0000 constructs and adaptive constructs. Each construct type characterizes a specific phase in language\u0000 change. The data presented as illustration of the construct types stem from historical and contemporary corpora of written French,\u0000 Italian and Spanish.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45972755","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}
Polarity reversal has recently been argued to be the defining characteristic of counterfactuality. Ancient Greek had a diverse set of constructions which bring about polarity reversal that is not the direct result of a negation marker nor do they all express a counterfactual meaning. It is the aim of this paper to detail the major differences between these constructions synchronically and especially diachronically, focusing on counterfactual mood forms, counterfactual modal verbs, avertives (almost+past (im)perfective), non-counterfactual rhetorical questions and non-standard wishes. As a historically varied constructional group, these constructions bring about polarity reversal in different ways with different implicatures (e.g., counterfactual, contradictory, undesirable), but they most importantly differ in their diachronic conventionalization of polarity reversal. Whereas counterfactuals conventionalize their polarity reversal in various ways (e.g., changing temporal reference, counterfactual implicature transfer), non-counterfactual polarity reversal constructions create polarity reversal as a synchronic implicature through pragmatic means (e.g., a rhetorical question identifying a contradictory presupposition in the common ground or a non-standard wish evaluating an undesirable outcome to the speaker).
{"title":"Polarity reversal constructions and counterfactuals in Ancient Greek","authors":"Ezra la Roi","doi":"10.1075/jhl.22048.lar","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.22048.lar","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Polarity reversal has recently been argued to be the defining characteristic of counterfactuality. Ancient Greek\u0000 had a diverse set of constructions which bring about polarity reversal that is not the direct result of a negation marker nor do\u0000 they all express a counterfactual meaning. It is the aim of this paper to detail the major differences between these constructions\u0000 synchronically and especially diachronically, focusing on counterfactual mood forms, counterfactual modal verbs, avertives\u0000 (almost+past (im)perfective), non-counterfactual rhetorical questions and non-standard wishes. As a historically varied\u0000 constructional group, these constructions bring about polarity reversal in different ways with different implicatures (e.g.,\u0000 counterfactual, contradictory, undesirable), but they most importantly differ in their diachronic conventionalization of polarity\u0000 reversal. Whereas counterfactuals conventionalize their polarity reversal in various ways (e.g., changing temporal reference,\u0000 counterfactual implicature transfer), non-counterfactual polarity reversal constructions create polarity reversal as a synchronic\u0000 implicature through pragmatic means (e.g., a rhetorical question identifying a contradictory presupposition in the common ground\u0000 or a non-standard wish evaluating an undesirable outcome to the speaker).","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45081448","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}
Some North American indigenous languages have names for ‘common nighthawk’ (Chordeiles minor)’, ‘robin’, and ‘bird’ that are strikingly similar phonetically and have served to advocate long-distance genetic relationships among language families. While the Algonquian proto-form for ‘nighthawk’ has a rather straightforward pedigree, this is not the case for Siouan languages. Despite their phonetic resemblance, the ornithonyms for ‘nighthawk’ in half a dozen Siouan languages are unrelated; some are mimetic innovations and others are borrowed. This article analyses how and why ornithonyms are problematic in the application of the comparative method, a reality that affects the validity of long-distance claims, and offers alternative ways to deal with this issue. While ornithonyms can be inherited and undergo all the regular sound changes (or not) like other words, they are also problematic in many respects. First, they can be onomatopoetic and imitate the cry or call of the bird in question – a feature that accounts for their cross-linguistic similarity. Second, they can undergo ad hoc mimetic reshaping or become lexically contaminated based on phonetic similarity with other ornithonyms or words with which they are associated culturally. Third and last, they can be borrowed internally or externally. However, despite these comparative pitfalls (i.e., that some phonetically similar forms in a language family are not cognates), the analysis shows that our understanding of ornithological nomenclature can be enhanced by considering elements of ornithology, mythology, ethnographic knowledge, sayings, and puns pertaining to birds.
{"title":"‘Common nighthawk’ (Chordeiles minor) in Algonquian and Siouan languages","authors":"Vincent Collette","doi":"10.1075/jhl.22033.col","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.22033.col","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Some North American indigenous languages have names for ‘common nighthawk’ (Chordeiles minor)’, ‘robin’, and ‘bird’ that are strikingly similar phonetically and have served to advocate long-distance genetic relationships among language families. While the Algonquian proto-form for ‘nighthawk’ has a rather straightforward pedigree, this is not the case for Siouan languages. Despite their phonetic resemblance, the ornithonyms for ‘nighthawk’ in half a dozen Siouan languages are unrelated; some are mimetic innovations and others are borrowed. This article analyses how and why ornithonyms are problematic in the application of the comparative method, a reality that affects the validity of long-distance claims, and offers alternative ways to deal with this issue. While ornithonyms can be inherited and undergo all the regular sound changes (or not) like other words, they are also problematic in many respects. First, they can be onomatopoetic and imitate the cry or call of the bird in question – a feature that accounts for their cross-linguistic similarity. Second, they can undergo ad hoc mimetic reshaping or become lexically contaminated based on phonetic similarity with other ornithonyms or words with which they are associated culturally. Third and last, they can be borrowed internally or externally. However, despite these comparative pitfalls (i.e., that some phonetically similar forms in a language family are not cognates), the analysis shows that our understanding of ornithological nomenclature can be enhanced by considering elements of ornithology, mythology, ethnographic knowledge, sayings, and puns pertaining to birds.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47977831","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}
Persian has a polyfunctional case marker, ‘rā’, which diachronically varies greatly in the range of functions it covers. In this paper, we give an account of different case functions of ‘rā’, in New Persian, an era from the 8th century (C.E.) to present. To analyze the functionality of ‘rā’ in different texts, we selected 78 books from the New and Contemporary Persian eras and studied one thousand tokens of ‘rā’ from each century. The data show that ‘rā’ has been a polyfunctional case marker in New Persian, marking about 13 different case roles. Its main role was to mark direct objects, and gradually it has become its sole function in Contemporary Persian. However, during the time span, some of the ‘rā’-marked roles remained constant and some of them replaced ‘rā’ with other adpositions. We follow a historical semantic map approach as a typological grid to examine our data. The findings show that ‘rā’ has shifted from animate to inanimate concepts gradually. While in the 12th century about 750 out of 1000 (about 75%) roles marked with ‘rā’ were animate, it has decreased to about 400 out of 1000 (about 42%) in the 19th century and less than 30% in the 20th century. Our data show that ‘rā’ has not gone further to mark inanimate relations, and it has gone toward core case roles, specifically direct object.
{"title":"Different functions of ‘rā’ in New Persian","authors":"Mohammad Rasekh-Mahand, Mehdi Parizadeh","doi":"10.1075/jhl.21056.ras","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.21056.ras","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Persian has a polyfunctional case marker, ‘rā’, which diachronically varies greatly in the range\u0000 of functions it covers. In this paper, we give an account of different case functions of ‘rā’, in New Persian, an\u0000 era from the 8th century (C.E.) to present. To analyze the functionality of ‘rā’ in different texts, we selected\u0000 78 books from the New and Contemporary Persian eras and studied one thousand tokens of ‘rā’ from each century.\u0000 The data show that ‘rā’ has been a polyfunctional case marker in New Persian, marking about 13 different case\u0000 roles. Its main role was to mark direct objects, and gradually it has become its sole function in Contemporary Persian. However,\u0000 during the time span, some of the ‘rā’-marked roles remained constant and some of them replaced\u0000 ‘rā’ with other adpositions. We follow a historical semantic map approach as a typological grid to examine\u0000 our data. The findings show that ‘rā’ has shifted from animate to inanimate concepts gradually. While in the 12th\u0000 century about 750 out of 1000 (about 75%) roles marked with ‘rā’ were animate, it has decreased to about 400 out\u0000 of 1000 (about 42%) in the 19th century and less than 30% in the 20th century. Our data show that ‘rā’ has not\u0000 gone further to mark inanimate relations, and it has gone toward core case roles, specifically direct object.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42103811","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}
The aim and scope of this article is to take a closer look at the functions and semantics of the three relative particles da, so, and wo, and to show that they have developed differently over a period from 1350 to 1800, continuing up to our modern dialects and the standard language. We will focus on wo because it is the only relativizer which is attested both as locative relative and as general relative clause marker, and we will propose that wo has extended its functional domain from a locative relative to a general relative marker. We will furthermore discuss if there has been a grammaticalization path “relative locative > general relative clause marker” in German diachrony or not. Finally, we will suggest that standardization processes are responsible for the different degrees of functional extension of wo attested in the historical/modern varieties and the standard language.
{"title":"The ups and downs of relative particles in German diachrony","authors":"Ann M. Moser","doi":"10.1075/jhl.22026.mos","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.22026.mos","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The aim and scope of this article is to take a closer look at the functions and semantics of the three relative\u0000 particles da, so, and wo, and to show that they have developed differently over a period from\u0000 1350 to 1800, continuing up to our modern dialects and the standard language. We will focus on wo because it is\u0000 the only relativizer which is attested both as locative relative and as general relative clause marker, and we will propose that\u0000 wo has extended its functional domain from a locative relative to a general relative marker. We will\u0000 furthermore discuss if there has been a grammaticalization path “relative locative > general relative clause marker” in German\u0000 diachrony or not. Finally, we will suggest that standardization processes are responsible for the different degrees of functional\u0000 extension of wo attested in the historical/modern varieties and the standard language.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44340108","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}
While previous studies have analyzed the changing nature of polarity items (PIs) in Latin (see Gianollo 2018, 2020) and the licensing conditions of PIs in modern languages (see Homer 2021), less research has analyzed the diachronic behavior of PIs in the development of the Spanish language. The present study takes a quantitative approach to historical corpus data in showing that in older varieties of Spanish, there was an increased degree of competition between items of the alg- series (i.e., alguno ‘some’) and items of the n- series (i.e., ninguno ‘none’) in negated clauses which later decreased as the language entered its modern age. We find that the competition between these items in negated clauses is influenced by factors such as register, the syntactic role of the PI, and activation status (following Larrivée 2012, 2017). These data provide quantitative support for Martins (2000), who suggested that earlier forms of Spanish exhibited more versatile licensing conditions of PIs, and that this variation gradually decreased over time due to a greater salience of the n- series in negated clauses. In total, the present work aims to use corpus data to connect historical linguistic research to theoretical approaches regarding the contemporary usage of PIs.
{"title":"A diachronic analysis of Spanish alg- series and n- series items in negated clauses","authors":"Aaron Yamada","doi":"10.1075/jhl.22032.yam","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.22032.yam","url":null,"abstract":"While previous studies have analyzed the changing nature of polarity items (PIs) in Latin (see Gianollo 2018, 2020) and the licensing conditions of PIs in modern languages (see Homer 2021), less research has analyzed the diachronic behavior of PIs in the development of the Spanish language. The present study takes a quantitative approach to historical corpus data in showing that in older varieties of Spanish, there was an increased degree of competition between items of the alg- series (i.e., alguno ‘some’) and items of the n- series (i.e., ninguno ‘none’) in negated clauses which later decreased as the language entered its modern age. We find that the competition between these items in negated clauses is influenced by factors such as register, the syntactic role of the PI, and activation status (following Larrivée 2012, 2017). These data provide quantitative support for Martins (2000), who suggested that earlier forms of Spanish exhibited more versatile licensing conditions of PIs, and that this variation gradually decreased over time due to a greater salience of the n- series in negated clauses. In total, the present work aims to use corpus data to connect historical linguistic research to theoretical approaches regarding the contemporary usage of PIs.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49449458","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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