DOCSLIB.ORG

Proto-Indo-European Lexical Aspect and Stem Patterns

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Proto-Indo-European lexical aspect and stem patterns Petr Kocharov* 1. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON THE PIE STEM PATTERNS According to the traditional reconstruction, largely based on the Ancient Greek and Old Indic verbal systems, the finite forms of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) verb were derived from three types of tense-aspect stems conventionally labeled “present”, “aorist”, and “perfect” since they could take the Present, Aorist, and Perfect Indicative respectively. These three types of stems are usually defined as expressing the grammatical category of aspect while endings together with the preterite prefix – augment expressed the tense, person, number, and voice categories, see Clackson 2007: 114-56 with a concise overview of the PIE verbal morphology including some issues related to the discrepancies between the Greco-Aryan and Anatolian verbal systems. Each stem type could be additionally specified by the ablaut, reduplication, and a range of affixes. The range of stem kinds per type increases in the following order: perfect (root perfect, reduplicative perfect) < aorist (root aorist, sigmatic aorist, reduplicative aorist, thematic aorist) < present (root present, reduplicated present, infix present, thematic present, *sḱe/o-present, *ye/o- presents, etc.). This distribution allows to predict that a substantial number of combinations — stem patterns — existed already in the proto-language. Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben (LIV), which is nowadays the most comprehensive reference book on the PIE verb, provides reconstructions of around 1200 roots with a variety of stem patterns constituted by 20 present stems, 3 aorist stems, and one perfect stem, not taking into account causatives-iteratives, desideratives, intensives, fientives, and essives. A comparable paradigmatic diversity is still observable in Greek and Vedic, the two IE branches that inherited the three-way * Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences ; St. Petersburg State University. Email: [email protected] Part of research presented in this paper was supported by the research grant of the City of Paris “Research in Paris 2012” on the invitation of Prof. Anaïd Donabédian (INALCO, SeDyL). I am grateful to Prof. Charles de Lamberterie and Prof. Konstantin Pozdniakov for the opportunities to present part of the paper material at their seminars — Grammaire comparée des langues indo-européennes (EPHE, 24/01/2013) and Linguistique comparative historique : enjeux théoriques et méthodologiques (INALCO, LLACAN, 22/01/2013). Finally, I acknowledge the financial support of the research grant “The Proto-Indo-European root and stem-formation constituents” (Russian Science Foundation, grant n° 14-18-03585, head Prof. Nikolaj Kazansky). Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 02:38:34PM via free access 76 Petr Kocharov opposition of stems from their common source. Thus, van de Laar (2000) classified the Homeric verbs according to their stem patterns constructed by over 29 types of present stems, 13 aorist stems, and 6 perfect stems with some verbs participating in more than one pattern. It is likely that paradigmatic stem patterns replaced derivational models that had been connecting these stems at earlier stages of the proto-language. Within this approach, the grammatical meaning behind the derivational stem patterns needs to be described predominantly in terms of aspectual semantics and with respect to the reconstructed lexical aspectual features. 2. MAPPING OF THE ASPECTUAL MEANINGS IN RECONSTRUCTIONS The modern aspect theory offers fine methodology for describing actionality (“lexical aspect”) and aspect (“grammatical aspect”), see Bybee & Dahl 1989; Dik 1989; Klein 1994 among many others. The famous Vendlerian classification of predicates, based on the semantic parameters [± progressive], [± durative], and [± telic], distinguishes four actional classes: states [‒ progressive, + durative, ‒ telic] (e.g. to love), activities [+ progressive, + durative, ‒ telic] (e.g. to run), accomplishments [+ progressive, + durative, + telic] (e.g. to grow up), and achievements [‒ progressive, ‒ durative, + telic] (e.g. to stop); see Vendler 1957. This pioneering classification, based on English, was later adjusted taking into account typologically relevant semantic parameters; see Tatevosov 2003 for a survey of crosslinguistic actionality theory. The [± progressive] parameter was recognized as arbitrary from the typological perspective, and other parameters have been suggested in order to distinguish between states and other actional classes: [± dynamic] (unlike states, processes require the input of energy (Comrie 1976); however see Filip 1999: 33 and Gorbova 2010: 35-59 on the redundancy of the [± dynamic] feature for the description of purely aspectual semantics); [± subinterval property] — if a predicate holds true for a given interval it also holds true for every subinterval; the latter parameter describes states but not processes (Taylor 1977). Aspectual grams define predicates of different actional classes and their phases from the viewpoint of the topic time. A typologically valid model that describes a “universal” set of aspectual grams has been suggested by Plungian (2011) who operates with a set of primary aspectual meanings, which express grams denoting the relation of the topic time to the phases of a predicated situation, and secondary aspectual meanings which express aspectual meanings resulting from the change of the actional class. The primary aspectual meanings denote the overlap of the topic time and the predicated situation or its phases — beginning, middle, or final. Thus, Vendlerian achievement verbs have one aspectual gram — the punctive (topic time covers the entire situation); accomplishments can have the inchoative (topic time refers to the beginning phase), progressive (topic time refers to the middle phase), and completive (topic time refers to the final phase); activities can have the inchoative and progressive but do not have the completive, while states can have the inchoative (topic time refers to the initial change-of- state event) or durative (topic time refers to the middle phase of a state). The Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 02:38:34PM via free access PIE lexical aspect and stem patterns 77 secondary aspectual meanings allow to transfer a predicate from one actional class to another, e.g. the iterative represents achievement as an activity; the habitual represents achievement, accomplishment, and activity as a state; the limitative represents the middle phase of atelic verbs as an achievement1. Aspect markers combine primary and secondary aspectual meanings, taken alone or together with non-aspectual grams, in different fashions across languages. The opposition of the imperfective and perfective markers is a typical case of clusterization of aspectual grams, which can be found for example in Old Church Slavonic, and Old Armenian. Languages conceptualize predicative situations in different ways. If the basic lexical meaning of a verb covers an entire situation, a sequence of coherent phases, e.g. a change-of-state event and the resulting state (see Breu 1998), it has the potential to express all relevant aspectual grams by the forms of its paradigm. Alternatively, the basic verb may require morphological derivatives to fulfill its aspectual potential; these derivatives split the paradigm. Finally, coherent phases of a situation can be described by several distinct lexemes and can then be formally described as a case of suppletivism or as a set of distinct verbs with defective paradigms. These ways to map actional and aspectual relations between predicates are often combined in one language. The polysemy of aspectual markers as well as the actional and aspectual potential of lexemes are thus two sides of the same coin and their relation to each other should ideally be established for each of the stages of the proto-language in terms of the universal inventory of aspectual parameters and grams. In order to apply the aspect theory to the proto-language correctly, one has to find out which of the lexical aspectual contrasts were morphologically significant. The limitations of lexical reconstruction and the work of morphological analogy are the two major hindrances for research on aspect in PIE. However, as the reconstruction of stems patterns becomes increasingly precise for each of the reconstructed PIE verbs, it seems to be worth an effort to establish correlations between the lexical semantics and stem patterns in order to open new perspectives for describing the grammatical meaning of stems, stem- forming affixes, as well as the lexical meaning of roots. A probative case study has been recently carried out by Bartolotta (2009) who demonstrated the relevance of [± telic] lexical feature for PIE stem morphology on the evidence of the Vedic injunctive and the Homeric augmentless preterite forms. However the [± telic] feature alone seems to be insufficient for the adequate explanation of the PIE verbal stem patterns, and further research in this direction remains to be done. Moreover the [± telic] feature is notoriously sensitive to the semantic features of arguments of a predicate and may not be lexicalized in the verbal lexeme as such; see Paducheva 2009 for further literature on aspectual composition. It makes the application of this feature ambiguous for the classification of verbal lexemes outside their contextual uses. 1 Discrepancies between the terminological labels of different aspectological traditions
Recommended publications
  • 1 Introduction

    1 Introduction

    1 Introduction My subject—inWxation—is at once exotic and familiar. Russell Ultan in his pioneering study of the typology of inWxation (1975) noted that inWxes are rare compared to the frequency of other aYxes. The presence of inWxes in any language implies the presence of suYxes and/or preWxes, and no languages employ inWxation exclusively (Greenberg 1966: 92). The term ‘inWxation’ is also less familiar to students of linguistics than are such terms as preWxation and suYxation. The Oxford English Dictionary goes as far as deWning inWxes as what preWxes and suYxes are not: A modifying element inserted in the body of a word, instead of being preWxed or suYxed to the stem. (May 14, 2003 Web edition) InWxes are not at all diYcult to Wnd, however. English-speaking readers will no doubt recognize some, if not all, of the following inWxation constructions: (1) Expletive inWxation (McCarthy 1982) impo´rtant im-bloody-po´rtant fanta´stic fan-fuckin-ta´stic perha´ps per-bloody-ha´ps Kalamazo´o Kalama-goddamn-zo´o Tatamago´uchee Tatama-fuckin-go´uchee (2) Homer-ic inWxation (Yu 2004b) saxophone saxomaphone telephone telemaphone violin viomalin Michaelangelo Michamalangelo (3) Hip-hop iz-inWxation (Viau 2002) house hizouse bitch bizitch soldiers sizoldiers ahead ahizead 2 Introduction Given the relative rarity of inWxes in the world’s languages, it is perhaps not surprising that inWxes are often aVorded a lesser consideration. Yet their richness and complexity have nonetheless captured the imaginations of many linguists. Hidden behind the veil of simplicity implied in the term ‘inWx’, which suggests a sense of uniformity on par with that of preWxes and suYxes, is the diversity of the positions where inWxes are found relative to the stem.
  • Greek Verb Aspect

    Greek Verb Aspect

    Greek Verb Aspect Paul Bell & William S. Annis Scholiastae.org∗ February 21, 2012 The technical literature concerning aspect is vast and difficult. The goal of this tutorial is to present, as gently as possible, a few more or less commonly held opinions about aspect. Although these opinions may be championed by one academic quarter and denied by another, at the very least they should shed some light on an abstruse matter. Introduction The word “aspect” has its roots in the Latin verb specere meaning “to look at.” Aspect is concerned with how we view a particular situation. Hence aspect is subjective – different people will view the same situation differently; the same person can view a situation differently at different times. There is little doubt that how we see things depends on our psychological state at the mo- ment of seeing. The ‘choice’ to bring some parts of a situation into close, foreground relief while relegating others to an almost non-descript background happens unconsciously. But for one who must describe a situation to others, this choice may indeed operate consciously and deliberately. Hence aspect concerns not only how one views a situation, but how he chooses to relate, to re-present, a situation. A Definition of Aspect But we still haven’t really said what aspect is. So here’s a working definition – aspect is the dis- closure of a situation from the perspective of internal temporal structure. To put it another way, when an author makes an aspectual choice in relating a situation, he is choosing to reveal or conceal the situation’s internal temporal structure.
  • Conditional Tenses: -Nge-, -Ngali- and -Ki- Tenses and Their Negations

    Conditional Tenses: -Nge-, -Ngali- and -Ki- Tenses and Their Negations

    Chapter 32 Conditional Tenses: -nge-, -ngali- and -ki- Tenses and Their Negations n this chapter, we will learn how to use conditional tenses: the -nge-, I-ngali- and -ki- tenses. These tenses indicate a condition, hypothesis or an assumption. The -nge- tense shows a condition in the present tense eg: If I were to study, etc. while the -ngali- tense shows a condition in the past tense eg: If I had studied, etc. We will also discuss the -ki- tense which shows a condition in the present tense which has future implica- tions eg: If I study, etc. Also, the word kama can be used with both the affirmative and negative conditional tenses to emphasize the conditional- ity. In addition, the -ki- tense can also be used as a present participle tense which will also be discussed in this chapter. Note that in conditional clauses, past tense shows a present condi- tion, a past perfect tense shows a past condition while a present tense shows a future condition. Section A: -nge- Tense The -nge- tense is used to show a hypothesis in the present tense. Similar to other tense markers, sentences using -nge- tense markers are con- structed in the following manner. Subject Prefix + -nge- Tense Marker + Verb Copyright © 2014. UPA. All rights reserved. © 2014. UPA. All rights Copyright Example: Ningesoma vizuri, ningefaulu. If I were to study well, I would pass. Almasi, Oswald, et al. <i>Swahili Grammar for Introductory and Intermediate Levels : Sarufi ya Kiswahili cha Ngazi ya Kwanza na Kati</i>, UPA, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hselibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1810394.
  • Tense, Time, Aspect and the Ancient Greek Verb by Jerome Moran

    Tense, Time, Aspect and the Ancient Greek Verb by Jerome Moran

    Tense, Time, Aspect and the Ancient Greek Verb by Jerome Moran early every – no, every – Greek The questions in the first sentence 3. In Greek the tense of a verb may Ngrammar and course book, even (‘deliberative’ questions, therefore in denote something different from or the most comprehensive (in English, the subjunctive) refer to present (or additional to the time at which the at any rate), gives a very skimpy, perhaps future) time. But one of act, event, occurrence, process, state perfunctory and unhelpful account — the verbs (εἴπωμεν) is in a past denoted by the verb is located. In insofar as it gives any account at all – of tense (aorist). The second sentence particular, it may denote something what ‘aspect’ is and how exactly it is refers to past time, but one of the called ‘aspect’. related to verb tense and time (which verbs (βούλοιτο) is in the present tend to be conflated). Most of the tense. 4. Whether the tense of a Greek verb books and articles on the subject of denotes time or/and aspect depends the aspect of the Greek verb are What is going on? The answer is in the first place on the mood of the accessible only to the professional something called ‘aspect’, and its verb (‘the form which a verb philologist, and can’t therefore be connection with tense and time. Just assumes in order to reflect the easily applied by non-specialists to the note for now a difference in the manner (modus) in which the speaker understanding of the actual usage of kind of things denoted by the verbs conceives the action’ (Woodcock)).
  • USAN Naming Guidelines for Monoclonal Antibodies |

    USAN Naming Guidelines for Monoclonal Antibodies |

    Monoclonal Antibodies In October 2008, the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) Working Group Meeting on Nomenclature for Monoclonal Antibodies (mAb) met to review and streamline the monoclonal antibody nomenclature scheme. Based on the group's recommendations and further discussions, the INN Experts published changes to the monoclonal antibody nomenclature scheme. In 2011, the INN Experts published an updated "International Nonproprietary Names (INN) for Biological and Biotechnological Substances—A Review" (PDF) with revisions to the monoclonal antibody nomenclature scheme language. The USAN Council has modified its own scheme to facilitate international harmonization. This page outlines the updated scheme and supersedes previous schemes. It also explains policies regarding post-translational modifications and the use of 2-word names. The council has no plans to retroactively change names already coined. They believe that changing names of monoclonal antibodies would confuse physicians, other health care professionals and patients. Manufacturers should be aware that nomenclature practices are continually evolving. Consequently, further updates may occur any time the council believes changes are necessary. Changes to the monoclonal antibody nomenclature scheme, however, should be carefully considered and implemented only when necessary. Elements of a Name The suffix "-mab" is used for monoclonal antibodies, antibody fragments and radiolabeled antibodies. For polyclonal mixtures of antibodies, "-pab" is used. The -pab suffix applies to polyclonal pools of recombinant monoclonal antibodies, as opposed to polyclonal antibody preparations isolated from blood. It differentiates polyclonal antibodies from individual monoclonal antibodies named with -mab. Sequence of Stems and Infixes The order for combining the key elements of a monoclonal antibody name is as follows: 1.
  • The Aorist in Modern Armenian: Core Value and Contextual Meanings Anaid Donabedian-Demopoulos

    The Aorist in Modern Armenian: Core Value and Contextual Meanings Anaid Donabedian-Demopoulos

    The aorist in Modern Armenian: core value and contextual meanings Anaid Donabedian-Demopoulos To cite this version: Anaid Donabedian-Demopoulos. The aorist in Modern Armenian: core value and contextual mean- ings. Zlatka Guentcheva. Aspectuality and Temporality. Descriptive and theoretical issues, John Benjamins, pp.375 - 412, 2016, 9789027267610. 10.1075/slcs.172.12don. halshs-01424956 HAL Id: halshs-01424956 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01424956 Submitted on 6 Jan 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. The Aorist in Modern Armenian: core value and contextual meanings, in Guentchéva, Zlatka (ed.), Aspectuality and Temporality. Descriptive and theoretical issues, John Benjamins, 2016, p. 375-411 (the published paper miss examples written in Armenian) The aorist in Modern Armenian: core values and contextual meanings Anaïd Donabédian (SeDyL, INALCO/USPC, CNRS UMR8202, IRD UMR135) Introduction Comparison between particular markers in different languages is always controversial, nevertheless linguists can identify in numerous languages a verb tense that can be described as aorist. Cross-linguistic differences exist, due to the diachrony of the markers in question and their position within the verbal system of a given language, but there are clearly a certain number of shared morphological, syntactic, semantic and/or pragmatic features.
  • The Aslian Languages of Malaysia and Thailand: an Assessment

    The Aslian Languages of Malaysia and Thailand: an Assessment

    Language Documentation and Description ISSN 1740-6234 ___________________________________________ This article appears in: Language Documentation and Description, vol 11. Editors: Stuart McGill & Peter K. Austin The Aslian languages of Malaysia and Thailand: an assessment GEOFFREY BENJAMIN Cite this article: Geoffrey Benjamin (2012). The Aslian languages of Malaysia and Thailand: an assessment. In Stuart McGill & Peter K. Austin (eds) Language Documentation and Description, vol 11. London: SOAS. pp. 136-230 Link to this article: http://www.elpublishing.org/PID/131 This electronic version first published: July 2014 __________________________________________________ This article is published under a Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial). The licence permits users to use, reproduce, disseminate or display the article provided that the author is attributed as the original creator and that the reuse is restricted to non-commercial purposes i.e. research or educational use. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ______________________________________________________ EL Publishing For more EL Publishing articles and services: Website: http://www.elpublishing.org Terms of use: http://www.elpublishing.org/terms Submissions: http://www.elpublishing.org/submissions The Aslian languages of Malaysia and Thailand: an assessment Geoffrey Benjamin Nanyang Technological University and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 1. Introduction1 The term ‘Aslian’ refers to a distinctive group of approximately 20 Mon- Khmer languages spoken in Peninsular Malaysia and the isthmian parts of southern Thailand.2 All the Aslian-speakers belong to the tribal or formerly- 1 This paper has undergone several transformations. The earliest version was presented at the Workshop on Endangered Languages and Literatures of Southeast Asia, Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology, Leiden, in December 1996.
  • The Use and Absence of the Augment in the Forms Ἔδωκ(Ε)

    The Use and Absence of the Augment in the Forms Ἔδωκ(Ε)

    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Ghent University Academic Bibliography The use and absence of the augment in the forms ἔδωκ(ε)(ν) and δῶκ(ε)(ν) in the Odyssey, with a brief discussion on the origin of the augment (Filip De Decker, FWO Vlaanderen - Universiteit Gent). 1. Introduction. In Classical Greek prose the past tense is indicated by obligatorily adding a prefix ἐ- to the verb form. In Greek epic and lyric poetry and in the oldest Greek prose texts this prefix is not mandatory. Many studies have been dedicated to the problem of the origin and meaning of the augment, but no agreement has been reached so far. In addition, most studies have focused on the Iliad or have discussed only certain passages and chants. A study of an entire work or of a single root is still missing and so is a work comparing the use of the augment in the different languages that have the augment. In what follows, I will discuss the forms ἔδωκ(ε)(ν) and δῶκ(ε)(ν) in the Odyssey.1 2. The choice of this specific corpus. I chose the forms ἔδωκ(ε)(ν) and δῶκ(ε)(ν) in the Odyssey, for the following reasons: all these forms belong to a very common root and are thus attested in a variety of contexts; the forms are all active, so that the augment use could not be dependent on the choice of diathesis; as all forms are in the 3rd person singular, the difference in number cannot have been a criterion for (not) using the augment; in the past, it has been argued that aorists were more often augmented than imperfects and that younger aorists had more augments than older forms,2 but since all the forms are in the k-aorist, they all have the same tense and the same type of aorist; 1 This article is part of an ongoing investigation into the meaning, origin and use of the augment in Early Greek prose and poetry.
  • The Indo-European K-Aorist

    The Indo-European K-Aorist

    Frederik Kortlandt, Leiden University, www.kortlandt.nl The Indo-European k-aorist Ten years ago I wrote (2007: 155f.): “It has been impossible to establish an original meaning for the alleged velar suffix in the root aorists fēcī and iēcī (cf. Untermann 1993). I therefore think that we have to look for a phonetic explanation. Since the -k- is limited to the singular in the Greek active aorist indicative, I am h inclined to regard fēc- as the phonetic reflex of monosyllabic *dhēk < *d eH1t, where *-k- may have been either an intrusive consonant after the laryngeal before the final *-t, like -p- in Latin emptus ‘bought’ or *-s- in Hittite ezta ‘he ate’ < *edto, or a remnant of the Indo-Uralic velar consonant from which the laryngeal developed, as in Finnish teke- ‘make’ (cf. Kortlandt 2002: 220). The present stems of faciō and iaciō support the former possibility. This would also account for Tocharian A tāk, B tāka ‘became’, h h which reflect *steH2t. In a similar vein I reconstruct *hēp < *g eH1b t and *sēp < *seH1pt for Oscan hipid, hipust ‘will hold’, sipus ‘knowing’. While Oscan hafiest ‘will hold’ is in accordance with the Latin, Celtic and Germanic evidence, Umbrian hab- suggests that h h h *g eH1b - yielded *g eb- with preglottalized *-b- at an early stage and that this root- final consonant was generalized in Italic. It appears that Latin capiō ‘take’ < *kH2p- adopted the -ē- of cēpī from its synonym apiō, ēpī, and that scabō, scābī ‘scratch’ reflects original *skebh- (cf. Schrijver 1991: 431).” As Untermann observes (1993: 463), the Latin stems fac- and iac- behave as roots of primary verbs, and the same holds for Sabellic and Venetic.
  • Infixing Reduplication in Pima and Its Theoretical Consequences

    Infixing Reduplication in Pima and Its Theoretical Consequences

    Nat Lang Linguist Theory (2006) 24:857–891 DOI 10.1007/s11049-006-9003-8 ORIGINAL PAPER Infixing reduplication in Pima and its theoretical consequences Jason Riggle Received: 28 July 2003 / Accepted: 20 January 2006 / Published online: 3 August 2006 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2006 Abstract Pima (Uto-Aztecan, central Arizona) pluralizes nouns via partial redupli- cation. The amount of material copied varies between a single C (mavit / ma-m-vit ‘lion(s)’) and CV (hodai / ho-ho-dai ‘rock(s)’). The former is preferred unless copying a single C would give rise to an illicit coda or cluster, in which case CV is copied. In contrast to previous analyses of similar patterns in Tohono O’odham and Lushoot- seed, I analyze the reduplicant as an infix rather than a prefix. The infixation of the reduplicant can be generated via constraints requiring the first vowel of the stem to correspond to the first vowel of the word. Furthermore, the preference for copying the initial consonant of the word can be generated by extending positional faithfulness to the base-reduplicant relationship. I argue that the infixation analysis is superior on two grounds. First, it reduces the C vs. CV variation to an instance of reduplicant size conditioned by phonotactics. Second, unlike the prefixation analyses, which must introduce a new notion of faithfulness to allow syncope in the base just in the con- text of reduplication (e.g. “existential faithfulness” (Struijke 2000a)), the infixation analysis uses only independently necessary constraints of Correspondence Theory. Keywords Reduplication · Uto-Aztecan · Correspondence Theory · Generalized Template Theory 1 Introduction Pima reduplication offers an interesting analytic puzzle, the solution of which bears on a number of important issues in the theory of reduplication.
  • Greek Tenses in John's Apocalypse

    Greek Tenses in John's Apocalypse

    CHAPTER 13 Greek Tenses in John’s Apocalypse: Issues in Verbal Aspect, Discourse Analysis, and Diachronic Change Buist M. Fanning This essay will concentrate on discourse functions for the Greek tenses in the Apocalypse of John. I will pursue this through a dialogue with and critique of David Mathewson’s views as presented in his 2010 monograph published by Brill and an earlier article in Novum Testamentum (2008) on this topic.1 Mathewson’s work is a reflection of a larger school of thought on nt Greek ver- bal usage that has been influenced greatly by Stanley Porter, and so this gives me an opportunity to interact with the views of a larger group of recent writers based on work that I have done on verbal aspect in nt Greek.2 The issue that triggers this discussion is what some have called the confu- sion of tenses or erratic shifting of tenses in John’s Apocalypse, just one area of the larger topic of John’s solecisms or unusual Greek grammatical expressions.3 What Mathewson argues for (following Porter) and what I will dispute in this paper is twofold: (1) that aspect alone is the focus of the ancient Greek tense forms; they do not in themselves express any temporal meaning; in regard to the Apocalypse if we take time out of the equation, we eliminate all of the supposed problems with shifting tense forms; (2) the main secondary effect of aspect is a certain function to reflect discourse prominence, that is, back- ground, foreground, and frontground events or features in a text.
  • Suppletion Replication in Grammaticalization and Its Triggering Factors

    Suppletion Replication in Grammaticalization and Its Triggering Factors

    Language Dynamics and Change 5 (2015) 52–91 brill.com/ldc Suppletion Replication in Grammaticalization and Its Triggering Factors Eugen Hill University of Erfurt [email protected] Abstract The paper tries to account for several instances of emerging suppletion by estab- lishing a cross-linguistic tendency of suppletion replication in grammaticalization. It can be shown that words which acquire new grammatical functions and therefore enter a different class of lexemes tend to copy suppletion patterns already present in other members of this class. This development can be triggered by factors of differ- ent nature, either internal to the language in question or rooted in contact between different languages or dialects of the same language. The suppletion replication ten- dency is demonstrated on several cases of grammaticalization of demonstrative or relative pronouns into 3rd person pronouns. This typologically common development is known to have led to the creation of new suppletion in several languages of Europe. In the present paper, three particularly telling cases from Slavonic, dialects of Lithua- nian and early West Germanic dialects spoken on the continent are discussed in detail. Keywords inflectional morphology – suppletion – pronouns – Slavonic – Baltic – Germanic 1 Introduction In recent years, suppletion in inflectional paradigms has often been the sub- ject of linguistic studies. Many instances of inflectional suppletion, both known and newly discovered, have received high-quality detailed descrip- © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi: 10.1163/22105832-00501003 suppletion replication in grammaticalization 53 tions.1 On this empirical basis, substantial advances in the synchronic under- standing of suppletion and its place in the inflection of natural languages have been made.2 The time seems ripe for an attempt to gain deeper insight into the diachronic dimension of suppletion in inflectional paradigms, i.e.