Search results for "grammaticalization"
showing 10 items of 43 documents
Areal Typology and Grammaticalization
1996
Grammaticalization processes in East and mainland South East Asian languages show remarkable areal parallels within the domain of the verb and the noun. Since language contact increases processes of reanalysis it supports grammaticalization and its cross-linguistic similarity. Grammaticalization processes are governed by attractor positions (cf. 1.1.3.) and pathways of grammaticalization (cf. 1.1..4.). The former is a good parameter for making areal distinctions, the latter is of areal relevance only within the domain of the verb. Because of attractor positions, grammaticalization processes are not necessarily slow and gradual. The distribution of attractor positions relative to each other …
Two ways to reformulate: a contrastive analysis of reformulation markers
2003
The aim of this paper is to present a contrastive analysis of reformulation markers in English, Spanish and Catalan. The study is based on a corpus of expository prose (mainly academic writing). The analysis shows coincidences in the sources of the markers and differences in the variety of forms expressing reformulation as well as in their frequency of use. Assuming that grammaticalization processes such as those leading to the creation of connectives have their roots in discourse, parallel differences are expected to be found in text construction. The present paper argues that the differences identified in the grammar of English vs. those of Spanish and Catalan can be associated with two d…
Progressive and habitual aspects in Central Mande
2004
This paper examines the marking of progressive and habitual aspects in a cluster of closely related languages (Central Mande) and in a number of dialects in one of these languages (Manding) within the framework of grammaticalization theory. It is shown that the habitual forms go back to a generalization of the progressive aspect and that the progressive forms do derive from locative periphrastic constructions. Furthermore, evidence is provided for the fact that the evolution of progressives in Central Mande occurs in morphological cycles and that the various synchronic progressive constructions can be classified into different layers of grammaticalization. Finally, the consequences of the d…
The development of the Englishbe+ V-ende/V-ingperiphrasis: from emphatic to progressive marker?
2014
Author's version of an article in the journal: English Language and Linguistics. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1360674314000148 The article discusses the grammaticalization of the be + V-ende/V-ing periphrasis as a progressive marker. On the basis of quantitative data, it is claimed that the periphrasis started out as an emphatic alternative to the simple tenses. Its length, unusualness and optionality made it well suited as an emphatic marker. In the Early Modern English period (c. 1500–1700), the periphrasis was reinterpreted as an emphatic progressive marker. The prototypical – so-called focalized – use of the construction gradually became obligatory (f…
Serial Verb Constructions
2009
The present article aims to give a survey of the typology of serial verb constructions (SVCs) and the criteria that are needed for defining them. For that purpose, it starts with a detailed account of Aikhenvald and Dixon (2006) and their comprehensive cross-linguistic account of SVCs. In a critical discussion of this approach, this article will then address the following three issues. (i) The concept of single eventhood is a more general concept from which a number of Aikhenvald and Dixon's (2006) criteria can be iconically derived. The macro-event property and time-positional operators (Bohnemeyer et al. 2007) provide a good basis for a more coherent definition of what makes an event as f…
The impact of input and output domains: towards a function-based categorization of types of grammaticalization
2015
Abstract A wide variety of semantic–pragmatic processes have been linked to grammaticalization, such as pragmatic enrichment (Hopper and Traugott, 2003) and the loss of pragmatic meaning (Heine and Reh, 1984). As this example shows, not all of these subprocesses are compatible with each other. It therefore makes sense to assume that different subprocesses may be linked to different stages, different input or different output types of grammaticalization processes. In the present paper, various types of changes will be analyzed with respect to the semantic and pragmatic changes that typically accompany them, using mostly examples from English, German and the Romance languages. On this basis, …
Problems with primary vs. secondary grammaticalization: the case of East and mainland Southeast Asian languages
2015
Abstract The present paper aims at testing four criteria for the distinction between primary vs. secondary grammaticalization in East and mainland Southeast Asian languages. These languages are of special interest for research on grammaticalization because they show limitations in the coevolution of meaning and form and because pragmatic inference is very prominent (lack of obligatory grammatical markers, multifunctionality). If the four criteria work in these languages, this can be taken as a good indicator for their cross-linguistic, maybe universal relevance. The criteria are tested with three markers that stand for three different types of multifunctionality: (i) the Khmer verb baːn ‘co…
A diachronic study of the (negative) additive «anche» in italian
2016
Resum: En italià modern (IM), els mots additius negatius són elements focalitzadors que típicament se sotmeten a la concordança negativa amb una negació oracional o amb un altre element legitimador de la negació. En aquest article investiguem l’evolució diacrònica d’un element additiu negatiu, neanche ‘ni/ni tan sols’. En italià antic (IA, varietat florentina entre 1200 i 1370), no hi ha testimonis de focalitzadors additius negatius morfològicament complexos com neanche. En canvi, l’element corresponent no negatiu additiu, anche, podia combinar-se amb un marcador negatiu o amb algun altre element negatiu: né/non… anche ‘ni/ni tan sols’. Mostrem que en IA (i) el mot additiu no negatiu anche …
Evidential markers derived from visual perception in Spanish dialects : a contrastive study of por lo visto and se ve (que)
2019
Verbs of perception (PV) are known to frequently give rise to discursive uses. PVs are used, for example, as evidential markers through grammaticalization processes. This study focuses on two evidential markers of Spanish derived from the visual PVs ver ('to see'), namely, 'por lo visto' and 'se ve (que)'. Although the attention dedicated to these evidential markers in Spanish has increased considerably in recent years, contrastive studies have not taken into account the dialectal variation of this phenomenon. We aspire to take a first step in filling this gap by contrastively studying 'por lo visto' and 'se ve (que)' in different dialects of Spanish by means of a comprehensive, empirical s…
Secondary grammaticalization and the English adverbial -ly suffix
2015
Author's version of an article in the journal: Language sciences. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2014.10.003 This paper discusses the secondary grammaticalization of the English adverbial -ly suffix and makes claims about the concept of secondary grammaticalization. Secondary grammaticalization is defined as the development of a new grammatical function in an already grammatical element. It is shown that the development of the -ly suffix involves a number of the processes which are associated with grammaticalization, e.g. paradigmatization, specialization, obligatorification, subjectification, layering and persistence. However, none of these proces…