- Home
- e-Journals
- Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language”
- Previous Issues
- Volume 46, Issue 4, 2022
Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language” - Volume 46, Issue 4, 2022
Volume 46, Issue 4, 2022
-
Derivation predicting inflection
Author(s): Olivier Bonami and Matteo Pellegrinipp.: 753–792 (40)More LessAbstractIn this paper, we investigate the value of derivational information in predicting the inflectional behavior of lexemes. We focus on Latin, for which large-scale data on both inflection and derivation are easily available. We train boosting tree classifiers to predict the inflection class of verbs and nouns with and without different pieces of derivational information. For verbs, we also model inflectional behavior in a word-based fashion, training the same type of classifier to predict wordforms given knowledge of other wordforms of the same lexemes. We find that derivational information is indeed helpful, and document an asymmetry between the beginning and the end of words, in that the final element in a word is highly predictive, while prefixes prove to be uninformative. The results obtained with the word-based methodology also allow for a finer-grained description of the behavior of different pairs of cells.
-
Nominal determination in Moroccan Arabic
Author(s): Utz Maas and Stephan Procházkapp.: 793–846 (54)More LessAbstractMany studies on Moroccan Arabic presuppose the existence of a determination system organized along the lines of definiteness and indefiniteness. Hence, they postulate a ‘definite article’ with the form /l-/ and an ‘indefinite article’ as its counterpart in the form /waħd.l-/.
This study shows that the so-called ‘definite article’ /l-/ is actually a general referential marker that mainly marks a noun as [−predicative]. The marker /l-/ and its augmented forms are specific and allow different readings ranging from anaphoric definiteness to specific indefiniteness. The marker /waħd.l-/ is less an ‘indefinite article’ but marks ‘mirativity’, i.e. pragmatic salience. Thus it often has a cataphoric function. Demonstratives are used in deictic function but also to evoke an already existing knowledge in the hearer. The system is extended by the referential marker /ʃi-/ restricted to mark non-specific items. The complexity of nominal determination is partly the result of the juxtaposition of typically Moroccan linguistic innovations and retentions of “common Arabic” structures.
-
Periphrastic causative in West Circassian
Author(s): Paul Phelanpp.: 847–871 (25)More LessAbstractThis paper looks at a grammaticalized periphrastic causative construction in West Circassian. West Circassian is a polysynthetic language and expresses information largely through morphological means, which makes this construction all the more unusual. As interest in the complexities of polysynthetic languages grows, it is important to look at periphrastic strategies and syntactic operations in these languages beyond those governed by their morphosyntactic rules. Here, a causative construction based on the West Circassian ‘do’ exists alongside a highly productive morphological causative. Questions of how and why the appearance of such a construction is possible in West Circassian, but has not happened in closely related Abaza, are important and are a reminder that we should look beyond the complex morphosyntax of such languages to less studied and less conspicuous structures that can challenge our understanding of polysynthetic paradigms.
-
From syntax to morphology
Author(s): Yong Wangpp.: 872–900 (29)More LessAbstractNoun-incorporation is a process of word-formation in which a nominal constituent is added to a verbal root, with the resulting construction being both a verb and a single word. The incorporated element may be the object of the verbal element; it may also denote agent, instrument, location, etc. Once incorporated the nominal constituent figures less prominently. The meaning of the resulting new word is more than the sum of its two constituents. This is the most nearly syntactic of all morphological processes that has morphological, semantic, syntactic, and discourse consequences (Mithun 1984: 847). By reference to relevant typological studies, this article describes the morphological, syntactic, and semantic features of noun-incorporation in Chinese within the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics. It is found that the new verb may be intransitive or transitive and the two elements may occur continuously or discontinuously and they may swap their positions. This process may shed light on the complementary and continuous relation between lexis and grammar and the ergative nature of Chinese.
-
Possessive inflection in Chichimec inalienable nouns
Author(s): Borja Hercepp.: 901–933 (33)More LessAbstractPerson and number of a possessor are expressed in Chichimec in one of two ways. Most nouns use possessive classifiers. A smaller class (typically inalienables) inflects for the possessor synthetically. This paper constitutes the first in-depth exploration of this latter class. These nouns are characterized by unparalleled levels of irregularity, with more than 100 different inflection classes and most nouns exhibiting completely unique exponence patterns. The morphology of these nouns is based on several orthogonal inflectional layers: prefixes, stem alternations, and tone, all of which exhibit only weak predictive relations to other subsystems or cells, and equally unpredictable mappings to the possessor values they instantiate. The system is also extremely challenging with respect to segmentation, as most of the segments within the word can change in inflection seemingly independently of the neighbouring ones. This paper surveys this baroque system in search of its organizational principles.
-
Cross-linguistic patterns in the lexicalisation of bring and take
pp.: 934–993 (60)More LessAbstractThis study investigates the linguistic expression of bring and take events and more generally of the semantic domain of directed caused accompanied motion (‘directed CAM’) across a sample of eight languages of the Pacific and the Americas. Unlike English, the majority of languages in our sample do not lexicalise directed CAM events by simple verbs, but rather encode the defining meaning components – caused motion, accompaniment, and directedness – in morphosyntactically complex constructions. The study shows a high degree of crosslinguistic diversity, even among closely related languages. Meaning components are contributed to directed CAM expressions by a mix of lexical semantics, morphosyntax, and pragmatic means. The study proposes a text-based, semantic typology of directed CAM events by drawing on corpus data from endangered languages.
Volumes & issues
-
Volume 49 (2025)
-
Volume 48 (2024)
-
Volume 47 (2023)
-
Volume 46 (2022)
-
Volume 45 (2021)
-
Volume 44 (2020)
-
Volume 43 (2019)
-
Volume 42 (2018)
-
Volume 41 (2017)
-
Volume 40 (2016)
-
Volume 39 (2015)
-
Volume 38 (2014)
-
Volume 37 (2013)
-
Volume 36 (2012)
-
Volume 35 (2011)
-
Volume 34 (2010)
-
Volume 33 (2009)
-
Volume 32 (2008)
-
Volume 31 (2007)
-
Volume 30 (2006)
-
Volume 29 (2005)
-
Volume 28 (2004)
-
Volume 27 (2003)
-
Volume 26 (2002)
-
Volume 25 (2001)
-
Volume 24 (2000)
-
Volume 23 (1999)
-
Volume 22 (1998)
-
Volume 21 (1997)
-
Volume 20 (1996)
-
Volume 19 (1995)
-
Volume 18 (1994)
-
Volume 17 (1993)
-
Volume 16 (1992)
-
Volume 15 (1991)
-
Volume 14 (1990)
-
Volume 13 (1989)
-
Volume 12 (1988)
-
Volume 11 (1987)
-
Volume 10 (1986)
-
Volume 9 (1985)
-
Volume 8 (1984)
-
Volume 7 (1983)
-
Volume 6 (1982)
-
Volume 5 (1981)
-
Volume 4 (1980)
-
Volume 3 (1979)
-
Volume 2 (1978)
-
Volume 1 (1977)
Most Read This Month

-
-
On thetical grammar
Author(s): Gunther Kaltenböck, Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva
-
-
-
Where Have all the Adjectives Gone?
Author(s): R.M.W. Dixon
-
-
-
On contact-induced grammaticalization
Author(s): Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva
-
-
-
Irrealis and the Subjunctive
Author(s): T. Givón
-
- More Less