DOCSLIB.ORG

Progress in Language; with Special Reference to English

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Progress in Language; with Special Reference to English M- B Cornell University ^' 'j Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026448203 PROGRESS IN LANGUAGE — Of the Studier over Engelske Kasus, the Academy (2nd January, 1892) said : " Mr. Jespersen has long ago gained a high reputation as a phone- tician. The introductory essay will secure for him a distinguished position among philological thinkers. It is long since we read so brilliant a performance of its kind. ... It seems strange that this powerful and suggestive essay should be published as a mere introduc- series discussions English Grammar tion to a of on ; probably the author will at some time re-issue it in a riper form, and we hope in some language more widely known than Danish. [The body of the work] contains an extraordinary amount of acute and highly probable reasoning, and not a few observations of facts hitherto overlooked. We shall certainly look with keen interest for the succeeding instalments of his work." PROGRESS IN LANGUAGE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ENGLISH OTTO ]^ESPERSEN, Ph. Dr. PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN THE UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN AUTHOR OF *'THE ARTICULATIONS OF SPEECH SOUNDS" " CHAUCEr'S LIV OG DIGHTNING," ETC. LONDON SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. CO. NEW YORK : MACMILLAN & 1894 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS. PREFACE. This volume is to a certain extent an English translation of my Studier over Engelske Kasus, med en Indledning : Fremskridt i Sproget, which was submitted to the University of Copenhagen in February, 1891, as a dissertation for the Ph. D. degree, and appeared in print in April of that year. In preparing this English edition I have, however, altered my book so materially as to make it in many respects an entirely new work.'' In the first place, what was originally only an introductory essay has been enlarged and made the principal part of the book, as already indicated by the altered title. Conse- quently, I could only retain those chapters of the special investigation on the history of English cases which had some bearing on the central idea of " Progress in Language," viz., chs. vi. and vii. (formerly i. and ii., on "the 1 The small numbers in parentheses refer to the paragraphs of the Danish book ; they will enable the reader to judge of the changes made in revising the work for this edition. PREFACE. English Case-Systems " and on " Case-Shift- ings in the Pronouns "), while the last chapter, dealing with the history of voiced and voiceless consonants, was of too special a nature to be inserted in this volume. I shall probably find an opportunity of reprinting part of this inves- tigation in the introduction to the edition of Hart's Orthograpkie, which I am preparing for the Early English Text Society ; and I may here provisionally refer the readers to Dr. Sweet's New English Grammar, §§ 731, 861, 862, 863 (cf also §§ 810, 813, 997, 999, looi), / where I am glad to say that the eminent author \ has accepted even those of my results which I run counter to his own previous views.^ By \ leaving out this chapter I have found place fori the last two chapters of the present volume, of which one (viii. " The English Group Genitive ") is entirely new; while the other, on the " Orio-in of Language," was read in a somewhat shorter form before the Philological Congress in Copen- hagen, on the 2ist of July, 1892, and printed in the Danish periodical Tilskueren, in October of the same year. ^§§1076-87 of the same Grammar will be found to nearly the cover same ground as my ch. vii. (ii. in the Danish edition" PREFACE. Secondly, I have left out whatever seemed to me little likely to present any interest to English readers, especially the numerous instances of Danish developments parallel to those mentioned in chapter vii. ; in the new chapter viii. I have refrained from giving such parallel cases, but I hope some day to find an opportunity of publishing my Danish collections separately. Thirdly, I have taken due notice of those reviews of my Danish book in which reasons were given for dissenting from my views ; I must especially thank Professors Herman Moller and Arwid Johannson for opening my eyes to some weak' points in my arguments, even if I have not been able to make their opinions mine ; on the contrary, a consideration of their objections has only strengthened my belief in the progressive tendency of languages at large. In the linguistic literature which has appeared since my Studier, I have found little to learn with regard to my own subject ; if G. von der Gabelentz's Die Sprachwissenschaft (Leipzig, 1 891) had appeared before instead of after my Studier, it would probably have in- fluenced my exposition, as I should have been PREFACE. able from that admirable work to draw many- arguments in favour of my hypothesis ; but as it is, I have thought it the wisest plan to leave the main structure of my work as it was, and only once for all refer the reader to Gabelentz's great work, which no one can read without great profit. My attention was not drawn to Misteli's Charakteristik der hauptsdchlichsten Typen des Sprachbaues (Berlin, 1893) tiH nearly the whole of my book was ready for print in its English shape ; the reader will there find good, if some- what abstruse and rather too "philosophical" summaries of the distinguishing features of many languages. Such of my readers as are not specially interested in the history of the English language will perhaps do well to read of chapters vi.-viii. only those sections which deal with problems of a more general character (§§ 138-J50, 209-215, 216-218, and 240-247); I myself look upon these three chapters as specimens of the manner in which I hope, by- and-by, to treat the most important points in the development of the English language ; a few more chapters of the same description are nearly ready, dealing chiefly with the relations PREFACE. between adjectives and nouns (or first parts of compounds) and those between nouns and verbs (cf. § 65). As che term " Old English " is still sometimes used in different senses by different authors, it is not superfluous to remark that throughout this book it means the English language till 1 scholars "Anglo- about 1 50, called by many Saxon ". In the very few places where I have used a phonetic transcription, the sign • indi- cates that the preceding vowel is long. I shall conclude this Preface by mentioning the difficulty I have often felt in expressing my thoughts adequately in a language which is not is not too awkward my own ; if my English and clumsy, this is to a great extent due to my friend G. C. Moore Smith, M.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge, who has been kind enough to read my manuscript very carefully and to 1 seize emend my style in not a few points ; this opportunity of thanking him most heartily for his extremely valuable assistance. I must also thank Cand. E. Lennholm, of this city, who translated most of chapter vi. for me from the Danish original. Otto Jespersen. Copenhagen, July, 1894. CONTRACTIONS USED IN THE QUOTATIONS IN CHAPTERS VI.-VIII. Alford, Quern's Engl. = The Queen's English, 8th edit., London, 1889. - Ancr. R. or A. R. = The Ancren Riwle, edited by Morton (Camden Society, 1853); cf. also Kolbing's collation in Jahrbilcher fiir Romanische und Englische Literatui'l vol. XV. % Bale, Three L. = A Comedy concerning Three Lawes (1538),! edited by Schrber in Anglia, vol. v. ( Beitr. = Beitrdge zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur (Halle). Blanch, or Blanchard. = Caxton's Blanchardyn, ed. by Kellner (Early Engl. T. Soc). Carlyle, Her. = Heroes and Hero-Worship ; Sart. or S. R. = Sartor Resartus (London, Chapman & Hall). Ch. or Chauc. = Chaucer ; Morr. or M. = the Aldine edition, by R. Morris ; the Canterbury Tales (C. T. or Cant.) are generally quoted according to Furnivall's groups (A, B, C, etc.) ; Skeat's editions in the Clarendon Press Series have generally been used ; M. P. = Minor Poems, edit, by Skeat, ; F. = The Fame, in 1888 Hoas of Hous of the same edition ; L. G. W. = The Legend of Good Women, edit, by Skeat, 1889. Chron. = The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (edit, by Plummer, 1889 and 1892). Cura P. = King Alfred's Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care, edit, by H. Sweet, 1871. Dickens, M. Ch. = Martin Chuzzlewit (the Charles Dickens edition. Chapman & Hall) ; Christm. Books = Christmas Books (Macmillan). ; CONTRACTIONS. Einenkel, Streifz. = Strdfziige durch die mittelenglische Syntax (Miinster, 1887). G. Eliot, Mill = The Mill on the Floss (T.) ; Life = Life of G. E., by W. Cross (T.). Ellis, E. E. P. = On Early English Pronunciation, i,-v., 1869-89. Engl. St. = Englische Studien, herausg v. E. Kolbing. Fielding (Field.), T.J. = Tom Jones, i.-iv. (London, 1782). Greene, Friar B. = Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, edit, by A. W. Ward (1887). Lay. = Layamon's Brut, edit, by Madden. Malory (Mai.) = Le Morte Darthur, edit, by O. Sommer (1889). Marlowe (Marl.), Jew = Jew of Malta; Tamb. = Tamburlaine, edit, by A. Wagner (Heilbronn, i88g and 1885). M. E.'= Middle English (ab. 1150-1500). Meredith, Trag. Com. = The Tragic Comedians (T.) ; Eg. = The Egoist (i vol.. Chapman & Hall). Milton, P. L. = Paradise Lost ; S. A. = Samson Agonistes. Murray, Dial. = The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland (1873). N. E. D. = A New English Dictionary, by J. A. H. Murray and H.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Are There Case S in Fifteenth-Century Dutch? a 'Case Study' of an Utrecht
    397 Are there case s in fi fteenth-century Dutch? A ‘case study’ of an Utrecht manuscript (1464) Joost Robbe Aarhus University Abstract This article examines the case system in a fi fteenth-century Utrecht manuscript. It demonstrates that there is a functional case system in the manuscript. However, it also identifi es a relatively small number of mistakes – grammatical errors as well as hypercorrections – in how this case system is used in the manuscript. It argues that these mistakes indicate that the case system had lost its support in the underlying spoken dialect. The mistakes concern both the use of case forms in the nominative and the accusative, and the use of gender markers in the genitive and the dative. By examining the mistakes in the use of cases (accusative and nominative), it is possible to determine the conditions for syncretic n-deletion in the underlying spoken dialect; and, by examining the mistakes in the use of gender markers (in the genitive and dative), it is possible to determine an expansion of masculine fl exion in the genitive and dative in the underlying spoken dialect. 1. Introduction One of the most signifi cant changes that has taken place in the history of Dutch (and most of its relatives, such as English and Danish) is the loss of case distinctions. Like all Germanic languages, Dutch began with a system of four relatively distinct cases (nominative, genitive, dative and accusative). The use of these cases was very similar to other Germanic Sten Vikner, Henrik Jørgensen & Elly van Gelderen (eds.): Let us have articles betwixt us – Papers in Historical and Comparative Linguistics in Honour of Johanna L.
    [Show full text]
  • The Concept of Intentional Action in the Grammar of Kathmandu Newari
    THE CONCEPT OF INTENTIONAL ACTION IN THE GRAMMAR OF KATHMANDU NEWARI by DAVID J. HARGREAVES A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Linguistics and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 1991 ii APPROVED: Dr. Scott DeLancey iii An Abstract of the Dissertation of David J. Hargreaves for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Linguistics to be taken August 1991 Title: THE CONCEPT OF INTENTIONAL ACTION IN THE GRAMMAR OF KATHMANDU NEWARI Approved: Dr. Scott DeLancey This study describes the relationship between the concept of intentional action and the grammatical organization of the clause in Kathmandu Newari, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken primarily in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal. In particular, the study focuses on the conceptual structure of "intentional action" along with the lexical, morphological, and syntactic reflexes of this notion in situated speech. The construal of intentional action consists of two distinct notions: one involving the concept of self-initiated force and the other involving mental representation or awareness. The distribution of finite inflectional forms for verbs results from the interaction of these two notions with a set of evidential/discourse principles which constrain the attribution of intentional action to certain discourse roles in situated interaction. iv VITA NAME OF AUTHOR: David J. Hargreaves PLACE OF BIRTH: Detroit, Michigan DATE OF BIRTH: March 10, 1955 GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE
    [Show full text]
  • Course Reader
    Language and Space Marcus Kracht Department of Linguistics, UCLA 3125 Campbell Hall PO Box 951543 Los Angeles, CA 90095–1543 [email protected] March 15, 2007 2 Introduction Foreword My own interest in space and language was sparked off by the regularities I ob- served in the case systems of Finnish and Hungarian. Though the facts are often obvious and have been pointed out many times in the literature, I was surprised to find that most literature is concerned only with the morphological aspects of space, and that there seemed to be very little on semantics. The more I looked into the matter the more I discovered how fascinating the area is; I also learned that there is a lot of material on space and language, but it tends to be somewhat lesser known. There is a noticeable trend to take the linguistics of space more serious also from a theoretical point of view. The present book does not attempt to provide a typological survey, nor is it uniquely theoretical in character. I have tried to create a synthesis between lin- guistically oriented investigation (involving syntax, morphology and historical de- velopment) and formal ones (which include the mathematical structure of space and other spatial concepts). Inevitably, some parts of the book will be hard going for a linguist and they might therefore disapprove of my overly formal stance. Yet, I hope that such readers will benefit nevertheless from this work even if they skip such sections. On the other hand, when formal accounts of meanings can be given I think they should be given.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction Introduction 1.1. Adpositions: Characteristics and classification This section provides a description of the main characteristics of Hungarian adpositions. Section 1.1.1. will describe their basic properties: those that distinguish them from other word classes and those that may be used as characteristics of the whole class. Section 1.1.2. then turns to the introduction of the various types of adpositions we will discuss in detail in the book and, and section 1.1.3. introduces their syntactic uses. Since this purpose of this section is to provide a background to the detailed description throughout the volume, it is inevitably… Idézend ők: Marácz, 1986; Marácz, 1989, ch. 8; Kenesei, 1992; Heged űs, 2006; Asbury et al., 2007; Asbury, 2008; Rákosi, 2010; Dékány, 2011; Heged űs, 2013; É. Kiss, 1999; É. Kiss, 2002, ch. 8; Creissels, 2006; Trommer, 2008; Spencer and Stump, 2013; Dér (2012, 2013); É. Kiss (2002) and Surányi (2009ab); Dékány-Heged űs 2015 1.1.1. The basic properties of adpositions The category of adpositions is different from the other main word classes; that is, from nouns, verbs and adjectives in important ways. This section will first list the most important distinguishing properties of the class and then will present … 1.1.1.1. Distinguishing properties The class of adpositions is a relatively closed class; although it is not impossible to add new members to it – new adpositions grammaticalize from members of other classes from time to time – new adpositions are not created by simple derivational processes or “closed” class – EZ PERSZE NEM IGAZ A RENDES ADVERBIUMOKRA, csak a névutókra, igeköt őkre… Adpositions have a relatively invariant form as well, the only expception being the group of “infelcting” postpositions that can bear agreement markers.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Merge' Over 'Move'
    Why Move? Preliminary Thoughts and Overview: <> How ‘Merge over Move’ informs Early Child Syntax Joseph Galasso [email protected] Incomplete Draft—December 17, 2012 Abstract, Preliminary Thoughts and Overview One of the leading questions burning in the minds of most developmental linguists is: To what extent do biological factors—such as a maturational brain— play a role in the early stages of syntactic development? This paper, pulled from chapter 2 of a monograph in preparation, summarizes the Chomskyan Minimalist Program framework regarding the theory of ‘Merge over Move’ and attempts to apply it to the earliest observable stages of English Child Syntax. In sum the conclusions reached in this paper suggest that early child syntax is structured in a flat (non-hierarchical manner) whereby (i) only sister-hood relations hold and (ii) that such a flat structure lexical projection would be what one would expect given the young child’s limited capacity to project only simple bricolage merge operations. As a result of a delimited flat structure, all forms of inflection (which are known ‘move’ operations which require higher functional projections)) should be absent in early child speech. Such a Non-INFLectional stage-1 is exactly what we find in the data below. But such prosaic structures are not exclusive to early child syntax alone. They too show up in adult target syntax. As an opener to subsequent discussion, consider the semantic vs. syntactic distinction in the following examples (to be expanded upon later in the sections): a. wine bottle > bottle of wine b. coffee cup > cup of coffee c.
    [Show full text]
  • Implications for the Semantics and Syntax of Pseudo-Partitives Dorothy Ahn & Uli Sauerland
    Relative Measures: Implications for the Semantics and Syntax of Pseudo-Partitives Dorothy Ahn & Uli Sauerland Previous work on measurement has exclusively considered absolute, intersective measures. ‘Gram’ is a typical example: ‘30 grams of gold’ are both 30 grams heavy and entirely golden. Intersectiv- ity is implicitly assumed as a universal property of the grammar of measurement by Krifka (1989), Schwarzschild (2006), Champollion (2010), Scontras (2014), and others. (1) 30 grams of (the) gold / 3 ounces of gold a. λx . grams(x)^ gram0(x) = 30 ^ . [quantization requirement] (after Krifka 1989) b. 9x 9 Dim: gold(x) & 3-ounces(Dim(x)) & MON(Dim,gold) (after Schwarzschild 2006) But, there are also relative, non-intersective measures! – namely proportion nouns and fractions: (2) 40 percent / two fifths of (the) Llamas Two Readings Relative measures require a new, non-intersective take on the semantics of measurement. But furthermore, the phrase structure must also be reconsidered because, in many languages, relative measures give rise to ambiguities not observable with intersective measures. Consider the sets relevant to different measures M in the phrase ‘thirty M of R are S’ in (3). Intersective measures like ‘thirty grams R are S’ only measure the intersection of R \ S so the order of the arguments is irrelevant to R R∩S S R R∩S S interpretation. Relative measures like ‘thirty percent R are S’ could measure either the ratio of R \ S to R or S. In terms of generalized quantifier theory, either R or S could be the restrictor. (3) intersective: relative relative R R∩S S R R∩S RS R∩S S R R∩S RS R∩S S conservative: reversed: We call the reading targetting the R \ S to R ratio the Conservative Reading, and the one targetting the R \ S to S ratio the Reversed Reading.
    [Show full text]
  • Thoughts on Grammaticalization 3Rd Edition 2015
    Thoughts on grammaticalization 3rd edition 2015 Christian Lehmann language Classics in Linguistics 1 science press Classics in Linguistics Chief Editors: Martin Haspelmath, Stefan Müller In this series: 1. Lehmann, Christian. Thoughts on grammaticalization 2. Schütze, Carson T. The empirical base of linguistics: Grammaticality judgments and linguistic methodology 3. Bickerton, Derek. Roots of Language Thoughts on grammaticalization 3rd edition 2015 Christian Lehmann language science press Christian Lehmann. 2015. Thoughts on grammaticalization. 3rd edition 2015 (Classics in Linguistics 1). Berlin: Language Science Press. This title can be downloaded at: http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/88 © 2015, Christian Lehmann Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence (CC BY 4.0): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN: 978-3-946234-05-0 (Digital) 978-3-946234-06-7 (Hardcover) 978-3-946234-07-4 (Softcover) Cover and concept of design: Ulrike Harbort Typesetting: Felix Kopecky, Sebastian Nordhoff Proofreading: Martin Haspelmath, Christian Lehmann, Sebastian Nordhoff Fonts: Linux Libertine, Arimo, DejaVu Sans Mono Typesetting software:Ǝ X LATEX Language Science Press Habelschwerdter Allee 45 14195 Berlin, Germany langsci-press.org Storage and cataloguing done by FU Berlin Language Science Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, ac- curate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables and other factual information given in this work are correct at the time of first publication but Language Science Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter.
    [Show full text]
  • Download (3MB)
    Hungarian Hungarian is spoken by 14-15 million people worldwide. A unique lan­ guage, completely unrelated to the languages of its neighboring countries, it boasts a grammar full of complex features and a vocabulary deriving largely from a Uralic stock. The book covers the phonological inflectional and derivational morpho­ logy, syntax, and fundamental lexicon of Hungarian. It gives a detailed summary of both the sound systems and rich case systems of Hungarian and illustrates their various uses. It summarizes the main processes of word formation and gives a detailed account of the sentence structure and the ways of combining words into sentences. It also lists the basic vocabulary of Hungarian. Hungarian addresses current issues in the description of languages and applies up-to-date research techniques to Hungarian. This is the first comprehensive descriptive grammar of the Hungarian language available in English, and will appeal to both the professional linguist and advanced learner of Hungarian alike. István Kenesei is editor of the series Approaches to Hungarian and Professor of Linguistics at József Attila University, Hungary. Robert M. Vago is Professor of Linguistics and Chair of the Department of Linguistics at Queens College of the City University of New York. Previous publications include The Sound Pattern of Hungarian (1980). Anna Fenyvesi is a doctoral candidate at the University of Pittsburgh; she is currently teaching at József Attila University, Hungary. Descriptive Grammars Series Editor: Bernard Comrie University of Southern California ADVISORY BOARD W. S. Allen, Cambridge University J. T. Bendor Samuel, Summer Institute of Linguistics D. C. Derbyshire, Summer Institute of Linguistics R.
    [Show full text]
  • A Grammar of Wutun
    University of Helsinki A Grammar of Wutun PhD Thesis Department of World Cultures Erika Sandman ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in auditorium XV (Main Building), on the 26th of November, 2016 at 10 o’clock. Helsinki 2016 Cover image: A thangka painter in Wutun ISBN 978-951-51-2633-7 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-2634-4 (PDF) Printed by Unigrafia Helsinki 2016 Abstract This study is a grammatical description of Wutun (ISO 639-3 WUH), a distinct local form of Northwest Mandarin spoken by approximately 4000 people in Upper Wutun, Lower Wutun and Jiacangma villages in Tongren County, Huangnan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, People’s Republic of China. While the Wutun language is genealogically a Sinitic language, it has adapted phonologically and structurally to is current linguistic environment where varieties of Amdo Tibetan are dominant regional languages and lingua francas. The Tibetan influence manifests itself in all domains of Wutun grammatical structure, including phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon. This has yielded some phonological and grammatical properties that are unusual for a Sintic language and cross-linguistically rare, including the size of a phoneme inventory, multiple aspect marking and egophoricity. The present study is based on first-hand field data collected during three field trips to Qinghai province in June-August 2007, June-August 2010 and June-July 2013. My data includes descriptive and narrative texts, conversations, as well as elicited sentences and grammaticality judgements. The theoretical framework used for language description is based on an informal descriptive theory referred in the literature as Basic Linguistic Theory (BLT) (Dixon 1997, 2010; Dryer 2006).
    [Show full text]
  • Case in Heritage Polish. a Cross-Generational Approach
    Case in Heritage Polish. A Cross-Generational Approach Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy of The Ohio State University By Izolda Wolski-Moskoff, M.A. Graduate Program in Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures The Ohio State University 2019 Dissertation Committee: Ludmila Isurin, Advisor Leslie Moore Helena Goscilo Copyright by Izolda Wolski-Moskoff 2019 Abstract Nominal case morphology is often considered one of the most reanalyzed elements of heritage grammar (Benmamoun et al., 2013; Montrul, 2016). Several case typologies have been put forward to investigate which cases are more vulnerable in heritage languages. The two considered in this dissertation are based solely on the internal qualities of cases. Benmamoun et al. (2013) have suggested that structural case is better preserved than inherent case, whereas Laskowski (2014) has proposed that strong cases replace weak ones in the language of Polish heritage speakers. Neither of these approaches, however, has compared divergences between the speech of heritage speakers and the language of their parents. By analyzing patterns of case use in the language of two generations of Polish immigrants, this dissertation offers new insights into nominal morphology in the Polish heritage language. It also analyzes whether any of the proposed case typologies are applicable to heritage Polish. To gain a more comprehensive view of nominal case morphology in heritage Polish, the present study focuses not only on the internal characteristics of cases, but also on such external qualities as case markings. Conducted mainly in Chicago, the study investigates the case use and knowledge of twenty-five Polish heritage speakers, twelve first-generation immigrants, and a control group of twelve monolinguals from Poland.
    [Show full text]
  • Unimorph Schema)
    The Composition and Use of the Universal Morphological Feature Schema (UniMorph Schema) John Sylak-Glassman Center for Language and Speech Processing Johns Hopkins University [email protected] June 2, 2016 c John Sylak-Glassman ** Working Draft, v. 2 ** Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Overview 4 3 Construction Methodology 5 3.1 Guiding Principles . .5 3.2 Constructing the Schema . .6 4 Annotation Formatting Guidelines 7 5 Dimensions of Meaning and Features 8 5.1 Aktionsart . .8 5.2 Animacy . 10 5.3 Argument Marking . 12 5.4 Aspect . 13 5.5 Case . 15 5.5.1 Core Case . 15 5.5.2 Non-Core, Non-Local Case . 16 5.5.3 Local Case . 18 5.6 Comparison . 20 5.7 Definiteness . 21 5.8 Deixis . 22 5.8.1 Distance . 22 5.8.2 Reference Point . 22 5.8.3 Visibility . 23 5.8.4 Verticality . 23 5.8.5 Summary . 24 1 5.9 Evidentiality . 24 5.10 Finiteness . 26 5.11 Gender and Noun Class . 27 5.12 Information Structure . 28 5.13 Interrogativity . 29 5.14 Language-Specific Features . 29 5.15Mood ............................................ 30 5.16 Number . 34 5.17 Part of Speech . 36 5.18 Person . 40 5.19 Polarity . 42 5.20 Politeness . 42 5.20.1 Speaker-Referent Axis . 43 5.20.2 Speaker-Addressee Axis . 44 5.20.3 Speaker-Bystander Axis . 44 5.20.4 Speaker-Setting Axis . 45 5.20.5 Politeness Features . 45 5.21 Possession . 46 5.22 Switch-Reference . 49 5.23 Tense . 53 5.24 Valency . 55 5.25 Voice .
    [Show full text]
  • Case Marking
    6 CASE MARKING 6,1 THE DISCRIMINATORY FUNCTION OF CASES In this chapter, we are going to look at one way in which consideration of data from a wide range of languages has enabled us to gain important new insights into a general linguistic phenomenon, insights that would probably not have been obtained solely by the investigation of a single language, and certainly not from the detailed, abstract analysis of English. If one looks at the accounts given of the uses of cases in traditional, and many non- traditionaij grammars, there is usually the assumption - in many instances, justified - that the use of a given morphological case will correlate highly cither with a given semantic role, or with a given grammatical relation. Thus the locative case is said to be the case for expressing location, the ablative for expressing motion away from, and so on; the nominative is described as being the case for the subject, the accusative for the direct object (or, in frameworks that eschew the distinction between semantic and syntactic cases, nominative correlates with agent and accusative with patient). In addi­ tion to case marking systems based on semantic and/or syntactic criteria, recent linguistic research has also uncovered languages where pragmatic criteria are important in assigning case, as in Japanese and Tagalog, for instance. In addition, however, to languages where some or all of the cases can be accounted for in this way, there remains a set of recalcitrant data, where on the basis of semantic roles or grammatical relations or pragmatic roles there remain some cases that do not correlate directly with any syntactic or semantic or pragmatic role, but rather seem to be used for a given role, but only in certain, limited circumstances.
    [Show full text]