It is commonly held that Present-Day English they, their, them are not descended from Old English but derive from the Old Norse third-person plural pronouns þeir, þeira, þeim. This paper argues that the early northern English orthographic and distributional textual evidence agrees with an internal trajectory for the ‘þ-’ type personal pronouns in the North and indicates an origin in the Old English demonstratives þā, þāra, þām. The Northern Middle English third-person plural pronominal system was the result of the reanalysis from demonstrative to personal pronoun that is common cross-linguistically in Germanic and non-Germanic languages alike.
{"title":"A native origin for Present-Day English they, their, them","authors":"Marcelle Cole","doi":"10.1075/DIA.16026.COL","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.16026.COL","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 It is commonly held that Present-Day English they, their, them are not descended from Old English but derive from\u0000 the Old Norse third-person plural pronouns þeir, þeira, þeim. This paper argues that the early northern English\u0000 orthographic and distributional textual evidence agrees with an internal trajectory for the ‘þ-’ type personal pronouns in the\u0000 North and indicates an origin in the Old English demonstratives þā, þāra, þām. The Northern Middle English\u0000 third-person plural pronominal system was the result of the reanalysis from demonstrative to personal pronoun that is common\u0000 cross-linguistically in Germanic and non-Germanic languages alike.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/DIA.16026.COL","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46391309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines adverb formation with -ly, e.g., slow/slowly, and uses a large archive of synchronic dialects to uncover the current state and historical trajectory of this process. The results reveal that English adverbs are a variegated system. The intensifying adverb really is a frequent form while sentential adverbs appear to be a newer layer in the system. In contrast, manner adverbs are constrained by the semantic interpretation of the adverb as abstract or concrete. These results expose the complexity of the English adverb system and demonstrate that adverb formation is an ideal site for uncovering historical processes in synchronic data.
{"title":"Near done; awful stable; really changing: the suffixless adverb in dialects of the UK","authors":"Sali A. Tagliamonte","doi":"10.1075/DIA.16027.TAG","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.16027.TAG","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines adverb formation with -ly, e.g., slow/slowly, and uses a large archive of synchronic dialects to uncover the current state and historical trajectory of this process. The results reveal that English adverbs are a variegated system. The intensifying adverb really is a frequent form while sentential adverbs appear to be a newer layer in the system. In contrast, manner adverbs are constrained by the semantic interpretation of the adverb as abstract or concrete. These results expose the complexity of the English adverb system and demonstrate that adverb formation is an ideal site for uncovering historical processes in synchronic data.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":"35 1","pages":"107-143"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/DIA.16027.TAG","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49328320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article addresses the diachronic development of so-called rival forms, i.e., words or grammatical constructions that appear to be synonyms, based on a detailed empirical analysis of two seemingly synonymous constructions in Russian. Corresponding to the English ‘decade construction’ in the twenties, Russian has two rival constructions, viz. v dvadcatye gody [lit. “in the twentieth years”] (with the numeral and noun in the accusative) and v dvadcatyx godax (with the numeral and noun in the locative case). Three hypotheses about rival forms are considered: leveling (whereby one form ousts its rival), sociolinguistic differentiation (whereby the two rivals survive in different varieties of a language) and semantic differentiation (whereby the two rivals develop different meanings over time). Contrary to what has been suggested in the literature, we find little evidence for semantic and sociolinguistic differentiation. Instead, we demonstrate that leveling is taking place, since the accusative construction is in the process of ousting its rival. While our study shows that corpus data facilitate detailed analysis of the interaction between leveling, sociolinguistic differentiation and semantic differentiation, our analysis also points to limitations, especially when it comes to corpus-based analysis of sociolinguistic and semantic factors.
本文在对俄语中两种看似同义的结构进行详细实证分析的基础上，探讨了所谓的对立形式，即看似同义的单词或语法结构的历时发展。与20世纪20年代的英语“decade construction”相对应，俄语有两个对立的构造，即v dvadcatye gody[lit.“in the 20th years”]（宾格中的数字和名词）和v dvadkatyx godax（方位格中的数字和名词）。关于竞争形式，我们考虑了三种假设：水平化（一种形式驱逐其竞争对手）、社会语言学分化（两种竞争对手在不同的语言变体中生存）和语义分化（两个竞争对手随着时间的推移发展出不同的含义）。与文献中的建议相反，我们几乎没有发现语义和社会语言学差异的证据。相反，我们证明了平整正在发生，因为宾格结构正在驱逐其竞争对手。虽然我们的研究表明，语料库数据有助于详细分析水平、社会语言学差异和语义差异之间的相互作用，但我们的分析也指出了局限性，尤其是在基于语料库的社会语言学和语义因素分析方面。
{"title":"The decade construction rivalry in Russian: Using a corpus to study historical linguistics","authors":"T. Nesset, A. Makarova","doi":"10.1075/DIA.16043.NES","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.16043.NES","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses the diachronic development of so-called rival forms, i.e., words or grammatical constructions that appear to be synonyms, based on a detailed empirical analysis of two seemingly synonymous constructions in Russian. Corresponding to the English ‘decade construction’ in the twenties, Russian has two rival constructions, viz. v dvadcatye gody [lit. “in the twentieth years”] (with the numeral and noun in the accusative) and v dvadcatyx godax (with the numeral and noun in the locative case). Three hypotheses about rival forms are considered: leveling (whereby one form ousts its rival), sociolinguistic differentiation (whereby the two rivals survive in different varieties of a language) and semantic differentiation (whereby the two rivals develop different meanings over time). Contrary to what has been suggested in the literature, we find little evidence for semantic and sociolinguistic differentiation. Instead, we demonstrate that leveling is taking place, since the accusative construction is in the process of ousting its rival. While our study shows that corpus data facilitate detailed analysis of the interaction between leveling, sociolinguistic differentiation and semantic differentiation, our analysis also points to limitations, especially when it comes to corpus-based analysis of sociolinguistic and semantic factors.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":"35 1","pages":"71-106"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/DIA.16043.NES","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45166634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper deals with the creation of the Old Irish oblique relative conjunct particle -(s)aN- (e.g., dianepir “for which he says” = do-(s)aN-epir) as the outcome of the internalization of a demonstrative form used as a light head, which initially stood as a morphologically independent form. The initial step of this change was the grammaticalization of that demonstrative as the oblique element of a paradigm of relative-clause type forms in which the subject and object functions of the antecedent of the relative are also distinguished. Internalization is defined as an abrupt morphological change creating grammatical elements; its specific mechanism is the mirror image of externalization and must be distinguished from other morphological changes such as incorporation.
{"title":"On morphological internalization: The origin of the Old Irish oblique relative conjunct particle -(s)aN-","authors":"Carlos García-Castillero","doi":"10.1075/DIA.16036.GAR","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.16036.GAR","url":null,"abstract":"This paper deals with the creation of the Old Irish oblique relative conjunct particle -(s)aN- (e.g., dianepir “for which he says” = do-(s)aN-epir) as the outcome of the internalization of a demonstrative form used as a light head, which initially stood as a morphologically independent form. The initial step of this change was the grammaticalization of that demonstrative as the oblique element of a paradigm of relative-clause type forms in which the subject and object functions of the antecedent of the relative are also distinguished. Internalization is defined as an abrupt morphological change creating grammatical elements; its specific mechanism is the mirror image of externalization and must be distinguished from other morphological changes such as incorporation.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":"35 1","pages":"35-70"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/DIA.16036.GAR","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59394726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C. Cathcart, G. Carling, Filip Larsson, N. Johansson, Erich R. Round
This article investigates the evolutionary and spatial dynamics of typological characters in 117 Indo-European languages. We partition types of change (i.e., gain or loss) for each variant according to whether they bring about a simplification in morphosyntactic patterns that must be learned, whether they are neutral (i.e., neither simplifying nor introducing complexity) or whether they introduce a more complex pattern. We find that changes which introduce complexity show significantly less areal signal (according to a metric we devise) than changes which simplify and neutral changes, but we find no significant differences between the latter two groups. This result is compatible with a scenario where certain types of parallel change are more likely to be mediated by advergence and contact between proximate speech communities, while other developments are due purely to drift and are largely independent of intercultural contact.
{"title":"Areal pressure in grammatical evolution: An Indo-European case study","authors":"C. Cathcart, G. Carling, Filip Larsson, N. Johansson, Erich R. Round","doi":"10.1075/DIA.16035.CAT","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.16035.CAT","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the evolutionary and spatial dynamics of typological characters in 117 Indo-European languages. We partition types of change (i.e., gain or loss) for each variant according to whether they bring about a simplification in morphosyntactic patterns that must be learned, whether they are neutral (i.e., neither simplifying nor introducing complexity) or whether they introduce a more complex pattern. We find that changes which introduce complexity show significantly less areal signal (according to a metric we devise) than changes which simplify and neutral changes, but we find no significant differences between the latter two groups. This result is compatible with a scenario where certain types of parallel change are more likely to be mediated by advergence and contact between proximate speech communities, while other developments are due purely to drift and are largely independent of intercultural contact.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":"35 1","pages":"1-34"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/DIA.16035.CAT","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59395167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Have-progressive in Persian: a case of pattern replication?","authors":"Narges Nematollahi","doi":"10.1075/DIA.17023.NEM","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.17023.NEM","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":"35 1","pages":"144-156"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/DIA.17023.NEM","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59396075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper discusses how the argument structure of experience predicates may be affected by semantic factors in Indo-European. I investigate whether the semantic role of the experiencer is preferably expressed by the nominative or by an oblique case in various predicates of volition, cognition, propositional attitude, psychological experience and physical perception in each Indo-European branch, with particular consideration of Hittite, Old Indic, Ancient Greek, Latin, Classical Armenian and Tocharian. In my data, while the nominative coding of the experiencer tends to be generalized to heterogeneous semantic classes of experience predicates, an oblique experiencer occurs with more specific lexical categories, that is, the predicate like/please on the one hand and predicates of negative experience on the other. Interestingly, negative experiences of being sad, sick or unlucky are syntactically associated with oblique experiencers much more commonly than their correspondent positive experiences of being happy, healthy or lucky. This asymmetrical representation of negative and positive experiences has parallels in other language families and may have a cognitive motivation, whereby bad physical or psychological conditions are conceptualized as external forces attacking unwilling humans who have no control of them. This may be relevant not only for the currently debated issue of Indo-European argument marking, but also for an integration of semantic and cognitive principles into historical linguistics.
{"title":"Semantic and cognitive factors of argument marking in ancient Indo-European languages","authors":"Carlotta Viti","doi":"10.1075/DIA.34.3.03VIT","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.34.3.03VIT","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses how the argument structure of experience predicates may be affected by semantic factors in Indo-European. I investigate whether the semantic role of the experiencer is preferably expressed by the nominative or by an oblique case in various predicates of volition, cognition, propositional attitude, psychological experience and physical perception in each Indo-European branch, with particular consideration of Hittite, Old Indic, Ancient Greek, Latin, Classical Armenian and Tocharian. In my data, while the nominative coding of the experiencer tends to be generalized to heterogeneous semantic classes of experience predicates, an oblique experiencer occurs with more specific lexical categories, that is, the predicate like/please on the one hand and predicates of negative experience on the other. Interestingly, negative experiences of being sad, sick or unlucky are syntactically associated with oblique experiencers much more commonly than their correspondent positive experiences of being happy, healthy or lucky. This asymmetrical representation of negative and positive experiences has parallels in other language families and may have a cognitive motivation, whereby bad physical or psychological conditions are conceptualized as external forces attacking unwilling humans who have no control of them. This may be relevant not only for the currently debated issue of Indo-European argument marking, but also for an integration of semantic and cognitive principles into historical linguistics.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":"34 1","pages":"368-419"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2017-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/DIA.34.3.03VIT","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47305830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper looks at the cross-linguistically rare phenomenon of number suppletion in adjectives. I consider how such suppletion arises by looking at six known examples with a special focus on the Brittonic languages (Breton, Cornish and Welsh), which are discussed as an extended case study. Three generalisations are suggested on the basis of the typological study. First, adjectives denoting size (“small” and “big”) are at the centre of this phenomenon. Second, where the etymology of the adjectives is known, the plural member of the suppletive pair for “small” develops from a lexeme denoting something having been divided into or consisting of small parts. These lexemes can also be used with some singular nouns and in such cases they denote the component structure of the referent. Finally, adjectives with number suppletion tend to mark plural number consistently in environments in which plural marking is otherwise optional or rare.
{"title":"The development and typology of number suppletion in adjectives","authors":"S. Nurmio","doi":"10.1075/DIA.34.2.01NUR","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.34.2.01NUR","url":null,"abstract":"This paper looks at the cross-linguistically rare phenomenon of number suppletion in adjectives. I consider how such suppletion arises by looking at six known examples with a special focus on the Brittonic languages (Breton, Cornish and Welsh), which are discussed as an extended case study. Three generalisations are suggested on the basis of the typological study. First, adjectives denoting size (“small” and “big”) are at the centre of this phenomenon. Second, where the etymology of the adjectives is known, the plural member of the suppletive pair for “small” develops from a lexeme denoting something having been divided into or consisting of small parts. These lexemes can also be used with some singular nouns and in such cases they denote the component structure of the referent. Finally, adjectives with number suppletion tend to mark plural number consistently in environments in which plural marking is otherwise optional or rare.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":"34 1","pages":"127-174"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2017-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/DIA.34.2.01NUR","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47216549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The history of Spanish modal constructions has been widely discussed in the literature, focusing primarily on the semantic differences between the available alternatives. This paper offers an innovative analysis of the evolution of these constructions by adopting a diachronic variationist approach that takes into account a wider range of semantic, syntactic, morphological and stylistic factors that influence the choice between the competing modal periphrases during two key stages in the evolution of Spanish. The data is drawn from a diachronic corpus of personal correspondence, reflecting actual language usage during the respective periods as closely as possible. Particular attention is paid to the question of whether the influence of different factor groups remains stable over time or not, and it is shown that the most frequent form – context pairings are particularly resistant to innovation. This can be explained by cognitive entrenchment of the respective variant in specific linguistic environments.
{"title":"Competing modal periphrases in Spanish between the 16th and the 18th centuries: A diachronic variationist approach","authors":"J. Arroyo, K. Schulte","doi":"10.1075/DIA.34.1.01BLA","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.34.1.01BLA","url":null,"abstract":"The history of Spanish modal constructions has been widely discussed in the literature, focusing primarily on the semantic differences between the available alternatives. This paper offers an innovative analysis of the evolution of these constructions by adopting a diachronic variationist approach that takes into account a wider range of semantic, syntactic, morphological and stylistic factors that influence the choice between the competing modal periphrases during two key stages in the evolution of Spanish. The data is drawn from a diachronic corpus of personal correspondence, reflecting actual language usage during the respective periods as closely as possible. Particular attention is paid to the question of whether the influence of different factor groups remains stable over time or not, and it is shown that the most frequent form – context pairings are particularly resistant to innovation. This can be explained by cognitive entrenchment of the respective variant in specific linguistic environments.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":"34 1","pages":"1-39"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2017-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/DIA.34.1.01BLA","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48427827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Chapman, Don, Colette Moore & Miranda Wilcox (2016) Studies in the History of the English Language VIII: generalizing vs. particularizing methodologies in historical linguistic analysis","authors":"F. J. Steele","doi":"10.1075/DIA.00001.STE","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.00001.STE","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":"34 1","pages":"577-584"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1075/DIA.00001.STE","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59385437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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