ANALELE UNIVERSITĂŢII BUCUREŞTI
LIMBI ŞI LITERATURI STRĂINE
2016 – Nr. 1
SUMAR • SOMMAIRE • CONTENTS
LINGVISTIC Ă / LINGUISTIQUE / LINGUISTICS
ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş, Romanian Aspectual Verbs: Control and Restructuring ...... 3 COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA, The Category of Number in Present-Day English(es): Variation and Context ...... 25 LEAH NACHMANI, EFL Teachers’ Perspectives on Reading Acquisition within a Multi-Cultural Learning Environment ...... 41 ANDREI A. AVRAM, Diagnostic Features of English Pidgins/Creoles: New Evidence from West African Pidgin English and Krio ...... 55 MIHAI CRUDU, Zum Lexem Herr und zu dessen Auftauchen in Wortbildungen und Phrasemen ...... 79 CAMELIA M ĂDĂLINA ŞTEFAN, On Latin-Old Swedish Language Contact through Loanwords ...... 89
*
Recenzii • Comptes rendus • Reviews ...... 105 Contributors ...... 111
ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING
ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş*
Abstract
The aim of the present paper is to investigate the behaviour of those Romanian aspectual verbs which denote the end of an activity and which select a supine complement. I focus on whether they evince control and/or raising behaviour and on whether they induce restructuring effects. The results show that these verbs behave like bona fide verbs of control and trigger restructuring. But they do not induce the same degree of restructuring. A brief comparison with the behaviour of the same aspectual verbs and a subjunctive complement reveals that the transparency of clausal boundaries is determined in the derivation, being directly dependent on the structural properties of the complement with which the aspectual verb merges. One further result of the analysis is that these verbs are dual mood choice verbs. They select the supine when the complement denotes an agentive durative process, and the subjunctive when they extend their range of complements to those which are, in principle, incompatible with their inherent agentive resultative value. Keywords: aspectual verb, Romanian, control, restructuring, dual mood choice.
1. Introduction
Aspectual verbs “describe the initiation, termination, or continuation of an activity” (Levin 1993: 274). In the literature, one can identify two main lines of investigation with respect to their control/raising behaviour. According to one line, they have been argued to have hybrid behaviour, evincing both properties of control and of raising verbs (Perlmutter 1968, 1970, Davies & Dubinsky 2004). Other studies show that aspectual verbs behave uniformly as raising verbs (see, for example, Rochette 1999). With respect to type of control configuration, aspectual verbs have been analysed as verbs of exhaustive control (Landau 2000). Several previous studies showed that exhaustive control verbs induce restructuring effects (Wurmbrand
* University of Bucharest, [email protected]. 4 ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş
1998, Cinque 2006) 1. According to this point of view, aspectual verbs, which are verbs of exhaustive control, should induce restructuring effects. Grano (2015) shows that this correlation is attested across languages; verbs of exhaustive control enter monoclausal structures, within which they realize a functional head. Romanian has aspectual verbs which denote the beginning ( a începe, a da , a se apuca ‘begin, start’), the continuation (a continua ‘continue’), and the end of a state of affairs ( a înceta, a conteni,a ispr ăvi,a sfîr şi, a termina ‘stop, cease, end, finish’) (Gu ţu Romalo 1961/2013, Manea & al. 2008). They take both finite and non-finite complements, i.e. they can take complements of various sizes. The pattern of complementation may differ from one semantic class to the other, as well as within one and the same class. For example, aspectual verbs which denote the beginning of a state of affairs take mainly subjunctive complements (1), whereas those that denote the end of a situation prefer the supine (2). The verbs in the former class can also take (more rarely) an infinitive (3) and some of the verbs in the latter class may also marginally take a subjunctive (4) or an infinitive (5) as their complement.
(1) Vasile a început să scrie o carte. Vasile has begun SĂ write a book ‘Vasile has begun to write a book.’ (2) Vasile a terminat de scris o carte. Vasile has finished DE write-SUP a book ‘Vasile finished writing a book.’ (3) Vasile a început a scrie o carte. Vasile has begun INF write a book ‘Vasile started writing a book.’ (4) Vasile a încetat să mai vin ă pe la noi. Vasile has ceased SĂ more come at us ‘Vasile ceased to visit us.’ (5) Vasile a contenit a cânta. Vasile has stopped INF sing ‘Vasile stopped singing.’
The empirical data in (1)-(5) indicate that aspectual verbs in Romanian might not represent a syntactic homogeneous class. However, previous studies which focused on their control/raising properties adopted a unifying analysis. Alboiu (2007), following Hornstein’s (1999) movement theory of control, analyses obligatory control configurations, those with aspectual verbs included, as implying raising. Along the same line, Cotfas (2011) argues that in Romanian aspectual verbs pass the diagnostics of raising verbs. Both these studies, however, investigated only the behaviour of some aspectual verbs ( a începe ‘begin’, a continua ‘continue’, a înceta ‘stop, end’), and focused on their
1 But see Landau (1999, 2000) for a different point of view. ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING 5 syntactic behaviour when merging with a subjunctive complement. But given the different complementation properties illustrated in (1)-(5) above it is not implausible to assume that their behaviour is less homogeneous than previously assumed. In particular, the tense and structural properties of the clausal complement with which they merge in the derivation may induce different degrees of restructuring. These properties may also interact with the control vs. raising behaviour.
2. Aim
The aim of the present paper is to investigate the behaviour of those Romanian aspectual verbs which denote the end of an activity and which select a supine complement: a termina ‘finish, stop’, a sfâr şi ‘stop, end’, a ispr ăvi ‘finish, end’, a mântui ‘finish’ (henceforth the a termina SUP class). I will focus on whether they evince control and/or raising behaviour and on whether they induce restructuring effects. Since the two phenomena have been argued to be correlated, I will evaluate the cross-linguistic validity of this claim starting from the behaviour of the Romanian aspectual verbs belonging to this class. I will then briefly compare the main results to the properties of configurations with the same aspectual verb and a different clausal complement. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: In section 3 I present the inventory of aspectual verbs which I investigate in the present paper. Section 4 provides arguments in favour of a control analysis of these verbs. I show that they pass all the standard diagnostics for control (see Davies & Dubinsky 2004 for a discussion of these diagnostics). I also show that they behave like verbs of exhaustive control (as defined in Landau 2000). According to Grano (2015), this property should be correlated with that of inducing restructuring effects. Since the aspectual verbs which I investigate in the present paper take a non-finite complement, which makes them straightforwardly compatible with restructuring, in section 5 I evaluate to what extent they behave like restructuring predicates. In order to do that, I use the main restructuring diagnostics discussed in Wurmbrand (2015), to which I add a few language specific ones. The data provide evidence that the a termina SUP verbs do indeed induce restructuring effects. Section 6 briefly presents data which show that the verbs belonging to this class do not represent a homogeneous class (as previously suggested in Gu ţu Romalo 1961/2013, L ăcătu ş 2015). They have distinct patterns of complementation and the size of the complement with which they merge in the derivation will determine the degree of transparency of their clausal boundary. Section 7 presents the main findings.
6 ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş
3. Domain of investigation
In Romanian, the aspectual verbs which denote the end of a state of affairs preferentially take a supine complement introduced by de (analysed as a mood marker, Giurgea & Soare 2010 or as a complementizer in a split FinP, Hill & Alboiu 2016). The supine is not preceded by de with all aspectual verbs. The clausal complement of the reflexive a se pune ‘start’ and a se apuca ‘start, begin’ is introduced by de (6):
(6) Copilul s- a pus pe plâns. child-DEF REFL has started PE weep-SUP ‘The child started weeping.’
In the present study I analyse exclusively those aspectual configurations with de supine complements. Another point of difference is the compatibility of the aspectual verbs which denote the end of a state of affairs with a subjunctive clausal complement. Some of these verbs are dual mood predicates, selecting either a supine or a subjunctive clausal complement, but with an obvious preference for one of the two moods. With a înceta ‘stop, cease’, for example, there is an obvious preference for the subjunctive (7). With a termina ‘cease, stop’, on the other hand, the subjunctive is marginal (Gu ţu Romalo 1961/2013) and the de supine (8) is, generally, the norm:
(7) Am încetat să mai cred asemenea lucruri. have ceased SĂ more believe such things ‘I have stopped believing such things.’ (8) Au terminat de construit casa. have finished de build-SUP house-DEF ‘They finished building the house,’
Some aspectual verbs can also marginally take an infinitival complement, as is the case of a conteni ‘stop’ (Gu ţu Romalo 1961/2013).
(9) Pas ărea nu mai contene şte de-a cânta. bird-DEF not more stop DE INF sing ‘The bird does not stop singing.’ (example from Gu ţu Romalo 1961/2013: 80)
The subjunctive complement can be headed by an overt complementizer, ca ‘that’, when a fronted constituent moves in front of the subjunctive marker să. In (10) the clausal complement is a full CP.
ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING 7
(10) A încetat ca pe lâng ă articole să mai scrie şi cărţi. has ceased that besides articles SĂ more write and books ‘He has stopped writing books besides articles.’
The few data presented in this section show that in Romanian aspectual verbs which denote the end of a state of affairs can take both finite and non-finite clausal complements, with different degrees of deficiency in terms of functional projections. In what follows I focus on the a termina ‘finish, stop’ class which merges with a supine complement.
4. Aspectual verbs in Romanian and control
4.1. Control diagnostics
In this section I investigate the control/raising properties of the aspectual verbs in the a termina SUP class. I will use the standard list of control diagnostics (see e.g. Davies & Dubinsky 2004).
4.1.1. Ban on disjoint subjects
The a termina SUP verbs behave like verbs of control with respect to the properties of the subject in the clausal complement. They disallow disjoint subjects and they assign an Agent theta-role to the external argument, which is co-referential with the subject of the embedded supine clause. In (11), copiii ‘the children’, the overt subject of the matrix clause, is co-referential with the null subject of the supine complement. This is why (11b), where the subject in the matrix and the one in the embedded clause have different referential properties, is ungrammatical.
2 (11) a. Copiii i au ispr ăvit de mâncat ei mâncarea. children-DEF have finished DE eat-SUP e food-DEF ‘The children have finished eating the food.’ b. *(Ion) a terminat de scris Vasile lucrarea. Ion has finished DE write-SUP Vasile paper-DEF *‘Ion finished Vasile writing the paper.’
2 Given the various analyses with respect to the status of null subjects in non-finite clauses in Romanian (PRO, pro , unpronounced copy), at this point I will simply indicate the existence of the null subject as an empty category e. 8 ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş
4.1.2. Agentivity
The agentivity of these aspectual verbs is reflected in their compatibility with Agent-oriented adverbs, which modify the aspectual verb. In (12) below, the Agent-oriented adverb înadins ‘on purpose’ can appear in the matrix, where it modifies the aspectual verb:
(12) Ion a terminat înadins de cântat când a intrat Maria în camer ă. Ion has finished on purpose DE sing-SUP when has entered Maria in room ‘Ion stopped singing on purpose when Maria entered the room.’
The verbs in the a termina SUP class can be embedded under control verbs such as try, convince or force :
(13) a. Am încercat să termin de scris lucrarea. have tried SĂ finish DE write-SUP paper-DEF ‘I have tried to finish writing the paper.’ b. L- am convins / for ţat pe Ion să termine de scris lucrarea. him have persuaded / forced PE Ion SĂ finish DE write-SUP paper-DEF ‘I have persuaded/ forced Ion to finish writing the paper.’
They can occur in imperative sentences:
(14) a. Termin ă de scris! finish-IMP DE write-SUP ‘Finish writing!’ b. Mai termina ţi de spus prostii! more finish-IMP DE say-SUP stupid things ‘Stop saying stupid things!’
The fact that the aspectual verbs in this class assign a theta-role to the argument in subject position in the matrix is also reflected in their incompatibility with idiom chunks in subject position (idioms do not preserve their idiomatic interpretation in this case):
(15) a. *A şchia nu a ispr ăvit de sărit departe de trunchi. splinter-DEF not has finished DE jump-SUP far from tree trunk ‘*The rotten apple has finished falling far from the tree trunk.’ Meaning of idiom: The rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. b. *Anul a sfâr şit de adus ce aduce ceasul. year-DEF has finished / ended De bring-SUP what brings clock-DEF ‘*The year finished bringing what the monent may do.’ Meaning of idiom: It may come in an hour what will not come in a year.
They are also incompatible with weather verbs, which have a non-thematic subject:
ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING 9
(16) *A terminat / încetat / contenit de plouat / de nins. has finished DE rain-SUP / DE snow-SUP ‘It stopped raining / snowing.’
4.1.3. Semantic constraints on the complement
The verbs in the a termina SUP class also impose semantic constraints on the verb in the complement clause, as can be seen in (17) below. The predicate in the supine must be [+agentive] (17a and 18a). [−agentive][−control] stative predicates (17b) and unaccusatives (whose argument is a non-Agent, Avram 2003 and references therein) (18b) are banned from the supine complement of these verbs:
(17) a. Oaspe ţii au gătat de băut tot vinul. guests-DEF have finished DE drink-SUP all wine-DEF ‘The guests have finished drinking all the wine.’ b. *Oaspe ţii au gătat de pl ăcut gazda. guests-DEF have finished DE like-SUP host-DEF ‘The guests finished / stopped liking the host.’ (18) a. A terminat de desenat câteva cercuri. have finished DE draw-SUP some circles ‘(He / she) has finished drawing some circles’. b. *Frunzele au terminat de ruginit în vii. leaves-DEF have finished DE rust-SUP in vineyard-DEF ‘*The leaves stopped rusting in the vineyards.’
The telicity induced by the semantics of the matrix verb also explains why the verbs in a termina SUP class more readily select telic complements (as in 17a above), though atelic ones are not excluded, as shown in (19):
(19) a. Ai terminat de tr ănc ănit? have finished DE talk-SUP ‘Have you stopped talking?’ b. A terminat de scris c ărţi. S-a apucat de articole. has finished DE write-sup REFL has started DE articles ‘He has stopped writing books. He has started writing articles.’
The whole configuration (aspectual verb and supine complement) is interpreted as perfective. When de… ‘since...’ time adverbials occur in these structures, they are not interpreted as denoting the duration of the event denoted by the supine predicate, but as denoting the time interval in between the ending of the situation and the event time in the matrix. This explains why de … time adverbials can freely occur either in the supine complement or in the matrix.
(20) A terminat (de trei zile) de scris lucrarea (de trei zile). has finished for three days DE write-SUP paper-DEF for three days ‘He finished writing the paper three days ago.’ 10 ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş
Unlike durative telic predicates, which can occur with timp de … ‘for...’ time adverbials, the configurations with a termina SUP are incompatible with these durative adverbs (21a), even when the supine predicate would otherwise be compatible with them (21b):
(21) a. Au construit casa timp de câ ţiva ani. have built house-DEF for several years ‘They built the house for several years.’ b. *Au terminat de construit casa timp de câ ţiva ani. have finished DE build-SUP house-DEF for several years
The situation is, however, different, with respect to resultative phrases. The whole configuration is compatible with resultative phrases like in …, provided the predicate in the supine, when used in a main clause, would also occur with such phrases (22). In (23), where the verb in the supine bans in... phrases, the latter are illicit in configurations with an aspectual verb belonging to the a termina SUP class:
(22) a. Ion a terminat de scris cartea în trei ani. Ion has finished DE write-SUP book-DEF in three years ‘Ion finished writing the book in three years.’ b. Ion a scris cartea în trei ani. Ion has written book-DEF in three years ‘Ion has written the book in three years.’ (23) a. *A trănc ănit în trei ore. has talked in three hours b. */?A terminat de tr ănc ănit în trei ore. has finished DE talk-SUP in three hours ‘He finished talking in three hours.’
4.1.4. Passivization of the complement
Control constructions behave differently from raising structures when their complement clause is a passive one. In the case of the latter the passive complement is synonymous with the active complement of the same sentence, as in (24):
(24) a. Barnett seemed to have read the book. b. The book seemed to have been read by Barnett. (examples from Davies & Dubinsky 2004: 5)
In the case of a control verb, the synonymy is absent. Moreover, in some cases, the main predicate does not allow an embedded passive, as illustrated in the examples below:
ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING 11
(25) a. The doctor tried to examine Tilman. b. Tilman tried to be examined by the doctor. (26) a. Barnett tried to read the book. b. *The book tried to be read by Barnett. (examples from Davies & Dubinsky 2004: 5)
The Romanian supine cannot be passivized, therefore this control diagnostic cannot be used in this case.
4.1.5. Complement drop
One more control diagnostic is complement drop. The a termina SUP verbs allow complement drop, behaving like control verbs. This can be seen in (27a) and (27b). Though the two sentences are not straightforwardly comparable, they show that a termina SUP verbs allow complement drop, whereas a p ărea ‘seem’, a raising verb, does not:
(27) a. Ion a terminat de citit dar nu cred că a terminat [ ] şi Vasile. Ion has finished DE read-sup but not believe that has finished [ ] and Vasile ‘Ion has finished reading, but I don’t think Vasile did too.’ b. Ion se pare că a terminat de citit dar nu cred că se pare [ ] şi Vasile. Ion REFL seems that has finished DE read-SUP but not believe that REFL seems [ ] and Vasile ‘*Ion seems to have finished reading the book but I don’t believe that Vasile seems too.’
4.2. Interim conclusions
The data presented in this section show that the verbs in the a termina SUP class are bona fide verbs of control. They pass all the control diagnostics. The results of the analysis are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1 A termina SUP and control
Test A termina Presence of thematic subjects in the matrix yes Compatibility with weather verbs no Compatibility with idiom chunks in subject position + retain idiomatic meaning no Compatibility with the imperative yes Compatibility with agent-oriented adverbs yes Can be the complement of force , persuade , try yes The verb in the supine must be agentive yes Passive predicate in complement clause (passive-active synonymy) N/A
12 ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş
4.3. A termina SUP and subjects
One important property of the control configurations discussed in section 4.1 is that unlike their English equivalent, they allow an overt subject in the non-finite clause as well, i.e. the subject may be overt either in the matrix (in pre- and post-verbal position) or in the supine complement:
(28) (Vasile) a terminat (Vasile) de scris cartea (Vasile). Vasile has finished Vasile DE write-SUP book-DEF Vasile ‘Vasile finished reading the book.’
This is due to the fact that in Romanian, case is assigned at Merge (Alboiu 2002). Therefore, the subject DP does not have to move to a higher functional position for case reasons. It may remain in situ unless it has to move for discourse information packaging reasons (Avram 1992). Similarly, the subject of the supine does not have to move to the matrix in search of case. If it moves, it does so if it is a topic or a focus (see also Alboiu 2007 for a similar account of the subject in subjunctive complements of verbs of obligatory control). Generally, the shared argument can be overt in only one position (29a), unless it is focused (29b-c), usually when co-occurring with a focus element. This is what one finds in monoclausal structures as well (29d).
(29) a. *Vasile a terminat de scris cartea Vasile. Vasile has finished DE write-SUP book-DEF Vasile b. Vasile a terminat (şi el) de scris cartea (şi el). Vasile has finished and he DE write-SUP book-DEF and he ‘Vasile also finished writing the book.’ c. Vasile a terminat (numai el) de scris cartea (numai el). Vasile has finished only he DE write-SUP book-DEF only he ‘Only Vasile finished writing the book.’ d. Vasile a plecat şi el / numai el. Vasile has left and he / only he ‘Vasile also left / Only Vasile left.’
The fact that the subject of the supine predicate can be overt provides evidence that the null subject in this configuration cannot be analysed as PRO (in line with Dobrovie-Sorin 2001). The fact that movement of the subject is not obligatory suggests that the null subject in the supine complement cannot be analysed as an unpronounced copy either. One plausible analysis would be that it is pro , defined as a null weak pronoun (as in Roberts 2010). One more important property of the configuration under investigation is that the DP subject not only receives a theta-role both from the aspectual verb and from the verb in the complement, but the theta-role must be the same, that of Agent.
ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING 13
4.4. A termina SUP and exhaustive control
Landau (2000) identifies two main types of obligatory control: exhaustive and partial control. Exhaustive control is defined as obligatory control between the null subject of the complement clause, i.e. the controlled argument, and the argument of the embedded predicate, i.e. the controller (Grano 2015: 5). In this configuration, “the controller exhaustively determines the referent of the controlled argument” (Grano 2015: 5). In the example in (30), PRO is identical to the controller, John.
(30) John i tried PRO i to close the door.
In partial control structures, PRO has to include the controller. According to Grano (2015: 6), “the controlled position, i.e. PRO, is interpreted as a proper superset of the controller”. Evidence in favour of this claim comes from collective predicates. Collective predicates are ungrammatical with ‘singular, non-group denoting subjects’ (Grano 2015: 6). This is illustrated (31) below:
(31) a. *John wrote the paper together. b. *John gathered at noon.
The verbs in the a termina SUP class behave like verbs of exhaustive control: in (33) the subject of the supine verb is co-referential with the subject of the aspectual verb, a termina ‘finish’; Ion exhaustively determines the reference of the null subject in the supine complement. The null subject cannot be interpreted as a superset which includes the subject in the matrix:
(32) Ion i a terminat de scris ei cartea (*împreun ă). Ion has finished DE write-SUP e book-DEF together ‘Ion has finished writing the book (*together).’
5. A termina SUP and restructuring
5.1. Restructuring tests
Restructuring verbs enter biclausal structures which act as transparent domains for clause bound processes, i.e. which behave as monoclausal structures. Wurmbrand (2015) discusses the following tests for restructuring: clitic climbing, scrambling, and long object movement, as well as three semantic contexts: tenseless complement, future interpretation of the complement, the availability of CP complements. At the same time, she underlines the fact that the validity of these tests vary from one language to another. In this section I will evaluate to what extent the verbs in the a termina SUP class pass these diagnostic tests, to which I will add a few possible diagnostics for restructuring in Romanian. 14 ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş
5.1.1. Clitic climbing
Accusative/Dative clitics (reflexive and non-reflexive) cannot appear in the supine complement; they must move to the matrix (as can be seen in 33a-c). If the clitic remains in the embedded supine, the sentence becomes ungrammatical (33d-e).
(33) a. Cartea o termin / sfâr şesc/ ispr ăvesc de citit. book-DEF it finish DE read-SUP ‘I will finish reading the book.’ b. Cartea am terminat-o de citit. book-DEF have finished it DE read-SUP ‘The book, I have finished reading it.’ c. Le- am terminat de explicat problema. them have finished DE explain-SUP problem-DEF ‘I have finished explaining to them the problem.’ d. *Am terminat de citit- o. have finished DE read-SUP it e. *Am terminat de le citit lucrarea. have finished DE them read-SUP paper-DEF
In Romanian, clitics have been argued (i) to occupy a position higher than T in a Clitic phrase (as assumed in Alboiu 2002) or (ii) to move from the VP to a position in the C domain (as assumed in Avram & Coene 2008, 2009). Irrespective of the analysis which one adopts, the clitic occupies a position higher than Tense. This means that in the a termina ‘finish’ configuration only the matrix has a position higher than the Tense Phrase, and the clitic appears in this projection, as if the whole configuration were monoclausal. This is illustrated in (34a) below, where the Dative clitic le ‘them’ must appear in preverbal position in a monoclausal construction.
(34) a. Le - am explicat problema. them have explained problem-DEF ‘I have explained to them the problem.’ b. *Am explicat *le problema. have explained them problem-DEF
5.1.2. Negation
The embedded supine clause cannot be independently negated (35a), not even with ne-, (35b) 3 , which is used in non-finite clauses (Avram 2003). Negation can only appear in the matrix (35c-d).
3 In other configurations, the supine can be negated with ne - (see e.g. Hill & Alboiu 2016: 282). ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING 15
(35) a. *A terminat de nu citit. has finished DE not read-SUP ‘He / she hasn’t finished reading.’ b. *Cartea o termin de nu citit / ne citit. book-DEF it finish DE nu read-SUP / NE -read-SUP c. Cartea nu o termin de citit. book-DEF not it finish DE read-SUP ‘The book, I haven’t finished reading it.’ d. Neterminând de citit cartea la timp … NE -finish-GER DE read-SUP book-DEF at time ‘Not finishing reading the book on time …
5.1.3. n-words
Romanian is a strict negative concord language (Isac 1999), which allows n-words such as nimeni ‘nobody’, nimic ‘nothing’, nic ăieri ‘nowhere’ only in the presence of the syntactic marker nu , irrespective of their syntactic position.
(36) a. *(Nu) a citit nimic. not has read nothing b. Nimeni *(nu) a citit cartea. nobody not has read book-DEF ‘Nobody has read the book.’
Negation in the matrix does not license n-words in assertive complement clauses:
(37) *Ion nu a auzit că eu am invitat pe nimeni. Ion not has heard that I have invited PE nobody Intended meaning: ‘Ion did not hear that I did not invite anyone.’
With a termina SUP negation in the matrix allows n-words in the supine complement, indicating that the structure behaves as if it were monoclausal. Notice that in (39), where the complement is an indicative clause, negation in the matrix does not license the n-word nimic ‘nothing’.
(38) a. Vasile nu a terminat de citit nimic. Vasile not has finished DE read-SUP nothing ‘Vasile hasn’t finished reading anything.’ b. Nu a terminat de rezolvat nici o problem ă. not has finished DE solve-SUP any a problem ‘He/she hasn’t finished solving any problem.’ (39) *Vasile nu mi- a spus că a citit nimic. Vasile not me has told that has read nothing Intended meaning: ‘Vasile didn’t tell me that he didn’t read anything.’
16 ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş
5.1.4. Negative Polarity Items
Besides n-words, Romanian also has a few elements which behave like NPIs in non-negative concord languages, among which decât ‘only’ (Isac 1999, Costache 2005). In standard Romanian, decât can only appear in negative sentences (unlike some varieties of Romanian where it is not an NPI). Its presence in the supine is licensed by negation in the matrix. Compare that to (40c), where the clausal complement is an indicative clause:
(40) a. *(Nu) a citit decât una dintre cărţi. not has read only one of books ‘He/ she has finished reading only one of the books.’ b. Nu a terminat de citit decât una dintre cărţi. not has finished DE read-SUP only one of books ‘He/ she has finished reading only one of the books.’ c. Vasile nu ne-a spus *c ă a citit decât una dintre cărţi. Vasile not us has told that has read only one of books ‘Vasile didn’t tell us that he read only one of the books.’
5.1.5. Temporal-aspectual interpretation
The supine complement has a realis non-future interpretation. Its temporal interpretation overlaps with that of the aspectual verb in the matrix. Therefore tense mismatch between the tense in the main clause and a specific time adverbial in the supine clause results in ungrammaticality.
(41) a. *Ion a terminat de citit cartea mâine . Ion has finished DE read-SUP book-DEF tomorrow ‘*Ion has finished reading the book tomorrow.’ b. Ion termin ă de citit cartea mâine. Ion finishes DE read-SUP book-DEF tomorrow ‘Ion will finish reading the book tomorrow.’
Non-deictic time adverbs, however, can appear in the supine and modify the supine predicate alone:
(42) a. Vecinii au terminat de mers zilnic la mall. neighbours-DEF have finished DE walk-SUP every day to mall ‘The neighbours have stopped going to the mall every day.’ b. Am terminat de luat medicamente de trei ori pe zi. have finished DE take-SUP pills three times on day ‘I have finished taking my medicines three times a day.’
If one analyses these adverbs as aspectual adverbs, which convey information about the internal structure of events, the data in (42) above could be interpreted ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING 17 as evidence in favour of an Aspect Phrase in the supine clause. On the other hand, clitic adverbs with an aspectual value, which have been analysed as occurring in the Specifier of Aspect Phrase (Avram 1999), can only occur in the matrix:
(43) a. Ion nu a mai terminat de scris cartea. Ion not has more finished DE write-sup book-DEF b. *Ion nu a terminat de mai scris cartea. Ion not has finished DE more write-SUP book-DEF ‘Ion didn’t finish writing the book in the end.’
This is correlated with the fact that de is subject to an adjacency constraint: no material may intervene between de and the verb, not even clitics of any type.
5.1.6. Long Object Movement
Long object movement (LOM) is one of the main restructuring criteria in languages like German (Wurmbrand 2015). LOM is an operation which involves the movement of the object of the clausal complement to the matrix subject position as a result of the passivization of the matrix. For Romanian, LOM is a relatively controversial restructuring diagnostic. Firstly, sentences such as (44) below are not accepted by all the speakers of Romanian:
(44) Cartea a fost terminat ă de citit în trei ore de c ătre toat ă lumea. book-DEF has been finished DE read-SUP in three hours by all people ‘The book was finished in three hours by everybody.’ (example from Dragomirescu 2013: 35)
Secondly, the reflexive passive is, as Wurmbrand (2015) notes, ambiguous.
(45) Cartea se termin ă de citit în trei ore (de c ătre oricine). book-DEF REFL finishes DE read-SUP in three hours by anybody ‘One can finish reading the book in three hours.’ (example from Dragomirescu 2013: 35)
According to Wurmbrand (2015), it is difficult to say whether the derivation of a reflexive passive aspectual verb structure involves passivization of the verb in the matrix or passivization of the embedded clause followed by the movement of the clitic to the C-domain of the matrix. This may be indeed the case when the clausal complement is a subjunctive. But the Romanian supine cannot undergo passivization. Also, as shown in section 4, the verbs in the a termina SUP class impose semantic restrictions on the clausal complement, which has to be agentive. Therefore I believe that it is plausible to assume that the reflexive passive se merges with the verb in the matrix. The whole configuration can be viewed as an instance of LOM in Romanian. 18 ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş
5.1.7. Clausal substitutes
The pronoun asta ‘this’ (or its formal variant aceasta ) is a clausal substitute in Romanian:
(46) I- am spus că e târziu şi asta l- a enervat. him have told that is late and this him has annoyed ‘I told him that it was late, which annoyed him.’
When the structure is biclausal, asta ‘this’ can substitute either the embedded clause, the matrix or the matrix and the clausal complement together. In the case of aspectuals with a supine complement, however, asta ‘this’ replaces the aspectual and the supine together:
(47) A terminat de scris scrisoarea. Asta l- a bucurat. has finished DE write-SUP letter-DEF this him has made happy ‘He has finished writing the letter. This made him happy.’
The Accusative clitic o ‘her’ (possibly with a covert asta ) can also be used as a clausal substitute . When the structure is biclausal, the clitic may substitute either the matrix or the embedded clause.
(48) A: Vasile a spus că nu vine la conferin ță. Vasile has said that not comes to conference ‘Vasile said he will not attend the meeting’ B: S- o crezi tu! SĂ it believe you (i) You should believe that he said it. (ii) You should believe that he will not attend the meeting.
In the case of an a termina SUP verb, the clitic, like asta ‘this’, can only replace the aspectual verb and the supine together:
(49) A: A terminat de scris lucrarea. has finished DE write-SUP paper-DEF ‘He finished writing the paper.’ B: S- o crezi tu! SĂ it believe you ‘You should believe it that he finished writing the paper.’
Such data show that the whole configuration behaves like a monoclausal structure, with a resultative value. The presence of the aspectual verb forces a perfective view on the supine complement, which presents the situation as a whole. The supine complement is a reduced clause. As seen earlier in the paper, the supine lacks a projection for clitics, which have to move to the matrix. It lacks independent temporal interpretation, which indicates that the Tense Phrase ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING 19 is either fully absent or deficient. The Agreement Phrase may also be absent, given the lack of agreement markers on the supine verb. Aspectual clitics must also move to the matrix. If we analyse these clitics as occurring in the Spec of AspP, their obligatory movement to the matrix may indicate the lack of an Aspect Phrase. The adjacency constraint which bans any intervening material between de and the verb shows that there is no available projection in between the two. Wh -movement, DP topicalization or focalization are not possible in the supine complement of a termina verbs:
(50) a. *A terminat de pe cine i ajutat ti ? has finished DE PE who help-SUP t b. *A terminat de tuturor copiilor i împ ărţit ti bomboane. has finished DE to all children give t candies
The de supine which occurs with a termina verbs lack a left periphery. All these data show that the supine is indeed a tenseless complement, which lacks functional projections as well as a left periphery.
5.2. Interim conclusions
In Romanian, the aspectual verbs of the a terminaSUP class pass the main restructuring tests. They form monoclausal structures. The results are summarized in Table 2 .
Table 2 A termina SUP and restructuring
Test A termina ‘finish’ Clitic climbing Yes No independent tense interpretation Yes No independent negation Yes Negation in the matrix licenses n-words in the supine clause Yes Negation in the matrix licenses negative polarity items in the supine clause Yes Yes/ Further Long Object movement investigation is needed.
6. Do they all behave alike?
The data in the previous sections show that, in Romanian, aspectual verbs of the a termina SUP class are verbs of exhaustive control which induce restructuring effects, confirming, at least at first sight, Grano’s (2015) correlation. However, as pointed out in section 1, the aspectual verbs which denote the end of a state of affairs 20 ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş do not have the same pattern of complementation. Though they preferentially select a supine, there is some variation. A înceta ‘cease’ standardly takes subjunctive and infinitive complements (Gu ţu Romalo 1961/2013:79):
(51) a. Pe la anul 1821 tunul încetase d- a răsuna în Europa. at year-DEF 1821 cannon-DEF ceased of INF resound in Europe ‘The cannon had stopped resounding in Europe around 1821.’ b. … a încetat să mă onoreze cu vizitele. has stopped SĂ me honour with visits-DEF ‘He stopped honouring me with his visits.’ (examples from Gu ţu Romalo 1961/2013:79)
A termina ‘stop/finish’, on the other hand, standardly selects supine complements and only marginally subjunctive ones. One possible explanation for the low frequency of a termina ‘stop/finish’ with a subjunctive is that there is a division of labour: the subjunctive complement seems to be confined to non-agentive predicates, somehow extending the use of a termina ‘finish, stop’ to those contexts which are banned by the configuration with a supine complement, e.g. state predicates. Notice that the presence of the subjunctive also slightly modifies the meaning of the aspectual verb, which can no longer mean both ‘finish’ and ‘stop’. Its interpretation is restricted to ‘stop’ or ‘cease’:
(52) a. Am terminat să mai cred în asemenea pove şti. have stopped SĂ more believe in such stories b. */?Am terminat de crezut în asemenea povesti. have stopped DE believe-SUP in such stories ‘I ceased believing in such stories anymore.’
The obvious question is whether the configuration with a subjunctive complement also induces restructuring effects, on a par with the configuration with a supine. A brief investigation of the behaviour of a înceta ‘cease’ and a termina ‘finish, stop’ with a subjunctive complement reveals that the clausal boundaries are less transparent than in the case of the configurations with supine complements. The examples in (53) below show that in a termina + subjunctive configurations the clitic (Accusative/Dative, reflexive or non-reflexive) can remain in the complement, i.e. clitic climbing does not apply:
(53) a. Ion a încetat să îi mai ajute. Ion has ceased SĂ them more help ‘Ion ceased to help them.’ b. ?Ion a terminat să se mai cread ă de ştept. Ion has stopped SĂ REFL more believe smart ‘Ion stopped believing he was smart.’
The subjunctive complement can be independently negated (54) and negation in the matrix does not license either n-words or NPIs in the complement: ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING 21
(54) Ion a încetat să nu mai vin ă la şedin ţe. Ion has ceased SĂ not more come at meetings ‘Ion ceased not attending meetings.’ (55) *Ion nu a încetat să ajute pe nimeni. Ion not has ceased SĂ help PE nobody Intended meaning: ‘Ion didn’t cease to help anyone.’ (56) *Ion nu a încetat să îl ajute decât pe Vasile. Ion not has ceased SĂ him help only PE Vasile Intended meaning: ‘Ion did not cease to help only Vasile.’
Long object movement in reflexive passives is not possible either:
(57) *Cartea se termin ă să citeasc ă în zece ore. book-DEF REFL finishes SĂ read in ten hours
However, in terms of temporal-aspectual interpretation, one notices the same ET overlap as with the supine configuration; anchored time adverbials in the subjunctive complement cannot have a different tense value than tense in the matrix:
(58) *Ion a terminat azi să scrie mâine. Ion has finished today SĂ write tomorrow
Frequency adverbials, on the other hand, which appear in the subjunctive complement, can modify only the predicate of the embedded clause. In this respect, the subjunctive complement behaves similarly to the supine. However, the adverbial clitics mai , înc ă, şi, tot can remain in the subjunctive clausal complement:
(59) a. ?4A terminat să ia zilnic medicamente. has stopped SĂ take daily medicines ‘He stopped taking medicines daily.’ b. ?A terminat să mai / tot ia medicamente. has stopped SĂ more / still take medicines ‘He stopped continuing to take medicines.’
The few data in this section show that the type of complement which is taken by an aspectual verb will result in different transparency effects and hence in different degrees of restructuring.
4 The question-mark indicates that according to my grammar, such sentences with a subjunctive complement are extremely marginal. 22 ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş
7. Conclusions
The analysis of the a termina SUP aspectual configurations showed that these verbs behave like bona fide verbs of control and that they trigger restructuring effects. At least at first sight, the Romanian data support Grano’s (2015) correlation between exhaustive control and restructuring. However, according to his analysis, which follows Cinque (2006), restructuring verbs head functional projections. In Romanian, the a termina SUP verbs assign a theta-role to the DP in subject position, behaving like lexical verbs. These data suggest that restructuring may not involve (exclusively) functional verbs cross-linguistically. A second relevant finding was that not all verbs of exhaustive control induce the same degree of restructuring. Degree of clausal transparency is determined in the derivation, being directly dependent on the structural properties of the complement with which the aspectual verb merges. The semantics of the a termina SUP verbs which I investigated in the paper imposes selectional restrictions on the complement. The a termina SUP verbs are dual mood choice verbs. They select the supine when the complement denotes an agentive durative process, and the subjunctive when they extend their range of complements to those which are, in principle, incompatible with their inherent agentive resultative value, such as state, habitual and generic predicates. I leave it to further research to investigate the relationship between the semantics of the aspectual verb in the matrix and the complement type with which it merges, as well as the analysis of the factors which determine the (degree of) transparency of the boundaries of their clausal complement.
REFERENCES
Alboiu, Gabriela (2002), The Features of Movement in Romanian , Editura Universit ăţ ii din Bucure şti, Bucharest. Alboiu, Gabriela (2007), “Moving Forward with Romanian Backward Control and Raising”, in W.D. Davies & S. Dubinsky (eds.), New Horizons in the Analysis of Control and Raising , Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 187-211. Avram, Larisa (1992), “A Minimalist Approach to Subject Positions in Romanian”, in Cahiers de linguistique théorique et appliquée , XXXIX , pp. 121-128. Avram, Larisa (1999), Auxiliaries and the Structure of Language , Editura Universit ăţ ii din Bucure şti, Bucharest. Avram, Larisa (2003), “An Aspectual Analysis of Gerunds”, in Revue roumaine de linguistique , XLVIII, pp. 203-219. Avram, Larisa & Coene, Martine (2008), “Possessive Clitics Revisited”, in D. Kallulli, L. Tasmowski (eds .), Clitic Doubling in the Balkan Languages , John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, pp. 361-387. Avram. Larisa & Coene, Martine (2009), “Null Objects and Accusative Clitics in Romanian”, in Bucharest Working Papers in Linguistics , XI, 1, pp. 233-252. ROMANIAN ASPECTUAL VERBS: CONTROL AND RESTRUCTURING 23
Cinque, Guglielmo (2006), Restructuring and Functional Heads: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures , vol. 4, Oxford University Press, New York. Costache, Ioana (2005), “Tracking the Progress of Polarity Shift in Romanian”, in University of Oxford Working Papers in Philology , Linguistics and Phonetics , 10, pp. 61-72. Cotfas, Maria Aurelia (2011), On the Syntax of the Romanian Subjunctive. Control and Obviation, PhD Dissertation, University of Bucharest. Davies, William D. & Dubinsky, Stanley (2004), The Grammar of Raising and Control. A Course in Syntactic Argumentation , Blackwell, Oxford. Dobrovie-Sorin, Carmen (2001), “Head-to-Head Merge in Balkan Subjunctives and Locality”, in Maria-Luiza Rivero & Angela Ralli (eds.), Comparative Syntax of Balkan Languages , Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 44-73. Dragomirescu, Adina (2013), Particularit ăţ i sintactice ale limbii române , Editura Muzeului Literaturii Române, Bucharest. Giurgea, Ion & Soare, Elena (2010), “Modal Non-Finite Relatives in Romance”, in Martin G. Becker & Eva-Maria Remberger (eds.), Modality and Mood in Romance , Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 67-94 . Grano, Thomas (2015), Control and Restructuring , Oxford University Press, Oxford. Gu țu Romalo, Valeria (1961/2013) “Semiauxiliare de aspect?”, in Limba român ă, V, 1, pp. 3-15. Also in V. Gu ţu Romalo (2013), Periplu lingvistic. Studii şi reflec ţii , Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest, pp. 73-85. Hill, Virginia & Alboiu, Gabriela (2016), Verb Movement and Clause Structure in Old Romanian , Oxford University Press, Oxford. Hornstein, Norbert (1999), “Movement and Control”, in Linguistic Inquiry , 30, pp. 69-96. Isac, Daniela (1999), Sentence Negation in Romanian, PhD Dissertation , University of Bucharest . Landau, Idan (1999), “Control and Extraposition: The Case of Super-Equi”, in P. Tamanji, H. Masako & N. Hall (eds.), Proceedings of the 29 th Conference of the North Eastern Linguistic Society , GLSA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, pp. 213-228. Landau, Idan (2000), Elements of Control: Structure and Meaning in Infinitival Constructions , Kluwer, Dordrecht. Landau, Idan (2003), “Movement out of Control”, in Linguistic Inquiry , 34, pp. 471-499. Lăcătu ş, Elena (2015), Aspectual Verbs in English and Romanian. Control or Raising? Unpublished doctoral research project, University of Bucharest. Manea, Dana, Pan ă Dindelegan, Gabriela & Zafiu, Rodica (2008), “Verbul”, in V. Gu ţu Romalo (ed.), Gramatica limbii române , vol. I, Cuvântul , Editura Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest, pp. 323-584. Perlmutter, David M. (1968), Deep and Surface Structure Constraints in Syntax, PhD Dissertation, MIT. Perlmutter, David M. (1970), “The Two Verbs begin ”, in R.A. Jacobs & P.S. Rosenbaum (eds.), Readings in English Transformational Grammar , pp. 107-119, Blaisdell, Waltham, pp. 107-119. Roberts, Ian (2010) “A Deletion Analysis of Null Subjects: French as a Case Study”, in T. Biberauer, A. Holmberg, I. Roberts & M. Sheehan (eds.), Parametric Variation: Null Subjects in Minimalist Theory , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 58-87. Rochette, Anne (1999), “The Selection Properties of Aspectual Verbs”, in K. Johnson & I. Roberts (eds.), Beyond Principles and Parameters: Essays in Memory of Osvaldo Jaeggli , Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 145-165. Wurmbrand, Susanne (1998), Infinitives, PhD Dissertation, MIT. Wurmbrand, Susanne (2004), “Two Types of Restructuring: Lexical vs. Functional”, in Lingua , 114, 8, pp. 991-1014. Wurmbrand, Susanne (2015), “Restructuring Cross-Linguistically”, in T. Bui & D. Özyıldız (eds.), Proceedings of the North Eastern Linguistics Society Annual Meeting 45 , GLSA: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, pp. 227-240.
THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER IN PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH(ES): VARIATION AND CONTEXT
COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA *
Abstract
Traditional approaches to the English number usually refer to two oppositions: singular – plural and count nouns – mass nouns. The former is grammatical in nature, as the plural form of the nouns is marked morphologically (usually by the suffix -s) and the singular one is unmarked. The latter is semantic, and it refers to nouns which can be counted ( e.g. dog -dogs ) and nouns which have only one form ( e.g. trousers, sugar, milk, honey, etc). The semantic feature of the grammatical category of number is [+divisibility]. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the category of number in Standard English and also to highlight some peculiarities of marking the plural in several varieties of English. Certain features of count and mass nouns are presented as well as some findings from the British National Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. Keywords: number, English, count, mass, sortal, non-sortal, allomorph, pluralia tantum .
1. Sortals vs non-sortals
A native speaker of English can easily provide nouns which form their plural in other ways besides adding -s, for example: goose has the plural geese , ox has the plural oxen , and wife has the plural wives . Such nouns display an irregular plural form. However, they are considered to be countable nouns or sortals since they possess all the morpho-syntactic properties of sortals: (i) plural agreement with the verb and plural anaphoric pronouns; (ii) they co-occur with the indefinite article; (iii) they take the plural marker; (iv) they co-occur with cardinal numerals and quantifiers. The term “sortal” describes a common countable noun, e.g. cat , house , dog . Mass nouns, such as gold , water , milk are also termed “non-sortals”. This distinction is reminiscent of the count-mass distinction. Pelletier (1979: 19) argues that “the purpose of the sortal distinction was to be able to apply number to it in a definite manner and not to permit any arbitrary division of the sortal
* “Ovidius” University of Constan ţa, Faculty of Letters, Department of Modern Languages and Communication Sciences, [email protected] 26 COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA term. Non-sortals do not allow number to apply to them and arbitrary division into parts is an identification test”. The morpho-syntactic properties of non-sortals or mass nouns are: (i) they do not co-occur with the indefinite article; (ii) they are resistant to pluralisation; (iii) they co-occur with quantifiers such as: much , little , a lot of ; (iv) they trigger singular agreement with the verb and singular anaphoric pronouns. Huddleston and Pullum (2002: 334) note that a count noun describes a class of individual entities of the same kind. For example, the noun cat denotes the class of cats. The individual entities are atomic, meaning that they cannot be split into smaller parts of the same kind as a whole. A cat has different parts: head, legs, tail, claws, etc. – but these parts are not themselves cats. Non-count/mass nouns denoting physical substances, such as milk , gold , water , etc., are not atomic. An amount of gold can be put into different parts which are themselves amounts of gold. Carstairs McCarthy (2002: 32) provides as an example, George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four where in an invented variety of English, Newspeak , the morphological irregularity of nouns had been eradicated, therefore the plural form of man in this variety is mans and not men . As far as English nouns are concerned, there is no difficulty in establishing the method of forming the regular plural. However, since there is more than one possibility, this poses an intricate question about morphemes and their allomorphs.
2. The spelling of the plural morpheme -s
In order to mark the plural on nouns in English, we usually add the plural marker -s. However, there are several exceptions to this rule (Hornoiu 2016: 66):
2.1. Addition of
An ,
(1) a. coach – coaches b. clutch – clutches c. bus – buses d. dress – dresses e. eyelash – eyelashes f. quiz – quizzes g. fox – foxes
THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER IN PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH(ES): VARIATION AND CONTEXT 27
2.2. Treatment of
If a noun ends in the letter
(2) a. duty – duties b. city – cities
If the letter preceding
(3) a. abbey – abbeys b. monkey – monkeys
2.3. Doubling of the final consonant
This phenomenon occurs in a few nouns:
(4) a. quiz – quizzes b. fez – fezzes
In abbreviations:
(5) p – pp (pages) l – ll (lines)
In the case of numbers and abbreviations, the plural is formed by either adding <’s> or only , considered to be a more recent trend.
(6) a. in the 1960’s/1960s b. two MA’s/MAs
Quite intriguingly, in the British National Corpus (BNC), there were 2930 occurrences of 1960s , while in the Contemporary Corpus of American English (COCA) there were 13541 occurrences. It seems that in American English the second variant is more preferable. Consider the following examples:
(7) a. Indeed, I have blundered straight away by placing them in a context of the 1960s and 1970s, as though in 1970 they stopped! [BNC] b. Then, in the 1960s, the bull of controversy was grasped firmly by the forns as the term. [BNC]
28 COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA
(8) a. The exhibit highlights Huerta’s role in the California farmworkers movement of the 1960s and ‘70s. [COCA] b. The manuscript was donated to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale in the 1960s. [COCA]
2.4. Nouns ending in
The nouns included in this category demand special attention since they may have two plural forms, ending in to mark the plural:
(9) a. studio – studios b. zoo – zoos c. embryo – embryos
The following nouns are always spelled with
(10) a. domino – dominoes b. echo – echoes c. embargo – embargoes d. negro – negroes e. potato – potatoes f. tomato – tomatoes g. veto – vetoes
With some nouns, there is variation between
(11) a. banjo – banjos / banjoes b. cargo – cargos / cargoes c. flamingo – flamingos / flamingoes d. ghetto – ghettos / ghettoes e. halo – halos / haloes f. motto – mottos / mottoes g. tornado – tornados / tornadoes h. volcano – volcanos / volcanoes
I have looked at the frequency with which these nouns appear in the BNC and COCA corpora and the results are as follows:
THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER IN PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH(ES): VARIATION AND CONTEXT 29
Table 1 Frequency of nouns ending in
1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 BNC -s 800 BNC -es 600 COCA -s 400 COCA -es 200 0
Apart from the frequency with which they appear in the two varieties of English, there are some findings which are worth a closer examination. For instance, the form banjoes has 0 occurrences in the BNC and only 2 in COCA. A similar situation is found in the case of the noun tuxedo . The plural form tuxedoes has 0 occurrences in the BNC and 16 in COCA. Another intriguing finding was that all these nouns (both plural forms) are more frequent in the COCA corpus (therefore in American English) than in the BNC corpus (therefore in British English).
3. Countable nouns: irregular plurals
It has been shown that countable nouns, or sortals, form their plural by adding or
30 COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA
3.1. Plural by voicing
Nouns which in the singular end in a voiceless consonant change it into a voiced consonant if the plural marker -s is added.
(i) Monosyllabic nouns ending in
(12) a. bath [bɑːθ] – baths [b ɑ:ðz b. path [p ɑːθ] – paths [p ɑː ðz] c. mouth [ma ʊθ] – mouths [ma ʊðz] d. youth [ju: θ] – youths [ju;ðz]
If
(13) a. births [b əːθs] b. myths [m ɪθs]
(ii) Nouns ending in
(14) a. calf – calves b. elf – elves c. half – halves d. knife – knives e. leaf – leaves f. shelf – shelves g. thief – thieves h. wife – wives
Some nouns display two forms:
(15) a. hoof – hoofs / hooves b. scarf – scarfs / scarves c. turf – turfs / turves d. wharf – wharfs /wharves
Some nouns ending in
(16) a. dwarf – dwarfs b. gulf – gulfs c. roof – roofs d. belief – beliefs
THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER IN PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH(ES): VARIATION AND CONTEXT 31
An interesting phenomenon occurs in Scottish English, where plural forms such as wifes , knifes , lifes , leafs , thiefs , loafs , wolfs are used consistently (Miller 2008: 301). Beal (2008: 376) notes that in Northern English dialects plural forms such as knifes , roofs and wifes are also quite widespread.
3.2. Plural by ablaut/mutation
In English, seven nouns form their plural by changing the medial vowel:
(17) a. foot – feet b. goose – geese c. louse – lice d. man - men e. mouse – mice f. tooth – teeth g. woman – women
Compound nouns which have these nouns as second elements have irregular plurals:
(18) a. postman – postmen b. country woman – country women c. fireman – firemen d. countryman – countrymen
Trudgill (2008: 408) notes that in the dialect of East Anglia, a number of archaic plurals have been preserved:
(18) mouse – meece
3.3. -en plural
Only three nouns form their plural by adding the -en suffix 1. These nouns have preserved their plural form from Old English:
1 In the English variety spoken in Orkney and Shetland, the noun ‘eye’ has an irregular plural form een (Melchers 2008: 293). The same situation is also recorded in Scottish English (Miller 2008: 301), where the plural form een is still used, as well as the singular form e ‘eye’. Milroy & Milroy (2013: 107) note that earlier stages of Broad Scots contained plural forms which are not encountered in Standard English. They give as examples the nouns een ‘eyes’, shin ‘shoes’, and treen ‘trees’. It is interesting to notice that the nouns e ‘eye’ and tree form their plural by adding -en , and not -s. 32 COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA
(19) a. child – children b. ox – oxen c. brother – brethren (also brothers )
In the English variety spoken in Orkney and Shetland (Melchers 2008: 293) brother has an irregular plural form breider . Some irregular plural forms are also found in Northern English dialects (Beal 2008: 375). The form childer is used in Bolton (Shorrocks 1999: 62) as well as in West Yorkshire. In the North- east the word child is scarcely used. The form bairn is the preferred term. Montgomery (2008: 445) writes that in Appalachian English, the noun ox displays several tendencies. He further states that the plural form may be regularised to form oxes . Oxen is considered to be either plural or singular, in the latter case the plural form being oxens .
3.4. Zero plural
In English, nouns with zero plural have the same form for both singular and plural. Consider the following examples:
(20) John saw a deer in the woods. (21) There are several deer at the zoo.
Hornoiu (2016: 74) notes that nouns that have zero plural can be grouped into different classes: (i) nouns denoting some animals: cod , deer , fish , grouse , moose , reindeer , salmon , halibut , tuna , etc; (ii) nationality names ending in -ese: Chinese , Lebanese , Japanese , Vietnamese , etc; (iii) some quantifying words: hundred , thousand , million , brace , dozen , etc. (iv) nouns ending in <(e)s>: barracks , headquarters , mews , gallows , series , species , etc. Algeo (2006: 79) states that British texts have almost 9 times as many tokens of barracks as of barrack , while American texts have nearly 17 times as many.
(22) The dormitory was a long dark, bare, barrack -like room. (Algeo 2006: 79).
In the BNC, I found 89 occurrences of ‘ barrack ’ and 614 of ‘ barracks ’. In COCA, there were 114 tokens of ‘ barrack ’ and 2313 of ‘ barracks ’. Nouns which have zero plural should not be confused with mass nouns, which are either singular, e.g. The butter is on the table , or plural, e.g. These trousers are too expensive .
THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER IN PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH(ES): VARIATION AND CONTEXT 33
3.5. Foreign plurals
Quirk & Greenbaum (1973: 87-88) highlight the fact that foreign plurals are used along with regular plurals. The former are usually used in technical usage, while the latter are confined to everyday usage. For instance, formulas is for general usage, while formulae is mostly used in mathematics. In what follows, I will give a brief overview of the main types of foreign plurals that occur in everyday English. This section draws on Quirk & Greenbaum (1973) and Hornoiu (2016).
(i) Nouns of Latin origin ending in -us : These nouns have a foreign plural ending in -i. Only regular plural: bonus – bonuses , campus – campuses , chorus – choruses , circus – circuses , etc; both plurals: cactus – cacti / cactuses , fungus – fungi / funguses , nucleus – nuclei / nucleuses , etc; only foreign plural: alumnus – alumni , bacillus – bacilli , locus – loci , stimulus – stimuli .
(ii) Nouns of Latin origin ending in -a: The foreign plural is -ae . Only regular plural: area – areas , arena – arenas , dilemma – dilemmas , diploma – diplomas , etc; both plurals: antenna – antennae / antennas , formula -formulae / formulas , etc; Only foreign plurals: alga – algae , alumna – alumnae , larva – larvae .
(iii) Nouns of Latin origin ending in -um : These nouns have a foreign plural ending in -a. Only regular plural: album – albums , museum – museums , etc; usually regular: forum – forums , stadium – stadiums , ultimatum – ultimatums , etc; both plurals: aquarium – aquaria / aquariums , medium – media / mediums , memorandum – memoranda / memorandums , symposium – symposia / symposiums , etc; Usually foreign plural: curriculum -curricula ; Only foreign plural: addendum -addenda , bacterium -bacteria , corrigendum - corrigenda , etc.
(iv) Nouns of Latin origin ending in -ex or -ix : The foreign plural is -ices . Both regular and foreign plurals: index -indices , apex – apices / apexes , vortex – vortices / vortexes . Only foreign plural: codex 2 – codices .
(v) Nouns of Greek origin ending in -on : The foreign plural is -a. Only regular plurals: demon – demons , electron – electrons , proton – protons . Chiefly regular: ganglion – ganglions . Both plurals:
2 In the BNC the form codexes appears 3 times, while in COCA there are only 2 tokens. 34 COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA automaton – automatons / automata . Only foreign plural: criterion – criteria , phenomenon – phenomena
(vi) Nouns of Greek origin ending in -is : The foreign plural ends in -es . Regular plural: metropolis – metropolises . Foreign plural: analysis – analyses , axis – axes , ellipsis – ellipses , oasis – oases , synopsis – synopses .
(vii) Nouns of French origin A few French nouns preserve their French plural ending in
(viii) Nouns borrowed from Italian Only regular plural: soprano -sopranos Usually regular plural: virtuoso – virtuosos / virtuosi , libretto – librettos / libretti , solo – solos / soli .
(ix) Nouns borrowed from Hebrew Usually regular: cherub – cherubs / cherubim , seraph – seraphs / seraphim . Only foreign plural: kibbutz – kibbutzim
4. Mass nouns
The morphosyntactic count-mass distinction appears to correlate with their semantic behaviour. One of the ways in which mass nous can be distinguished from count nouns is by looking at their morphosyntactic properties:
(i) Mass nouns can be used without a determiner or a plural morphology:
(23) John received mail. (24) *John received package.
(ii) Mass nouns do not take the plural morpheme -s.
(25) *John received mails. (26) John received packages.
(iii) Some determiners/modifiers have two forms, one for countable nouns and one for mass nouns:
THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER IN PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH(ES): VARIATION AND CONTEXT 35
(27) Mass Count much many little few
However, it should be mentioned that some , any , the , no , a lot , more , less can be used with both countable and mass nouns. Mass nouns cannot be used with the indefinite article a(n) .
(iv) Cardinal expressions do not co-occur with mass nouns. They can be used with count nouns. Mass nouns require an individuating expression , e.g. ‘ a piece of ’.
(28) a. a piece of gold b. a flutter of excitement c. a blade of grass d. an item of news e. a rasher of bacon f. a dollop of honey g. a flight of stairs h. a head of hair i. a bar of chocolate
The noun tea is canonically a mass noun, but in a coffee shop it can also be used as a count noun. In this context, the focus is on the amount/portions served.
(29) a. When I am sick I always drink tea . b. John ordered two teas and some biscuits.
An interesting example is provided by Gillon (1999: 57):
(30) I ordered a pizza , not a slice of pizza !
The noun apple is deemed as a count noun, but it can also allow a mass usage:
(31) a. This pie contains a lot of apple . b. Mary bought three apples .
Other examples of count nouns used as mass nouns include:
(32) a. Peter has more car than garage. b. He’s got woman on his mind. (Pelletier 2012: 14) (33) a. Bill got a lot of house for £ 150,000. b. How much floor did you lay today? (Gillon 1999: 58)
Gillon (1999) notes that nouns denoting animals ( e.g. chicken , lamb ), plants (e.g. potato , turnip ) can be used as mass nouns to refer to aggregates of their 36 COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA parts that are used for human consumption. Nouns indicating trees (e.g. birch , maple ) can be used as mass nouns to describe aggregates of these parts useful to humans. This can be expressed by the “Mapping Hypothesis” (Quine 1960, Link 1983) which states that mass nouns are used to describe stuff or substance, while count nouns describe concrete objects.
4.1. Pluralia tantum nouns
The term pluralia tantum is Latin in origin and can be translated as ‘plural only’. Under this umbrella term we can include different classes of nouns which can have count or mass noun properties:
4.1.1. Names denoting certain physical or mental illnesses, such as. creeps , hysterics , measles , mumps , shivers , shingles , tantrums etc.
(34) a. The old houses give you the creeps , don’t they Bill? [BNC] b. Valerian wine was mind-numbingly potent and generally only used by the Sinisters to calm hysterics . [BNC] c. Two days later Joy Prentice discovered a rash on the back of her neck and was sent home with the measles . [BNC] d. There are lots of viruses; for example, one kind causes chickenpox, another mumps and other colds. [BNC] e. She’s taken one look at his studly manliness and had felt shivers clear down to her toes. [COCA] f. There’s a worry that introducing chickenpox vaccination for all children could increase the risk of chickenpox and shingles in older people. Shingles is a dangerous disease. [COCA] g. His childhood tantrums had turned into adolescent rages, based on the intolerable frustration he had lived with for eighteen years. [COCA]
These nouns are deemed mass nouns and, therefore, have all the morphosyntactic properties of mass nouns, except for the presence of the plural marker -s. They trigger singular agreement with the verb, singular anaphoric pronouns and individuation is achieved through such expressions like: a series of , a fit of .
4.1.2. Nouns denoting names of sciences, such as: acoustics, economics, linguistics, mathematics, politics, statistics etc.
(35) a. Any honest guitar maker will admit that making acoustics is no exact science, but an unpredictable art. [BNC] b. Mrs Thatcher has said that if economics is the means, then changing hearts and minds is the goal. [BNC] THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER IN PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH(ES): VARIATION AND CONTEXT 37
c. Linguistics is regarded as an ‘autonomous’ discipline in the mainstream tradition, a notion to which I do not subscribe. [BNC] d. From this perspective, mathematics instruction shares many similarities with language arts instruction. [COCA] e. Politics in Britain has rarely been as fractured as it is today. [BNC] f. The field of statistic s is engaged in the pursuit of knowledge from these data. [COCA]
4.1.3. Nouns describing some games: cards, darts, dominoes, skittles etc.
(36) a. The pack of cards is as uninviting as yesterday’s milk. [BNC] b. Darts was on again last night. I watched the game. [BNC] c. The dominoes began to fall. [COCA] d. The musicians were knocked over like a row of skittles and all came to rest higgledy-piggledy as they were stopped in their tracks by two men. [BNC]
The nouns in this subclass, just like the ones in 4.1.2., display mass noun properties, except for the presence of the plural morpheme -s. Individuation is achieved by means of expressions such as: a game of . At this stage it should be mentioned that some of these nouns can be recategorized and turned into countable nouns, with a slight change in meaning. Consider the following examples:
(37) The acoustics of the music room were especially attuned to the human voice. [BNC]
In this example the noun acoustics is used to refer to the properties of a room, not the object of study. Therefore, the agreement is with the verb in the plural and it displays count properties.
(38) The euro is going to start a domino effect which will never, ever lead to anything good for the Greeks. [COCA]
A noun like dominoes can be recategorized as a countable noun and it has developed a singular form. Hornoiu (2016: 113) states that the singular form is used to refer to the pieces of the game.
4.1.4. Nouns describing instruments or tools consisting of two parts: binoculars, goggles, pliers, scales, scissors, tweezers etc.
(39) a. The tripod-mounted binoculars are too cumbersome. [BNC] b. He still had his flying helmet on but the goggle s were smashed. [BNC] c. Hand me those pliers , would you? [COCA] d. Defenders like Wills fight long odds to make sure the scales of justice are fairly balanced. [COCA] 38 COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA
e. Household scissors are often not very effective for cutting through home improvement materials [BNC] f. Tweezers are a must-have in your kit. [COCA]
The nouns in this subclass display count behaviour and agree with the verb in the plural.
4.1.5. Nouns denoting articles of dress: jeans, pants, overalls, pyjamas, trousers etc.
(40) a. Suited to your bike and favourite bar, these jeans have reflective accents to keep you safe. [COCA] b. Which pants are you wearing? [BNC] c. There’s a pair of overalls . They should be in the car. [BNC] d. Pyjamas were showing underneath one of their gowns. [COCA] e. And he worked on his own on these trousers , you see? [BNC]
These nouns trigger plural agreement with the verb, plural anaphoric pronouns and plural determiners. Individuation is possible through the expression a pair of .
4.1.6. Nouns describing parts of the body (made up of two parts): bowels, guts, lungs, whiskers etc.
(41) a. Their bowels are not working any more and they can’t breathe. [BNC] b. He screamed as if his guts were being torn out. [COCA] c. Your lungs have been subjected to an intense diet of nightclub smoke. [BNC] d. The dog’s whiskers were frosted into snow beards. [COCA]
These nouns have count properties and qualify as general terms. However, when reference is made to one of the parts that make up the body part, then these nouns also have a singular form. Consider the following examples:
(42) a. A coil of unease tightened in his gut . [COCA] b. He died on lung cancer in Alabama in 1960. [BNC]
The example in (42b) describes a specific type of cancer, one which affects the lungs. Therefore, the singular form is used, as it refers to a disease which attacks a body part.
THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER IN PRESENT-DAY ENGLISH(ES): VARIATION AND CONTEXT 39
5. Conclusions
This paper has discussed different possibilities of marking the plural in English. It has been shown that in some varieties of English some nouns have different forms for plural, different from the ones encountered in Standard English. Such a case is the noun een found in Scottish English as well as the variety of English spoken in Orkney and Shetland. The study also focused on pluralia tantum nouns, which were grouped into six subclasses, some of them displaying count properties and some mass properties.
REFERENCES
Algeo, John (2006), British or American English? A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Beal, Joan C. (2008), “English Dialects in the North of England: Morphology and Syntax”, in B. Kortmann & C. Upton (eds.), Varieties of English , vol. 1, The British Isles , Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin · New York, pp. 373-403. Carstairs McCarthy, Andrew (2002), An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure , Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. Gillon, Brendan S. (1999), “The Lexical Semantics of English Count and Mass Nouns”, in E. Viegas (ed.), The Breadth and Depth of Semantic Lexicons , Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 19-37. Hornoiu, Diana (2016), Nominal Categories in English. Theory and Practice , Ovidius University Press, Constan ţa. Huddleston, Rodney & Pullum, Geoffrey (2002), The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Link, Godehard (1983), “The Logical Analysis of Plurals and Mass Terms: A Lattice Theoretical Approach”, in R. Bäuerle, C. Schwarze & A. von Stechow (eds.), Meaning, Use, and the Interpretation of Language , Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 302-323. Melchers, Gunnel (2008), “English Spoken in Orkney and Shetland: Morphology, Syntax, Lexicon”, in B. Kortmann & C. Upton (eds.), Varieties of English , vol. 1, The British Isles , Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin · New York, pp. 285-298. Miller, Jim (2008), “Scottish English: Morphology and Syntax”, in B. Kortmann & C. Upton (eds.), Varieties of English , vol. 1, The British Isles , Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin · New York, pp. 299-327. Milroy, James & Milroy, Lesley (2013), Real English. The Grammar of English Dialects in the British Isles , Routledge, London and New York. Montgomery, Michael (2008), “Appalachian English: Morphology and Syntax”, in E.W. Schneider, (ed.) Varieties of English , vol. 2, The Americas and the Caribbean , Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin · New York, pp. 428-467. Quine, Willard Van Orman (1960), Word and Object , MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Quirk, Randolph & Greenbaum, Sidney (1973), A University Grammar of English , Longman, London. Pelletier, Fancis J. 1979. Non-singular Reference: Some Preliminaries. In F.J. Pelletier (ed.), Mass Terms: Some Philosophical Problems , D. Reidel, Dordrecht, pp. 1-14. Pelletier, Francis J. (2012), “Lexical Nouns Are Both +mass and +count, but They Are Neither +mass Nor +count”, in D. Massam (ed.), Count and Mass across Languages , Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 9-26. 40 COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA
Shorrocks, Graham (1999), A Grammar of the Dialect of the Bolton Area , part II, Morphology and Syntax , Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main. Trudgill, Peter (2008), “The Dialect of East Anglia: Morphology and Syntax”, in B. Kortmann, & C. Upton (eds.), Varieties of English , vol. 1, The British Isles , Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin · New York, pp. 404-416.
EFL TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES ON READING ACQUISITION WITHIN A MULTI-CULTURAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
LEAH NACHMANI *
Abstract
EFL classes all around the world consist of pupils with diverse learning needs and different cultural and linguistic backgrounds to which teachers are expected to attend. Evidently, different factors affect reading acquisition in general and EFL reading acquisition in particular. Some of these factors are related to the different attributes English language learners and teachers bring to the classroom. This article depicts teachers’ perceptions regarding EFL reading acquisition within a multi-cultural learning environment. It presents partial findings of the qualitative research in a doctoral thesis that addressed perceptions and practices regarding reading acquisition among emergent readers learning EFL in small groups within a multicultural environment. The findings emerging from semi-structured interviews with EFL teachers revealed that four main stakeholders perceived to be strongly linked to EFL reading acquisition within a multicultural learning environment are students, students’ home culture, EFL teachers, and policy makers. Keywords: EFL, reading acquisition, culture, multicultural language education, stakeholders.
1. Introduction
There is consensus in the literature that acquiring good reading abilities is significant, not to say critical, for success in the 21 st century. Not only is reading the skill that matters most to success in school, but children whose reading falls behind face great academic danger. From a global perspective, reading is crucial since it can affect levels of income and work opportunities. Hence, in our modern world reading is obviously an essential skill. In Israel, as well as in other countries, it is not enough to be a proficient reader in one's native tongue. Since English serves as an international language, there is a strong need to be an effective reader in this language too. Nevertheless, some students do not become proficient readers or readers at all, for different reasons. EFL teachers in Israel and all around the world are expected to provide differential instruction for students with diverse learning needs including different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This article deals with EFL
* English Department, Ohalo College, Israel, [email protected]. 42 LEAH NACHMANI teachers’ perspectives regarding reading acquisition among emergent readers learning EFL within a multi-cultural environment. Much has been written about the nature of reading and learning to read. However, very little material relates to the acquisition of EFL reading in a multi-cultural learning environment. The research described in this article intends to fill this gap. Ultimately, raising EFL teachers' awareness of the significance of culture in an EFL reading context will result in differential culturally sensitive reading instruction for EFL students. It is my belief that raising teachers’ awareness of the significant role culture plays in EFL reading acquisition and providing them with the relevant knowledge and tools will lead to changes in the way EFL teachers teach reading – providing prevention instead of intervention.
2. Literature review
2.1. Multi-cultural language education and EFL
“Language education is the practices, procedures and provision of language learning” (Barkhuizen 2004: 567). By definition, people who learn EFL have not only acquired another language but also live in a community where the language normally used is not English. Naturally, this community is influenced by norms that are different from those of English-speaking countries. These also influence teachers’ and learners’ expectations of the language learning process (Tomlinson 2005). English as a foreign language is mostly learnt in a school setting where learners are placed together in a class with peers of a similar age and proficiency, using course books and preparing for an examination. It seems that most EFL learners are taught by teachers who are not native speakers of English. Additionally, the social contexts in which learning occurs are varied. Evidently, the social context of learning as well as cultural norms, affect learners’ expectations and behaviour (Tomlinson 2005). Clearly, since foreign language classes consist of learners coming from different backgrounds, teachers cannot count on common knowledge shared by learners on which to base their teaching; they cannot build on common learning habits, learning styles, or even a shared level of L1 (Kramsch 1993). Therefore, it is essential that when developing language teaching programs, language teachers should not carry a fixed set of ideas with them, but pay attention to local conditions as well as socio-political factors. Hence, the starting point of English language teaching must be explorations of students’ cultures, knowledge, and histories in challenging, affirming, and supportive ways (Tomlinson 2005). Interestingly enough, language teaching in general involves cultural contact. English language teaching in particular, being taught across the globe, EFL TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES ON READING ACQUISITION 43 WITHIN A MULTI-CULTURAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT can involve connection among a wide range of cultures. However, it is critical that teachers understand what the most appropriate teaching method for students of a certain cultural group with which they work and must base this understanding on realistic expectations of students’ behaviour (Parry 1996). Different culturally affected factors influence acquisition of language in general and the acquisition of the English language in particular. Two of these factors are social attitudes towards English language learning and social exposure to the language. Learners’ development of vocabulary also affects EFL acquisition since learners acquire not only new words but also new meanings associated with words they have already learned, and these nuances of different meanings of different words are frequently culturally influenced. Another culturally affected factor influencing acquisition is the phenomenon of prototypes. Apparently, some concepts or objects are commonly shared among speakers from a particular culture. Likewise, some of the knowledge about words that we store relates to personal or cultural experiences and is known as “schematic knowledge”. Thus, schematic knowledge is an additional culturally affected factor influencing language learning in general and particularly reading in a foreign language (Hedge 2000) . Clearly, the knowledge a reader brings to reading a text is critical for reading comprehension. This knowledge changes according to students' schemata (Day & Bamford 1998).
2.2. Multicultural language education in EFL reading acquisition
It is widely agreed that literacy varies from culture to culture and members of different cultures are engaged in different kinds of reading having different purposes (Eskey, 2005). In fact, “what it means to be literate, how this literacy is valued, used and displayed will vary from culture to culture. Some cultures have enormous respect for the printed word, such that it is implicitly accepted as authority and cannot be questioned. Others fear the implications of putting any opinions in print, since the greater permanence accorded to opinions thereby makes the owner of the opinion more ‘accountable’” (Alderson 2000: 25). This implies that becoming literate also means being enculturated (to the reader’s own culture) or acculturated (to another culture) in a kind of “literacy club” composed of those who read and write in a particular culture. Given this, learning to read in a second language not only involves coming to grips with a new language in its written form, but also learning to engage in a new set of social practices that may conflict with those to which a reader is accustomed (Eskey, 2005). Research has shown that in the complex and interactive processes of reading, both low-level cues and high-level schemata play an important part. Assumingly, these interactive processes are similar in second language reading 44 LEAH NACHMANI and therefore second language readers can benefit from their reading ability in their first language (Parry 1996). Evidently, schemata play a significant role in the reading process since comprehending a text requires more than linguistic knowledge and involves interaction between a reader’s background knowledge and the text itself. Research has established that children have better reading comprehension and competence with texts that are culturally familiar (Drucker 2003). Moreover, when children are required to interpret occurrences and ideas from a perceptive that is different from the one with which they are familiar they find it hard to do (Rosowsky 2000). Furthermore, schematic knowledge has great significance in the field of reading in a foreign language since activating learners’ existing schematic knowledge at a pre-reading stage is essential to aiding reading comprehension (Hedge 2000). In fact, reading comprehension performance is strongly related to cultural bias. Hence teachers’ awareness of cultural schemata is essential to avoid confusing poor reading comprehension with cultural confusion. This is even more critical when assessing reading (Rosowsky 2000). Interestingly, reading strategies are partly perceived as a function of culture, and differences in these strategies are often related to how different cultural communities represent, use, and teach both language and literacy (Parry 1996). Research has demonstrated that children whose home practices are linguistically and culturally different from those implemented at school are likely to have more difficulty because they are required to add new linguistic and cultural practices and create new links to those they already know. This is unlike the experiences of children whose home activities reflect the linguistic and cultural practices of school, and who only need to link to and build upon the practices into which they have been socialised at home (Hall 2008). Therefore, there is great significance to using texts that match the cultural schemata and background knowledge of English-language learners. Culturally relevant teaching is a significant component of literacy instruction in culturally diverse classrooms. It is the kind of teaching that is designed to use students’ cultures as the basis for helping them understand themselves and others (Drucker 2003). Unlike in the twentieth century, English courses today may include not only authentic texts from English-speaking countries, but also texts written in English, or translated into it, from anywhere in the world. In addition, unlike in the past where English teaching was targeted at native-speaker’s culture, today the target is fostering multi-cultural awareness, raising learners’ awareness of a diverse, international, cosmopolitan set of cultural customs, literature, art forms, etc. Furthermore, for most students today, English is an essential tool needed to function effectively in the world. Therefore, what teachers are aiming for is functional English-knowing bilingualism or, in many cases, multilingualism (Ur 2012). Culturally sensitive literacy instruction includes skills that are required for acquiring the ability to read, together with frequent opportunities to practice EFL TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES ON READING ACQUISITION 45 WITHIN A MULTI-CULTURAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT reading using a variety of rich materials in meaningful contexts. This literacy instruction includes accommodation (having a better understanding of communicative styles and literacy practices of students, and planning their instruction accordingly), incorporation (understanding the way in which each student defines values and uses literacy as part of cultural practices and potentially making adjustments to meet the needs of students), and adaptation (the expectation that children learn to measure up to the norms of those who control schools, institutions, and workplaces) (Edwards & Klinger 2006). Naturally, some learners encounter difficulties when learning to read; in such cases intervention is essential. For intervention to be successful, teachers should recognise and relate to children’s cultural and linguistic identities. Teachers need to recognise how culture influences teaching, learning, and development (McNaughton 2006). Familiarity with students’ cultural and linguistic background and the understanding of the conditions within which learners’ reading development takes place will ensure providing learners with the ideal context for instruction, help teachers become familiar with how they influence students’ motivation and reading development, and in turn allow teachers to implement a more culture-sensitive approach (Orosco & O’Connor 2014). Indeed, cultural experience has great significance, yet it is essential to be aware of the fact that people respond to their own culture in different ways and can change their strategies if given the motivation and encouragement to do so. As far as literacy instruction is concerned, teachers are rather more significant. Therefore, teachers need to examine what their students have been taught to do by their own communities and not just what they say they do or what they actually do (Parry 1996). Finally, teachers are required to address English language learners’ cultural needs and language and literacy development through systematic and planned instruction. Hence, teachers need to be able to recognise students’ diversity and to be able to make conscious and informed instructional decisions based on those needs (Coday & al. 2015)
3. Methods
This study adopted the qualitative approach to research in order to explore and understand the meaning individuals or a group – in this case EFL teachers – give to a social or human problem (Creswell 2009). Thus, the research addressed the following question: What perceptions exist among teachers regarding the promoting and hindering factors that promote and hinder learning to read in EFL in small groups within a multi-cultural environment? To answer this question, semi-structured interviews with English teachers were conducted with the aim of exploring teachers’ perceptions regarding 46 LEAH NACHMANI factors that aid and harm learning to read EFL within a multi-cultural environment. The research population included ten Jewish English primary school teachers and five Arab English primary school teachers in the northern region of Israel who use small group hours within a multi-cultural learning environment to promote emergent readers and develop their reading abilities in their second year of EFL studies. All the teachers have an English teaching certificate. Twelve of these teachers hold a bachelor’s degree and three hold a master’s degree. Five of these teachers are fairly new teachers (four to six years of experience) and four of them are veterans (20-31 years of experience). The questions in the interviews dealt with four aspects: EFL reading acquisition, EFL emergent readers, learning in small groups, and the multi- cultural learning environment. Using content analysis, themes and categories emerged from the data. This article focuses on the categories that emerged from content analysis with regard to the theme “multi-cultural learning environment”.
4. Results
The current research examined teachers’ attitudes towards working with culturally diverse groups and teachers’ beliefs about promoting reading abilities in culturally diverse groups. Based on teachers’ responses, themes and categories emerged that represent teachers’ perspectives. Three categories emerged: aspects of cultural differences, an ambivalence regarding the importance of culture, and culture as a condition in learning to read. Content analysis of data emerging from interviews revealed that different aspects of culture play a role in EFL reading acquisition (Table 1). Aspects such as linguistic background and students’ L1 are significant. Evidence can be found in the interviewees’ statements; for example, “a child having another language will find learning to read in EFL easier”. Interestingly, L1 can assist EFL acquisition: “pupils who are literate in Russian and come to learn English, automatically read from left to right, are used to the notion of vowels, and do not find writing a problem”. However, L1 can also interfere due to “mixing the languages – sounds, grammar, and vocabulary”. Social and economic background also seem to influence EFL reading acquisition: “some pupils are not available for learning”, and “in the kibbutzim I saw that there were significant differences from the population I work with in terms of ability, capacity of processing, and absorbing the language”. In the home culture, parents’ abilities to support learning and their involvement are significant: “exposure to parents who read will motivate the children to read [...] a poor home environment affects children’s world knowledge, which in turn affects reading acquisition”, “the homes in which children grow up have a critical role when it comes to literacy”, and “parents who come from a more EFL TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES ON READING ACQUISITION 47 WITHIN A MULTI-CULTURAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Oriental background seem to be less exposed to English and tell me they cannot help their children […] academic parents are more involved and know how to support their children”. Furthermore, “when parents don’t care about their children’s studies it will affect their child’s achievements”. Other significant aspects are the value of learning, the value of English, and exposure to the target language: “the attitudes towards learning of both learners and teachers are significant”, and “the extent of how each particular culture values the importance of English is one of the things that influences EFL reading acquisition”, “my pupils seem to have better English than Hebrew because they are more exposed to English through songs, TV, etc. than to Hebrew”. Another aspect is students’ culture of learning since “different cultures have different perspectives of what the best way to learn is [...] pupils from Russian homes have the habits of reviewing, drilling, and memorising”. Finally, teachers’ culture, their knowledge about their students’ culture, and their sensitivity to cultural differences are also significant: “when the learner’s cultural background is similar to the teacher’s cultural background it will make it easier for the teacher to teach. The possibility of encountering problems with the methods of teaching and the culture of learning is reduced”, “teachers should be sensitive and as aware as possible of the different backgrounds of the children, taking them into account when we design learning activities and the syllabus”, and “teachers should be familiar with the mother tongue of the culture they are teaching in order to design tasks that are acceptable and meaningful to the students because of the different cultures of learning and expectations”.
Table 1 Aspects of cultural differences
Sub-Category Evidence “a child having another language will find learning to read in Linguistic background EFL easier”. “pupils who are literate in Russian and come to learn English, The nature of pupil’s L1 automatically read from left to right, are used to the notion of vowels, and do not find writing a problem”. “mixing the languages – sounds, grammar, and vocabulary”. L1 interference “among Russian speakers ‘w’ sound /v/ pupils are going to say /vindow/ instead of window”. “some pupils are not available for learning” (divorced parents, Social background lost one of their parents, neglected children, etc.)”. “there were significant differences from the population I work with in terms of ability, capacity of processing, and absorbing Economical background the language and the chances for success – they are more learning oriented”. Home cultural “exposure to parents who read will motivate the children to background read... a poor home environment affects children’s world 48 LEAH NACHMANI
knowledge, which in turn affects reading acquisition”, “the homes in which children grow up have a critical role when it comes to literacy".. “when the learner’s cultural background is similar to the Different vs. similar teacher’s cultural background it will make it easier for the cultural backgrounds teacher to teach. The possibility of encountering problems with the methods of teaching and the culture of learning is reduced”. “when parents don’t care about their children’s studies it will Parental involvement affect their child's achievements”. “parents who come from a more oriental background seem to Parents’ knowledge and be less exposed to English and tell me they cannot help their ability to support learning children, I do see that academic parents are more involved and know how to support their children”. “the extent of how each particular culture values the The value of English importance of English is one of the things that influences EFL reading acquisition”. “the attitudes towards learning of both learners and teachers The value of learning are significant”. “different cultures have different perspectives of what the best The culture of learning way to learn is [...] pupils from Russian homes have the habits of reviewing, drilling, and memorising”. “children will be more engaged and successful with texts that are culturally related to them”, “the teacher needs to expose the Choosing materials child to the concept itself that he might be not familiar with before introducing the English word”. “my pupils seem to have better English than Hebrew because Exposure to target language they are more exposed to English through songs, TV, etc. than to Hebrew”. “teachers should be sensitive and as aware as possible of the Sensitivity to cultural different backgrounds of the children, taking them into account differences when we design learning activities and the syllabus”. “one of the most important things for the teaching of reading is that teachers should be familiar with the mother tongue of the Teachers’ knowledge of culture they are teaching in order to design tasks that are their learners' background acceptable and meaningful to the students because of the different cultures of learning and expectations”.
It can be said that different aspects of culture such as pupils’ linguistic, social, and economic backgrounds as well as home culture and parents’ knowledge, ability, availability, and willingness to support learning together with their views and beliefs about learning in general and to what extent they value the importance of English in particular all seem to influence EFL reading acquisition and need to be considered when introducing reading to EFL learners. Content analysis of data emerging from interviews revealed that there is ambivalence regarding the importance of culture in EFL reading acquisition among teachers as well as experts. Evidence can be found in the interviewees' statements: “there’s a role to culture in reading acquisition, it's not the most important but it does make a difference”, “culture plays a significant role in EFL TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES ON READING ACQUISITION 49 WITHIN A MULTI-CULTURAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT reading acquisition of EFL reading”, and “not important at all, it’s more about who the parents are”. In summary, it can be said that culture seems to play a role in EFL reading acquisition however there is ambivalence regarding the extent of its significance. Content analysis of data emerging from interviews revealed that culture seems to be perceived as a condition in learning to read (Table 2). Evidence can be found in the interviewees’ statements: “a child who sees his parents reading will want to read and his discourse will be on a higher level, including his vocabulary […] he will be more academic, thinking more reasonably [...] a pupil coming from a family that has a culture of reading – buying books, encouraging reading, etc. – has more potential to succeed. They have better understanding, they have strategies”, “the reading habit in L1 helps”, “when working with new immigrants who have a different L1 I will draw on that, trying to find similar things and use his/her L1”, “knowing words from pupils’ L1 can help”, and “pupils who have good L1 including rich language and good reading skills are not going to have difficulties in acquiring another language”.
Table 2 Culture as a condition in learning to read
Sub-Category Evidence “child who sees his parents reading will want to read and his discourse will be on a higher level also his vocabulary […] he will be more academic, thinking more reasonably ... a pupil Exposure and promoting coming from a family that has a culture of reading – buying and encouraging reading books, encouraging reading etc. has more potential to succeed – they have better understanding, they have the strategies […] The reading habit in L1 helps” “Arab speakers say /esh/ to represent the sound /sh/ and /ech/ to represent /ch/ since they don’t have the Schwa sound in Knowing pupil’s L1 Arabic […] Russian speakers confuse /v/ and /w/”. “when working with new immigrants who have a different L1 I will draw on that trying to find similar things and use “his/her L1”. “pupils who have good l1 including rich language and good Having a good base in L1 reading skills are not going to have difficulties in acquiring another language”.
In summary, it can be said that culture is significant as a condition in learning to read; namely, the exposure, promotion, and encouragement of reading from a very young age and having a good base in L1 enable learners’ transference of knowledge and skills. Additionally, teachers’ knowledge of students’ L1, awareness of the processes these students go through and the specific difficulties they encounter, and using the L1 and L1 features and characteristics assist reading acquisition.
50 LEAH NACHMANI
5. Discussion
This research has shown that different aspects of culture seem to have an influence on EFL reading acquisition and need to be considered when introducing reading to EFL learners. The evidence shows that culture is one of the factors to be considered while introducing EFL reading since it seems to have an effect on EFL reading acquisition mainly when relating to L1 background and parents’ intervention and attitude. This finding can be explained by the different attitudes to reading instruction that different cultures hold, as well as differences in the quantity and quality of exposure to oral-aural input and print provided by different parents. This finding supports the literature that stresses the significance of home culture and parents’ role in preparing children for reading acquisition, especially massive exposure to parents’ spoken language from a very young age, which not only helps children develop their language but also enriches their vocabulary (Risley 2005). Interestingly, home environmental differences apparently are more significant than socioeconomic differences (Muter 2006). In fact, the family has proven to have more effect on students’ school performance and achievements than school (Farkus 2005, cited by Risley 2005). Hence, exposing preschoolers to reading on a regular basis is critical and can contribute to the development of literacy skills as well as vocabulary (Muter 2006). Furthermore, as presented above, the literature is conclusive regarding the influence of the mother tongue on EFL reading acquisition; mainly the ability to transfer knowledge from the native language to a new language being acquired. Evidently, first language decoding is correlated with second language reading comprehension (Melby-Lervag & Lervag 2011). The conclusion is that promoting EFL emergent readers learning to read within a multi-cultural environment is strongly related to L1 background and home culture, namely parents’ intervention and attitude. The evidence gathered for this research also showed that culture seems to affect EFL reading acquisition; however the extent of its effect is not conclusive. The evidence mainly reflected ambivalence regarding parents' involvement and influence in the process of EFL reading acquisition. On one hand, when interviewed, participants declared that parents’ intervention is significant to the promotion of emergent readers, mainly complaining that most parents are not involved and do not cooperate. On the other hand, respondents to the questionnaire relating to the effect of various factors on EFL reading acquisition considered parental involvement in the process of EFL reading acquisition to have the lowest effect on reading acquisition. Reality in Israeli schools shows the on-going debate regarding parents' role in the school system and the fine line between parents’ involvement – which is encouraged by the Ministry and school management – and parents' intervention, which intimidates teachers and interferes with their teaching. EFL TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES ON READING ACQUISITION 51 WITHIN A MULTI-CULTURAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Ambivalence is also reflected in teachers' perceptions regarding the need to attend to students’ cultural diversity during reading instruction on the one hand, declaring that it is significant, but on the other hand reporting to mostly not taking students’ cultural diversity into account during small group EFL reading instruction. This finding can be explained by teachers’ misinterpretation of the educational philosophy promoted by the Ministry in which all students are equal (regardless of their religion, culture, etc.) and should be treated equally. This finding expands on the current literature, which does not relate to parental intervention and involvement during the process of EFL reading instruction. It seems that promoting EFL emergent readers learning to read in small groups within a multi-cultural environment is strongly subject to teachers' knowledge and awareness of cultural diversity and its effect on reading acquisition. Summing up, the findings show that EFL teachers perceive various factors to be strongly linked to the promotion of EFL emergent readers learning to read within a multi-cultural environment. These factors can be divided into four main domains: student-related factors, student’s home culture-related factors, teacher-related factors and policy makers-related factors (Table 3).
Table 3 Factors related to the promotion of EFL reading abilities within a multi-cultural environment
Students’ background, knowledge, and experiences (mainly Student-related factors those related to their culture and their L1) Students’ L1 linguistic and literacy background
Student’s home culture Parents’ intervention in the early stages of language acquisition related factors Parents’ attitudes towards literacy and EFL learning Teachers’ knowledge about reading processes and what is involved, including culturally related aspects Familiarity with learners' backgrounds and L1 Adopting a learner-centric approach, Applying a structured phonics instruction program focused on Teacher-related factors raising learners’ awareness of similarities and differences between their L1 and the target language, English, Applying multisensory approaches to teaching (catering for their different learning styles and preferences) Teachers’ knowledge and awareness of cultural diversity and its effect on reading acquisition
Teacher training Policy makers-related Providing teachers with specific guidelines how to effectively exploit small group hours to promote learners’ reading abilities
Naturally, this research has some limitations mainly related to research population, the research tool, and the researcher’s position. Unfortunately, recruiting teachers 52 LEAH NACHMANI to participate in this research was not easy; therefore, the research population included only 15 teachers. However, the fact that all participants were teachers who were teaching English in small group frameworks in different Israeli schools ensured validity and reliability. Furthermore, when using semi-structured interviews, the presence of the interviewer can affect interviewees’ answers, presenting a slightly different reality. Therefore, in conducting the interviews participants were assured that their responses would be confidential to allow for valid data. To maintain the authenticity of the responses and to avoid a possible bias in the research, we aimed at reducing and neutralising the involvement of the researcher, given that the researcher herself was part of the population being examined. The interviewer also avoided responding to participants in any judgmental way.
6. Conclusions
This article depicted EFL reading acquisition as a holistic-integrative multi-cultural process that takes ecological factors – such as cultural teaching factors and cultural learning factors – into consideration. In fact, reading acquisition within a multi-cultural environment emerges from this study as an intercultural and interdisciplinary process that integrates different fields such as EFL teaching, EFL reading acquisition, teacher training and professional development, and multi-cultural education. It involves four main stakeholders: students, their home culture, EFL teachers, and policy makers. Therefore, culturally related differences of EFL learners should be considered by teachers as well as policy makers both in the context of assessing reading abilities and reading instruction.
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Edwards, Patricia A. & Klinger, Joe K. (2006), “Cultural Considerations with Response to Intervention Models”, in Reading Research Quarterly , 41, 1, pp. 108-117. Eskey, David (2005), “Reading in a Second Language”, in E. Hinkel, (ed.), Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning , Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, pp. 563-580. Hall, Jodi K. (2008), “Language Education and Culture”, in N.H. Hornberger & P. Corson (eds.), Encyclopedia of Language Education , vol. 1, Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 45-55. Hedge, Tricia (2000), Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom , Oxford University Press, Oxford. Kramsch, Claire (1993), Context and Culture in Language Teaching , Oxford University Press, Oxford. McNaughton, Stuart (2006), “Considering Culture in Research-based Interventions to Support Early Literacy”, in D.K. Dickinson & S.B. Neuman (eds.) , Handbook of Early Literacy Research , Guilford Press, New York, pp. 229-240. Melby-Lervag, Monica & Lervag Arne (2011), “Cross-linguistic Transfer of Oral Language, Decoding, Phonological Awareness and Reading Comprehension: A Meta-analysis of the Correlational Evidence”, in Journal of Research in Reading, 34, 1, pp. 114-135. Muter, Valerie (2006), “Phonological Skills, Learning to Read and Dyslexia”, in M. Turner & J. Rack (eds.), The Study of Dyslexia , Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York, pp. 91-129. Orosco, Michael J. & O'Connor, Rory (2014), “Culturally Responsive Instruction for English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities”, in Journal of Learning Disabilities , 47, 6, pp. 515-53. Parry, Kate (1996), “Culture, Literacy and L2 Reading”, in TESOL Quarterly , 30, 4, pp. 665-692. Risley, Todd (2005), Meaning Differences in Language Learning Environments of Young American Children. http://www.childrenofthecode.org/interviews/risley.htm. Rosowsky, Andrey (2000), “Reading and Culture: The Experience of Some of Our Bilingual Pupils”, in English in Education , 34, 2, pp. 45-53. Tomlinson, Bill (2005), “English as a Foreign Language: Matching Procedures to the Context of Learning”, in E Hinkle (ed.), Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, pp. 137-152. Ur, Penny (2012), A Course in English Language Teaching , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
ANDREI A. AVRAM *
Abstract
The paper presents new evidence regarding the occurrence in West African Pidgin English and Krio of the diagnostic features of English-lexifier pidgins and creoles proposed by Baker & Huber (2001). It is shown that features thought not to be found in West African Pidgin English and Krio are in fact recorded, while others are attested earlier than hitherto believed. The two varieties at issue also provide evidence for the world-wide status of four diagnostic features Keywords: West African Pidgin English, Krio, diagnostic features, Atlantic, world-wide.
1. Introduction
In a seminal article, Baker & Huber (2001) present the first attestations and distribution of 302 diagnostic features in 13 English-lexifier pidgins and creoles 1. Of these, 173 features are classified as Atlantic (1-173 ), i.e. attested in at least two Atlantic varieties, 75 as world-wide (174-248), i.e. they are found in at least one Atlantic and one Pacific variety, and 54 as Pacific (249-302), i.e. they are recorded in Pacific varieties exclusively. The varieties considered consist of seven Atlantic ones – the creoles from Suriname (treated as a single entity), Bajan, Kittitian, Jamaican, Gullah, Krio, and West African Pidgin English – and 6 from the Pacific – Chinese Pidgin English, Hawaiian Pidgin Creole, Kiribati restructured English, Melanesian Pidgin English, Eastern Australian Pidgin, and the restructured English of Pitcairn and Norfolk. The present paper is concerned with West African Pidgin English and respectively Krio, in response to Baker & Huber’s (2001: 163) appeal that “readers who know of earlier attestations of any of the features listed […] bring these to our attention”. I present attestations of a number of diagnostic features believed not to be recorded in varieties of West African Pidgin English – from Cameroon, Fernando Po/Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria – and
* University of Bucharest, Department of English, [email protected]. 1 These include most of the diagnostic features first suggested in Baker (1999) and Huber (1999). 56 ANDREI A. AVRAM respectively in Krio. It is also shown that a number of other diagnostic features are recorded earlier than the date indicated in Baker & Huber (2001). The textual evidence consists of both published and unpublished sources, such as travelogues, memoirs, diaries, letters, tales, textbooks, grammars, dictionaries, word lists, etc. For the varieties of West African Pidgin English, the sources are as follows 2: (i) for Cameroon – Zöller (1885), Buchner (1887), Anon. b (1905), Ziemann (1907), Dominik (1911), Thorbecke (1914a, b), Crocker (1936), Schneider (1965), Todd (1974, 1979, 1984), Todd & Mühlhäusler (1978), Bellama & al. (1983), Sala & Ngefac (2006), Simo Bobda (2006); (ii) for Fernando Po/Equatorial Guinea – Roe (1874), Boocock (1912), de Zarco (1938), Yakpo (2009); (iii) for Ghana – Dyer (1876), Herskovits (1937); (iv) for Liberia – The Christian Examiner (1833), Liberia Herald (1834, 1835), Cowan (1858), Büttikofer (1890), Hancock (1975), Hancock & Kobbah (1975), Blassingame (1977), Gold (1979), Singler (1981), Allen (2002), Nyanseor (2014); (v) for Nigeria – Nigeria Gazette (1926), Missions (1930), Crocker (1936), Barbag-Stoll (1983), Simo Bodba (2010), Mensah (2011), Babawilly (n.d.), Naija Lingo (n.d.). The data for Krio are from Anon. a (1795), Laing (1825), Rankin (1836), Baptist Missionary Magazine (1842), Norton (1849), Walker (1849), Banbury (1889), Ingham (1894), Cronise & Ward (1903), Alldridge (1910), Berry (1966), Fyle & Jones (1980), and Anderson (1985). For ease of reference, each diagnostic feature is numbered and labeled and/or defined as in Baker and Huber (2001: 197-204). The entry for each feature includes the date of the first attestation and the relevant reference. In the case of a number of items found in published works, there are discrepancies between the year of the first attestation and the year of publication of the source. The date of the first attestation of some of these items corresponds to the year when the author is known to have been in the relevant area. For others, it corresponds to a year explicitly mentioned by the author. Finally, when an exact year cannot be ascertained, the system used by Baker and Huber (2001: 164-65) has been adopted: a year preceded by a hyphen reads ‘in or before’, and if preceded and followed by a hyphen ‘in or around’. All examples appear in the orthography or system of transcription used in the sources. The length of quotations has been kept to a reasonable minimum. The glosses and translations are reproduced in the English, German or Spanish original. The paper is structured as follows. Section 2 is concerned with West African Pidgin English, while section 3 focuses on Krio; both sections include comments on particular diagnostic features. Section 3 summarizes the findings and discusses some of their implications.
2 Unfortunately, the holdings of the Deutsche Kolonialbibliothek are not entirely available online. For the importance of the German colonial sources see Huber & Velupillai (2011). DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: 57 NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
2. West African Pidgin English
2.1. Attestations of new diagnostic features
The evidence provided below illustrates the occurrence of diagnostic features which figure as unattested in West African Pidgin English (Baker & Huber 2001: 197-204). In addition, one feature is shown not to be marginal, in the sense of Baker & Huber (2001: 164).
8. bad mouth ‘speak ill of, curse’ (1) bad-mouth ‘insulting’ 1985 Cameroon (Hellinger 1985: 120) (2) bad mouth ‘rude’ 2014 Liberia (Nyanseor 2014) (3) bad mouth ‘to speak maliciously about someone’ n.d. Nigeria (Naija lingo)
The feature figures among the calques of (assumed) African origin in Baker & Huber (2001: 205). It is also included by Parkvall & Baker (2012: 233) in the list of idiomatic (potential) calques found in English-lexifier pidgins and creoles 3, who also suggest 3 African languages as possible sources.
13. bateau ‘boat’ (4) bato 2006 Nigeria (Simo Bobda 2006: 218)
According to Simo Bobda (2006: 218), “French-derived words like bato (French bateau ‘ship’) are attested in the […] Pidgin English of […] Nigeria”. In a later paper, Simo Bobda (2010: 164) writes that “the Nigerian variety of West African Pidgin […] shares more lexical […] features with Krio than the other varieties”, and the common lexical items mentioned include bato ‘ship’.
52. eddoe /ede ‘taro’ (5) a. eddoes 1858 Liberia (Cowan 1858: 29) b. eddoe 1859 Liberia (Blassingame 1977: 106) c. eddoe 1870 Liberia (Allen 2012: 25) d. eddo e -1887 Liberia (Büttikofer 1890: 125) e. eddo ‘the tuber of the Colocasia esculenta or Xanthosoma sagittofolium. Known elsewhere as coco-yam or taro’ 1962 Liberia (Gold 1979: E-2)
In two of the pre-1900 attestations mention is made that eddoe is the local term used in Liberia. The attestation in (5b) is from a letter whose author writes that “we have a vegetable known by the name of eddoe ” (Blassingame 1977: 106). Similarly, Büttikofer (1890: 125) is quite explicit about the fact that eddoe is the local name for a species of taro: “Colocasia esculenta , Schott, in Liberia unter dem Namen eddoe bekannt”.
3 For attestations in six other varieties see Avram (2013b: 79, and forthcoming). 58 ANDREI A. AVRAM
55. eyewater ‘tear’ (6) ai wata 1984 Cameroon (Todd 1984: 117)
In Todd (1984: 117), this compound is one of the illustrations of the occurrence of wata ‘water’ in calques; however, no African language is indicated as the source. It figures among the calques of (assumed) African origin in Baker & Huber (2001: 207). The compound is also included by Parkvall & Baker (2012: 237) in their list of potential calques found in pidgins and creoles 4, who mention forms in seven African languages which may have served as a model.
69. honi ‘bee’ (7) hɔni ‘bee’ 1965 Cameroon (Gilbert 1965: 6)
73. Irish potato ‘potato’ (8) Irish potatoes -1887 Liberia (Büttikofer 1890: 101)
The earliest attestation of this feature appears between brackets as the local name for potatoes: “Kartoffeln ( Irish potatoes )” (Büttikofer 1890: 101). The feature is also found in Cameroon Pidgin English:
(9) arish potato ‘potato’ 1983 Cameroon (Bellama et al. 1983)
84. kaka ‘shit, excrement’ (10) a. kaka ‘mierda’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 209) b. kàká ‘faeces’ 2009 Equatorial Guinea (Yakpo 2009: 643) (11) kaka ‘to defecate; Pop’ n.d. Nigeria (Naija lingo)
107. mouth water ‘saliva’ (12) maut wata ‘saliva’ 1984 Cameroon (Todd 1984: 177)
Todd (1984: 117) includes this compound among the illustrations of the occurrence of wata ‘water’ in calques, without, however, indicating any potential African language as its source. The compound also figures among the calques of (assumed) African origin in Baker & Huber (2001: 207).
111. nose hole ‘nostril’ (13) nos hol ‘nostril’ 1984 Cameroon (Todd 1984: 106)
4 For additional attestations in English-, French-, Portuguese- and Spanish-lexifier pidgins and creoles see Avram (2013b: 82-83, and forthcoming). DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: 59 NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
Todd (1984: 106) writes “the calque nos hol – nostril – occurs”, but does suggest any potential African source. The compound is included by Baker & Huber (2001: 2007) among the calques of (assumed) African origin.
117. (n)yams ‘yam (sg.)’ (14) a. Jams 1884 Cameroon (Zöller 1885: 97) b. Yams -1914 Cameroon (Thorbecke 1914, part 2: 56)
There is clear evidence that yams is in the singular. Consider, for instance, the following quotation from Thorbecke 1914, part 2: 56), in which the pronouns referring to Yams are in the singular: “Nach Aussage unserer Tikarleute wird auch Yams […] gebaut, wir haben ihn aber nicht gesehen; keinesfalls ist er häufig” -1914 Cameroon (Thorbecke 1914, part 2: 56). Similarly, in the next quotation, the definite article of Yams is in the singular: “Iß icht von dem Yams ” -1914 Cameroon (Thorbecke 1914, part 3: 69) In addition to Cameroon, the feature is recorded in Liberia:
(15) Yams -1887 Liberia (Büttikofer 1890: 126)
Here again the form is clearly in the singular since it is preceded by the singular form of the definite article: “ der Yams” (Büttikofer 1890: 126). Finally, there is also an attestation of the variant with the word-initial palatal nasal [ ɲ]:
(16) ñames ‘ñame’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 218)
122. pantap ‘on’ (17) a. pantap ‘sobre’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 22) b. pàntáp / pàntóp ‘on’ 2009 Equatorial Guinea (Yakpo 2009: 647)
137. santapi ‘centipede’ (18) santapé ‘ciempies’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 134)
On currently available evidence, Pichi is the only African variety in which this feature is attested.
149. Takoma ‘Anansi’s son’ (19) Ananse he get […] t’ree pikin […] His pikin name Ntukuma […] 1931 Ghana (Herskovits 1937) “Anansi had […] three children […] His children’s names were Ntukuma […]
On currently available evidence, Ghanaian Pidgin English is the only African variety in which this feature is recorded.
60 ANDREI A. AVRAM
160. unu (2 PL ) (20) ùnu ‘variant of ùna 2pl pronoun (emphatic and non-emphatic) 2009 Equatorial Guinea (Yakpo 2009: 652)
According to Parkvall (2000: 102), the forms ùna and ùnu would be “various realizations of /unu/”, etymologically derived from Igbo unu . However, Baker & Huber (2001: 200) list 159. una (2PL) and 160. unu (2PL) as separate diagnostic features. Therefore, Pichi joins Krio in being the only Atlantic English-lexifier pidgins or creoles in which both features are recorded.
163. waswas ‘wasp’ (21) uasuas ‘mosca’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 212)
The Spanish equivalent, meaning ‘fly’, is in all likelihood an error. The feature also occurs in the closely related Cameroon Pidgin English:
(22) waswas ‘wasp’ 1979 Cameroon (Todd 1979: 8)
173. yerri ‘hear’ (23) a go yeri yu -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 48) ‘te escucharé’
De Zarco (1938: 653) mentions the fact that yeri is a variant of ia : “el verbo ía , hear , que muchos pronuncian yeri ”5.
202. lili ‘little’ [1807] (24) a. lili taim ‘momento’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 211) b. lili man ‘pigmeo’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 290) c. lili ting ‘triza’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 291) d. lilí ‘(be) little, tiny’ 2009 Equatorial Guinea (Yakpo 2009: 645)
In (24a-c) lili - is part of what appear to be compounds, whose literal meanings are ‘litle time’, ‘little man’ and ‘little thing’ respectively. However, (24d) is unequivocal. Note, finally, that the occurrence of this feature in Pichi provides evidence that the feature is not marginal in West African Pidgin English.
206. make haste ‘hurry’ (25) a. mek es ‘aprisa’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 59) b. mekes ‘hurry’ 2009 Equatorial Guinea (Yakpo 2009: 645)
5 The current form given by Yakpo (2009: 653) is whithout the word-final /-i/: yεr ‘hear, understand’. DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: 61 NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
While de Zarco (1938: 59) glosses mek es as the adverb ‘quickly, hurriedly’, mek es is a verb, according to Yakpo (2009: 645). The feature is also attested in Liberia:
(26) a. make haste ‘hurry up’ 1981 Liberia (Singler 1981: 114) b. you better make haste 2014 Liberia (Nyanseor 2014) ‘you had better hurry’
254. bel(ly) ‘seat of emotions’ (27) a. Plenty vexed live for my bell y. 1887 Cameroon (Buchner 1887: 217) ‘Viel Ärger ist in meinem Innern, ich habe mich wüthend geärgert’ b. My belly live for Bell . 1887 Cameroon (Buchner 1887: 217) ‘Im Innern aber bleibe ich doch Bell treu’ c. dat ting hoht mi foh ma bele 1978 Cameroon (Todd & Mühlhäusler 1978: 11) ‘that really infuriated me’ d. bele hoht ‘vexation’ 1978 Cameroon (Todd & Mühlhäusler 1978: 11)
Buchner (1887: 217) is the first author who explicitly refers to the association of ‘belly’ with emotions: “völlig identisch scheinen die Begriffe „Bauch” und „Seele” aufgefaßt zu werden”. According to Todd & Mühlhäusler (1978: 11), “in CP [= Cameroon Pidgin] bεlε seems to be the seat of unpleasant emotions”. The feature is also recorded in Nigerian Pidgin English. Barbag-Stoll (1983: 77) states that in Nigerian Pidgin English, bele ‘belly’ is “associated with emotions”.
(28) a. bed bele ‘malevolence, hate’ 1983 Nigeria (Barbag-Stoll 1983: 77) b. gud bele ‘kinghearted’ 1983 Nigeria (Barbag-Stoll 1983: 77)
268. first time ‘ahead, formerly’ (29) a. First time , he be gentleman […] now he be Por -1914 Cameroon (Thorbecke 1914, part 3: 163) ‘Formerly, he used to be a gentleman […], now he is Por’ b. Dem first time , you savvy, nothing to live -1936 Cameroon (Crocker 1936: 167) ‘Formerly, you know, there was nothing’
The feature is also found in Liberia:
(30) a. fɔs tã ɪm ‘formerly’ 1980 Liberia (Hancock & Kobbah 1975: 270) b. First time , we de walk for Ducor . 1981 Liberia (Singler 1981: 83) ‘In the old days, we used to walk to Monrovia’
Pichi is a third variety of West African Pidgin English in which this feature is attested:
(31) fos t εn ‘formerly’ 2009 Equatorial Guinea (Yakpo 2009: 641)
62 ANDREI A. AVRAM
In light of the examples above, it may be concluded that the feature is fully attested in West African Pidgin English.
275. look out ‘take care of’ (32) a. You no luk out for me […]? 1926 Nigeria ( Nigeria Gazette ) ‘Did you not care for me […]?’ b. You no luk out for me […]? 1930 Nigeria ( Missions 1930, 21: 139) ‘Did you not care for me […]?’
Cameroon Pidgin English also exhibits this feature, as shown below:
(33) a. You no look out for me? -1936 Cameroon (Crocker 1936: 168) ‘Did you not care for me […]?’ b. No bi yu di luk ɔt fɔ mi […]? 1970 Cameroon (Todd 1984: 265) ‘Did you not care for me […]?’
Note that, while the attestation in (33a) is from “the Creation story told by a Crooboy”, reported to the author by someone who had “served in the Cameroons” and “while there [had] acquired this piece of pidgin English” (Crocker 1936: 168), the one in (33b) is from a version recorded by Todd herself (see Todd 1984: 264). To sum up, the feature is well established in West African Pidgin English, at least in the earlier stages of these two varieties.
287. salt water ‘sea; coastal’ (34) sol uatá ‘mar’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 204)
The feature is recorded in Cameroon Pidgin English as well, with the same meaning, ‘sea’:
(35) sɔl wata ‘sea’ 1965 Cameroon (Gilbert 1965: 56)
2.2. Earlier attestations of diagnostic features
As shown below, a number of diagnostic features are recorded in varieties of West African Pidgin English earlier than the date of their first attestation given in Baker & Huber (2001: 197-203).
17. bobo ‘young boy’ [-1971] (36) a. bobó ‘criatura’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 141) b. bobó ‘nene’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 215)
DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: 63 NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
Since in addition to Ghana (Baker & Huber 2001: 197), the word is also attested in Fernando Po, this diagnostic feature can be regarded as well established in West African Pidgin English.
18. boku ‘a lot’ -1971 (37) buku 1962 Liberia (Gold 1979: B-18)
The first [u] in buku is non-etymological, cf. French beaucoup . It appears to be the outcome of regressive vowel copying. This is also the form in Kru Pidgin English, mentioned by Hancock (1975: 253). The other varieties of West African Pidgin English have [ ɔ]: Cameroon Pidgin English bɔku (Hancock 1975: 253), Nigerian Pidgin English bɔku (Hancock (1975: 253, Simo Bobda 2006: 218), bókû (Mensah 2011: 217).
32. cunny ‘stealth, cunning, cleverness’ -1960 (38) kony ‘intriga’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 190)
37. de , da , na , a (equative copula) -1960 (39) na uan ting fain tu moch -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 24) ‘es una cosa bonita de veras’
41. postposed dem (nominal plural) -1960 (40) faif man and faif uman dem de na ya -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 19) ‘aquí hay cinco hombres y cinco mujeres’
48. doormouth ‘threshold’ -1960 (41) domot ‘soportal’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 276)
This feature figures among the calques (assumed) of African origin in Baker & Huber (2001: 207). It is also included by Parkvall & Baker (2012: 235- 236) in the list of idiomatic (potential) calques found in English-lexifier pidgins and creoles 6, who mention possible sources in 7 African languages.
49. dohti ‘earth, dirt’ -1960 (42) a. doty ‘basura’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 123) b. doty ‘tano’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 280)
56. fit (ability) 1884 (43) a. If you fit to shoot him 1870 Fernando Po (Roe 1874: 169) ‘If you can shoot it’ b. me no fit to make him 1874 Fernando Po (Boocock 1912: 53) ‘I can’t make it’
6 For attestations in 10 other varieties see Avram (2013b: 81, and forthcoming). 64 ANDREI A. AVRAM
62. fullup ‘fill, be full’ 1931 (44) a. fulop ‘henchir’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 179) b. fulop ‘saciar’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 265)
66. gongosha ‘deceit, gossip’ -1960 (45) congosá ‘chisme’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 144)
72. ina , na (locative preposition) [-1960] (46) na ‘en’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 63)
85. (n)kanda ‘rind, skin’ -1960 (47) candá ‘epidermis’ -1920- Fernand Po (de Zarco 1938: 158)
This is the first attestation of this diagnostic feature in Atlantic English- lexifier pidgins and creoles.
86. kasada ‘cassava’ -1908 (48) a. cassada 1833 Liberia ( The Christian Examiner 1833: 98) b. cassad a 1835 Liberia ( Liberia Herald 1835) c. cassada 1842 Liberia ( Baptist Missionary Magazine 1842: 55) d. cassada 1858 Liberia (Cowan 1858: 18)
The next earlier attestation is from Ghana:
(49) cassada 1872 Ghana (Dyer 1876: 42)
Finally, even in Cameroon the feature is recorded earlier than the date indicated in Baker & Huber (2001: 199):
(50) a. Cassada 1884 Cameroon (Zöller 1885: 256) b. Kassada -1898 Cameroon (von Uslar 1899: 143) c. Kassada 1905 Cameroon (Anon. b. 1905: 21)
112. NP 1 for NP 2 (possessive N2’s N1) -1854- (51) you man for governor 1834 Liberia ( Liberia Herald 1834) ‘you are the governor’s man’
118. (n)(y)anga ‘proud; pride, ostentation’ -1960 (52) a. (ñ)angá ‘elegante’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 153) b. (ñ)angá ‘fachenda’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 165) c. (ñ)angîá ‘majo’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 202)
124. pass mark ‘be unbearable; exceedingly’ -1960 (53) a. pas mak ‘infinito’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 188) b. pas mak ‘superar’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 278)
DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: 65 NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
125. pikin ‘small; child, offspring’ -1905- (54) my pickens (children) be sick 1880- Fernando Po (Boocock 1912: 66)) ‘my children are not sick’
133. rata ‘rat’ -1960 (55) arata ‘rata’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 251)
The Pichi form is identical with the Krio one: arata (Berry 1966: a16). Its Cameroon Pidgin English counterpart is formerly alata (Schneider 1965: 53, Sala & Ngefac 2006: 33)), now arata (Sala & Ngefac 2006: 33). Pichi thus shares the word-initial, non-etymological /a/ with the closely related Krio and Cameroon Pidgin English 7.
147. sweet ‘tasty; please (v.)’ 1931 (56) O, Mami, sweet too much -1907 Cameroon (Ziemann 1907: 132) ‘O, Miss, it is very tasty’
148. sweetmouth ‘flatter(y)’ 1991 (57) a. I will sweet-mouth that woman . 1962 Liberia (Gold 1979: S-14) ‘I will speak sweet nothings to her.’ b. She put sweet mouth on me . 1962 Liberia (Gold 1979: S-14) ‘She laid it on thick.’
Note that both meanings are attested in the examples above: ‘flatter’ in (57a) and ‘flattery’ in (57b). The compound figures among the calques (assumed) of African origin in Baker & Huber (2001: 207). It is also included by Parkvall & Baker (2012: 235-236) in the list of idiomatic (potential) calques found in English-lexifier pidgins and creoles 8, who mention possible sources in 7 African languages.
153. titty ‘little girl, sister’ -1971 (58) a. tití ‘criatura’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 141) b. tití ‘nena’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 215)
159. una (2 PL ) -1960 (59) a. uná don cam -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 36-37) vosotras vinísteis’ b. i bin si uná -1920- Fernand Po (de Zarco 1938: 37) ‘él os vió’
As can be seen, una occurs both as a subject form, in (59a), and as an (direct) object form, in (59b).
7 Cf. also the Surinam creoles, in which the earliest attestations of this feature are a ratti -1765-, in Sranan, and alattu 1778, in Saramaccan (Baker 1999: 323). 8 For attestations in six other varieties see Avram (2013b: 92, and forthcoming) 66 ANDREI A. AVRAM
172. yay ‘eye’ -1960 (60) yay ‘ojo’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 220)
179. before time ‘formerly’ [1841] (61) bifotem ‘prematuro’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 241)
While the attestation in Pichi is not the earliest one, it suggests that this feature may have been well established in the earlier stages of West African Pidgin English.
189. falldown ‘fall’ (reanalysis) 1996 (62) fodón ‘caer’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 127)
194. got ‘have’ 1931 (63) them other boy no got sense 1887 Cameroon (Buchner 1887: 216) ‘the other boys have got no sense’
Another earlier attestation is from Liberia:
(64) Me got two son -1887 Liberia (Büttikofer 1890: 240) ‘I have two sons’
234. throwaway ‘throw’ (reanalysis) 1960 (65) troué ‘botar’ -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 125)
239. walkabout ‘wander’ 1980 (66) I just go walkabout . 1962 Liberia (Gold 1979: W) ‘I just wander’
3. Krio
3.1. Attestations of new diagnostic features
Illustrated below is the occurrence in Krio of diagnostic features previously believed not to be recorded in this variety (Baker & Huber 2001: 1997-204).
27. calaloo ‘a rich soup or stew’ (67) a. calliloo and pepper pot 1834 (Rankin 1836: 178) b. calliloo was sodden 1834 (Rankin 1836: 219)
On currently available evidence, Krio is the only African English-lexifier variety in which this features is found.
DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: 67 NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
36. day clean ‘daybreak’ [1902] (68) de lorry lef befo’ de-clean -1966 (Berry 1966: d4) ‘the lorry left before dawn’
Since it is listed in Berry’s (1966) comprehensive dictionary of Krio, the feature should be considered as fully attested, i.e. as well established in the language. The compound figures among the calques (assumed) of African origin in Baker & Huber (2001: 207). It is also included by Parkvall & Baker (2012: 235) in the list of idiomatic (potential) calques attested in English- and French-lexifier pidgins and creoles 9, who mention possible sources in 5 African languages.
52. eddoe /ede ‘taro’ (69) a. eddows 1795 (Anon. a. 1795: 71) b. Eddoes 1795 (Anon. a. 1795: 231)
73. Irish potato ‘potato’ (70) a. ayrish-pεtεtε ‘the Irish potato’ 1980 (Fyle & Jones 1980: 20) b. airish pehtehteh ‘(Irish) potato’ 1985 (Anderson 1985: 177)
Both sources make it clear that this lexical item is to be distinguished from ‘potato’: pεtεtε ‘sweet potato (plant)’ (Fyle & Jones 1980: 288), pehtehteh ‘sweet potatoes’ (Anderson 1985: 201).
74. jacko ‘monkey’ (71) a. Jacko live there; jacko live upon top stick 1834 (Rankin 1836: 342) ‘There is a monkey there; there is a monkey in the tree’ b. jacko monkey /jako m ɔnki/ ‘sp. of big black monkey’ 1966 (Berry 1966: j1)
That the meaning of Jacko in (74a) is ‘monkey’ is demonstrated by the continuation of the quotation: “and truly there grinned […] a monkey of no despicable dimensions” (Rankin 1834: 342). Note also the description “of no despicable dimensions” corresponds to Berry’s (1966: j1) definition of jacko monkey . Note also that Krio appears to be the only African English-lexifier creole in which this feature is attested.
91. kokobe ‘leper, leprosy (72) cacabay ‘leprosy’ 1971 (Aceto 1999: 73)
179. before time ‘formerly’ (73) a. (Before time , now two year, I was sick 1822 (Walker 1847: 160) Formerly, two years ago, I was sick’ b. Before time , I fear to die, when sickness catch me 1823 (Walker 1847: 214) ‘Formerly, I was afraid of dying, when I got sick’
9 For attestations in seven other varieties see Avram (2013b: 80-81, and forthcoming). 68 ANDREI A. AVRAM
Note that the feature occurs in the speech of two different users of early Krio, hence it can be considered as fully attested. It may be illustrative of earlier stages of the language. This would accord with the fact that that its only attestations in West African Pidgin English, [1841] Nigeria (Baker & Huber 2001: 201) and -1920- Fernando Po (de Zarco 1938: 241) 10 , also suggest that this feature is no longer in use.
210. moon ‘month’ [1969] (74) a. aftah one moon , Spider go out to Lepped -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 229) ‘after a month, Spider went out to Leopard’ b. We go meet nex’ moon -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 293) ‘We shall meet next month’ c. W’en ’bout eight moo n done pass -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 289) ‘When about eight months had passed’
Since the feature occurs several times in Cronise & Ward (1903), and it is used by several of their informants, it should be considered as fully attested in earlier Krio 11 .
254. bel(ly) ‘seat of emotions’ (75) a. ‘wit’ im good-belly ’ -1966 (Berry 1966: g13) ‘with his kindheartedness’ b. gudb εlε ‘kindness, benevolence’ 1980 (Fyle & Jones 1980: 138)
The feature is independently attested in two sources, which shows that it is well established, at least in modern Krio.
268. first time ‘ahead, formerly’ (76) a. fOstEm ‘previously, before, formerly’ 1964 (Wilson 1964: 316) b. /f ɔst εm/ ‘formerly, in olden times’ 1966 (Berry 1966: f11) c. fɔst εm ‘former, formerly’ 1980 (Fyle & Jones 1980: 112)
The fact that this feature is found in a language manual (Wilson 1964) as well as in two dictionaries (Berry 1966 and Fyle & Jones 1980) demonstrates that it is well established, at least in modern Krio.
287. salt water ‘sea; coastal’ (77) a. salt-water , that a Soolima man has never seen 1825 (Laing 1825: 233) b. salt water ‘sea’ 1846 (Norton 1849: 257) c. /s ɔlwata/ ‘sea, ocean’ 1966 (Berry 1966: s3) d. sohl wata ‘sea’ 1985 (Wilson 1964: 207)
10 See also section 2.2. 11 In the modern variety, moon means “1) lunar body’ and, “2) (in women’s speech only) monthly period, menstruation” (Berry 1966: m21). DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: 69 NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
As can be seen, the feature is independently attested in at least four sources, in a period of 160 years. In other words, it is obviously a well established feature, throughout the recorded history of Krio.
3.2. Earlier attestations of diagnostic features
The following diagnostic features are recorded in Krio before the date of the first attestation indicated in Baker & Huber (2001: 197-203).
2. ‘given that’ 1980 (78) after wetin you done do so -1966 (Berry 1966: a5) ‘given that you did so’
4. akra (a savoury cake) 1980 (79) akara ‘bean fritters; a fried cake made from rice flour over-ripe banana and a little water and sugar’ 1966 (Berry 1966: a5)
14. belong (habitual) 1969 (80) na yu blant tote de box, you for tote am now -1966 (Berry 1966: b16) ‘it is you who [usually] carry the box, carry it it now’
15. big eye ‘greed(y) 1969 (81) he get too big yi -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 235) ‘he became too greedy’
The feature figures among the calques of (assumed) African origin in Baker & Huber (2001: 205). It is also included by Parkvall & Baker (2012: 233) in the list of idiomatic (potential) calques recorded in English-, French-, and Dutch-lexifier pidgins and creoles 12 , who mention possible sources in two African languages.
20. book ‘letter, knowledge, literacy’ etc. 1817 (82) learn book 1792 (Ingham 1894: 44) ‘learn how to write’
25. bumbo ‘vulva’ 1969 (83) bombo ‘vagina’ 1966 (Berry 1966: b30)
35. dash ‘gratuity; present v.’ 1861 (84) a. dash 1792 (Ingham 1894: 30) b. dashes 1795 (Anon. a. 1795: 105)
12 For attestations in eight other English-lexifier creoles see Avram (2013b: 79-80, and forthcoming). 70 ANDREI A. AVRAM
In Anon. a. (1795: 105) the meaning of this lexical item is more specific: “presents of liquors”.
39. dead house ‘mortuary’ 1969 (85) dEdáwss ‘mortuary’ 1964 (Wilson 1964: 314)
44. do (clause-initial entreaty) -1858- (86) do , my countryman, I beg you try to pray 1821 (Walker 1847: 135) ‘my countryman, I beg you to try to pray’
45. dokunu /dukna (kind of starchy food) 1980 (87) dɔkonu ‘a kind of pudding made from one of the starch foods plantain, cassava etc.’ 1966 (Berry 1966: d12)
48. doormouth ‘threshold’ 1969 (88) He come out do’-mout -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 305) ‘He came out the door’
49. dohti ‘earth, dirt’ 1969 (89) Look how oonah (you) hebe (throw) dirty ’pon me -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 236) ‘Look how you threw dirt on me’
50. dry eye ‘boldness’ 1969 (90) a. yu tu dray yay (Wilson 1964: 315) ‘You are too bold.’ b. /draiyai/ ‘bold, brazen, quarrelsome’ 1966 (Berry 1966: d17)
As can be seen, in Krio this is an adjective, rather than a noun. The features figures among the calques of (assumed) African origin in Baker & Huber (2001: 207). It is also included by Parkvall & Baker (2012: 236) in the list of idiomatic (potential) calques recorded in English- and French-lexifier pidgins and creoles 13 .
56. fit (ability) -1916 (91) I no fit for sit down this place -1894 (Ingham 1894: 280) ‘I can’t sit in this place’
59. for VERB (modal) 1882 (92) What me for do? 1840 (Walker 1847: 432) ‘What must I do?’
67. gumbe ‘drum’ 1980 (93) gumbe ‘drum’ 1966 (Berry 1966: j9)
13 For attestations in two other English-lexifier creoles see Avram (2013b: 81, and forthcoming). DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: 71 NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
69. honi ‘bee’ 1969 (94) /ɔni/ ‘bee’ 1966 (Berry 1966: h8)
79. jumbee ‘malevolent spirit, zombie’ 1980 (95) jombi ‘ghost, spirit’ 1966 (Berry 1966: j9)
84. kaka ‘shit, excrement’ 1969 (96) kaka ‘excreta’ 1966 (Berry 1966: k2)
85. (n)kanda ‘rind, skin’ 1969 (97) a. kandá ‘skin, hide, peel’ 1964 (Wilson 1964: 318) b. kanda ‘1) skin 2) leather 3) bark’ 1966 (Berry 1966: k3)
87. kata ‘head-pad’ 1969 (98) he make big cottah -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 158) ‘he made a big head-pad’
In two other cases, this lexical items is translated: “ cottah (head-pad)” and “ cottah , or head-pad” (Cronise & Ward 1903: 325).
96. look ‘see, find’ -1916 (99) my eyes look sin […] my heart like it 1821 (Walker 1847: 92) ‘my eyes saw the sin […] my heart liked it’
108. mumu ‘dumb’ 1980 (100) mumu ‘a mute, dumb person’ 1966 (Berry 1966: m24)
111. nose hole ‘nostril’ 1969 (101) dirty day insi’e you nose-ole -1966 (Berry 1966: n8) ‘there is dirt inside your nostril’
117. (n)yams ‘yam (sg.)’ 1969 (102) nyams 1966 (Berry 1966: n10)
121. palaver ‘dispute, discourse, matter’ 1818 (103) a. fool-palaver 1792 (Ingham 1894: 28) b. palaver ‘council’ 1795 (Anon. a. 1795: 7) c. palavers ‘quarrels’ 1795 (Anon. a. 1795: 105) d. no palaver 1795 (Anon. a. 1795: 115) ‘no cause for quarrel’
122. pantap ‘on’ 1969 (104) a. he bring um all ’pon top de lan -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 204) ‘he brought them all on the land’ b. Spider try fo’ pull dis ting ’pon top he nose -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 290) ‘Spider tried to pull this thing on his nose’ 72 ANDREI A. AVRAM
131. polly ‘parrot’ 1969 (105) polly ’s feathers 1821 (Walker 1847: 136) ‘parrot’s feathers’
137. santapi ‘centipede’ 1980 (106) santapi 1966 (Berry 1966: s5)
145. stick ‘tree’ -1902 (107) Jacko live there; jacko live upon top stick 1834 (Rankin 1836: 342) ‘There is a monkey there; there is a monkey in the tree’
146. strong ears /hard ears ‘stubbornness’ 1980 (108) a. ‘Trongah yase (ears) no good -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 186) ‘Stubbornness is bad’ b. de ooman he get ‘tronger yase -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 294) ‘the woman became stubborn’ c. yu tu trangga yes 1964 (Wilson 1964: 328) ‘You are too stubborn’ d. /tra ŋgayes/ ‘disobedience’ 1966 (Berry 1966: s48)
The transcriptions of this feature differ in Cronise & Ward 1903), and so do the two translations provided: “‘Trongah yase”, i.e. , “strong ears’, “willful disregard of advice” (Cronise & Ward 1903: 186, f.n.) and “’tronger yase, i.e. “strong ears”, “obstinacy” (Cronise & Ward (1903: 294, f.n.). The feature figures among the calques (assumed) of African origin in Baker & Huber (2001: 207). It is also included by Parkvall & Baker (2012: 239 and 243) in the list of idiomatic (potential) calques found in English- and French-lexifier pidgins and creoles 14 .
161. vex ‘be angry’ 1969 (109) De man done veks -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 309) ‘The man got angry’
162. wari (African board game) 1969 (110) a. the African game of “ worrah ” 1888 (Banbury 1888: 218) “a kind of backgammon, played with beans, on a board rudely made in the shape of a canoe, with small pockets or divisions, into which the players put their pieces” (Banbury 1888: 218) b. warre 1910 (Alldridge 1910: 230)
163. waswas ‘wasp’ 1969 (111) waswas nor day farway -1966 (Berry 1966: w5) ‘the wasp are not far away’
14 For attestations of the variant hard ears in 10 other English-lexifier creoles see Avram (2013b: 86, and forthcoming). DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: 73 NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
166. WH make ‘why’ -1858- (112) a. What make you cannot go to Church? 1840 (Walker 1847: 454) ‘Why can’t you go to church?’ b. What make you coming here? 1840 (Walker 1847: 454) ‘Why are you coming here?’
180. born ‘give birth’ 1980 (113) ef dis ooman born pikin -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 325) ‘if this woman gave birth to children’
185. comeout ‘go out, detach’ (reanalysis) 1980 (114) a. I mus’ come out jus’ now -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 115) ‘I must go out right now’ b. dis debble heen one side head come out -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 182) ‘one side of the devil’s head got detached’
Example (114a) illustrates the meaning ‘go out’, while (114b) exemplifies the meaning ‘detach’.
189. falldown ‘fall’ (reanalysis) 1980 (115) a. he go fa’ down inside wattah -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 262) ‘it will fall into the water’ b. Suppose we go fall down dem place -1910 (Alldridge 1910: 118) ‘if we fall in this place’
196. he (resumptive) 1834 (116) a. my husband he is a good man 1821 (Walker 1847: 110) ‘my husband is a good man’ b. Headman he have one big greegree 1821 (Walker 1847: 134) ‘the headman has a big grigri’
201. lick ‘flog’ 1980 (117) W’en he wan’ fo lick de Fileemtumbo 15 heen foot -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 208) ‘when he wanted to flog the gazelle’s foot’
203. little bit ‘slightly’ -1939 (118) w’en de place dark leelee bit -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 136) ‘when the place is slightly dark’
206. make haste ‘hurry’ 1980 (119) Spider he make hase (haste) again -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 142) ‘Spider hurried again’
15 Glossed ‘gazelle’ by Cronise & Ward (1903: 207, f.n.). 74 ANDREI A. AVRAM
214. never (negative-completive) 1966 (120) a. dey nebber see um yet -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 66) ‘the have never seen it yet’ b. I nebber see ting lek dat -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 273) ‘I have never seen a thing like that’
226. -side (locative suffix) 1980 (121) a. close de road -side -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 172) ‘close to the road’ b. close de fire side -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 305) ‘close to the fire’
227. sitdown ‘sit, reside’ (reanalysis) 1969 (122) a. He come sit down in this bush to teach us 1821 (Walker 1847: 136) ‘He came to live in this jungle to teach us’ b. Before that Mr. Young come and sit down in this town 1839 (Walker 1847: 418) ‘Before Mr Young came and settled down in this town’ c. he sit down ’pon hoss -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 255) ‘he sat on the horse’ d. dey sit down togedder (live) to one ole fa’m-ho’se -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 208) ‘they lived together ina farm-house’
The above examples illustrate both meanings: ‘sit’ (122d) and ‘reside’ (122a-c).
229. standup ‘stand’ (reanalysis) 1961 (123) a. he see de ooman lepped ’tan’ up nah de do’ (door) mout’ -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 70-71) ‘he saw the female leopard standing on the threshold’ b. one big pot soup ’tan’ up ’pon de groun’ -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 216) ‘a big pot of soup standing on the ground’
231. suppose ‘if’’ 1817 (124) suppose , king, you buy slave 1792 (Ingham 1894: 28) ‘if you buy slaves’
234. throwaway ‘throw’ (reanalysis) 1969 (125) Sotay he trow ’way nah groun’ -1903 (Cronise & Ward 1903: 44, f.n.) ‘until he threw it on the ground’
239. walkabout ‘wander’ 1980 Krio (126) walk about , sometimes to my country-people, sometimes to Leopold Town 1821 (Walker 1847: 135) ‘wander, sometimes to my country people, sometimes to Leopold Town’
DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH PIDGINS/CREOLES: 75 NEW EVIDENCE FROM WEST AFRICAN PIDGIN ENGLISH AND KRIO
4. Conclusions
21 diagnostic features, previously thought not to be found in West African Pidgin English, have been shown to be attested. 28 other diagnostic features are attested earlier than indicated in Baker & Huber (2001: 197-204). As for Krio, 11 diagnostic features which figure as unattested in Baker & Huber (2001: 197-204) do in fact occur in this variety. The first attestations of 49 further diagnostic features predate the ones indicated in Baker & Huber (2001: 197-204). In light of the discovery of attestations of new diagnostic features, the number recorded in West African Pidgin English amounts to 172.5, and the total number for Krio rises to 190. While West African Pidgin English remains in third position, Krio now outranks Jamaican (Baker & Huber 2001: 171) and comes out first among the English-lexifier pidgins and creoles considered in terms of the number of diagnostic features attested. The status of four diagnostic features needs to be reassessed. Consider first features 254. bel(ly) ‘seat of emotions’, 268. first time ‘ahead, formerly’, and 287. saltwater ‘sea; coastal’. These are classified as Pacific ones by Baker & Huber (2001: 203-204). However, as seen in 2.1, all three of them are also recorded in varieties of West African Pidgin English. Moreover, as shown in 3.1, 268. first time ‘ahead, formerly’ and 287. saltwater ‘sea; coastal’ are also found in Krio. Thus, West African Pidgin English and Krio corroborate evidence from other English- lexifier varieties these features should be reclassified as world-wide, as suggested in Avram (2004: 101). Feature 254. bel(ly) ‘seat of emotions’ is also recorded in Jamaican (Avram 2004: 93) and Grenada English Creole (Avram 2014: 8); 268. first time ‘ahead, formerly’ is also found in the creoles of Suriname (Avram 2004: 95), the creoles of Trinidad and Tobago (Avram 2011: 37), Bahamian (Avram 2013a: 143), Guyanese and Vincentian (Avram 2015: 125); 287. saltwater ‘sea; coastal’ also occurs in the creoles of Suriname (Avram 2004: 96-97), Jamaican (Avram 2004: 97), the creoles of Trinidad and Tobago (Avram 2011: 37), Bahamian (Avram 2013a: 143), Vincentian (2015: 125), and Antiguan (Avram 2016: 196). Last, but not least, the attestation of 275. look out ‘take care of’ in Cameroon and Nigeria provides the only evidence so far that this feature, classified as Pacific by Baker & Huber (2001: 203), is also a world-wide one, given its occurrence in West African Pidgin English.
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Parkvall, Mikael (2000), Out of Africa. African Influences in Atlantic Creoles , Battlebridge Publications, London. Parkvall, Mikael & Philip Baker (2012), “Idiomatic (Potential) Calques and Semantic Borrowing”, in A. Bartens and P. Baker (eds.), Black against White. African Words and Calques which Survived Slavery in Creoles and Transplanted European Languages , Battlebridge Publications, London, pp. 231-248. Rankin, F. Harrison (1836), The White Man’s Grave: A Visit to Sierra Leone, in 1834 , R. Bentley, London. Roe, Henry (1874), West African Scenes: Being Descriptions of Fernando Po, Its Climate, Productions and Tribes: The Cause and Cure of Sickness, with Missionary Works, Trials and Encouragements , Elliot Stock, London. Sala, Bonaventure M. & Ngefac, Aloysius (2006), “What’s Happening to Cameroon Pidgin? The Depidginization Process in Cameroon Pidgin English”, in Philologie im Netz , 36, pp. 31-43. Schneider, Gilbert D. (1965), English / Pidgin-English (Wes Kos), Preliminary Glossary , Ohio University, Center for International Studies, Athens, OH. Simo Bobda, Augustin (2006), “Irish Presence in Colonial Cameroon and Its Linguistic Legacy”, in Hildegard C.L. Tristram (ed.), The Celtic Englishes , vol. IV, The Interfaces between English and the Celtic Languages , Potsdam University Press, Potsdam, pp. 217-233. Simo Bobda, Augustin (2010), “Local Networks in the Formation and Development of West African English”, in M. Saxena & T. Omoniyi (eds.), Contending with Globalization in World Englishes , Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, pp. 159-174. Singler, J.V. (1981), An Introduction to Liberian English , African Studies Center, Peace Corps, East Lansing, Washington, D.C. Thorbecke, Franz (1914a), Im Hochland von Mittel-Kamerun , part 2, Anthropogeographie des Ost-Mbamlandes , L. Friederichsen & Co., Hamburg. Thorbecke, Franz (1914b), Im Hochland von Mittel-Kamerun , part 3, Beiträge zur Völkerkunde des Ost-Mbamlandes , L. Friederichsen & Co., Hamburg. Todd, Loreto (1974), Pidgins and Creoles , Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. Todd, Loreto (1979), Some Day Been Dey: West African Pidgin Folktales , Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. Todd, Loreto (1984), Modern Englishes: Pidgins and Creoles , Blackwell, Oxford. Todd, Loreto & Mühlhäusler, Peter (1978), “Idiomatic Expressions in Cameroon Pidgin English and Tok Pisin”, in Papers in Pidgin and Creole Linguistics , 1, pp. 1-35. Walker, Samuel Abraham (1847), The Church of England Mission in Sierra Leone; Including an Introductory Account of that Colony, and a Comprehensive Sketch of the Niger Expedition in the Year 1841 , Seeley Burnside and Seeley, London. Wilson, James Lawrence (1964), Introductory Krio Language Manual , Indiana University, Bloomington. Yakpo, Kofi (2009), A Grammar of Pichi , Isimu Media, Berlin · Accra. de Zarco, Mariano (1938), Dialecto ingles africano broken English de la colonia española del Golfo de Guinea , second edition, H. Proost, Turnhout. Ziemann, Grete (1907), Mola koko Grüsse aus Kamerun. Tagebuchblätter , Wilhelm Süsserott, Berlin. Zöller, Hugo (1885), Die deutsche Colonie Kamerun , vol. 3, Das südliche Kamerun-Gebiet, die spanischen Besitzungen, das französiche Colonialreich und der Congo , Spemann, Berlin.
ZUM LEXEM HERR UND ZU DESSEN AUFTAUCHEN IN WORTBILDUNGEN UND PHRASEMEN
MIHAI CRUDU *
Abstract
This study aims at analysing in detail the lexeme Herr , which seems to be extremely productive in German. We start our study with the etimology of this word and we continue with the lexicographical definition of it, trying to account for its occurence as a morpheme in derived forms and fixed expressions such as: herrlich , herrschen , Herrin , einer Sache Herr werden , die Herren der Schöpfung , sein eigener Herr sein . The analysis is mostly restricted to the semantics of Herr , highlighting various connotations which the word has acquired as a result of the process of derivation or phraseologization. Keywords: lexeme, word-formation, etymology, derivation, fixed phrase.
1. Vorhaben
Ziel der nachstehenden Ausführungen ist eine detaillierte linguistische Untersuchung eines ausgewählten Lexems, das sich im Deutschen sprachlich als sehr produktiv erwiesen hat. Es handelt sich – wie im Titel schon angekündigt – um das Nomen Herr . In einem ersten Schritt soll auf die Etymologie des Lexems zurückgegriffen werden, um damit dessen semantisch-formelle Entwicklung auszuloten. Im Anschluss daran nehme ich mir vor, das Auftauchen von Herr als lexikalischem Morphem in weiteren Wortbildungen des Deutschen näher unter die Lupe zu nehmen und dabei besonderen Wert auf seine mannigfaltigen semantischen Valenzen zu legen. Da Herr ebenfalls als Autosemantikon in ziemlich vielen Phrasemen anzutreffen ist, möchte ich meine Darlegung dazu mit ein paar Aspekten in dieser Hinsicht abrunden.
* Nationalkolleg „Petru Rare ş“ (Suceava), [email protected]. 80 MIHAI CRUDU
2. Zum Lemma Herr : Etymologie und semantisches Spektrum
Das Simplex Herr (Pluralform Herren ) gilt als ein geläufiges Maskulinum 1, das somit in sämtliche Nachschlagewerke gehört. Etymon des Wortes ist ahd. hēriro , hērōro , dessen verkürzte Form hěr(r)o war und das später als mhd. hěrre bzw. hěr kursierte. Die ursprüngliche Bedeutung deckte eine breite Palette (‚Herrscher, Kaiser, König, Gebieter, Patron, Gemahl, Adliger‘) ab, die auf denselben semantischen Kern hinweist (vgl. EWD, 2013: 535). Das Etymon gilt als Parallelbildung zu lat. senior und ist seinerseits auf die Komparativform des Adjektivs ahd. hēr, mhd. hēre (‚alt, ehrwürdig, vornehm‘) zurückzuführen, heute noch in einer ein wenig modifizierten Bedeutung in hehr erhalten geblieben (vgl. EWD, 2013: 521). Morphologisch gesehen, ist es synchron ein unregelmäßiges Nomen, das der n-Deklination zuzuordnen ist. Seine Unregelmäßigkeit bezieht sich auf das idiosynkratische Weglassen des Inlautes -e- bei den deklinierten Singularformen: den / dem / des Herrn , die sich schlussendlich durch den Sprachusus durchgesetzt haben (vgl. DG4, 1998: 226). Semantisch ist das Wort umfangreich, wie die folgende, dem D-Onl entnommene lexikografische Definition aufzuzeigen vermag:
1. a. Mann (auch als übliche höfliche Bezeichnung für eine männliche Person im gesellschaftlichen Verkehr); b. gebildeter, kultivierter, gepflegter Mann. 2. a. titelähnliche, auch als Anrede verwendete Bezeichnung für eine erwachsene Person männlichen Geschlechts; Abkürzung: Hr. b. (gehoben) als Zusatz bei Verwandtschaftsbezeichnungen. 3. a. jemand, der über andere oder über etwas herrscht; Gebieter; Besitzer. b. jemand, der jemanden, etwas unter Kontrolle hat, beherrscht. 4. (christliche Religion) Gott.
Aus der Begriffsbestimmung ergibt sich, dass die ursprünglichen semischen Merkmale des Lexems größtenteils beibehalten worden sind: [ +human being , +männlich , +erwachsen ]. Dabei kommen noch weitere gelegentliche Seme hinzu, die die Semantik des Wortes beschränken: [ +Herrscher ] bzw. [ +Herrscher , +göttlich ]. Als Anrede für männliche Personen wird Herr dem Nomen Frau 2 (das übrigens auch als Teil im Wortpaar Mann / Frau vorkommt) als Anrede für Personen weiblichen Geschlechts gegenübergestellt.
1 Auf D-Onl, wo die Frequenz der Wörter in Form kleiner Rechtecke numerisch dargestellt ist, wird das Lexem mit dem Grad 4 (von 5) registriert. Auf DWDS ist die Worthäufigkeit 5 (von 7). 2 Das Lexem Frau (< ahd. frouwa , mhd. vrouwe ) ist seinerseits die movierte Form eines schon längst untergegangenen Nomens fr ō-, das so viel wie ‚Herr‘ bedeutete. Das Etymon wurde schon im Althochdeutschen aufgegeben und durch hēriro ersetzt. Ausführlicher zur Entwicklung der Wörter Frau , Mann und Herr als Anreden in Kopf, 2014: 210ff. ZUM LEXEM HERR UND ZU DESSEN AUFTAUCHEN IN WORTBILDUNGEN UND PHRASEMEN 81
3. Zum Auftreten des Lexems Herr in weiteren Wortbildungen
3.1. Herr in Ableitungen
Als lexikalisches Morphem begegnet Herr in recht vielen Wortbildungen, wobei hier exemplarisch nur auf eine kleine Auswahl an Ableitungen Rücksicht genommen werden soll, um dem semantischen Spektrum des Lexems nachzugehen. Vom Nomen lassen sich sowohl Diminutiva bilden, etwa Herrlein oder Herrchen , als auch die feminine Entsprechung, Herrin . Herrlein ist bloß eine „klassische“ Diminutivform (‚junger Herr‘), die in der Gegenwartssprache kaum noch gebraucht wird, wohingegen Herrchen 3, über die strukturgemäße, umgangssprachliche Bedeutung (also ‚junger Herr‘) hinaus, auch einen ‚Herrn des Hundes‘ bezeichnet. In diesem Fall ist freilich eine Bedeutungsrestringierung zu identifizieren. Was das Femininum Herrin anbelangt, das mithilfe des spezifisch deutschen Movierungssuffixes -in gebildet wurde, lässt sich hier ebenfalls eine semantische Beschränkung konstatieren. Das Wort gewinnt eine gewisse Konnotation, ‚Besitzerin, Gebieterin‘ (also [+ stark ]), die vom kulturell tradierten Frauenbild als ‚schwachem (oder eben schönem) Geschlecht‘ abweicht. Eine semantische Einschränkung begegnet auch beim Adjektiv herrisch , das wegen des spezifischen semischen Merkmales [+ Kraft , Autorität ] negativ gefärbt ist. Vgl. dabei auch die Komposita herrschsüchtig bzw. Herrschsucht , die dieselbe Bedeutung aufweisen und auf das gleiche Etymon zurückführbar sind. Eine positive Konnotation steckt hingegen im ebenso aus dem Althochdeutschen stammenden Wort herrlich (< ahd. hērl īh, mhd. hērlich ), das seinerseits weitere Derivate erzeugt hat, etwa Herrlichkeit , verherrlichen , Verherrlichung . Etymon des Adjektivs ist zwar das weiter oben erwähnte hehr , dessen semantische Spuren im Wort sichtbar sind, die weitere phonetische Entwicklung des Lexems nähert sich jedoch der von Herr . Bemerkenswert in diesem Zusammenhang sind die Komposita vom Typ selbstherrlich (auch Selbstherrlichkeit ), deren negative Bedeutung auf Herr und dem damit verbundenen Konzept von ‚Autorität‘ (hier jedoch in einem extremen Sinne) basiert. In manchen Fällen hat sich die Pluralform Herren als beteiligtes Morphem durchgesetzt, wie es in folgenden, selten verwendeten Beispielen der Fall ist: herrenhaft , herrenlos , herrenmäßig , Herrentum . Dabei ist die konkrete Bedeutung des Nomens Herr erhalten, wobei die jeweiligen Suffixe bzw.
3 Vgl. auch Frauchen als ‚Herrin des Hundes‘. 82 MIHAI CRUDU
Suffixoide den Derivaten bloß ein bestimmtes semisches Merkmal auferlegen: -haft 4 ‚in der Art‘, -los 5 ‚ohne‘, -mäßig 6 ‚wie, gemäß‘, -tum 7 ‚Art des Verhaltens‘. Anders steht es um Lexeme, die das Morphem herrsch- als Basis haben. Etymon ist ahd. hēris ōn, später mhd. hērschen , im Sinne von ‚Herr sein, die Macht eines Herrn haben‘; es ergab im gegenwärtigen Deutsch viele Ableitungen, die semantisch größtenteils um die konzeptuelle Metapher ‚Macht‘ kreisen. Das intransitive Verb herrschen bewahrt eine ursprüngliche, „geschichtliche“ Bedeutung (‚Macht haben‘), weist aber gegenwärtig auch eine abstrakte Bedeutung auf, die etwa zu ‚bestehen‘ synonym ist; vgl. folgende, dem WUL beliebig entnommene Beispielsätze:
(1) In Port-au-Prince herrschen Chaos und Anarchie, es kommt immer häufiger zu Plünderungen. (hallo.news352.lu, 18.12.2010) (2) Seit Wochen herrschen winterliche Temperaturen. (www.ivz-online.de, 08.01.2011) (3) Von der Natur vorgegeben, herrschen im Frühjahr und im Herbst Stoßzeiten. (www.sn-online.de, 25.01.2011)8
Die anderen, davon abgeleiteten Verben haben jeweils andere, konkretere semantische Nuancen 9: anherrschen (‚in herrischem, heftigem Ton zurechtweisen‘), beherrschen (‚über jemanden / etwas Macht ausüben, unter Kontrolle halten, dominieren‘), vorherrschen (‚überwiegen‘), wobei die ersten zwei grammatisch transitiv gebraucht werden.
4 Dieses Kompositionssuffix geht auf ahd., mhd. haft (‚gefesselt, gefangen‘) zurück und tritt zumeist an Nomen (insbesondere Personenbezeichnungen), indem es grundsätzlich auf einen Vergleich hinweist; z.B. bildhaft , bärenhaft , greisenhaft . Vgl. auch Fleischer/Barz, 2013: 315, 339f. 5 Das Morphem los (< ahd. lōs, ‚befreit, beraubt‘ bzw. mhd. lōs, ‚frei, ledig‘) erweist sich als produktiv im Deutschen, indem es sowohl als neutrales Nomen Los (bzw. losen , verlosen , Verlosung u.a.) kursiert, wie auch als Affixoid in Erstposition ( losgehen , loslassen , loswerden , loswerfen usw.) oder eben in Endposition ( ärmellos , arbeitslos , konkurrenzlos , schamlos u.v.a.m.). Vgl. sein Pendant im Englischen -less . Vgl. auch Fleischer/Barz, 2013: 345f. 6 Auch -mäßig (< ahd. māʒīg, ‚Maß haltend‘, bzw. mhd. mœ ʒic , ‚maßvoll‘) ist ein hochproduktives Morphem, das sich sowohl mit indigenen als auch mit exogenen substantivischen Basen verbinden lässt. Zu den semantischen Nuancierungen, die das Suffixoid den jeweilgen Wörtern zusätzlich auferlegt, zählen: ‚komparativ‘, ‚obligatorische Entsprechung, wie es ... verlangt‘, ‚limitativ‘ u.a. Vgl. auch die Ausführungen in Fleischer/Barz, 2013: 346f. 7 Das gebundene Morphem -tum , das sich ausschließlich an der Bildung von Substantiven beteiligt, hat seinen Ursprung in einem heute ausgestorbenen Nomen ahd. tuom , das ‚Urteil‘ (später auch ‚Macht, Herrschaft, Würde‘) bedeutete. Heute ist das Morphem völlig verdunkelt und überlebt nur noch in Ableitungen wie: Besitztum , Judentum , Königtum , Schrifttum usw. Vgl. auch Fleischer/Barz, 2013: 223f. 8 Vgl. http://corpora.uni-leipzig.de/en/res?word=herrschen&corpusId=deu_newscrawl_2011 (Stand: 06.04.2017). 9 Siehe die jeweiligen Einträge in D-Onl. ZUM LEXEM HERR UND ZU DESSEN AUFTAUCHEN IN WORTBILDUNGEN UND PHRASEMEN 83
Abgeleitete Nomen sind größtenteils abstrakt und weisen – je nach dem jeweiligen, am Wort beteiligten Suffix – unterschiedliche Bedeutungen auf: Herrschaft z.B. ist ein Singularetantum, das in der Gegenwartssprache seine spezifisch historische Bedeutung (‚Landgut eines Herrn‘) eingebüßt hat und nun allgemein auf die Macht verweist, ‚über jemanden zu herrschen‘. Vgl. dagegen Komposita wie: Herrschaftsform , Herrschaftsgebiet , die den ursprünglichen Sinn noch beibehalten. Gelegentlich kann aber das Lexem Herrschaft als Pluraletantum auch auf Personen (‚Damen und Herren in Gesellschaft‘) übertragen sein. Vgl. dabei folgende veranschaulichende Belege:
(4) Die Herrschaften aus dem Bildungsministerium jedenfalls nicht. (www.land.lu, 09.01.2011) (5) Jetzt sind die Herrschaften auf einmal arg aufgeschreckt. (www.eifelzeitung.de, 27.12.2010) 10
Von Herrschaft lassen sich auch ein paar Adjektive ableiten, wie bspw.: herrschaftlich , herrschaftlos , herrschaftsfrei . Das Lexem herrschaftlich im strukturgemäßen Sinne ‚zu einer Herrschaft gehörend‘ ist veraltend, hat aber mittlerweile eine semantische Veränderung erfahren und begegnet im gegenwärtigen Stand der Sprache nur noch übertragen, ‚luxuriös, prächtig‘, wie folgende Beispielsätze es belegen:
(6) So herrschaftlich sich das Haus heute wieder präsentiert, so ungewiss war über Jahr seine Zukunft. (www.appenzell24.ch, 20.12.2010) (7) Wer herrschaftlich residieren will, kann sich ein altes Schloss kaufen! (www.mdr.de, 11.01.2011) 11
Auffällig ist, dass die anderen Adjektive, herrschaftslos bzw. herrschaftsfrei , wobei das erstere übrigens kaum noch in Umlauf ist, nicht als Antonyme von herrschaftlich gelten, sondern eher auf ihr Ausgangswort hinweisen und von daher ‚keinen Herrscher habend, gesetzlos‘ besagen. Das Verb herrschen ergab auch Personenbezeichnungen, wie etwa Herrscher(in) , das seinerseits in Herrschertum anzutreffen ist. Dieses eher in gehobener Sprache benutzte Nomen bedeutet so viel wie ‚Herrschersein‘. Im Vergleich zu Parallelbildungen wie Bürgertum , Fürstentum , Herzogtum u.a., die ihrer Struktur entsprechend eine Kollektivität oder ein abgegrenztes Territorium bezeichnen, lässt sich im Falle dieses Lexems eine bloß abstrakte Bedeutung identifizieren. Vgl. dabei auch das Adjektiv herrscherlich , dessen Suffix 12 einen Vergleich suggeriert, ‚wie ein Herrscher‘.
10 Vgl. http://corpora.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/en/res?corpusId=deu_newscrawl_2011&wor d=Herrschaften (Stand: 06.04.2017). 11 Vgl. http://corpora.uni-leipzig.de/en/res?word=herrschaftlich&corpusId=deu_newscrawl_2011 (Stand: 07.04.2017). 12 Das adjektivbildende Suffix -lich (< ahd. -līh, mhd. -lich zum Substantiv līch ‚Leib, Körper‘, das nur noch in Leiche überlebt) ist ein Kompositionselement mit dem Sinn ‚die Beschaffenheit habend‘. Dazu ausführlicher in Fleischer/Barz, 2013: 342ff. 84 MIHAI CRUDU
Auch das Verb beherrschen erweist sich als ziemlich produktiv. Vgl. z.B. Beherrscher(in) oder abstrakte Bildungen nominalen bzw. adjektivisch-adverbialen Charakters wie Beherrschung , beherrschbar , Beherrschbarkeit , beherrscht , Beherrschtheit . Semantisch distanzieren sich diese Derivative gar nicht von ihrem Ausgangswort, wobei die jeweiligen Suffixe die unterschiedlichen Nuancen spezifizieren.
3.2. Herr in Komposita
Als Bestandteil in Komposita kommt Herr in äußerst vielen Wörtern vor, deren ausführliche Untersuchung den Rahmen des vorliegenden Beitrags sprengen würde, weshalb ich mich hier auf eine kleine Aufzählung beliebiger, im Sprachsystem lexikalisierter Zusammensetzungen samt kurzem Kommentar beschränke: Herrgott , Herrenausstatter , Herren(fahr)rad , Herrenhaus , Herrenhof 13 , Herrenjahre , Herrenpilz , Herrentier , Herrenuhr , Herrenwinker u.v.a.m. Wie aus diesen Beispielen ersichtlich wird, taucht Herr in Komposita fast ausschließlich als Pluralform auf, wenn es Erstglied ist. Ausnahme ist das Kopulativkompositum Herrgott . Semantisch soll hervorgehoben werden, dass Herr in manchen Zusammensetzungen völlig verdunkelt ist (bspw. Herrenpilz , Herrentier ) oder übertragen zu verstehen ist ( Herrenjahre ). Als Zweiteinheit begegnen wir Herr in Lexemen wie: Ahnherr , Bannherr , Bauherr , Brotherr , Domherr , Eheherr , Hofherr , Gefolgsherr , Gutsherr , Majoratsherr , Zinsherr , Zwingherr usw., wobei die meisten auch über eine movierte Variante verfügen. Diese Komposita sind größtenteils durchsichtig, manche weisen aber figurative Bedeutung auf: Im Archaismus Brotherr z.B. versinnbildlicht das Erstglied Brot (als Grundnahrungsmittel) ‚die Existenz’ und so lässt sich auch die Bedeutung der Zusammensetzung erläutern ‚Herr, der das tägliche Brot (und daher die Existenz) sichert‘.
4. Herr als phraseologisches Autosemantikon
Das Wort Herr ist gleichermaßen reger Bestandteil phraseologischer Ausdrücke, wobei die meisten von ihnen nicht- oder teil-idiomatisch sind. Vgl. z.B.: Herr der Lage / der Situation sein , jemandes Herr und Gebieter sein , wie der Herr, so’s Gescherr , die Herren der Schöpfung , den Seinen gibt’s der Herr im Schlaf(e) , der Herr im Haus(e) sein , einer Sache Herr werden , über jemanden / etwas Herr sein , vor dem Herrn , ein möbilierter Herr , nicht schlecht, Herr Specht! , nicht mehr Herr seiner Sinne sein , der Tag des Herrn , zum Tisch des Herrn
13 Nur nebenbei sei auf das Synonym Fronhof hingedeutet, worin das ausgestorbene Nomen fr ō-, ein altes Wort für Herr , steckt. Vgl. auch die Ausführungen in der Fußnote 2. ZUM LEXEM HERR UND ZU DESSEN AUFTAUCHEN IN WORTBILDUNGEN UND PHRASEMEN 85 gehen , die Wege des Herrn sind unerforschlich / unergründlich u.a. Im Folgenden möchte ich den Fragen nachgehen, wie sich das in diesem Beitrag analysierte Lexem phraseologisch verhält bzw. inwieweit sein umfangreiches semantisches Spektrum die Gesamtbedeutung der jeweiligen Phraseme modifiziert. Strukturell ist zu unterstreichen, dass die Phraseologismen nominalen und verbalen Charakters überwiegen. Manche sind satzwertig, wie z.B. die Wege des Herrn sind unerforschlich / unergründlich , den Seinen gibt’s der Herr im Schlaf(e) , oder fungieren als Ausrufesätze, wie bspw. nicht schlecht, Herr Specht! , Herr, wirf Hirn vom Himmel! . Als Autosemantikon spielt Herr für die Gesamtbedeutung der jeweiligen Phraseologismen eine entscheidende Rolle. Mitunter ist Herr Pendant für Gott , vor allem in Phrasemen biblischer Herkunft. Die Wege des Herrn sind unerforschlich / unergründlich verweist bspw. auf die im Bibeltext wiederholt aufgezeigte Allmacht Gottes, der in allerlei Situationen unvorhersehbar agiert. Die Redewendung wird aber heute nicht nur in religiösem Sinne gebraucht. Vgl. folgenden veranschaulichenden Beleg:
(8) Weil ihm der Prozess wegen Beleidigung des Staatsgründers Atatürk gemacht werden sollte, floh er nach Deutschland. Dort habe er zu seiner wahren Identität gefunden, so Mezarci. Und wieder einmal sind die Wege des Herrn 14 unergründlich . (http://www.sprichwort-plattform.org/sp/Die%20Wege%20des%20Herrn%20sind%2 0unergr%C3%BCndlich)
Ein anderes Sprichwort mit biblischer Grundlage ist den Seinen gibt’s der Herr im Schlaf(e) , das dem Psalm 127: 1-2 entstammt. Damit ist gemeint, dass man oft unverdient und ohne Anstrengung Glück oder Erfolg hat. Vgl. auch das Zitat: Der Herr hat’s gegeben, der Herr hat’s genommen , das im biblischen Buch von Hiob (1: 20-21) vorkommt, oder eben die Wortverbindung zwei Herren dienen , deren Ursprung im Evangelium Lukas (16: 13) zu finden ist. Herr tritt als Ersatz für ‚Gott‘ gleichfalls in „nicht-religiösen“ Redewendungen auf, vor allem als Anredeformel. Vgl. z.B. das umgangssprachliche Phrasem Herr, wirf Hirn vom Himmel! , wo Gott aufgerufen wird, um einem Klugheit (durch ‚Hirn‘ symbolisiert) zu schenken. In anderen Fällen ist Herr bloß eine allgemeine Personenbezeichnung: nicht schlecht, Herr Specht! , wobei das Anthroponym auf kein konkretes Denotat hinweist, sondern einem Reimbedürfnis unterliegt. Ähnliches gilt für die Redewendung wie der Herr, so’s Gescherr , wo man auf eine phonetisch modifizierte Form des Nomens Geschirr stößt.
14 Nebenbei sei darauf hingewiesen, dass auch Varianten dieses Phrasems ausfindig gemacht werden konnten; vgl. z.B. „Die Wege der Leserschaft sind unergründlich“, „Die Wege des Scheiterns sind unergründlich“ u.a. (http://www.sprichwort-plattform.org/sp/Die%20W ege% 20des%20Herrn%20sind%20unergr%C3%BCndlich). 86 MIHAI CRUDU
Oft ist das Lexem Herr eine konzeptuelle Metapher für die Idee von ‚etwas (nicht) unter Kontrolle haben / erlangen‘, vgl. z.B. Herr der Lage sein , einer Sache Herr werden , Herr seiner Gefühle sein oder eben nicht mehr Herr seiner Sinne / seiner selbst sein . Nicht zuletzt kann es verallgemeinernd ‚Männer‘ bezeichnen: Ein alter Herr ist z.B. die umgangssprachliche Bezeichnung des ‚Vaters‘, die Herren der Schöpfung sind die ‚erwachsenen Männer‘, wobei hier auf einen ihnen (angeblich) von Gott übertragenen (Rechts)Anspruch verwiesen wird. Ein möbilierter Herr bezeichnet scherzhaft einen „Mann, der in einem möbilierten Zimmer zur Miete wohnt“. 15
5. Fazit
Die vorgenommene Analyse zeigt, dass das Lexem Herr sprachlich viel mehr gebracht hat als gedacht. Quantitativ sind es im Deutschen über 100 Wörter, die auf Herr zurückgehen. Qualitativ sind Herr und dessen Ableitungen semantisch sehr umfangreich und decken einen weiten Bereich positiver bis negativer Konnotationen ab. Resümierend lässt sich Folgendes nochmals unterstreichen: (i) Lexematisch erweist sich das Nomen Herr als überaus produktiv. Auf der einen Seite ist das semische Merkmal [ + Kraft , + Autorität ] als inhärent einzustufen, wobei es ggf. sowohl mit positiven wie auch mit negativen Nuancen gefärbt ist. Andererseits sind Ableitungen vom Typ herrlich zu erwähnen, die eine rein positive Bedeutung aufweisen. (ii) Phraseologisch kann das Autosemantikon Herr Unterschiedliches ausdrücken: Als Erstes ist es Ersatz für ‚Gott‘, es kann aber auch eine allgemeine Personenbezeichnung sein. Andererseits taucht Herr in Phraseologismen auf, die mit den Konzepten von ‚Beherrschung‘ bzw. ‚Beherrschtheit‘ einhergehen.
LITERATURVERZEICHNIS
Nachschlagewerke
DG4 = Duden. Grammatik der deutschen Gegenwartssprache , Bd. 4 ( 61998), Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Leipzig, Wien, Zürich. DHW7 = Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch. Etymologie der deutschen Sprache , Bd. 7 ( 52014), Dudenverlag, Mannheim, Leipzig, Wien, Zürich.
15 http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Herr. ZUM LEXEM HERR UND ZU DESSEN AUFTAUCHEN IN WORTBILDUNGEN UND PHRASEMEN 87
EWD = Pfeifer, Wolfgang et al. ( 22013), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen , Edition Kramer, Berlin. Osman, Nabil ( 16 2007), Kleines Lexikon untergegangener Wörter. Wortuntergang seit dem Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts , Beck, München. Seebold, Elmar (bearbeitet von) ( 25 2011), Kluge. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache , de Gruyter, Berlin.
Fachliteratur
Fleischer, Wolfgang, Barz, Irmhild ( 42012), Wortbildung der deutschen Gegenwartssprache , de Gruyter, Berlin. Göttert, Karl-Heinz ( 22012), Deutsch. Biografie einer Sprache , List Taschenbuch, Berlin. Kopf, Kristin (2014), Das kleine Etymologicum. Eine Entdeckungsreise durch die deutsche Sprache , Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart. Lăzărescu, Ioan (2013), „Genderneutraler Sprachgebrauch. (Rumänien-)Deutsch vs. Rumänisch“, in: P. Katelhön / M. Costa / M.-A. de Liber / L. Cinato (Hrsg.), Mit Deutsch in den Beruf. Berufsbezogener Deutschunterricht an den Universitäten , Präsens (= Deutsch und sprachliche Interaktion im Beruf (SsIB), Bd. 1), Wien, S. 213-225. Schmidt, Wilhelm ( 82008), Deutsche Sprachkunde. Ein Handbuch für Lehrer und Studierende mit einer Einführung in die Probleme des sprachkundlichen Unterrichts , IFB, Berlin.
Internetquellen
D-Onl = Duden Online ( www. duden.de ). DWDS = Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (www.dwds.de ). http://etymonline.com/. http://www.sprichwort-plattform.org/. WUL = Wortschatzportal der Universität Leipzig ( http://corpora.uni-leipzig.de/en ).
ON LATIN-OLD SWEDISH LANGUAGE CONTACT THROUGH LOANWORDS
CAMELIA M ĂDĂLINA ŞTEFAN *
Abstract
The present paper deals with an important stream of Latin loanwords in the history of Swedish. Based on original documentation in Old Swedish (1225-1375), we will discuss etymological aspects regarding Latin loans and determine their stable position in religious and legal texts. We will assess the number of Latin import words per text in relation with native Swedish words. Moreover, we will predict the degree of contact between Latin and Old Swedish based on the borrowing scale proposed by Thomason & Kaufman (1988) and analyze it as slightly more intense contact (level 2). The paper will provide an appendix of the most frequent Latin loans in Standard Swedish and the channel of transmission, whether direct, indirect or via another language (Ernby 2010). We will conclude that the Latin influence on Old Swedish left important traces not only etymologically, but it reflects religious and social changes as well. Keywords: borrowability scale, language contact, Latin loanwords, Swedish language history, multilingualism.
1. Introduction
Historical linguistics aims at explaining language change over the course of time. As de Saussure (2013: 89) noted, “time changes everything; there is no reason why languages should be exempt from this universal law”. Languages can undergo change for a variety of reasons, such as easiness of language, historical, political and cultural circumstances or migration. However, one important factor that triggers change is the contact with other languages. This is why the history of any given language cannot be fully understood without a proper examination into the history of languages spoken in that particular area. As a result of language contact, innovations are introduced and spread through speech communities. These innovations can derive from within the original language, or they can result from contact with other languages. Innovations which can be observed in the written language are essentially lexical borrowings, namely loans of terms and idioms.
* University of Bucharest, Doctoral School “Languages and Cultural Identitities”, [email protected]. 90 CAMELIA M ĂDĂLINA ŞTEFAN
In the multilingual medieval culture, Old Swedish was at the interplay of two different languages, Latin and Low German. As a result, contact situations which have shaped the development of the language were created. For this reason, the aim of this article is to take a closer look at the linguistic situation in medieval Sweden and determine from a sociolinguistic perspective how Latin loanwords impacted on Old Swedish.
2. Overview on language contact situations in Sweden
Many loanwords spread to Scandinavia throughout the centuries in connection with commercial ties. As Green (1998: 143) notes, the Germanic tribes, “in their gradual expansion came into contact with a great variety of peoples and cultures, ranging for example from the Celts in the west to the Romans in the south”. One of the earliest contact situation goes back for several centuries B.C. and can be attributed to the expansion of the Celtic peoples. Although related with regard to language – both Celtic and Germanic being subfamilies of the Indo-Europeans family, the traces left by the Celts on Old Norse were minimal. The most important loanword, ON járn < Proto-Celtic *īsarno- ‘iron’ reflects their command in iron-working. Other networks of contact, although small with respect to lexical influence, were to the north with Old Frisian dialects, to the East with Finno- Ugric, Baltic languages and the Slavic peoples, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon 1 to the West, with Rome and the Hanseatic League to the south. For reasons of space, the following sections will deal with the influence exerted by the Roman civilization and the consequences it brought about on the Swedish vocabulary. Foreign influences in terms of culture from across the continent were strongly felt in Sweden during the Middle Ages. The earliest writings and official documents were in Latin, while the integration of the Swedish coastline cities into the Hansa Union left a significant imprint of the German cultural and linguistic identity for centuries 2. Almost all these contact situations are characterized by a close genetic typology. The speech communities around the North Sea are thus considered having a common structural basis which leads to the possibility of mutual intelligibility. As a result, the linguistic situation excluded the emergence of creole or pidgin languages. Linguistic convergence between the dialects did not lead to the formation of mixed languages either, but rather all languages underwent mutual changes which did not disrupt their structural typology.
1 Symmetric contact situation. 2 See Moberg (1989) for a comprehensive study of the Low German influence in Scandinavia in the late Middle Ages. ON LATIN-OLD SWEDISH LANGUAGE CONTACT THROUGH LOANWORDS 91
2.1. The case of Latin
By far the most important encounter is the contact with the Roman world. The conversion of Sweden to Christianity, largely completed by the twelfth century by Anglo-Saxon missionaries, exerted a profound influence not only on the Swedish society and its ecclesiastical culture, but also on the evolution of the language itself over the following centuries. It is presumed that the contact with Latin, direct or indirect, had already begun in pre-runic times, given the fact that an old group of continental loanwords that have to do with trade, architecture and household are found in other Germanic languages 3. On the other hand, Latin adopted only a small number of loans from the Germanic languages.
Table 1 Latin loans in early Old Germanic languages
Latin Old Saxon Old High German Runic Swedish Gloss caupo ċēap kouf kaupa ‘to buy’ merc ātus market marchat markaðr ‘market’ murus mure mura mur ‘wall’ vinum win win vin ‘wine’
Connections between Sweden and the Roman Empire during this period can be seen in the emergence of a Swedish runic language which shares many characteristics with the Latin alphabet. The old runic script, composed of twenty four letters and afterwards reduced to sixteen in the seventh century is thought to have been derived from the Latin alphabet. Wimmer (1874) examines the close relationship between the runes and the Latin alphabet and concludes that Latin was the basis for the runic script given the resemblance between individual runic signs with Latin letters and their obvious correspondences in sound-value. The clearest sign of contact between Latin and Old Swedish takes places at the end of the runic period when the Latin alphabet makes its full appearance following the arrival of Christianity and gradually replaces the runic Futhark . Latin remained the language of the Bible and of the educated folk well until the eighteenth century. Since it was not a mother tongue, Latin was always a learned second language for the aristocracy. Latin was restricted to certain registers of the language. During the medieval times, it came to be spoken in the church’s liturgy and written in missals, annals and similar writings. The oldest preserved documents written in Latin are some inscriptions in the form of epitaphs which date back to mid-1100 century (Wollin 2013).
3 Pre-Viking period. 92 CAMELIA M ĂDĂLINA ŞTEFAN
In order to read and understand the Bible, one had to study Latin. Thus, Latin became the language of the learned and it introduced another form of language contact: that between an individual and a written text in a foreign language. It is important to stress that Latin was the language of literature in ecclesiastical environments, but also the language of science in many scholarly domains until the nineteenth century. At the same time, Latin establishes itself as the king’s authoritative mode of communication. Therefore, it expands rapidly in the domain of administration, trade and legal regulatory writings. The oldest type of literature in Sweden, diplom 4, includes legal codes, royal epistles, wills and records of land ownership. Although the regional collections of laws were written in Old Swedish, diplomas were written almost entirely in Latin. As a result, two important cultural fields appear and develop heavily during the Middle Ages. The Latin-Old Swedish contact gives rise to a diglossic situation, even triglossic should we consider Low German as lingua franca, strengthened by the different spheres 5 of usage by the society. Hence, it is necessary to take this multilingual distribution into account when explaining language change.
3. Linguistic outcomes of language contact
As Milroy (1997: 311) observes, “linguistic change is initiated by speakers, not by languages”. Therefore, concepts such as ‘language contact’ or ‘languages in contact’ are in fact contact situations between speakers of different languages, genetically related or unrelated, and any study of language contact must take into account these speech communities. Language contact is often the result of immigration or conquest. In most cases, contact situations occur when groups of speakers of more than one language live in neighboring areas, either friendly or in hostility. Other situations occur as a result of movement from one group to another, for instance through exogamy, education, slavery, or immigration. Contact situations could appear even when speakers of two or more languages live within the same community. Contact situations can be classified into two types, asymmetric and symmetric. A typical asymmetric contact situation arises when speakers of a lower prestige language come into contact and are influenced by a higher prestige language or nation, such as Modern Swedish in relation to English after the Second World War. In this case, Swedish is subject to a significant influx of Anglicisms (Chrystal 1988), but the opposite does not apply. Asymmetry also
4 Equivalent to Latin charta ‘charters’. 5 Low vs high variety. ON LATIN-OLD SWEDISH LANGUAGE CONTACT THROUGH LOANWORDS 93 exists in the contact of an official language and the minority languages spoken in that society. Consider, for instance, the case of Modern Swedish and the five official minority languages spoken in Sweden, namely Finnish, Meänkieli 6 , Sami languages 7, Romani chib8 and Yiddish 9. However, when the contact in this case is individual, the situation can be symmetric as well. A symmetric contact situation appears when there is community-wide multilingualism over a long period of time and there are mutual benefits (political or economic) between two or more different nations. A known example is the case of the Nordic countries where intelligibility between Danes, Swedes and Norwegians is symmetric, yet to a certain extent 10 . Contact-induced change can occur in all the levels in the system of a language, in phonology, morpho-syntax and in the lexicon. Nevertheless, what parts of the system are influenced depends on the intensity of the contact situation (Thomason & Kaufman 1988). Limited contact can result in lexical borrowing only, while extreme contact can affect the entire linguistic system and even cause typological disruption. Despite the causal factors, there are certain categories which are more easily borrowed than others. The lexicon is one part of the language system which is affected fastest and more substantially than structural transfer. The borrowing likelihood of the open classes is the highest with nouns (most numerous in the lexicon), adjectives and lexical verbs. On the other hand, closed classes such as auxiliary verbs, prepositions or conjunctions have formal functions and thus their transfer may be impeded. Lexical borrowing can itself introduce changes in other domains of a language. For instance, among the many loans that Old Swedish borrowed during the Middle Ages from Low German, there are many derivational affixes which have made their way into the language and became very productive, such as be -, -eri , -het , -ig 11 among many others (Bergman 1980):
(1) OS betala < LG betalen ‘pay’, OS fiskeri < LG vischerie ‘fishing’, OS frihet < LG vrîheit ‘freedom’, OS riktig < LG richtich ‘correct’
Inflectional affixes are more uncommon, but one illustrative example is the case of the plural -s which was borrowed via lexical loan from Low German in the
6 A Finnish dialect with many loanwords from Swedish spoken in northern Sweden. 7 A group of Finno-Ugric languages spoken across northern Europe. 8 An Indo-Aryan language which belongs to the Roma people. 9 A Germanic language spoken by central and Eastern European Jews. 10 Studies have shown that Danes understand Swedish better than Swedes who have trouble understanding Danish (Gooskens 2006, Delsing 2007). 11 The -ig suffix has replaced the old adjective endings -og , -ug which survive nowadays mostly in dialects. 94 CAMELIA M ĂDĂLINA ŞTEFAN sixteenth century and subsequently via Spanish, French and lastly English (Söderberg 1983). Therefore, the plural suffix -s is not an English loanword only, but it was reintroduced repeatedly in the language through different languages over the centuries. Lastly, a type of influence on the syntactic level can be observed in the increasing transitivization of lexical verbs, which can be attributed to English influence (Söderberg 1983):
(2) a. flyga någon < EN fly someone b. ringa någon < EN call someone
4. Theoretical approaches to borrowing
In understanding the mechanisms of contact-induced changes, a helpful distinction should be made between two different types of transfer, transfer due to “borrowing” on the one hand and transfer due to “imposition” or “interference” on the other. As Andersen (1983: 7) pointed out, these notions have had “a long and confusing history”. Indeed, the two concepts of transfer have been defined rather vaguely by some scholars along the time (Weinreich 1953, Lado 1957, Thomason & Kaufman 1988). However, van Coetsem’s (1988) framework takes into account the two notions and sets out to elucidate the terms as two distinct types of transfer. His distinction relies on the role of the speaker in the process of language contact and borrowing is defined as follows:
From the view point of a speaker who comes in active contact with another language, there is a source language and a recipient language . If the recipient language speaker is the agent, as in the case of an English speaker using French words while speaking English, the transfer of material (and this naturally includes structure) from the source language to recipient language is borrowing ( recipient language agentivity ). If, on the other hand, the source language speaker is the agent, as in the case of a French speaker using his French articulatory habits while speaking English, the transfer of material from the source language to the recipient language is imposition ( source language agentivity )
Van Coetsem’s (1988) definition of borrowing as recipient language agentivity corresponds to Thomason and Kaufman’s definition of borrowing, “the incorporation of foreign features into a group’s native language by speakers of that language; the native language is maintained but is changed by the addition of the incorporated features” (Thomason and Kaufman 1988: 37). Van Coetsem’s (1988) concept of imposition (“source language agentivity”) is relatively close to Thomason & Kaufman’s concept of “interference through shift” 12 , more specifically substratum influence or transfer through imperfect learning.
12 Or “shift-induced interference”. ON LATIN-OLD SWEDISH LANGUAGE CONTACT THROUGH LOANWORDS 95
Another crucial concept in the transferred elements through borrowing or imposition is what van Coetsem (1988: 3) defines as “stability” 13 :
Of direct relevance here is the fact that language has a constitutional property of stability ; certain components or domains of language are more stable and more resistant to change (e.g. phonology), while other such domains are less stable and less resistant to change (e.g. vocabulary). Given the nature of this property of stability, a language in contact with another tends to retain its more stable domains.
Consequently, certain domains of language structure ( e.g. phonology and grammar) tend to be more stable and resistant to change than others ( e.g. vocabulary). This form of stability implies different outcomes for the effects of transfer. Hence, borrowing is usually mostly lexical, and does not affect the grammar of the recipient language, which means that the word transferred is likely to be nativized to the recipient language. In contrast, imposition yields changes in the recipient language, which may lead to modification on the recipient language. Furthermore, differences in stability can be triggered by a number of factors at work. The parameters in source language agentivity are frequency, the number of items in a closed or open set and the structural patterns of the language. Of equal importance is the size of the group learning the target language and whether their imperfect learning ultimately affects the target language. Linguistic dominance is also relevant to language agentivity. A speaker’s dominant language could be either the recipient or the source language. The former occurs when elements are imported into a recipient, primary language in which speakers are most proficient. The latter occurs when speakers adopt patterns of their own language into the recipient language in which they are less proficient. The mechanisms involved in the two types of transfer are “adaptation” and “imitation” (van Coetsem 1988: 8). In borrowing, the primary mechanism is imitation, which produces a deviation from the recipient language, thus modifying the language. Adaptation occurs in imposition, which is taken as an adjustment to the native recipient language, whereas the language remains unmodified. Thomason & Kaufman (1988) predicted which elements are more likely to be borrowed in contact situations and proposed a detailed scale hierarchically determined by the degree of contact:
13 Also called the “stability gradient of language” (van Coetsem 1988: 25). 96 CAMELIA M ĂDĂLINA ŞTEFAN
Table 2 Stages of borrowing (Thomason & Kaufman 1988)
Level Intensity of contact Lexicon Structure casual content word: nouns, verbs, 1 none (no bilingualism) adjectives and adverbs function words as well as minor structural borrowing, slightly more intense 2 content words; new morphemes, new (fluent bilinguals) nonbasic vocabulary syntactic functions no typological changes, more function words, basic more intense phonemicization of previous 3 vocabulary, closed-class items (more bilinguals) allophones, borrowing stress and derivational affixes and new phonotactic rules strong cultural pressure new distinctive features in word order changes, new 4 (very extensive native vocabulary, syllabic structure and bilingualism) loss of contrast borrowed affixes heavy structural borrowing, very strong new morphophonemic 5 heavy borrowing cultural pressure rules, changes in word structure and syntax
Thomason & Kaufman (1988: 14) state that “as far as the strictly linguistic possibilities go, any linguistic feature can be transferred from any language to any other language”. However, it seems that, on all levels, the lexicon is borrowed before the structure. At the minimum interference it is expected that only non-basic vocabulary should be borrowed, for instance nouns or some verbs as they can easily be inserted into another language rather than grammatical structures. The more intense the contact, the more extreme the process of borrowing is. Relatively superficial phonological features and function words are easy to borrow, while at the other end of the scale it is expected that inflection should be the last item to be borrowed as inflection is more difficult to fit into an already highly organized grammatical system 14 . A key element in analyzing the borrowing scale is the typological distance between two languages. As Thomason (2001: 71) states, “languages that are typologically very different are likely to follow the borrowing scale closely, while languages that are typologically similar are likely not to do so in all respects”. The Old Swedish-Latin contact situation has resulted in an extensive process of lexical borrowing. As stated earlier, in Thomason & Kaufman’s framework (1988), borrowing in category (1) is characteristic of casual contact which implies a minimal cultural presence. Borrowing in categories (2) and (3)
14 See Appel & Muysken (1987) for a detailed discussion on the constraints on borrowing in borrowability hierarchies. ON LATIN-OLD SWEDISH LANGUAGE CONTACT THROUGH LOANWORDS 97 constitute slight structural interference where borrowers are reasonably fluent bilinguals. Categories (4) and (5) reflect more intense cultural pressure that lead from moderate to heavy interference features in various grammatical subsystems. Although the effects of Latin on Old Swedish structure was minor, the influence was pervasive in the lexicon as a type of prestige borrowing. In terms of language contact, this situation falls into category (2) of the borrowing scale. This assumption is supported by the following evidence: (i) a considerable amount of content words borrowed from a prestigious literary language, yet no basic vocabulary. (ii) minor structural borrowing, such as the non-interrogative use of wh -words (Höder 2010). (iii) new phonemes, realized by new phones in loanwords exclusively. (iv) a rather low number of bilinguals; borrowing occurs through the written medium.
4.1. Lexical borrowings in religious texts
As Wollin (2013: 22) states, the central role that Latin had in the Christianization of Sweden can be seen even today in magical formulas of the type essike dessike luntan tuntan < Lat [Pater noster qui] es in caelis , [fiat] voluntas tua ‘[Our Father] in heaven, your will be done’ and hokus pokus filliokus < Lat hoc est corpus ‘this is my body’. The term filiokus < Lat filioque ‘and the Son’ is also a subject of controversy in the East-West Schism. The principal form of preaching was the sermon which was to a large degree conducted in the colloquial speech. However, the priests had to rely on Latin literature in order to deliver the sermons. Therefore, a considerable quantity of religious literature emanated from Vadstena Abbey, the seat of Saint Birgitta (c. 1303-1373). The Convent holds collections of lectures, some in Latin, but most of them being translations into Old Swedish of portions of the Bible and the lives of the saints 15 . Although the sermons were modelled after Latin, they had to be understood by the whole community and thus delivered in the vernacular. Even the founder of the Convent, Saint Birgitta 16 , wrote her Revelations in Latin, outpouring her religious visions over a period of thirty years, from her widowhood in 1340s until her death, so that she became a model of feminine sanctity for her devotion to Christ and the personal identification with the
15 Fornsvenska legendariet ‘Old Swedish legendary’. It is a collection of anonymous hagiographies written between 1276 and 1307 dealing with the lives of the saints and molded after Legenda Aurea . 16 Sweden’s first female writer. 98 CAMELIA M ĂDĂLINA ŞTEFAN
Virgin Mary. Having learned to read and write in Latin during childhood, she translated numerous stories into the vernacular, including a Bible. Some revelations also refer to her struggles with Latin grammar (Morris 2006). The Vadstena manuscripts consist of two volumes comprising eight books. Only a small portion of the Revelations is preserved in the original Old Swedish translation. They are mostly kept in verbatim retranslations from Latin. The latest translation, the project “Heliga Birgittas texter på fornsvenska” [= Saint Bridget’s texts in Old Swedish] (Andersson 2014) replaces Klemming’s edition (1857-1884) and it provides a critical edition whose purpose is to publish the entire corpus in retranslation into Old Swedish. The language is prophetic and full of visual imagery. By their nature of introspection, the texts have a subjective style and a fluid structure. There are markers of orality which reflect the pattern of daily speech, such as various voices and a blend of personal pronouns. Imperatives and praise formulas are often adopted to give a conversational tone. According to Morris (2006), the Latin style of the text is heavily influenced by Latin Vulgate and the standard language of the church. In terms of syntax there are simple clauses which tend to be coordinated rather than subordinated. However, the texts abound in various rhetorical devices which reflect a learned rhetoric style, for instance asyndeton, repetition of the subject, recapitulatory pronouns in tautologies, enumeration, symmetry, parallelisms, and antithesis, anaphora alliteration and paregmenon. The vocabulary is limited, with nouns and verbs which are frequently and unnecessarily repeated. In addition, the choice of words displays some idiosyncrasies, certain words are given other meanings and there is a preference for Latin structures that resemble Swedish usage and “Suecisms”, effects of Swedish usage throughout the text (Morris 2006: 27). Reproduced below is the first part in the introductory chapter in Book 1 (1344):
(3) Jak ær skapare himils ok jordz. En j gudhdom mædh Fadhir ok thøm hælgha Anda. Jak ær thæn som taladhe i patriarchom oc prophetom oc thæn som the bidhadho, for hulkra astundan iek tok mandom vtan synd oc synda giri, æptir mine lofwan ingangande i jomfrunna inælue swo som sol skinande gønom renasta sten. Thy at swa som solin skinande gønom glasit skadhir thæt ængte, swa uar ok ey jomfruna jomfrudombir spiæl-ladhir tha iek tok mandom. Oc swa tok iek mandom ok køtlica natur at jek forlot ey gudhdomen. Ok ey var iek thes mindre i gudhdomenom mædh Fadhir oc thøm hælghia Anda, al thing styrande ok oppehallan- de, æn thot jak var j iomfrunna quidh mædh mandominom. Thy at swa som skinit skils aldre fran eldenom, swa skils aldre min gudhdombir fran mandomenom oc ey i dødhenom. Thær æptir læt iak min licam- ma renastan af synd aff il ok til iæssa sarghas ok kors fæstas for aldra manna synde. Thæn sammi min licamme offras nv daghlica a altareno , at mannen skulde ælska mik swa myklo meer ok idhelicare aminnas minagodhgærninga. Æn nu ær jek alstingx glømdir ok forsmaadhir oc swa som konungir af sino eghno rike vt æltir. Ok i hans stadh ær værste røuare vtualde ok hedhradhe. (Andersson 2014: 40) ON LATIN-OLD SWEDISH LANGUAGE CONTACT THROUGH LOANWORDS 99
‘I am the Creator of heaven and earth, one in divinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. I am he who spoke to the prophets and the patriarchs, the one whom they awaited. For the sake of their longing and in accordance with my promise, I took flesh without sin, without concupiscence, entering the body of the Virgin like the sun shining through the clearest crystal. The sun does not damage the glass by entering it, nor was the Virgin’s virginity lost when I took my human nature. I took flesh but without surrendering my divinity. I was no less God, ruling and filling all things with the Father and the Holy Spirit, although I, with my human nature, was in the womb of the Virgin. Brightness is never separated from fire, nor was my divinity ever separated from my humanity, not even in death. Next I willed for my pure and sinless body to be wounded from the sole of my foot to the crown of my head for the sins of all men, and to be hung on the cross. It is now offered each day on the altar in order that people might love me more and call to mind my favors more frequently. Now, however, I am totally forgotten, neglected and scorned, like a king cast out of his own kingdom in whose place a wicked thief has been elected and honored.’ (Translated by Searby, in Morris 2006: 53)
The loanwords used by Saint Birgitta have a Latin origin:
(4) OS altareno < Lat altare ‘altar’ OS kors < Lat crux ‘cross’ OS natur < Lat nātūra ‘nature’ OS offras < Lat offerre ‘offer’ OS patriarchom < Lat patriarchia ‘patriarch’ OS prophetom < Lat p roph ēta ‘prophet’
The following list is a sampling of Latin and Greek loanwords 17 in Early and Old Swedish, based on Bergman (1980: 60). The lexical borrowings in Old Swedish clearly show Latin influence in order to make up for the internal linguistic needs of the new religion. The most frequent loanwords belong to the category of nouns:
(5) OS altæri < Lat altare ‘altar’ OS biskupær < Gr episkopos ‘bishop’ OS bref < Lat breve skriptum ‘brief writing’ OS fontær < Lat fons , fontis ‘fountain’ OS færmæ < Lat firmare ‘to sign’ OS kalkær < Lat calix ‘cup’ OS kapæ < Lat capa ‘cape’ OS kirkiae < Gr kyriakon ‘chruch’ OS klockæ < Lat clocca ‘clock’ OS kloster < Lat claustrum ‘monastery’ OS klærkær < Lat clericus ‘clerk’ OS kristin , kristnæ < Lat christianus ‘christian’ OS krussæ < Lat crucem , crux ‘cross’ OS mæssæ < Lat missa ‘mass’ OS offer < Lat offerre ‘offer’
17 Some loanwords had been originally adopted from Greek. 100 CAMELIA M ĂDĂLINA ŞTEFAN
OS ola , OS olia OS oling < Lat oleum ‘oil’ OS paskær < Lat pascha ‘Easter’ OS pavi < Lat papa ‘pope’ OS primsignæ < Lat primum signum ‘first signing’ OS præster < Lat presbyter ‘ presbyter ’ OS stol < Lat stola ‘stola’
Fig. 1. One of the two surviving fragments handwritten by Saint Birgitta (MS A 65, Kungliga Biblioteket, Stockholm)
4.2. Lexical borrowings in kanslisvenska
During Magnus Eriksson’s reign (1319-1364) the entire Swedish realm received a fundamental law, Magnus Erikssons landslag [= ‘Magnus Eriksson Land Law], which would provide the basis for the system of laws and the king’s power and obligations. The collections of laws over the whole of the Middle Ages shaped a new writing style strongly influenced by curial Latin, namely kanslisvenska ‘official Swedish’. The diplom style has been in use for many centuries in judicial and administrative documents. ON LATIN-OLD SWEDISH LANGUAGE CONTACT THROUGH LOANWORDS 101
What characterizes these kind of texts is the heavy and intricate sentence structure. The rigid and objective style is built on Latin formulas which had been faithfully translated. In contrast to the language in religious texts, the syntactic structure is more complex, with many subordinates embedded in main clauses. Similarly, the lexicon is commingled with more foreign words. Since the process standardization had not begun yet, spelling and punctuation could vary from one writer to another. To illustrate the language of the diplomas, consider the following Court epistle, dated November 7 th 1364 (original text quoted in Vioreanu 2012: 74):
(6) Wi Niclis jonsson a konungxins wæghnæ · ok joan vpländingh a laghmanzins wæghnæ kænnoms oos hawa dømt herræ pætære j Edhe tio marchar pænningæ vtt af benedicte fadherson som han ær honom skyldogher · æftæ þy hans opeth breff saghdhe · þeem æt vtgiuæ jn-næn siæx viker æfte þæt han hafuer þættæ bref hørt · widher hans firitighi marker for konungx doom · Ok siæx firj lagmanz doom · Datum westeruik anno domini Mº·cccºlxiiij · feria quinta proxima ante diem beatj Martinj nostris sub sigillis in testimonium premissorum .
‘We, Niclis Jonsson on behalf of the king. And Johan Upplänning on behalf of the legislator, acknowledge judging Lord Peter from Edhe to ten marks fine to Benedictus Fadherson whom he is in debt. After this open letter has been pronounced. This is to be done within six weeks after this letter has been read. Further, [he will pay] forty marks for the king’s sentence. And six for the judge’s sentence. Date Anno Domini 1364, Västervik, Thursday before Saint Martin’s day with our seal under the testimony of the aforementioned.’ (My translation, C. S.)
Specific to this style of writing is the introductory formula containing the so- called pluralis majestatis ‘majestic plural’, Wi Niclis jonsson a konungxins wæghnæ ‘We, Niclis Jonsson on behalf of the king’. The plural pronoun is used to refer to a single person, usually a sovereign, a religious leader or other persons of high office. Concerning the lexical borrowings, it can be observed that roughly 30% of the text contains Latin loanwords:
(7) OS anno domini 18 < Lat Anno Domini ‘anno Domini’ OS ante diem 19 < Lat ante diem ‘the day before’ OS beatj < Lat beatus ‘blessed’ OS benedicte < Lat benedictus ‘blessed person’ OS bref , breff < Lat breve ‘letter’ OS datum < Lat datum ‘date’ OS Martinj < Lat Martinus 20 ‘Martin’
18 Loan translation. 19 Loan translation. 20 Sanctus Martinus Turonensis. 102 CAMELIA M ĂDĂLINA ŞTEFAN
OS nostris < Lat noster ‘our’ OS pætære < Lat pater ‘father’ OS premissorum < Lat permissi ōnis ’permission’ OS proxima < Lat proximus ‘nearest’ OS quinta < Lat quintus ‘fifth’ OS sigilis < Lat sigillum ‘seal’ OS sub < Lat sub ‘under’ OS testimonium < Lat testim ōnium ‘testimony’
In terms of onomastics, three Christian proper names are mentioned:
(8) OS joan < Lat Iōann ēs, via < Gr Iōánn ēs Niclis < Lat Nikolaus via < Gr Nikólaos OS pætære < Lat pater ‘father’
Finally, also interesting to notice are the following forms which have lexical cognates in other Germanic languages:
(9) doom , dømt < Proto-Germanic *d ōmaz ‘judgement’ marchar , marker < Proto-Germanic *mark ą ‘mark’
5. Conclusions
Latin influenced the development of Old Swedish as a result of prestige borrowing particularly in the lexicon. The lexical borrowings were favored also by the religious and political changes that were under way in the Middle Ages. Although it is difficult to say whether the loanwords were a direct borrowing or spread through another language, it is certain that the borrowings served to satisfy lexical gaps in the indigenous lexis for terms and concepts that were not known in Scandinavia before the contact with the Roman culture. Given the fact that the influence of Latin on Old Swedish consist mainly of new words, this contact situation does not seem to exceed past level 2 on Thomason and Kaufman’s borrowability scale.
REFERENCES
Andersen, Roger W. (1983), “Transfer to Somewhere”, in S.M. Gass & L. Selinker (eds.), Language Transfer in Language Learning , Newbury House, Rowley, pp. 177-201. Andersson, Roger (2014), Heliga Birgittas texter på fornsvenska. Birgittas uppenbarelser , Book 1, Sällskapet Runica et Mediævalia, Stockholm. Appel, René & Muysken, Pieter (1987), Language Contact and Bilingualism , Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam. ON LATIN-OLD SWEDISH LANGUAGE CONTACT THROUGH LOANWORDS 103
Bergman, Gösta. 1980. Kortfattad Svensk Språkhistoria . Stockholm: Prisma. Chrystal, Judith-Ann (1988), Engelskan i Svensk Dagspress , Esselte Studium, Stockholm. van Coetsem, Frans (1988), Loan Phonology and the Two Transfer Types in Language Contact , Foris, Dordrecht. Delsing, Lars-Olof (2007), “Scandinavian Intercomprehension Today”, in J.D. ten Thije & L. Zeevaert (eds.), Receptive Multilingualism: Linguistic Analyses, Language Policies and Didactic Concepts , John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, pp. 231-248. Gooskens, Charlotte (2006), “Linguistic and Extra-Linguistic Predictors of Inter-Scandinavian Communication”, in J. van de Weijer & B. Los (eds.), Linguistics in the Netherlands , 23, pp. 101-113. Green, Dennis. H. (1998), Language and History in the Early Germanic World , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Höder, Steffen (2010), Sprachausbau im Sprachkontakt. Syntaktischer Wandel im Altschwedischen , Winter, Heidelberg. Klemming, Gustaf. E. (1857-1884), Heliga Birgittas uppenbarelser , P.A. Norstedt & Söner, Stockhom. Lado, Robert (1957), Linguistics across Cultures: Applied Linguistics for Language Teachers , University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. Milroy, James (1997), “Internal vs External Motivation for Linguistic Change”, in Multilingua , 16, pp. 311-323. Moberg, Lena (1989), Lägtyskt och svenskt i Stockholms medeltida tänkeböcker , Almqvist and Wiksell, Uppsala. de Saussure, F. (2013), Course in General Linguistics , translated by Roy Harris, Bloomsbury Revelations, London. Searby, Denis M. & Morris, Bridget (2006), The Revelations of St. Birgitta of Sweden . Oxford University Press, Oxford. Söderberg, Barbro (1983), Från rytters och cowboys till tjuvstrykers. S-pluralen i svenskan. En studie i språklig interferens , Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm. Thomason, Sarah G. (2001), Language Contact , Edinburgh University Press, Ediburgh. Thomason, Sarah G. & Kaufman, Terrence (1988), Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics , University of California Press, Berkeley. Vioreanu, Carmen (2012), Svenska texter under 1000: Från 800-talet till 1800-talet , Editura Universit ăţ ii din Bucure şti, Bucharest. Weinreich, Uriel (1953), Languages in Contact: Findings and Problems , Linguistic Circle of New York, New York. Wimmer, Ludvig (1874), Runeskriftens oprindelse og udvikling i Norden , V. Priors Boghandel, Copenhangen. Wollin, Lars (2013), “Munklatin och riddarsvenska”, in L. Moberg & M. Westman (eds.), Svenskan i tusen år-glimtar ur svenska språkets utveckling , Studentlitteratur, Lund, pp. 11-30.
RECENZII / COMPTES RENDUS / REVIEWS
Georgiana Lungu Badea (éd.), De la méthode en traduction et en traductologie , Eurostampa, Timi şoara, 2013, 236 pp.
Le recueil, paru sous la coordination de Georgiana Lungu-Badea, réunit une série d’articles sur la théorie, la pratique et la didactique de la traduction. Les auteurs qu’y ont collaboré essayent non seulement de présenter la traduction de nos jours dans toute sa complexité et son statut parmi les autres sciences humaines, mais aussi d’offrir quelques réponses à des problèmes avec lesquels se confrontent spécialistes, professeurs et étudiants de ce domaine. Le volume commence avec l’étude de Michel Ballard, qui se propose de présenter les principes de la traductologie réaliste, concept introduit par l’auteur lui-même, en faisant tout d’abord un passage par de diverses approches comme la théorie interprétative ou celle du skopos entre autres. La démarche théorique réaliste créée par Ballard se rapporte à des différentes sphères d’existence: au contexte dans lequel apparaît la traduction (ce que Ballard nomme sphère externe), aux langues et texte(s) traduits (sphère médiane), aux compétences du traducteur (sphère nodale). Une vision réaliste sur la traduction est envisagée par Ballard comme l’observation de l’action du traducteur par l’intermédiaire du produit final – le texte traduit. À ce but, il est d’une grande importance d’accentuer la terminologie comme expression de la conceptualisation. Le caractère évolutif de la terminologie, qui est en rapport direct avec le comportement des traducteurs, débouche sur la nécessité de restructurer et développer même le langage de spécialité; l’auteur ne se limite pas à critiquer les failles des théoriciens comme Vinay et Darbelnet, mais postule aussi quelques nouveaux concepts et procédés qui pourraient enrichir la compréhension du texte à traduire et du texte traduit. La seconde étude de la première section, « Les méthodes collaborative et coopérative dans l’enseignement de la traductologie », appartenant à Antonio Bueno García, se fonde sur la crise de l’éducation de l’entre-siècle; le progrès des moyens de communication, notamment l’Internet, a changé le rapport enseignant-étudiant et cela s’est fait ressenti dans le domaine de la traduction aussi. Des outils d’apprentissage comme le blog, le forum ou le wiki ne remplacent pas, selon l’auteur, le rôle et la place de l’enseignant dans la formation des étudiants. Mais, à son tour, le professeur a le devoir de se perfectionner continûment pour avoir une formation adaptée au nouveau siècle et aux besoins des étudiants. Tout en montrant les avantages de l’ e-learning et des technologies modernes pour la formation de jeunes traducteurs, l’auteur accentue la nécessité de ne pas oublier que l’apprentissage est une collaboration qui demande coopération tant de la part du professeur comme de l’étudiant. La première section este fermée par l’étude « L’Analyse du discours spécialisé dans le processus de formation des traducteurs techniques », dans lequel Nataliya Gavrilenko propose une vision à deux faces sur la traduction. À son avis, dans le processus de traduction, il existe deux axes que le traducteur doit considérer pour élaborer une stratégie: la nature du texte à traduire et le destinataire du produit final. De ce point de vue, le traducteur travaille pour formuler un discours, c’est-à-dire un message à transmettre au(x) lecteur(s), d’où le besoin de sa part de comprendre le message original de l’auteur du texte à traduire. Dans une seconde partie de l’étude, l’auteur se limite aux traductions de français en russe et aux caractéristiques du discours spécialisé français, en accentuant la nécessité d’adapter ces traits dans le passage d’une langue-culture à une autre. 106 RECENZII / COMPTES RENDUS / REVIEWS
La deuxième section, nommée « Description des méthodes et méthodologies de recherche extra-, inter- et intra-institutionnelles », se compose de cinq travaux. Cette section s’ouvre avec l’étude de Georgiana Lungu-Badea, « Traduire la traductologie. Sur la légitimité de la méthode en traduction à l’époque du cyberespace ». Cet article discute l’aspect collaboratif que la traduction suppose des fois, aspect que l’auteur analyse à partir de sa propre expérience avec des projets de traduction collective déroulés de 2006 à 2008 et de 2009 à 2011. Le but de ces projets a été, entre autres, d’observer quel est le rôle de la méthode, de la méthodologie et des analyses comparatives dans le processus de traduction. Une découverte intéressante de l’auteur a été que certaines méthodes ont été utiles et ruineuses à la fois. L’exemple que l’auteur expose dans son étude est celui des outils informatiques et électroniques, notamment leur rôle dans la traduction des noms propres et du métalangage; les moyens offerts par l’Internet ont aidé les étudiants dans leur travail de recherche, mais ils ont aussi mené à des erreurs dues au manque de discipline dans leur utilisation. L’article d’Isabelle Collombat, « Cartographie de l’avant-traduire: idées reçues sur la traduction », est basé sur un sondage mené auprès d’environ 220 étudiants du programme de traduction de l’Université Laval. Le propos a été de découvrir quelle est la vision des jeunes étudiants sur quelques aspects concernant leur futur métier. A des questions liées au niveau de langue nécessaire à un traducteur, aux dictionnaires qu’il utilise ou aux difficultés et obstacles qu’il faut dépasser en faisant une traduction, le sondage a montré que la plupart des étudiants avaient des idées reçues sur la traduction, vestiges de l’imaginaire collectif. Pour bien se former, pense l’auteur, les traducteurs aspirants doivent échapper à ces stéréotypes, un travail auquel devrait participer l’enseignant aussi; cela aiderait non seulement les jeunes traducteurs, mais la société entière pour changer la manière dans laquelle est perçue la profession du traducteur et le rôle des traductions dans le monde actuel. La prochaine étude, appartenant à Tatiana Milliaressi, « Considérations théoriques et éthiques sur la méthodologie de la traduction spécialisée », est focalisée sur des problèmes de méthodologie que pose la traduction de discours spécialisés. Au-delà des problèmes linguistiques imposés par toute traduction, la traduction de textes spécialisés apporte toute une série de défis au traducteur. D’un côté il faut mentionner les difficultés qui ressortent de l’apparition dans l’original d’une certaine terminologie ou d’une certaine structure de texte spécifiques à la langue et culture-cible, difficultés qui doivent être solutionnées par le traducteur tout en respectant les intentions du texte de départ. D’un autre côté il est à remarquer que dans le cas du discours spécialisé le traducteur a aussi la responsabilité d’orienter le texte-source vers les demandes de la langue-cible; à la différence de la traduction littéraire, la méthodologie pour la traduction spécialisée varie en fonction du type de texte que l’on traduit et des particularités de chaque culture en ce qui concerne tel ou tel type de texte. Thomas Lenzen se propose d’exposer les méthodes utilisées dans la traduction judiciaire dans l’étude « Pluralisme des méthodes en traduction judiciaire. Vers une méthodologie cohérente? ». Selon l’auteur, la méthodologie diverse du domaine de la traduction judiciaire a comme cause, entre autres, la relation que le domaine du droit et les traductions respectives ont avec d’autres disciplines ancillaires. Le caractère de toute méthodologie est explicite, et pour la traduction judiciaire il existe quelques pas dans ce sens, pas qu’il est au traducteur de suivre. La recherche documentaire unilingue est, comme dans tout autre domaine, indispensable, allant à côté de l’herméneutique (appliquée ici à des énoncés normatifs ou à des faits); en ce qui concerne les textes juridiques, il s’agit d’une interprétation littérale à laquelle s’ajoute les interprétations systémique (appliquée, par exemple, dans l’interprétation des normes) et téléologique ou fonctionnelle (qui vise la finalité des normes). La dernière étude de cette deuxième partie du volume, « Une étude historique-comparative des traductions du catalan en roumain. Questions de méthode », par Diana Mo ţoc, s’occupe des méthodes à utiliser pour une analyse comparative en perspective diachronique des traductions littéraires du catalan en roumain. Après un bref aperçu des traductions d’œuvres en catalan dans l’espace roumain et vice-versa, l’auteur propose une théorie hybride pour leur analyse. On dit RECENZII / COMPTES RENDUS / REVIEWS 107 hybride parce qu’elle est constituée, en effet, de plusieurs théories; cette approche nous paraît bienvenue étant donné les multiples faces du processus de traduction. C’est à cette complexité que se réfère la première théorie employée par Diana Moţoc, la théorie du polysystème d’Itamar Even-Zohar. Il s’agit d’une approche concentrée sur la traduction comme produit, c'est-à-dire sur le texte traduit dans le contexte socioculturel auquel il appartient. Dans le cadre de cette théorie et d’autres similaires (celle d’André Lefevere, qui introduit le concept de patronage, ou celle de Pierre Bourdieu, avec la notion de « champ » en traduction), les traductions analysées sont le signe d’une ouverture de deux cultures minoritaires l’une envers l’autre. A cette dimension culturelle, la théorie proposée par Gideon Toury introduit l’élément humain; les quatre catégories de normes proposées par le théoricien sont activées, pour ainsi dire, par le traducteur, l’intermédiaire entre culture-source et culture-cible. Dans le cas présenté dans l’article, les traducteurs ont fonctionné comme lien entre les deux espaces en intervenant dans le texte par des commentaires, des notes, des glossaires; tous identifiés par Theo Hermans comme des paratextes, qui constituent un moyen d’influencer la réception d’une traduction dans un certain espace. Toutes ces théories fonctionnent ensemble pour expliquer le développement d’un procès à multiples faces, une démarche qu’on considère adéquate pour bien observer l’évolution des traductions entre deux cultures (et langues) éloignées dans l’espace et avec une évolution différente dans le temps. La troisième et dernière section de ce volume, « Argumentation des méthodes spécifiques de traduction (travaux dirigés et/ ou pratiques professionnelles) », compte six études. La section s’ouvre avec l’étude d’Étienne Wolf, Les spécificités de la traduction du latin, qui examine le statut de la langue latine dans le cadre de la traduction moderne. Si l’on part du statut de langue morte et de langue d’une production littéraire finie, pour qui est-ce qu’on traduit du et en latin au présent se demande l’auteur. Un des aspects qui ont mené à cette interrogation est la situation du latin dans le contexte d’un monde en développement technologique continu – les programmes de traduction automatique, par exemple, ne proposent jamais le latin. Un autre problème que l’étude pose est le statut des traductions du latin: étant donné que les textes anciens sont limités en nombre, les traducteurs contemporains retraduisent les mêmes textes ou révisent des traductions anciennes. Alors, au-delà des problèmes liés à la tradition, la traduction de textes latins pose un énorme problème référentiel car ces textes présentent un monde trouvé à une distance culturelle des réalités contemporaines. Par la suite, Gerardo Acerenza propose l’étude « Quelles méthodes de traduction pour les régionalismes? Les traductions italienne, espagnole, roumaine et allemande de « Maria Chapdelaine » de Louis Hémon ». Comme on peut déduire du titre, l’article présente quelques stratégies utilisées par les traducteurs du roman déjà mentionné pour traduire les régionalismes et cherche à systématiser les convergences méthodologiques, s’il y en a. Après une courte présentation du texte-source, des traductions et traducteurs, l’auteur passe à suivre la méthodologie employée; il vaut mentionner ici l’espace qu’est donné au traducteur roumain, Iulian Vesper, qui a attiré l’attention de l’auteur par le fait d’avoir fait une recherche exhaustive sur le roman et l’écrivain qu’il allait traduire, un travail historique, littéraire, mais aussi linguistique, le traducteur faisant dans la préface même des considérations sur la langue du texte qu’il se préparait à traduire. La prochaine étape de l’étude est l’analyse proprement dite des méthodes par lesquelles les traducteurs ont rendu les régionalismes dans les langues-cible. « Traduire la poésie contemporaine en 2012: de l’espagnol au français, leçons de sens, de son et de rythme – l’exemple de Esto es mi cuerpo/ Ceci est mon corps (1997) de Juan Antonio González Iglesias » appartient à Emmanuel le Vagueresse et est basé sur l’expérience de celui-ci en traduction. Dans le recueil Esto es mi cuerpo traduit en français, l’auteur se propose d’observer les trois modalités de traduction d’un poème, à savoir traduire le sens, le son et/ou le rythme. L’étude est en effet une démarche qui cherche à expliquer la voix mixte (rendre le sens, le son et le rythme) que le traducteur a choisie. La restitution du sens est indispensable, sans elle la trahison de l’original étant immédiate, pense l’auteur. Il s’agit toutefois d’une restitution assez libre ici comme dans le cas de la traduction des rappels phoniques; dans le champ de la poésie, la littéralité, bien qu’importante, doit laisser place à la compréhension et à la restitution du message du texte-source. 108 RECENZII / COMPTES RENDUS / REVIEWS
« Méthode et subjectivité en traduction », l’étude d’Alina Pelea, accentue les influences des perspectives personnelles des traducteurs sur le processus de traduction. L’analyse se base sur un corpus de 80 entretiens avec traducteurs de différentes cultures, langues et visions. Les traducteurs interviewés se regardent comme des tiers, des interprètes des auteurs qu’ils traduisent, en se liant par cela avec la traductologie réaliste que propose Michel Ballard; dans le cadre de cette théorie, la traduction est inséparable de l’élément humain - le traducteur, ses capacités et ses décisions. C’est de ce point de vue que la subjectivité fait partie de tout acte de traduction, influençant les méthodes employées par les traducteurs, leur rapport à la traduction ou leurs motivations, pour nommer quelques aspects que les spécialistes interviewés considèrent comme des dimensions subjectives de leur travail. Cette subjectivité est évidente aussi dans la façon de résoudre les difficultés des textes-source (formes fixes, proverbes, défis à la pudeur) et dans la manière de se rapporter aux problèmes comme l’intraduisible ou la fidélité. La cinquième étude de cette dernière section, appartenant à Ileana Neli Eiben, s’intitule « Deux méthodes de se traduire: Dumitru Tsepeneag et Felicia Mihali » et aborde une nouvelle thématique en ce qui concerne les défis de l’autotraduction. L’article analyse deux textes, Le pigeon vole par Dumitru Tsepeneag et Le pays du fromage par Felicia Mihali, deux romans qui ont été traduits par leurs écrivains. A la frontière entre traduction et récréation, l’auteur constate que les deux entités, écrivain et traducteur, interfèrent. Dans le premier cas, celui de Dumitru Tsepeneag, on constate que le texte traduit est signé sous un autre nom, Ed Pastenague, et indique comme traducteur Dumitru Tsepeneag lui-même. Au niveau textuel, les deux vois s’entremêlent, le produit final étant un processus de réécriture d’une traduction. Ce mélange entre texte-source et texte-cible surgit du recours à l’étymologie des mots traduits, de l’emploi de mots peu usuels dans la langue-cible, mais habituels dans la langue-source ou de la traduction littérale des expressions idiomatiques entre autres. En ce qui concerne le livre de Felicia Mihali, Le pays du fromage , la décision de se traduire a résidé dans le désire d’améliorer et de transformer son roman de façon que celui-ci soit plus intéressant pour un certain public-cible. La version finale est autonome par rapport à l’original et écrite dans une langue accessible au lecteur francophone visé. Le volume se ferme avec l’article de Mariana Pitar, intitulé « Une perspective terminologique dans la traduction des textes de spécialité », qui se propose d’observer l’utilisation de la terminologie dans le contexte des stratégies de traduction. Il s’agit d’une vision du terme à traduire en tant que signe. Dans le processus de traduction l’accent, pense l’auteur, se transfère du signifiant (la dénomination) vers le signifié (le concept); par conséquence, la traduction spécialisée présuppose une stratégie qui met au centre le concept. La première étape que doit parcourir tout traducteur de texte spécialisé est donc la recherche des termes, qui sont les premières unités de traduction. Pour bien délimiter le sens des termes, le traducteur doit définir le domaine (ou les domaines) auquel se rapporte un certain terme. Les erreurs d’identification du contexte peuvent mener à des fautes de traduction inacceptables pour un spécialiste. De ce point de vue, les contextes syntagmatiques posent beaucoup de problèmes dans le passage d’une langue à une autre; le travail de recherche est particulièrement important dans cette étape, pensons-nous, étant donné que l’isolation des éléments d’un syntagme peut entraîner beaucoup de fautes de traduction. On considère important d’insister, en guise de conclusion, sur le caractère complexe et complet de ce volume; les articles réunis abordent des problèmes de méthode de traduction, de terminologie spécifique à différents types de texte, l’importance de l’entité du traducteur et des moyens qui lui sont disponibles dans son travail. Tout cela souligne la multitude des faces de la traduction.
DANIELA MIRODONE *
* Faculté de Langues et Littératures Étrangères, Université de Bucarest, [email protected]. RECENZII / COMPTES RENDUS / REVIEWS 109
Paul Buzil ă, El rumano hablado en España , Editura Universit ăţ ii din Bucure şti, Bucharest, 2016, 611 pp.
The book under review is the revised version of the author’s PhD dissertation. It is made up of two parts. The first part, “Análisis del rumano hablado en España”, consists of six chapters, the references, and two indexes. The aims and the organization of the book are presented in chapter I, „Introducción” (pp. 13-16). Chapter II, “Estado de la cuestión” (pp. 17-35), starts with socio-historical account of Romanian immigration in Spain. This is followed by an critical review of the literature on the Romanian spoken by Romanian immigrants in Spain. Particular attention is paid to the views expressed by the authors of these works regarding the status – as an independent variety or not – of the so-called Rumañol . Chapter III, “Marco teórico” (pp. 36-58), is concerned with aspects of the theory of language contacts. The theoretical framework is clearly outlined. The author adduces arguments in support of his option to analyze the following particular phenomena: the use of Spanish as L2, code switching, and cases of interference. Mention should also be made of the comprehensive typology proposed in III. 3.4. “Tipos de interferencia lingüística”. Chapter IV, “Aspectos metodológicos” (pp. 59-78) focuses on the research methodology. The author discusses the types of relevant data, the criteria for selecting subjects, the techniques for data collection (including the specification of the equipment used for recording interviews), the transcription of the corpus of interviews, the base of sociolinguistic data, the quantitative analysis, and the interpretation of results. The author argues convincingly in favour of the methodology adopted. The collection of data has followed standard procedures in sociolinguistic research. This is also true of the criteria for the selection of the subjects. The 86 subjects retained, out of a total of 91, are therefore representative of the Romanian immigrant community in Spain. Finally, the independent social variables – gender, age, region of origin in Romania, duration of stay in Spain, and type of bilingualism – appear to be the most relevant ones to the topics investigated. Chapter V, “Análisis lingüístico-descriptivo” (pp. 79-145), is a qualitative analysis of the effects of the contact between Romanian and Spanish in the case of the Romanian immigrant community in Spain. The issues analyzed are: the use of Spanish as L2; code switching – “emblematic” code switching, inter-sentential code switching, and intra-sentential code switching, and with Spanish-speaking interlocutors; instances of interference with Spanish in the vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, syntax, and morphology; the contacts with Catalan. The author analyzes an extremely rich corpus of empirical data. Also included are the metalinguistic comments of (some of) the subjects. In chapter VI, “Análisis cuantitativo” (pp. 146-200), the author first proceeds to an analysis of the amount of contact-induced phenomena identified in the Romanian spoken by Romanian immigrants in Spain as well as of the distribution of the instances of interference in the vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, syntax and morphology. Next, the co-variation of interference with the independent social variables of gender, age, region of origin in Romania, duration of stay in Spain, and type of bilingualism. The number of 86 subjects is considerably higher than in previous works, e.g. 43 in Jieanu (2012) 1, and 34 in Muñoz Carrobles (2013a) 2. The quantitative analysis consists of standard procedures (absolute frequency, relative frequency, standard deviation, dispersion). The results are therefore statistically significant. This chapter represents a
1 I. Jieanu (2012), Interferenţe lingvistice româno-spaniole , Lumen, Ia şi. 2 D. Muñoz Carrobles (2013a), Lenguas y culturas en contacto en contexto urbano: el caso de la comunidad rumana de Madrid, Universidad Complutense, Madrid. 110 RECENZII / COMPTES RENDUS / REVIEWS first quantitative investigation of phenomena illustrative of interference between Romanian and Spanish, which had previously been analyzed from an exclusively qualitative perspective. The author concludes that the so-called Rumañol is not a variety of its own. Chapter VII, “Conclusiones” (pp. 201-203), summarizes the findings and briefly discusses potential topics of for further research. The second part of the book is entitled “Corpus del rumano hablado en España” and consists of “Introducción” (p. 214), “Convenciones ortográficas” (p. 216-217), “Lista de los informantes, las variabls demosociales y la cantidad de interferencia” (pp. 218-219), “Preguntas utilizadas en las entrevistas” (pp. 220-221), and “Transcripción de las entrevistas” (pp. 222- 611). The following are some minor observations. The works discussed in II.2.2 “Repaso crítico de los estudios centrados en el contacto lingüístico rumano-español” should have included Sanz Huéscar (2010) 3 , Schulte (2012) 4 , and Muñoz Carrobles (2013b) 5 . Rather surprisingly, no reference is made to Muñoz Carrobles’ PhD dissertation. In chapter V, the author writes with respect to the use of the Romanian verb a r ămâne that “se calca el significado de “ponerse de acuerdo, convenir en algo”” (p. 120). It is not clear why this should be the interpretation of example (674) Merg cu p ărin ţii pe la plimbare ori mai r ămân cu prietenele in the context in which it occurs (p. 599). The author states (p. 130) that “hemos encontrado también algunos casos que parecen calcar la estructura sintáctica del genitivo analítico español pero en que se usa la preposición la ”. These are illustrated (p. 130) with sentences such as in example (38) Era tat ăl la o… prieten ă [...] . Similar analytic structures with the preposition la ‘to’, however, are quite frequently attested in non-standard Romanian, as spoken in Romania. Also, the chapter would have benefited from a comparison of the results of the analysis of interference with those of other authors, e.g. Munteanu Colán (1996) 6, Jieanu (2012), Schulte (2012), Muñoz Carrobles (2013b), for the evaluation of the representativeness of the various types of interference identified. Finally, the concluding statement in chapter VII – “creemos firmemente que, por mucha fama que alcance el término [ rumañol ], la realidad lingüística a la que se refiere nunca llegará a ser otro código lingüístico” – is somewhat risky, given that language change is not (always) predictable. Evidently, these observations should not detract from the merits of the book. This is a welcome addition to the literature on Romanian as spoken by Romanian immigrants, which should also prove of interest to specialists in language contacts.
ANDREI A. AVRAM *
3 G. Sanz Huéscar (2010), “Actitudes lingüísticas. Rumanos en Alcalá”, in Lengua y migración , 2, 2, pp. 97-111. 4 K. Schulte (2012), “Daco- and Ibero-Romance in contact: On the origin of structural similarities between related languages”, in Revue roumaine de linguistique , LVII, 4, pp. 331-354. 5 D. Muñoz Carrobles (2013), “Analiza sociolingvistic ă a comunit ăţ ii române şti din Madrid”, in D. Butnaru, E. D ănil ă, A. Dr ăgul ănescu, O. Ichim, C. Maticiuc (eds.), Diaspora româneasc ă: paradigme lingvistice şi etnofolclorice , Alfa, Ia şi, pp. 69-80. 6 D. Munteanu Colán (1996), “Casos de interferencias españolas en el habla de los rumanos residents en España”, in Lingüística española actual , XVIII, 2, pp. 137-151. * University of Bucharest, Department of English, [email protected].
CONTRIBUTORS
ANDREI A. AVRAM is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Bucharest, Romania. He holds a PhD in linguistics from the “Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” Institute of Linguistics of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest (2000), and a PhD in linguistics from Lancaster University (2004). His research areas are pidgins and creoles with various lexifiers, language contacts, and phonology. Publications include Pidginurile şi creolele cu baz ă englez ă şi francez ă ca tip particular de contact lingvistic (2000), On the Syllable Structure of English Pidgins and Creoles (2005), Fonologia limbii japoneze contemporane (2005), book chapters in edited volumes, and articles in English World-Wide , English Today , Journal of Language Contact , Cochlear Implants International , Lengua y migración , Études Créoles, Linguistics in the Netherlands , Mediterranean Language Review , Linguistik Online , Papia: Revista Brasileira de Estudos do Contato Linguístico , Acta Linguistica Asiatica , Linguistica Atlantica , Romano- Arabica , Revue roumaine de linguistique , Bucharest Working Papers in Linguistics .
MIHAI CRUDU teaches German at the “Petru Rare ş” National College, Suceava. He holds a PhD in linguistics from the University of Bucharest (2015). Publications include Sprachliche Unikalia im Phraseolexikon des Deutschen und Rumänischen (2016), articles in Forschungen zur Volks- und Landeskunde , Germanistische Beiträge , Kronstädter Beiträge zur Germanistischen Forschung , and contributions to conference proceedings.
ELENA L ĂCĂTU Ş is currently enrolled in the Doctoral School “Language and Cultural Identities” of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest. The focus or her PhD dissertation is on the syntax of aspectual verbs in English and Romanian.
LEAH NACHMANI teaches in the English Department of Ohalo College of Education, a teacher training college in Katzrin, Israel. She holds a PhD in linguistics from “Babe ş-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca (2015).
COSTIN-VALENTIN OANCEA is Assistant Professor of English linguistics at “Ovidius” University in Constanta. He holds a PhD in linguistics from the University of Bucharest (2014). His main research interests are variationist sociolinguistics, interactional sociolinguistics, sociophonetics, and varieties of English. Publications include Language and gender-related variation in English and Romanian (2010), Gender-Related Variation in the Speech of English and Romanian Adolescents (2016), articles in Ethnologia Balkanica , Bucharest Working Papers in Linguistics , Language and Literature – European Landmarks of Identity , Analele Universit ăţ ii din Bucure şti. Limbi şi literaturi str ăine , Studii de ştiin ţă şi cultur ă, Analele Universit ăţ ii “Ovidius”. Seria filologie , and contributions to conference proceedings.
CAMELIA ŞTEFAN is currently enrolled in the Doctoral School “Language and Cultural Identities” of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest. Her PhD dissertation is a historical sociolinguistic approach to the adoption of borrowings and their integration into the Swedish language.
ANALELE UNIVERSIT ĂŢII BUCURE ŞTI (AUB) LIMBI ŞI LITERATURI STRĂINE
ÎN ATEN ŢIA COLABORATORILOR
Pentru o cooperare eficient ă între editori, autori şi casa editorial ă, autorii de articole şi de recenzii sunt ruga ţi să respecte urm ătoarele norme: • Articolele pot fi trimise în englez ă, francez ă, român ă, italian ă, spaniol ă, german ă. • Articolele trebuie să fie trimise pe suport electronic (e-mail sau CD) în format WORD (.doc or .rtf). • Articolele trimise trebuie să con ţin ă numele şi afilierea institu ţional ă a autorilor, ca şi adresa de e-mail. Autorii sunt ruga ţi să predea şi o scurt ă prezentare auto-bio-bibliografic ă (cca. 10-15 rânduri). • Articolele trebuie să fie înso ţite de un rezumat (10-15 rânduri), urmat de 5-7 cuvinte-cheie, ambele în englez ă (font Times New Roman, corp 9, la un rând). • Toate articolele şi recenziile vor fi redactate cu diacritice; dac ă sunt folosite fonturi speciale (Fonetic , ArborWin etc.), se va trimite şi tipul de font folosit. • Formatul documentului: pagin ă A4 (nu Letter, Executive, A5 etc.). • Marginile paginii: sus – 5,75 cm; jos – 5 cm ; stânga şi dreapta – 4,25 cm ; antet – 4,75 cm; subsol – 1,25 cm. • Articolele trimise trebuie tehno-redactate cu font Times New Roman, corp 11, la un rând . • Titlul articolului trebuie să fie centrat, cu majuscule aldine (font Times New Roman, corp 11). • Numele (cu majuscule aldine) trebuie să fie centrat, sub titlu (font Times New Roman, corp 11). • Rezumatul (înso ţit de titlul articolului tradus, dac ă articolul este în alt ă limb ă decât engleza) preced ă textul articolului (font Times New Roman, corp 9, la un rând); cuvintele-cheie (Times New Roman, corp 9, italic) urmeaz ă rezumatului. • Notele trebuie să apar ă în josul paginii (cu font Times New Roman, 9, la un rând ). • Trimiterile bibliografice, indicarea sursei pentru citate – se vor indica în text, dup ă urm ătoarea conven ţie: (Autor an:(spa ţiu)pagin ă) − (Pop 2001: 32); (Pop & Ionescu 2001: 32). • Se pot utiliza în text abrevieri, sigle (SMCF, vol. II, p. 20) care vor fi întregite la bibliografia final ă, dup ă cum urmeaz ă:
SMCF – Studii şi cercet ări privitoare la formarea cuvintelor în limba român ă, vol. II, Bucure şti, Editura Academiei Române, 1961. LR – Limba român ă etc.... RITL – Revista de istorie şi teorie literar ă etc.... RRL – Revue roumaine de linguistique
114 NOTE PENTRU AUTORI
• Bibliografia va fi indicat ă dup ă urm ătorul model:
(1) Pentru cărţi, volume, monografii se indic ă numele autorului, prenumele, anul apari ţiei, titlul cu italice, editura, ora şul (eventual volumul sau num ărul de volume). În cazul în care una dintre componentele trimiterii bibliografice lipse şte, se vor folosi normele consacrate − [s.l.], [s.a.]. La volumele colective se va indica îndrum ătorul/coordonatorul/ editorul prin (coord.) sau (ed.)/(eds.) dup ă nume şi prenume (prescurtat). În cazul în care exist ă mai mul ţi autori/coordonatori/editori, doar primul nume va fi inversat (Zafiu, R., C. Stan...).
Coteanu, Ion, 1982, Gramatica de baz ă a limbii române , Editura Albatros, Bucureşti. Riegel, Martin, Jean-Claude Pellat, René Rioul, 1999, Grammaire méthodique du français , Presses Universitaires de France, Paris. Zafiu, R., C. Stan, Al. Nicolae (eds.), 2007, Studii lingvistice. Omagiu profesoarei Gabriela Pan ă Dindelegan, la aniversare , Editura Universit ăţ ii din Bucure şti, Bucure şti.
(2) Pentru articole din volume colective se indic ă numele autorului, prenume, an, titlu între ghilimele, urmat de in + prenume (prescurtat), numele editorului/editorilor (ed./eds.), titlul volumului în italice, editura, ora şul, pagini
Zamboni, A., 1998, „Cambiamento di lingua o cambiamento di sistema? Per un bilancio cronologico della transizione”, in J. Herman (ed.), La tranzitione dal latino alle lingue romanze. Atti della Tavola Rotonda di Linguistica Storica, Università Ca’Foscari di Venezia, 14-15 giugno 1996, Tübingen, Niemeyer, pp. 99-127. Portine, Henri, 2012, « De la synonymie à la reformulation », in S. Berbinski, D. Dobre, A. Velicu (éds.), Langages(s) et traduction , Editura Universit ăţ ii din Bucure şti, Bucure şti, pp. 47-62.
(3) Pentru articole din reviste se indic ă numele autorului, prenumele autorului, anul, titlul articolului între ghilimele, urmat de in + numele revistei cu italice (neabreviat), volumul/tomul, num ărul, pagini. În cazul în care exist ă mai mul ţi autori, doar primul nume va fi inversat.
Fischer, Iancu, 1968, « Remarques sur le traitement de la diphtongue au en latin vulgaire », în Revue roumaine de linguistique , XIII, nr. 5, pp. 417-420. Cornea, Paul, 1994, „No ţiunea de autor: statut şi mod de folosin ţă ”, în Limb ă şi literatur ă, vol. III-IV, pp. 27-35. Sorea, Daniela, Alexandra Stoica, 2011, “Linguistic Approaches to Verbal and Visual Puns”, in Analele Universit ăţ ii Bucure şti. Limbi şi Literaturi Str ăine , anul LX-2011, nr. 1, pp. 111-127.
Toate referin ţele bibliografice din text trebuie să apar ă în bibliografia final ă; pentru mai multe detalii despre normele de editare (“Guidelines for authors”), se poate consulta adresa : http://www.unibuc.ro/anale_ub/limbi/index.php Articolele trimise vor fi discutate de o comisie de speciali şti în domenii filologice: lingvistic ă, literatur ă, studii culturale, studii de traductologie. Articolele trebuie trimise la urm ătoarele adrese de e-mail: [email protected], [email protected].
THE ANNALS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS
The authors of the articles and book reviews are requested to observe the following publication guidelines: • The articles can be edited in English, French, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, German. • The articles should be submitted electronically (by e-mail or CD) in a WORD format (formats .doc or .rtf). • The articles should contain the author’s full name and affiliation, along with the author’s e-mail address. The authors are requested to supply an auto-bio-bibliographical note (approximately 10-15 lines). • The articles should contain an abstract (10-15 lines), followed by 5-7 Keywords (Times New Roman, 9, single spaced), both in English. • All the articles and book reviews must be edited using diacritical marks; if there are special Fonts, these should also be sent. • The page format: paper A4 (no Letter, Executive, A5 etc.); • The page margins: top – 5,75 cm; bottom – 5 cm; left and right – 4,25 cm; header – 4,75 cm; footer – 1,25 cm. • The articles submitted for publication must be typed single spaced , in Times New Roman , 11 . • The title of the article should be centered, bold, all capitals (Times New Roman, 11) • The author’s name (bold capitals) should be centered, under the title (Times New Roman, 11). • The abstract (with the translated title, if the article is written in other language than English; Times New Roman 9, single spaced) precedes the text of the article; the Keywords (Times New Roman 9, bold) follow the abstract. • The notes should be indicated by superscript numbers in the text and typed at the bottom of the page (single spaced, Times New Roman 9). • The references or the quotations sources should be indicated in the text, following the format: (Author year:(space)page) − (Pop 2001: 32); (Pop & Ionescu 2001: 32). • The abbreviations or abbreviated titles (SMCF, vol. II, p. 20) can be used in the papers; they will be included completely in the listed references at the end of the article, as it follows:
SMCF – Studii şi cercet ări privitoare la formarea cuvintelor în limba român ă, vol. II, Bucure şti, Editura Academiei Române, 1961. LR – Limba român ă etc.... RITL – Revista de istorie şi teorie literar ă etc.... RRL – Revue roumaine de linguistique
116 NOTE PENTRU AUTORI
• The references should observe the following styles:
1. Books Basic Format: Author: last name, first name (only the name ofthe first author is inverted), year of publication, Title of Work, publisher, location.
Coteanu, Ion, 1982, Gramatica de baz ă a limbii române , Editura Albatros, Bucure şti. Riegel, Martin, Jean-Claude Pellat, René Rioul, 1999, Grammaire méthodique du français , Presses Universitaires de France, Paris.
2. Edited Books Basic Format : last name of the editor, first name, (ed./eds.), year of publication, Title of Work, publisher, location (only the name of the first editor inverted).
Zafiu, R., C. Stan, Al. Nicolae (eds.), 2007, Studii lingvistice. Omagiu profesoarei Gabriela Pan ă Dindelegan, la aniversare , Bucure şti, Editura Universit ăţ ii din Bucure şti.
3. Articles or Chapters in Edited Book Basic Format: last name of the author, first name, year of publication, “Title of article/chapter”, in name of the editor/ editors (ed./eds.), in Title of Work , publisher, location, pages of chapter.
Zamboni, A., 1998, „Cambiamento di lingua o cambiamento di sistema? Per un bilancio cronologico della transizione”, in J. Herman (ed.), La tranzitione dal latino alle lingue romanze. Atti della Tavola Rotonda di Linguistica Storica, Università Ca’Foscari di Venezia, 14-15 giugno 1996, Tübingen, Niemeyer, pp. 99-127. Portine, Henri, 2012, « De la synonymie à la reformulation », in S. Berbinski, D. Dobre, A. Velicu (éds.), Langages(s) et traduction , Editura Universit ăţ ii din Bucure şti, Bucure şti, pp. 47-62.
4. Articles in Journals Basic Format: last name of the author, first name (only the name of the first author is inverted), year of publication, “Title of the article”, in Title of Periodical , volume number (issue number), pages.
Fischer, Ion, 1968, «Remarques sur le traitement de la diphtongue au en latin vulgaire », in Revue Roumaine de Linguistique , XIII, nr. 5, pp. 417-420. Cornea, Paul, 1994, „No ţiunea de autor: statut şi mod de folosin ţă ”, în Limb ă şi literatur ă, vol. III-IV, pp. 27-35. Sorea, Daniela, Alexandra Stoica, 2011, “Linguistic Approaches to Verbal and Visual Puns”, in Analele Universit ăţ ii Bucure şti. Limbi şi Literaturi Str ăine , anul LX-2011, nr. 1, pp. 111-127.
All the bibliographical references should appear in the final bibliography. For some more details (Guidelines for authors), visit also: http://www.unibuc.ro/anale_ub/limbi/index.php All the papers will be peer-reviewed by a committee of specialists in different philological fields: linguistics, literature, cultural studies, translation studies. The first version of the articles should be submitted to the e-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected].
Tiparul s-a executat sub c-da nr. 1083 / 2017 la Tipografia Editurii Universit ăţii din Bucure şti