Diachronica - Volume 41, Issue 4, 2024

This paper investigates the grammaticalization and subsequent pragmaticization of an applicative construction in Tibetic. Based on linguistic data ranging from the 8th century to modern times, we show how successive linguistic changes link a verb phrase originally meaning ‘to act as a companion (of sb.)’ to an imperative marker, through an applicative construction. Despite the scarcity of data, we document the different stages of evolution of this particular construction: the lexicalization of a verb phrase; its grammaticalization into a sociative-benefactive applicative marker; the pragmaticization of particular use patterns of this applicative construction into markers of complaints, wishes and commands; and eventually a secondary grammaticalization into an imperative marker. As they developed, most of these stages have been retained in the modern Tibetic languages and co-exist with lexicalized units based on the same morphological material. Our analysis adds to the recently discussed cross-linguistic data by demonstrating that applicative markers can directly grammaticalize from nouns without an intermediate stage of noun incorporation or adposition. We also show that the range of functions taken over by this construction in synchrony can only be understood by referring to its diachronic evolution.

One of the sources of irrealis markers is former markers of conditional sentences, both protases and apodoses, both factual and counterfactual. The development, amply documented cross-linguistically, is that of insubordination: a former marker of subordination is used as an irrealis marker in main clauses. However, the next stage of development is not commonly observed: when irrealis markers that came into being as the result of insubordination and are used in main clauses spread back to their original locus, conditional sentences. The paper deals with a clear attestation of this pattern in Hittite, an extinct Indo-European language. It is argued that the development is part of a linguistic cycle of the ‘broken’ kind, i.e., that the cycle changed by other processes simultaneously operating in the language.

This article seeks to demonstrate how the synopsis of historiographical and lexicographical material allows for the absolute dating of sound changes even in languages with late and imperfect documentation, and how this dating relates to hypotheses concerning the long-range genealogical affiliation of these languages. The languages investigated are Ket and Yugh which belong to the Yeniseian family and have been documented since the 18th century. Two sound changes in these languages will be discussed: Proto-Yeniseian *p- > Ket h-, and Proto-Yeniseian *p- > Yugh f-. It will be argued that the Ket development occurred between 1596/1607 and 1723 AD, and that the Yugh development occurred between 1739 and 1846/1847 AD. The implications of these findings for the Dene-Yeniseian hypothesis linking the Yeniseian family with the Na-Dene family will be discussed. It will be argued that this hypothesis cannot be maintained, and that short-range comparisons are preferable to long-range speculations.