Prior to widespread contact with Russian, Khanty (Uralic; Finno-Ugric) did not have overt conjunctions or phrasal coordination. Instead, Khanty texts from the late 19th–early 20th centuries only include examples of conjunction-less clausal juxtaposition, which was used for both clausal and phrasal coordination. By comparing Khanty texts over the 20th century, we trace the emergence of overt conjunctions and coordination of phrasal constituents. We show that overt conjunctions first appeared in the context of clausal coordination, followed by coordination of smaller phrases. Based on novel elicitation data, we demonstrate that, in contemporary Khanty, (i) overt conjunctions are commonplace, (ii) coordinated clausal constituents may be derived via phrasal coordination or clausal coordination with conjunction reduction/ellipsis, but (iii) ellipsis of syntactic heads is banned (nouns & postpositions) or dispreferred (verbs). Based on this diachronic picture, we conclude that the coordination of phrasal constituents only emerged in Khanty once overt conjunctions became available. We derive this correlation from the Maximize On-line Processing principle (Hawkins 2004), and show that this maxim, usually invoked in the context of speech planning and production, can be successfully applied to modelling language change.
{"title":"The emergence of conjunctions and phrasal coordination in Khanty","authors":"Lena Borise, K. Kiss","doi":"10.1075/jhl.21016.kis","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.21016.kis","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Prior to widespread contact with Russian, Khanty (Uralic; Finno-Ugric) did not have overt conjunctions or phrasal\u0000 coordination. Instead, Khanty texts from the late 19th–early 20th centuries only include examples of conjunction-less clausal juxtaposition,\u0000 which was used for both clausal and phrasal coordination. By comparing Khanty texts over the 20th century, we trace the emergence of overt\u0000 conjunctions and coordination of phrasal constituents. We show that overt conjunctions first appeared in the context of clausal\u0000 coordination, followed by coordination of smaller phrases. Based on novel elicitation data, we demonstrate that, in contemporary Khanty, (i)\u0000 overt conjunctions are commonplace, (ii) coordinated clausal constituents may be derived via phrasal coordination or clausal coordination\u0000 with conjunction reduction/ellipsis, but (iii) ellipsis of syntactic heads is banned (nouns & postpositions) or dispreferred (verbs).\u0000 Based on this diachronic picture, we conclude that the coordination of phrasal constituents only emerged in Khanty once overt conjunctions\u0000 became available. We derive this correlation from the Maximize On-line Processing principle (Hawkins\u0000 2004), and show that this maxim, usually invoked in the context of speech planning and production, can be successfully applied to\u0000 modelling language change.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44234102","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}
Contrastive secondary palatalization is a feature typically associated with Slavic. However, this contrast is present only in some contemporary Slavic languages, such as Ukrainian, Eastern Bulgarian, Russian, and Upper and Lower Sorbian. Thus, a question arises as to whether the secondary palatalization contrast represents a Common Slavic inheritance, and how it should be reconstructed. Providing such a reconstruction is important for the field of Slavic historical phonology, as well as for the general understanding of the development of consonant inventories with palatal consonants and the development of secondary palatalization contrasts in the world’s languages. By considering several historical scenarios, we show that /r/ : /rj/ is the only secondary palatalization contrast that can be reconstructed to a pre-stage common to all of Slavic. While pursuing the reconstruction, we use supporting evidence from the typology of sound change and the typology of consonantal inventories in the world’s languages, as well as relative chronology.
{"title":"On the reconstruction of contrastive secondary palatalization in Common Slavic","authors":"Florian Wandl, Darya Kavitskaya","doi":"10.1075/jhl.21003.wan","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.21003.wan","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Contrastive secondary palatalization is a feature typically associated with Slavic. However, this contrast is present only in some contemporary Slavic languages, such as Ukrainian, Eastern Bulgarian, Russian, and Upper and Lower Sorbian. Thus, a question arises as to whether the secondary palatalization contrast represents a Common Slavic inheritance, and how it should be reconstructed. Providing such a reconstruction is important for the field of Slavic historical phonology, as well as for the general understanding of the development of consonant inventories with palatal consonants and the development of secondary palatalization contrasts in the world’s languages. By considering several historical scenarios, we show that /r/ : /rj/ is the only secondary palatalization contrast that can be reconstructed to a pre-stage common to all of Slavic. While pursuing the reconstruction, we use supporting evidence from the typology of sound change and the typology of consonantal inventories in the world’s languages, as well as relative chronology.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49509027","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}
Through comparison of regular sound correspondences in three closely related Tibeto-Burman (TB) languages, Ersu, Lizu, and Duoxu (collectively “ELD”), informed by external comparison with other TB languages and recent phonetic analyses of the production of voiceless nasals, we reconstruct *fricative-nasal sequences in their common ancestor, Proto-ELD. In the development of these historic clusters, two pathways of change can be recognized. Their difference lies in the divergent relative phasing of velic and oral gestures in the original fricative-nasal sequences: (i) fricative weakening (from a tight cluster): *FN > N̥ > h̃ > x (ii) fricative strengthening (from a loose cluster): *F-n > *F-t > t > k or *F‑n > s The different reflexes observed in Ersu, Lizu, and Duoxu represent different points along these two developmental pathways. These reconstructions and pathways of development have implications for our understanding of both universal (phonetic) and language-specific aspects of change in fricative-nasal sequences. The first pathway makes it possible to explore the process of nasal devoicing beyond voiceless nasals so as to enrich our understanding of nasal devoicing in natural languages. The co-existence of two opposite pathways of change, on the other hand, provides insights into the morphological and syllabic structure of words with contiguous fricative-nasal sequences in ELD languages at different points in time – insights that may be valuable in examining the history of other languages and language families beyond the ELD cluster.
{"title":"Diachronic developments in fricative + nasal sequences","authors":"Katia Chirkova, Zev Handel","doi":"10.1075/jhl.21020.chi","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.21020.chi","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Through comparison of regular sound correspondences in three closely related Tibeto-Burman (TB) languages, Ersu,\u0000 Lizu, and Duoxu (collectively “ELD”), informed by external comparison with other TB languages and recent phonetic analyses of the\u0000 production of voiceless nasals, we reconstruct *fricative-nasal sequences in their common ancestor, Proto-ELD.\u0000 In the development of these historic clusters, two pathways of change can be recognized. Their difference lies in\u0000 the divergent relative phasing of velic and oral gestures in the original fricative-nasal sequences:\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 \u0000 (i)\u0000 fricative weakening (from a tight cluster): *FN > N̥ > h̃ > x\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 (ii)\u0000 fricative strengthening (from a loose cluster): *F-n > *F-t > t > k or *F‑n > s\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 \u0000 The different reflexes observed in Ersu, Lizu, and Duoxu represent different points along these two developmental\u0000 pathways. These reconstructions and pathways of development have implications for our understanding of both universal (phonetic)\u0000 and language-specific aspects of change in fricative-nasal sequences. The first pathway makes it possible to explore the process\u0000 of nasal devoicing beyond voiceless nasals so as to enrich our understanding of nasal devoicing in natural languages. The\u0000 co-existence of two opposite pathways of change, on the other hand, provides insights into the morphological and syllabic\u0000 structure of words with contiguous fricative-nasal sequences in ELD languages at different points in time – insights that may be\u0000 valuable in examining the history of other languages and language families beyond the ELD cluster.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44084108","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}
In this article, we present the first quantitative study of what we call multiple unconditioned reflexes (MUR) in Bantu, more specifically of Proto-Bantu velar stops *k and *g in the West-Coastal Bantu (WCB) branch of the Bantu language family. MUR, also known as “doubles reflexes” in Bantu studies, represent a situation where one and the same proto-sound has two or more reflexes in a given language which cannot be accounted for by phonological conditioning and/or lexical borrowing. This diachronic irregularity has been explained in Bantu historical linguistics, and Niger-Congo studies more broadly, by reconstructing either an additional series of consonants (phonemic merger) or a latent conditioning that went lost (phonemic split). We show that MUR should not be explained, but rather taken as an indicator of the same pervasive irregularity of sound change reported in other parts of the world that are highly multilingual and lack a neat overlap between distinct languages and communities. Along with widespread multilingualism, we assess lexical diffusion, substrate influence, and spread-over-spread events in Bantu language history as complementary explanations for the rise of MUR in WCB.
{"title":"Erratic velars in West-Coastal Bantu","authors":"Sara Pacchiarotti, K. Bostoen","doi":"10.1075/jhl.20054.bos","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.20054.bos","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In this article, we present the first quantitative study of what we call multiple unconditioned reflexes (MUR) in\u0000 Bantu, more specifically of Proto-Bantu velar stops *k and *g in the West-Coastal Bantu (WCB) branch of the Bantu language family.\u0000 MUR, also known as “doubles reflexes” in Bantu studies, represent a situation where one and the same proto-sound has two or more\u0000 reflexes in a given language which cannot be accounted for by phonological conditioning and/or lexical borrowing. This diachronic\u0000 irregularity has been explained in Bantu historical linguistics, and Niger-Congo studies more broadly, by reconstructing either an\u0000 additional series of consonants (phonemic merger) or a latent conditioning that went lost (phonemic split). We show that MUR\u0000 should not be explained, but rather taken as an indicator of the same pervasive irregularity of sound change reported in other\u0000 parts of the world that are highly multilingual and lack a neat overlap between distinct languages and communities. Along with\u0000 widespread multilingualism, we assess lexical diffusion, substrate influence, and spread-over-spread events in Bantu language\u0000 history as complementary explanations for the rise of MUR in WCB.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43169451","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}
There is considerable literature on dative subject or non-canonical subject marking constructions in Japanese, and yet they have been studied mainly from a synchronic point of view. This paper investigates the diachronic dimension of non-canonical case marking constructions in Japanese. Following Yanagida and Whitman (2009), I assume that Old Japanese (700–800 A.D.) displays split active alignment. This paper argues that dative subjects arose as a byproduct of a change occurring from active-inactive to accusative alignment. A factor triggering this change was the reanalysis of some particular object experiencer predicates as intransitives due to the loss of the vestigial causative suffix associated with the predicate. Synchronically, these constructions involve a voice alternation of the type identified as the psych causative alternation by Alexiadou and Iordăchioaia (2014): object experiencer verbs behave parallel to causative verbs whereas alternating subject experiencer verbs behave parallel to anticausative verbs.
{"title":"The origin of dative subjects and psych predicate constructions in Japanese","authors":"Yuko Yanagida","doi":"10.1075/jhl.20023.yan","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.20023.yan","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 There is considerable literature on dative subject or non-canonical subject marking constructions in Japanese, and\u0000 yet they have been studied mainly from a synchronic point of view. This paper investigates the diachronic dimension of\u0000 non-canonical case marking constructions in Japanese. Following Yanagida and Whitman\u0000 (2009), I assume that Old Japanese (700–800 A.D.) displays split active alignment. This paper argues that dative\u0000 subjects arose as a byproduct of a change occurring from active-inactive to accusative alignment. A factor triggering this change\u0000 was the reanalysis of some particular object experiencer predicates as intransitives due to the loss of the vestigial causative\u0000 suffix associated with the predicate. Synchronically, these constructions involve a voice alternation of the type identified as\u0000 the psych causative alternation by Alexiadou and Iordăchioaia (2014): object\u0000 experiencer verbs behave parallel to causative verbs whereas alternating subject experiencer verbs behave parallel to\u0000 anticausative verbs.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45589349","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}
North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA), which is a subgroup of dialects of vernacular Neo-Aramaic, exhibits considerable internal diversity. In this paper, I describe the diversity that exists in the form of the copula in this subgroup. The paradigms of the copula in the various dialects exhibit different degrees of convergence with verbal inflection. There is an areal progression in verbalization from the western periphery to the eastern periphery. The incipient verbalization of the copula can be correlated with semantic properties of the subject and the clause that would be expected typologically to be most compatible with verbal predicates. Close correlations, however, can be identified with the distribution of pronominal and verbal inflections of copulas in the languages with which the NENA dialects have been in contact in the region. It is likely, therefore, that the realization of the internal potential verbalization of the NENA copula was induced by language contact.
{"title":"The Change in the grammatical category of the copula in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic","authors":"G. Khan","doi":"10.1075/jhl.21019.kha","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.21019.kha","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA), which is a subgroup of dialects of vernacular Neo-Aramaic, exhibits considerable\u0000 internal diversity. In this paper, I describe the diversity that exists in the form of the copula in this subgroup. The paradigms\u0000 of the copula in the various dialects exhibit different degrees of convergence with verbal inflection. There is an areal\u0000 progression in verbalization from the western periphery to the eastern periphery. The incipient verbalization of the copula can be\u0000 correlated with semantic properties of the subject and the clause that would be expected typologically to be most compatible with\u0000 verbal predicates. Close correlations, however, can be identified with the distribution of pronominal and verbal inflections of\u0000 copulas in the languages with which the NENA dialects have been in contact in the region. It is likely, therefore, that the\u0000 realization of the internal potential verbalization of the NENA copula was induced by language contact.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43236705","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 corpus-based study examines the diachrony of differential place marking in Basque. In spatial cases, animate nouns in Basque exhibit heavier morphological forms than inanimate ones, but, under some circumstances, they can also be marked as inanimate. The data for the study comprises 66 sixteenth-to-twentieth-century texts (9,791 examples). A generalised linear mixed-effects model was fitted to analyse factors influencing the choice of marking. It is shown that animate nouns are sensitive to different aspects of the extended Animacy Hierarchy. The strongest effect is that of number (singular nouns prefer animate marking), followed by referentiality (pronouns are more prone to take animate forms than other nominals) and definiteness (definite nouns show animate marking more often than indefinite ones). The analysis also shows that animate marking became more widespread, and that there are dialectal differences. Moreover, more factors were relevant for the alternation in the earliest data (number, referentiality, definiteness, person and case) than in the most recent texts, where number is the most important.
{"title":"The marking of spatial relations on animate nouns in Basque","authors":"D. Krajewska","doi":"10.1075/jhl.20061.kra","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.20061.kra","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This corpus-based study examines the diachrony of differential place marking in Basque. In spatial cases, animate\u0000 nouns in Basque exhibit heavier morphological forms than inanimate ones, but, under some circumstances, they can also be marked as\u0000 inanimate. The data for the study comprises 66 sixteenth-to-twentieth-century texts (9,791 examples). A generalised linear\u0000 mixed-effects model was fitted to analyse factors influencing the choice of marking. It is shown that animate nouns are sensitive\u0000 to different aspects of the extended Animacy Hierarchy. The strongest effect is that of number (singular nouns prefer animate\u0000 marking), followed by referentiality (pronouns are more prone to take animate forms than other nominals) and definiteness\u0000 (definite nouns show animate marking more often than indefinite ones). The analysis also shows that animate marking became more\u0000 widespread, and that there are dialectal differences. Moreover, more factors were relevant for the alternation in the earliest\u0000 data (number, referentiality, definiteness, person and case) than in the most recent texts, where number is the most\u0000 important.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46469279","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}
{"title":"Review of Sommerer & Smirnova (2020): Nodes and Networks in Diachronic Construction Grammar","authors":"Tobias Ungerer","doi":"10.1075/jhl.20045.ung","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.20045.ung","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46090444","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}
At least three types of sound change (prenasalization of obstruents, lenition of obstruents, conversion of labial consonants to the corresponding labiovelars) are widespread in the Austronesian language family as sporadic innovations. What marks these off as different from more familiar types of irregularity is their repeated occurrence across hundreds of related languages, a phenomenon that can conveniently be called “pandemic irregularity.” All attempts to find an explanation for why pandemic irregularities occur in terms of possibly unrecognized affixation, conditioning, borrowing, or unfinished processes, have proven futile. In particular, it is stressed that pandemic irregularity in sound change is fundamentally different from “lexical diffusion”, and deserves to be recognized in its own right as a process that works against the general application of the regularity hypothesis.
{"title":"The Neogrammarian hypothesis and pandemic irregularity*","authors":"Robert Blust","doi":"10.1075/jhl.20027.blu","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.20027.blu","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 At least three types of sound change (prenasalization of obstruents, lenition of obstruents, conversion of labial\u0000 consonants to the corresponding labiovelars) are widespread in the Austronesian language family as sporadic innovations. What\u0000 marks these off as different from more familiar types of irregularity is their repeated occurrence across hundreds of related\u0000 languages, a phenomenon that can conveniently be called “pandemic irregularity.” All attempts to find an explanation for why\u0000 pandemic irregularities occur in terms of possibly unrecognized affixation, conditioning, borrowing, or unfinished processes, have\u0000 proven futile. In particular, it is stressed that pandemic irregularity in sound change is fundamentally different from “lexical\u0000 diffusion”, and deserves to be recognized in its own right as a process that works against the general application of the\u0000 regularity hypothesis.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42946279","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 investigates the long-term diachronic development of the perfect and preterite tenses in German and provides a novel analysis by supplementing Reichenbach’s (1947) classical theory of tense by the notion of underspecification. Based on a newly compiled parallel corpus spanning the entire documented history of German, we show that the development in question is cyclic: It starts out with only one tense form (preterite) compatible with both current relevance and narrative past readings in (early) Old High German and, via three intermediate stages, arrives at only one tense form again (perfect) compatible with the same readings in modern Upper German dialects. We propose that in order to capture all attested stages we must allow tenses to be unspecified for R (reference time), with R merely being inferred pragmatically. We then propose that the transitions between the different stages can be explained by the interplay between semantics and pragmatics.
{"title":"Reichenbach meets underspecification","authors":"G. Seiler, Thilo Weber","doi":"10.1075/jhl.20002.sei","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.20002.sei","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper investigates the long-term diachronic development of the perfect and preterite tenses in German and provides a novel analysis by supplementing Reichenbach’s (1947) classical theory of tense by the notion of underspecification. Based on a newly compiled parallel corpus spanning the entire documented history of German, we show that the development in question is cyclic: It starts out with only one tense form (preterite) compatible with both current relevance and narrative past readings in (early) Old High German and, via three intermediate stages, arrives at only one tense form again (perfect) compatible with the same readings in modern Upper German dialects. We propose that in order to capture all attested stages we must allow tenses to be unspecified for R (reference time), with R merely being inferred pragmatically. We then propose that the transitions between the different stages can be explained by the interplay between semantics and pragmatics.","PeriodicalId":42165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Historical Linguistics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"58725051","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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