The present article studies the structure of the resultative stream (a part of the verbal system that hosts grams diachronically evolving along and synchronically modelled by means of the resultative ...path: resultative > perfect > perfective/past and resultative > stative > present) in the Fanakalo pidgin as compared to the lexifier Nguni languages (Zulu/Xhosa). The evidence indicates that the organization of the resultative stream in Fanakalo is different from that found in Nguni, attesting to both simplification and complexification, as well as the acceleration of the movement along the resultative path and the cline of structural grammaticalization. This corroborates the views concerning the increase in complexity of stabilized and expanded pidgins and the observation suggesting the acceleration of grammaticalization processes in a situation of contact.
This article designs a method of improving traditional, qualitative semantic maps based on grammaticalisation paths, by including both quantitative data (frequency) and information concerning a ...gram's environment (the relation to the other maps). The incorporation of qualitative evidence transforms vectored maps into waves, while the introduction of the contextual factor combines waves organised along the same grammaticalisation template into a stream. The structure of a wave delivers, in turn, the statistical prototypicality of a gram (i.e. the prototypicality that is conditioned by the gram's own wave), whereas the structure of the stream yields product prototypicality (i.e. the prototypicality that is a combination of the gram's wave and the other waves of the stream). It is additionally hypothesised that the product prototypicality may be an overt indicator of the psychological perception of the grams by speakers.
This paper examines the categorial status of applied elements in Xhosa with respect to their argumenthood or adjuncthood. By analyzing the response of nominal and locative applied elements to various ...criteria and diagnostics and by adopting the hypothesis of a scalar distinction between arguments and adjuncts, the author proposes the following: The applied noun phrase approaches the prototype of argumenthood to a great degree, while the applied locative phrase is placed in the intermediate zone of the continuum, closer to the pole of adjuncthood than is the case of the nominal variant. The article provides further evidence that (a) an approximate and relative scale is more realistic than an exact and numerical scale, and that (b) the valency status of a verb is, to an extent, conditioned by the dependent elements, thus failing to be directly and/or exclusively projected by the verbal head.
The present article analyzes the polysemy of the element ti in Kituba from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, by applying the framework of dynamic semantic maps and waves. The qualitative and ...quantitative corpus study, enhanced by evidence provided by Kituba native speakers, demonstrates the following: although ti spans most parts of the typological map of the polysemy of conjunctive coordinators, its center of prototypicality is located in the initial stage (comitative) and two intermediate stages (possessive and certain types of coordinate-hood) available along the grammaticalization pathway underlying the map. This suggests a semi-advanced grammaticalization profile for ti. The study also proposes certain changes in the typological map of the polysemy of conjunctive coordinators, postulating new components of the map (or grammaticalization stages), and alternative linking directions. Additionally, a possible manner of introducing quantitative data (related to prototypicality) to the qualitative map of polysemy is presented. The resulting model is argued to exhibit properties typical of complexity: structural intricacy, gradience, fuzziness, and multi-causality.
The present article is dedicated to the syntax, morphology, and phonetics of ideophones in Arusa Maasai. After examining the compliance of 69 ideophonic lexemes with the typologically driven ...prototype of an ideophone, the authors conclude that Arusa ideophones may range from canonical to non-canonical even within a single language module. When syntax, morphology, and phonetics are considered jointly, holophrastic and asyntagmatic ideophones are more canonical than ideophones used as verbal modifiers and parts of complex predicates, which are, in turn, more canonical than predicative ideophones. The extent of canonicity is inversely correlated with the systematicity and integration of ideophones in sentence grammar and their diffusion into other lexical classes: predicative ideophones have been fully incorporated into the category of verbs; for ideophones employed as verbal modifiers, a comparable incorporation into the category of adverbs has not been completed; for all the other types, especially holophrastic and asyntagmatic, ideophones still maintain their categorical individuality. Overall, ideophones constitute an “old” category in Arusa, one that is well advanced on its grammaticalization cline.
This article studies the compliance of Biblical Hebrew (BH) interjections with the formal prototype of interjections formulated in linguistic typology. The authors demonstrate that, globally, the ...lexical class of interjections in Biblical Hebrew exhibits a semi-canonical and thus semi-extra-systematic profile as far as its form is concerned. Locally, the levels of canonicity and extra-systematicity of BH interjections are uneven—high in morphology and moderate in phonology and syntax.
•Interjections are syntagmatic and tied to argument-structure patterns.•Complements of interjections entertain a number of semantic roles.•Complements of interjections approximate ...arguments.•Interjective prototype projects three inherent roles/argument positions.
The present article offers the first principled assessment of the argument structure of emotive interjections from a cognitive, constructional, and prototype-driven perspective. The evidence demonstrates that, in Polish, emotive interjections are tied to argument-structure patterns – they form constructions with (experiencer, causer, recipient, patient, theme, goal, locative, and addressee) complements which, from a categorial perspective, are most similar to arguments within the argument-adjunct continuum. Consequently, a radical view on the asyntagmatic, non-constructional, and syntax-external behavior of emotive interjections should be replaced by a more nuanced proposal: Emotive interjections – including their prototypical representative – exhibit syntactic properties that may approximate, to a greater or lesser extent, the syntax of other lexical classes traditionally viewed as syntagmatic and constructional.
En el presente artículo, el autor ofrece un análisis dinámico (cognitivo, tipológico y de gramaticalización) del yiqtol corto en hebreo bíblico. El gram, con toda su variedad de valores, se puede ...presentar como un fenómeno coherente por medio de una onda (un mapa sincrónico bidimensional cuyos valores están relacionados cognitivamente) con zonas de mayor o menor prototipicalidad y, por eso, semantización. El yiqtol corto se define como un gram de camino modal por contaminación, contaminado en el contexto deóntico de hablante (afirmativo y negativo), extendido después a usos subordinados de finalidad y, a continuación, empleado como futuro (primero apodótico y luego independiente). La zona de prototipicalidad corresponde a usos deónticos. El valor de finalidad constituye el pico de prototipicalidad secundario, mientras que el significado de futuro es minoritario.
This article analyzes the relationship that exists between the qatal and wayyiqtol forms in Biblical Hebrew. It provides a twofold approach, based on complexity theory, fuzziology, cognitive ...linguistics and the theory of dynamic semantic maps, on the one hand, as well as on an original empirical study involving all the instances of the two grams in the book of Genesis, on the other. As a result, the article advances a model of an intricate, multi-level and dynamic interaction of qatal and wayyiqtol in terms of two kinetic waves that spread along a grammaticalization channel recursively used in the language—in this case, the resultative stream.
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