Language Typology

The paper examines prefixal derivatives of Russian motion verbs that represent perfective Aktionsarten. The focus is on the statistical analysis of motion verbs as a specific subset of Aktionsarten characterized by their derivational features. Both sets (verbs of motion and Aktionsarten) are included in the database of Russian prefixed verbs developed by the authors based on the Dictionary of Russian language. One of the aims of the study is to verify the statement defended in previous works that the stem of a motion verb imposes restrictions on the possible Aktionsarten derived from it. This verification will be based on both dictionary data and the data from the Russian National Corpus and the Runet.

The aim of this study is to give the reader a short analysis of the Kurdish language. The study aims to give responses to the debates on the differences and similarities between the Persian language ‫(ﻓﺎرﺳﯽ(‬ and the Kurdish dialects. The language family to which Kurdish belongs, or Kurdî, is Indo-European. It belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, followed by the Western branch of the Iranian languages. Contrary to popular belief, it is not derived from Persian or Farsi. In other words, it is not a dialect or vernacular of Persian, nor is it a dialect at all. However, it should be noted that claims of a relationship with Persian are not unfounded. It is spoken by 40 million people worldwide in the Kurmanji, Soranî, Kurdiya Jêrîn, Zazakî, and Hewrami dialects. It is spoken globally in Kazakhstan in Central Asia, the east and southeast of Türkiye's Central Anatolia (Anatolia Navin), northern Iraq and Syria, western and southwestern Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. It is also known to be widely spoken in Europe especially Germany.

It is proposed that transitivity in Urarina is best seen as a scalar category in different levels of a lexical-clausal organization and that verbal roots of languages in the language can be categorized in more specific terms than only a dichotomic transitive/intransitive distinction. Based on their morphosyntactic behavior, we identify at least four types of lexicalized transitivity and six different verb subclasses for Urarina.

This article proposes a new description of Cantonese causative–resultative constructions (CRCs), constructions with two verbal elements relevant to the cause and the effect of an event respectively. We present a constructional schema for the CRC with three argument types and without using traditional categories—such as subject, object and pseudo-passivation, present various syntactic and semantic properties, and subsume constructions such as the comparative construction and numerous particle constructions under this banner. We then argue against traditional approaches to CRCs with two lexical verbs that treat the argument structure of the CRC as composed from argument structures of individual verbs (the decompositional approach); instead, CRC arguments belong to the entire construction and have only semantic orientation-based relationships with individual verbs (the holistic approach). We show how our account can shed light on Sinitic typology and the grammaticalisation mechanism of...

Los verbos dicendi, de comunicación o de actos de habla como decir, hablar, platicar, preguntar etc., denotan una actividad comunicativa que involucra tres participantes básicos asociados a diferentes roles semánticos: el emisor (agente), la información reportada (mensaje, cita, asunto) y el receptor (destinatario, interlocutor); otros participantes adicionales son el código y el medio. En lenguas particulares se ha observado que la estructura argumental de estos verbos varía dependiendo de su semántica y los participantes que se privilegian en la construcción particular. El objetivo central de esta tesis es explorar la estructura argumental de verbos dicendi en maya yucateco. A partir de un corpus textual de 280 cláusulas con verbos dicendi se examina la estructura argumental según los roles semánticos y funciones sintácticas que satisfacen cada uno de los participantes que aparecen en los datos. El análisis sigue la propuesta de Ibáñez (2008, 2010, 2011) y los pocos estudios en lenguas minoritarias sobre esta clase verbal (Guerrero 2011; Guerrero Ibáñez y Mejía 2022). En este estudio se establece el inventario de verbos dicendi de esta lengua maya, la tendencia de codificación (explícita, implícita) de cada participante, las preferencias en la estructura argumental según los roles semánticos y la codificación morfosintáctica que muestra cada uno de los verbos bajo análisis.

The research focused on logico-semantic relations in the Batak Toba wedding ceremony. The research aimed to discover the types of logico-semantic relations used in mangulosi and describe how they were realized in the Batak Toba wedding ceremony. The research was conducted by using the descriptive qualitative method. The data were taken from 2 wedding ceremony videos from 104 clause complexes selected. The study's finding showed that there were 9 of the logico-semantic relations types used in the Batak Toba wedding ceremony. They were consecutively hypotactic enhancement, hypotactic elaboration, paratactic enhancement, paratactic elaboration, hypotactic locution, paratactic extension, hypotactic extension, hypotactic idea, and paratactic idea. The logico-semantic relations were realized in mangulosi in Batak Toba wedding ceremony consecutively conjunction, verb, preposition, prepositional phrase, and adverbial clause which the utterances aimed about the message, prediction in the future, advice, hope, and blessing of hulahula for the bridegroom.

يدور هذا البحث حول الجملة والشبة جملة اللتان يقعان في محل نصب مفعول به، ويطلق
على الجملة التي تقع في محل نصب مفعول به في اللغة الصينية اسم "المفعول به المعقد". فيبدأ
البحث - بعد المقدمة الهامة التي تحوي على معلومات حول الدراسات التي أجريت علي الجملة
التي تقع في محل نصب مفعول به في اللغتين الصينية والعربية – بتعريف وشرح الجملة التي
تقع في محل نصب المفعول به )المفعول به المعقد(، ثم يتطرق البحث إلي تركيب جملة المفعول
به المعقد نحويا، وشروط المفعول به المعقد في اللغتين العربية والصينية واجراء دراسة مقارنة
بين اللغتين في ذلك المحور، ثم بعد ذلك يتناول البحث داللة المعني للمفعول به المعقد في اللغتين
العربية والصينية مع إجراء الدراسة المقارنة بين اللغتين في ذلك المحور وتوضيح أوجه التشابه
وأوجه االختالف. ثم يتدرج إلى طرق ومهارات ترجمة "المفعول به المعقد" من اللغة الصينية
إلى اللغة العربية، وأخيرا ينتهي بالخاتمة وأهم المراجع.
ا

Systems of grammatical gender are widespread, yet evidence on how these systems emerge is surprisingly scarce. We report on novel research using storyboard experiments in six Oceanic languages of Vanuatu and New Caledonia, to probe the initial stages in the emergence of grammatical gender from possessive classifiers. This would appear to be an unlikely source, yet we can demonstrate the development and investigate it through current experiments. Our storyboard experiments were designed to reveal the use of classifiers as reference tracking devices across units of discourse and in different interactional contexts. The particular interest is in the degree to which the use of these classifiers becomes fixed and hence redundant for given nouns. The general interest is the investigation of the way in which apparently useful distinctions are lost, as transparent classification becomes opaque.

This article presents a theoretical framework for teaching foreign languages based on the principles of developmental learning theory. It explores the relevance of typological differences between languages—particularly the contrast between analytic and synthetic structures—and their implications for instruction. Drawing on experimental work in primary foreign language education, the paper argues for a model in which students construct a conceptual understanding of a foreign language's grammatical system through activity-based tasks. The approach integrates insights from cultural-historical theory, linguistic typology, and educational psychology to promote deep and transferable linguistic competence.

The Peircean concept of the index has been used in the description of a broad range of different phenomena, among these deictic expressions such as personal pronouns, sociolinguistic variants, lexically governed case markers, bound allomorphs and bound allophones. A common denominator for the various instances of linguistic indexing is the “pointing” relation from an element: the index, to something else that is present in the context: the indicatum. For instance, a bound allomorph is an index pointing to its conditioning context as the indicatum (pl. indicata). Such pointing is a kind of linguistic meaning, different from conceptual/ideational meaning but nevertheless a contribution to the meaningfulness of the utterance.

In my talk, I will present a recently suggested typology of indexical functions (Nielsen 2016: 90-92; Nielsen & Sansiñena 2024: 11-20) that establishes four main types of indexical function:

I. Identifying indexical function (e.g. group-identifying vocabulary)

II. Situational indexical function (most types of deixis)

III. Systemic indexical function (indexing from an element of a system to the system itself)

IV. Structural indexical function (pointing within the linguistic structure, e.g. bound allomorphs)

Serving as a tool for analysing and classifying the full range of indexical phenomena in language, the typology provides a frame of reference for the (other) main topic of my talk: the way in which indexical meaning may cross the boundaries between different types of indexing and between different linguistic domains. With examples from various languages, I will show how an index may serve composite indexical functions, e.g. combining the identifying and the situational type, and I will demonstrate how the indexicality of an element can straddle different linguistic domains, such as internal syntactic structure and extra-linguistic interactional context. The phenomenon of insubordination is a case in point (Nielsen & Sansiñena 2024: 33-35, 42-44). The synchronic domain straddling of indexical relations is tightly bound up with diachronic processes that lead to either an extension of the set of indicata, i.e. the range what may be pointed at by an index, or to a semiotic shift whereby symbolic meaning is replaced with indexical meaning or vice versa.

As my main illustration of domain straddling and diachronic processes affecting indexical meaning, I will present the case of the Danish indirect object (IO) (Nielsen & Heltoft 2023; Nielsen 2024). The valency-bound (i.e. lexically governed) IO is an index of the verb that provides the argument slot and the semantic role of the IO, cf. (1) with the IO-governing verb tilbyde ‘offer’, while the free (i.e. non-valency-bound) IO is an index of a presupposed pragmatic context that establishes a recipient role. This is the reason for the unacceptability of (2a) with the non-IO-governing verb hente ‘fetch’ and without a contextually established recipient, and the acceptability of (2b) where the directive speech act context establishes the speaker as a “reception-wisher”.

(1) Anna tilbød Michael en stol
A. offer.PST M. a chair
‘Anna offered Michael a chair’
(2) a. *Anna hentede Michael en stol
A. fetch.PST M. a chair
(intended: ‘Anna fetched Michael a chair’)
b. hent mig en stol!
fetch.IMP me a chair
‘Fetch me a chair!’

I will outline the diachronic process whereby the free IO in Danish changed from having symbolic meaning and no dependence on speech act context to having indexical meaning, thus making the overall category of IO a domain-straddling index.

References

Nielsen, P. J. (2024). From symbol to index: The semiotic harmonisation of the Danish free indirect object. In P. J. Nielsen & M. S. Sansiñena (eds.), Indexicality: The Role of Indexing in Language Structure and Language Change. Berlin: De Gruyter, 283-328.

Nielsen, P. J. & L. Heltoft (2023). Indexicality across the boundaries of syntax, semantics and pragmatics: The constructional content of the Danish free indirect object. In E. Zehentner, M. Rothlisberger & T. Colleman (eds.), Ditransitives in Germanic Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 150-194.

Nielsen, P. J. & M. S. Sansiñena (2024). Indexes in language and linguistics. In P. J. Nielsen & M. S. Sansiñena (eds.), Indexicality: The Role of Indexing in Language Structure and Language Change. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1-56.

am thankful for the comments from the WCCFL 34 reviewers and audience members. I also want to thank Brent Henderson, and Youssef Haddad for their help on this topic. 2 The Revised Subset Principle (De Belder & Van Craenenbroeck 2014), a technical mechanism for the use of functional forms in a lexical domain in DM, is not used here as it drastically overgenerates, suggesting that any FVI can be inserted at a root node despite such examples being limited. This idea also contradicts unidirectionality and grammaticalization, whereby lexical items become functional, not the other way around. 3 Adpositions of a strictly functional nature are argued to be the realization of the F-nodes that define the domain.

This article aims at proposing a way to identify polysemy ‘anding-andingen’ or proverb in bahasa karo. The writer has an interest to use proverb or anding-aningen in this study because in proverb contains a lot of semantic meaning. This study was conducted using the descriptive qualitative approach in nature; therefore it only describes the semantic knowledge theory. The results of this study indicate that the element DO may occur either with a subject (Actor) alone with a second (Patient) argument as well (in English, as DO TO). It opened the way for a new semantically-inspired approach to grammar constructions. An analysis of ‘X does this’ as ‘X can say this’ and of ‘A because B’ as if not B, the not A’, the writers admitted that both DO and BECAUSE into the stable of semantic primitives. A similar entailment-like relationship obtains between PEOPLE and SOMEONE, but there is at least one significant syntactic difference, namely, that PEOPLE cannot occur with quantifier ONE.

This article presents an analysis of serial verb constructions in Wa'ikhana, an East Tukanoan language, from a usage-based constructionist perspective. Four kinds of serializations are identified and described. One of them-a serialization with the verb duku 'stand'-is analyzed in more detail, since not only does this construction have a more grammaticalized meaning, but also it has one instance yauduku (yau 'talk/tell' + duku 'stand') that has already become a new node in the constructicon, i.e., that constitutes a new lexical construction.

Bütün dünya dillerinde bir önermenin anlamını olumsuzlaştırmak için kullandığı belli dilbilimsel yollar vardır. Bununla birlikte, diller, bu olumsuzluğu nasıl ifade ettiklerine göre birbirlerinden çeşitli yönlerle ayrılabilirler. Hatta bir dil kendi içinde bile çok çeşitli olumsuzlaştırma stratejileri sergileyebilir. Örneğin Türkçede standart olumsuzluk, eylemden eylem yapan -mA biçimbirimiyle; adcıl olumsuzluk, değil parçacığıyla; varoluşsal olumsuzluk, yok ile yapılır. Bunun dışında adlara gelen -sXz
eki ve hiç, hiçbir şey, hiçbir zaman, asla gibi sözlüksel birimler, olumsuzlaştırmada kullanılan diğer işaretleyicilerdir. Bu çalışmanın odak konusu, Türkçede değil parçacığı ile yapılan olumsuzluktur. Değil, i- eylemi ile kurulan koşaç cümlelerinin olumsuzlaştırılmasında kullanılır: Üzgün-üm. > Üzgün değil-im vb. Bu yüzden olumsuzluk koşacı olarak da bilinir. Bitimli bir cümle veya kurucu olumsuzlaştırmada kullanılan değil parçacığı, ilgili cümle veya kurucuyla olan olumsuzluk ilişkisinde sözdizimsel, anlambilimsel, işlevsel ve edimbilimsel pek çok özellik sergilemektedir. Bu çalışmada bu özelliklerden yararlanarak değil’in kullanımlarına yönelik bir betimleme yapılmıştır. Bu kullanımlar, adcıl olumsuzluk, eylemcil olumsuzluk, karşıtsal olumsuzluk ve eklenti soruları olmak üzere dört ana başlıkta ele alınmıştır. Çalışmanın malzemesi ise derlem temelli bir uygulama olan Türkçe Ulusal Derleminden (TUD) oluşturulmuştur.

This study utilizes the methodology of cohesion analysis within the framework of functional grammar to develop a starting point for a textually grounded set of criteria for determining the function of marked word-order constructions in a discourse. The provisional findings from some soundings in Habakkuk 1-2 reveal that most of the fronted constructions in this pericope serve to indicate boundaries. Whether or not the fronted element has cohesive ties elsewhere in the pericope is not necessarily of immediate use in understanding the purpose of the given instance of fronting. Another discovery is that a fronted construction often co-occurs with a change of grammatical subject (relative to the previous clause), but this new subject itself is not fronted.

This article discusses the dynamics of Indigenous kinship in the Amazon, based on the autobiographical narrative of Mr. Júlio Cardoso, a ninety-year-old man of the Baniwa people. From his account, I develop an ethnographic discussion on the Baniwa, speakers of an Arawak language and inhabitants of the Upper Rio Negro, with a particular focus on the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Júlio’s life is highlighted due to his extended period living with patrões from the regional aviamento system between the 1950s and 1970s. One of Júlio’s most recurrent formulations regarding these non-Indigenous bosses is that they were “as if” they were his fathers, a notion that is not considered either metaphorical or fictitious. I also analyze two important markers of the conversion of relationships: “getting used to” analogous to consanguinity, which allows the patrão to be conceived as a type of father – and “getting tired of,” which expresses relationships analogous to enmity. I conclude that a type of speculative kinship is revealed among the Baniwa through Júlio Cardoso, where “as if” becomes a mode of performing kinship operations. These operations allow for the ontological encounter and the comparison of worlds, creating possible relations, inverting orders between the visible and invisible, between the innate and the constructed.

English-based and Dutch-based languages. 299 pages. Volume II: Portuguese-based, Spanish-based, and French-based languages. 285 pages. Volume III: Contact languages based on languages from Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas. 176 pages. New York. Oxford University Press.

This paper provides a description of the morphophonological processes of
the segmental level in the Mixtec of San Jerónimo de Xayacatlán. Consonantal
and vowel alternations in verbs are approached from a diachronic
and synchronic perspective to explain how fossilization and minimality accounts
for allomorphy. Realizational morphology explains how mood-aspect
and person features are manifested as phonological alterations in minimal
word boundary. The refined dual-route approach determines computation
and solves analytic underdetermination problems that persist in descriptions.
The minimal word is proposed as a morphophonological entity and domain. The conclusions of this work are intended to establish a tradition
of studies on the morphophonology regarding this dialect, as well as all the
other Mixtec languages.

Most of the examples quoted are extracted from a one-hour corpus published by the CorpAfroAs project (Mettouchi, Vanhove, & Caubet 2012), and completed by a two-hour corpus transcribed and annotated with the help of Marvellous S. Davan in November 2012 in Nigeria during a fieldtrip funded by IFRA-Nigeria and the EFL LABEX programme "The Typology and Corpus Annotation of Information Structure and Grammatical Relations". Transcription: Zaar is a 3 tone languages with High and Low noted respectively (á) and (à), and Middle left unmarked (a). Contour tones are Rising (ǎ) and Falling (â). In the examples, the first line gives a broad phonemic transcription, with postlexical tone realization and segmental assimilations, and the second line gives a morphological analysis. For interlinear glossing, we follow the Leipzig Glossing Rules (Bickel, Comrie, & Haspelmath 2008) adapted for the CorpAfroAs project.

Most of the examples quoted are extracted from a one-hour corpus published by the CorpAfroAs project (Mettouchi, Vanhove, & Caubet 2012), and completed by a two-hour corpus transcribed and annotated with the help of Marvellous S. Davan in November 2012 in Nigeria during a fieldtrip funded by IFRA-Nigeria and the EFL LABEX programme "The Typology and Corpus Annotation of Information Structure and Grammatical Relations". Transcription: Zaar is a 3 tone languages with High and Low noted respectively (á) and (à), and Middle left unmarked (a). Contour tones are Rising (ǎ) and Falling (â). In the examples, the first line gives a broad phonemic transcription, with postlexical tone realization and segmental assimilations, and the second line gives a morphological analysis. For interlinear glossing, we follow the Leipzig Glossing Rules (Bickel, Comrie, & Haspelmath 2008) adapted for the CorpAfroAs project.

Most of the examples quoted are extracted from a one-hour corpus published by the CorpAfroAs project (Mettouchi, Vanhove, & Caubet 2012), and completed by a two-hour corpus transcribed and annotated with the help of Marvellous S. Davan in November 2012 in Nigeria during a fieldtrip funded by IFRA-Nigeria and the EFL LABEX programme "The Typology and Corpus Annotation of Information Structure and Grammatical Relations". Transcription: Zaar is a 3 tone languages with High and Low noted respectively (á) and (à), and Middle left unmarked (a). Contour tones are Rising (ǎ) and Falling (â). In the examples, the first line gives a broad phonemic transcription, with postlexical tone realization and segmental assimilations, and the second line gives a morphological analysis. For interlinear glossing, we follow the Leipzig Glossing Rules (Bickel, Comrie, & Haspelmath 2008) adapted for the CorpAfroAs project.

A morphological typology comparison between English and Indonesian reveals clear structural contrasts. English predominantly relies on isolating strategies, using separate function words and minimal affixation to express grammatical relations. Indonesian, by contrast, displays agglutinative characteristics through extensive affixation and reduplication with transparent morpheme boundaries. A qualitative descriptive method combined with frequency analysis showed Indonesian words contain more morphemes per word than English equivalents. These findings highlight that morphological typology exists on a continuum rather than as absolute categories. The study also underscores implications for language teaching, as learners must adapt to different strategies for interpreting morphological information in each language.

A morphological typology comparison between English and Indonesian reveals clear structural contrasts. English predominantly relies on isolating strategies, using separate function words and minimal affixation to express grammatical relations. Indonesian, by contrast, displays agglutinative characteristics through extensive affixation and reduplication with transparent morpheme boundaries. A qualitative descriptive method combined with frequency analysis showed Indonesian words contain more morphemes per word than English equivalents. These findings highlight that morphological typology exists on a continuum rather than as absolute categories. The study also underscores implications for language teaching, as learners must adapt to different strategies for interpreting morphological information in each language.

The current computational era heralds a multitude of challe nges for linguists, mathematicians and computer scientists alike. The investi gation of linguistic feature consistencies, their implications in historical ling uistics and the detection of possible geographical and phylogenetical influences in f eature behaviors will steadily unveil the importance of each language characteri stic and its associated historical role in language evolution. The wish to develop n ew methods has made the integration of various disciplines necessary. Consequ ently, the role of computer science (and more specifically bioinformatics) has ri sen in the study of linguistic processes. By combining the strengths of bioinform atics algorithms, mathematical procedures, statistical knowledge and databases developing methodologies, various strategies have been developed and applied to the phylogenetic reconstruction of language evolution, but up till now only on s mall scales. The analysis of a worldwide ty...

This paper explores the morphological structure of the Chokri language, a lesser-studied member of the Sino-Tibetan language family spoken by a subgroup of the Chakhesang Tribe in Nagaland, India. Chokri, a Tibeto-Burman language, exhibits a rich morphological system characterized by extensive inflectional and derivational processes. Particular attention is given to its complex verbal morphology, the flexibility of adjectives, the typological distinctions in nouns, and the unique features of pronouns, adverbs, postpositions, and interjections. By analyzing the word categories and morphological strategies employed in Chokri, this study highlights the intricate linguistic patterns and typological features that distinguish the language. This comprehensive analysis not only deepens the understanding of Chokri's morphology but also contributes to the broader typological and comparative studies of Tibeto-Burman languages.

Cf. quotations such as the following from an influential grammar of German: "Eine Kategorie des Verbs ist die der Person (im grammatischen Sinne). Sie ist in jeder konjugierten Form des Verbs enthalten. Es sind drei Personen zu unterscheiden…" (Helbig & Buscha 1988: § 1.3.3). The authors just say that person is "a category of the verb".

Note: this paper has been prepared for the International Congress of Slavists (Belgrade 2018). It relies on a much longer paper which contains a full typology (Corbett ms.). The current paper complements the longer one in focussing on the Slavonic languages, and their potential contribution for a better understanding of pluralia tantum, including a new Slavonic case study.

There is a good deal of confirming data (Corbett :206-237, 2022b)), including luxuriant detail on Modern Hebrew (heb) in Landau 2016, and on English in Lakaw 2017. While the underlying logic is clear, instances often involve multiple splits and so are harder to spot. Take first a simple illustration of the constraint of the hierarchy: (2) that family are always making music together, and they evidently enjoy it a lot With hybrid nouns like family, attributive position allows only singular agreement, while in other positions there is also the possibility of plural (semantically justified agreement), as in the predicate and personal pronoun in 2. Primary lexemes are partitioned, separating hybrids like family and committee from nouns like spatula. Note that the partitioning goes further, in that different hybrids take different proportions of semantically justified agreement, thus family takes semantically justified agreement more frequently than does committee (Corbett 2015b:195-196). 1 Clearly the Agreement Hierarchy constrains splits, categorical and gradient, and our typology of splits should be relevant. And indeed, we find that for agreement there can be a split -or no split -for each of the four possibilities of our typology. For the primary lexeme (controller) there can be lexemic splits or featural splits, or none; similarly for the secondary lexeme (target) there can be lexemic splits or featural splits, or none. Demonstrating both the existence and the absence of all four types of split will be clear evidence that our typology is minimal. The data are fully documented elsewhere, so this section will give the argument (summarized in Table ) and point to the sources. I address the cells of Table in turn. 1 The term 'hybrid' is established for nouns like family, which induce splits in agreement (they do not induce a consistent agreement pattern). And the term is used whether the split is categorical or gradient. But there is no generally accepted term for lexemes whose government, selection or anti-government requirements are inconsistent. Given the term 'hybrid', the term 'split' is less often used for agreement than for government or selection, but Sauerland ( ), for instance, talks of split agreement with relation to examples akin to 2.

Agreement systems often allow alternatives: This family has/have lost everything. Therefore typology requires a means for generalizing over them. Instances like PLURAL live are frequently termed ‘semantic agreement’ (vs. ‘syntactic agreement’ for SINGULAR lives), but this notion has proved difficult. The challenge is to encompass the full typological range of alternative agreements. These include the core instances: (i) hybrid nouns like family; and (ii) constructional mismatches, such as conjoined nominal phrases, but also less obvious phenomena: (iii) split hybrids where neither alternative is straightforwardly semantic, both appear related to form, and (iv) examples like Scandinavian ‘pancake sentences’, which stretch semantic agreement towards pragmatics. These different types are comparable in that (i) the alternatives are realized by the normal agreement forms; and (ii) they are subject to the Agreement Hierarchy. Hence they demand a common treatment. To achieve this, I first ...

A key notion in understanding language is 'possible word (lexeme)'. While there are lexemes that are internally homogeneous and externally consistent, we find others with splits in their internal structure (morphological paradigm) and inconsistencies in their external behavior (syntactic requirements). I first explore the characteristics of the most straightforward lexemes, in order to establish a point in the theoretical space from which we can calibrate the real examples we find. I then schematize the interesting phenomena that deviate from this idealization, including suppletion, syncretism, deponency, and defectiveness. Next I analyze the different ways in which lexemes are 'split' by such phenomena. I set out a typology of possible splits, along four dimensions: splits that are (i) based on the composition/feature signature of the paradigm versus those based solely on morphological form; (ii) motivated (following a boundary motivated from outside the paradigm) versus purely morphology-internal ('morphomic'); (iii) regular (extending across the lexicon) versus irregular (lexically specified); (iv) externally relevant versus irrelevant: we expect splits to be internal to the lexeme, but some have external relevance (they require different syntactic behaviors). I identify instances of these four dimensions separately: they are orthogonal, and therefore not dependent on each other. Their interaction gives a substantial typology, and it proves to be surprisingly complete: the possibilities specified are all attested. The typology also allows for the unexpected patterns of behavior to overlap in particular lexemes, producing some remarkable examples. Such examples show that the notion 'possible word' is more challenging than many linguists have realized.*

The point of this investigation is to portray the Arabic and English morphological frameworks so as to recognize the similitudes and contrasts between them. There are a few different ways of framing words in English and Arabic, yet the most widely recognized ways are deduction, affectation and exacerbating. This part is an endeavor to talk about the derivational frameworks of English and Arabic similarly. The investigation and depiction of the components of morphology: affectation, induction and exacerbating. The two portrayals will cover the structure, the importance and the circulation of morphemes. The circulation of morphemes is the aggregate of the considerable number of settings in which they can happen. A full comprehension of any morpheme includes understanding its dissemination just as its significance. The different sorts of limitations on the blends of morphemes, the request in which morphemes can be masterminded, sets of morphemes which can never happen together in a similar word, classes of morphemes required to happen in specific conditions will be given. Complex examples of choice of allomorphs will be given. The kind of importance inferred without any morpheme of a given request will be brought up. All allomorphs will be recorded and runs for the right choice will be given. General morphophonemic proclamations which apply all around in the framework will be made.

Az uráli alapnyelvi megoldásokhoz (84%-os egyezésével) a számi toldalékolási típus áll legközelebb: a számiban a szóvégre került CX-ek ragvég nélkül használatosak: N-CX loc. guo-le-st, com. gūli-in, ess. guolle-m stb., ugyanezek az esetragok viszont köztes helyzetű toldalékokként, az N-CX-PX toldalékláncban megőrzik eredeti magánhangzós ragvégüket: loc. + px1sg. guole-sta-m, com. + px1sg. gūli-ina-m, ess. + px1sg. guolle-na-m stb.
Ennek alapján célszerű azt is feltételezni, hogy az uráli alapnyelvi toldalékláncokban a köztes helyzetbe került aszillabikus toldalékok – a kötelezően magánhangzós végű tőszavakhoz és képzett származékszavakhoz igazodva – magánhangzós ragvégű alternánsaikban jelentek meg.

Language typologists classify languages as Agglutinative, Synthetic, Polysynthetic, Analytic, Fusional, Isolating, etc. This paper grew out of a concern as to in which of these type the Kanuri language could be classified. In this paper we attempt to explicate that Kanuri language belongs to the agglutinative type. The agglutinative nature of the Kanuri language is characterised by its verb morphology, which is complex and difficult to understand without a mastery of the intricacies of Kanuri morphology and phonology. The study shows that a single finite verb form in Kanuri is composed of three morphemes, while in other types of verbs it is comprises four morphemes. In forming a derivative or compound verb in Kanuri, it is evident that the Kauri verb could accommodate up to seven morphemes.

The lexical stock of North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) 1 exhibits a large number of puzzling words of unknown or doubtful origin, and is fraught with tantalizing etymological conundrums awaiting solution. To select just a few examples from a small number of NENA dialects 2what might be the respective etyma of C.Urmi šlg 'to pluck, extract, * Akkadian, Kurdish and Syriac words are usually given without reference when they can readily be tracked down in the following dictionaries:

Research in early generative syntax was dominated by problems concerning the right ordering of transformations and their applicability to intermediate representations. However, a major bifurcation triggered by the publication of Chomsky’s Lectures on Government and Binding changed the course of history, and all subsequent advances in generative syntax, including the latest Minimalist framework (Chomsky 1995), were motivated by a need to reduce the number of operations and mechanisms required to derive surface representations. The recent evolution of mainstream phonology, the Optimality Theoretic framework (Prince & Smolensky 1993) to be precise, shows a drastic reduction, if not elimination, of representations in favor of a far richer computational system. The theory is built around hierarchically ranked (universal and language specific) constraints that are all violable in principle; input forms are freely generated and then evaluated in the constraint chamber. Although the number ...

This interesting volume represents a collection of high quality essays that touch on some of the more recent and "controversial" topics in creole studies in the last 10 years. In some ways, this volume represents the shift away from dominant debates or dichotomies that had previously defined creole studies, e.g., superstrata versus substrata, substrata versus universals (or the language bio-program hypothesis [LBH]). Bickerton's work on the LBH dominated much of the creolistics research of the 1980s-1990s, even if most of the research in print reflected significantly more detractors arguing against the hypothesis than supporters of it. In the same way, McWhorter's 1998 article has come to dominate much of the research in the early 21st century. Most work seems not to support his Prototype Hypothesis (PH), but to argue against it. Several of the articles in the present volume are reactions to/against McWhorter's work. The book is dedicated to the memory of Jacques Arends. In fact, the last article (pp. 223-241) represents one of Jacques's last published works (written in collaboration with his students) since his death in 2005. As many have already written, he and his excellent scholarship will be missed. This volume of 11 papers contains a subset of those that were presented at the "Second International Workshop on the Phonology and Morphology of Creole Languages", held at the University of Siegen in October 2003. As the (sub)title suggests, the book is divided into three parts: "Section 1: segmental aspects" (pp. 3-82); "Section 2: Syllabic aspects" (pp. 85-150); and "Section 3: Morphological aspects" (pp. 153-241). Instead of giving an inventory of all the articles, I will touch upon the chapters that I found the most illuminating or provocative. The first article, by Thomas B. , presents an inventory of phonemes in so-called creole languages. Klein concludes that, as regards vowels and consonants, creole languages are fairly typical (i.e., the typological middle ground) in terms of phonemic inventory among the world's languages. That is, there is nothing reduced or simplified about the phonemes in creoles. He writes: "The vast majority of Creole languages exhibit the typical non-Creole inventory size of 20-37 phonemes" (p. 8). Klein reaches this conclusion by comparing creole

The present study presents the issue of auxiliary selection in English and Romanian, aiming to underline the specificities of the two languages, and contrast them in terms of differences and similarities as regards auxiliary selection. We analyse the restrictions in the selection of the progressive/imperfective and perfective aspects (that is, the auxiliaries have or be) with different semantic classes of verbs (states, processes, activities) in English, and the difference of selection for perfective and imperfective in Romanian by contrast with the English selection. Furthermore, the present paper also illustrates the differences in auxiliary passive selection between Romanian and English.

The aim of this contrastive study is to analyze temporal converb constructions between Turkish and Lezgian and it is a morphological analysis since it examines inflectional temporal converb constructions between two languages. The contrastive analysis involves three methodological steps: description, juxtaposition, and comparison and the analysis is based on the classifications of temporal converb constructions by Nedjalkov (1998) and Çetintaş Yıldırım (2004), namely, (i) simultaneity, (ii) anteriority and (iii) posteriority meaning relationships. The temporal converbial suffixes examined in this study are-(y)IncA (when),-DIğI zaman (when),-DIğIndA (when),-(A/I) r…-mAz (as soon as),-DIğIndAn beri (since),-DIktAn sonra (after),-mAdAn önce (before),-(y)IncAyA kadar / dek (until),-ken (while) and-DıkçA (whenever) in Turkish and-la (when),-waldi (as soon as),-namaz(di) (as soon as),-zamaz (as soon as),-daldi (before) and-daldi (until) in Lezgian. In terms of meaning relationships, the results of the study show that although Turkish and Lezgian employ same strategies in that both languages express three temporal relationships of anteriority, posteriority, and simultaneity for temporal converb constructions; the number of the suffixes and temporal meaning relationship parameters differ for these categories. In terms of morphosyntactic relationships, the results of the study show that all converbial suffixes are added to the base verb segment in Turkish and they are attached to verb stems or participles in Lezgian. Moreover, temporal converbial suffixes may be simple and composite in both languages.

Este artículo analiza la Construcción de Fingimiento Ñembo-/Ñemo- del guaraní paraguayo con dos objetivos principales. El primero es ampliar la descripción sobre la construcción, echando luz sobre sus posibilidades y restricciones sintácticas y semánticas. Con ese fin se analiza evidencia de la construcción según su uso con clases aspectuales, clases de valencia, el alcance de la negación y el sufijo pa-/mba-. El segundo objetivo es evaluar la hipótesis de que esta es una construcción que surgió en el guaraní como resultado del contacto con el español. Para ello se analiza evidencia de estadios anteriores de la lengua y de lenguas estrechamente emparentadas, que en efecto muestra ser consistente con una hipótesis de contacto.

Kurzfassung: In den limburgischen Dialekten findet sich eine partizipiale Bildung, die traditionell als Gerundium bezeichnet wird, in Wirklichkeit aber ein Konverb ist. Das Suffix tritt in unterschiedlichen Formen auf. Da das Entstehen und die Entwicklung des Konverbs bisher als ungeklärt gelten, stelle ich in diesem Aufsatz das Konverb vor, bespreche die Forschungsgeschichte, behandle die unterschiedlichen formellen Varianten des Suffixes, und schlage ein sprachhistorisches Szenario vor, das das Konverb als Fortsetzung einer prädikativen Adjektivform auf -ēr aus althochdeutscher Zeit erklärt.

How do children learn the meanings of simple spatial prepositions like in and on? In this paper, I argue that children come to spatial term learning with an a priori conceptual distinction between core versus non-core concepts of containment and support, and that they learn how language maps onto this distinction by considering both the simple prepositions and the company they keep-that is, the distributions of their co-occurrences with particular verbs. Core types of containment and support are largely expressed by in/on together with the light verb BE; non-core types are expressed by lexical verbs such as insert, hang, stick, and so on, which represent the specific mechanical means by which containment or support is achieved. These latter types arguably depend on extensive learning about the particular mechanisms of containment and support, many of which are invented by humans, as well as learning the specific lexical verbs that encode these mechanisms. The core versus non-core distinction is reflected in young children's and adults' linguistic descriptions of different spatial configurations, via different distributions of expression types across different configurations. Differences between children and adults are not likely to be rooted in either conceptual or semantic differences, but rather, in the probabilistic nature of available expressions, along with early limits on children's vocabulary of lexical verbs that express complex mechanical relationships between objects.