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Polysemy: the Systematidty of Multiple Meanings in Grammar GrammaticalPolysemy: The Systematidty of Multiple Meanings in Grammar By Michele Emanatian B.S. (State University of New York at Albany) 1978 M.A. (University of California at Berkeley) 1985 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in LINGUISTICS in the GRADUATE DIVISION of the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA at BERKELEY Approved: 2 * /??/ Chair: .. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Grammatical Polysemy The Systematicity of Multiple Meanings in Grammar Copyright © 1991 by Michele Emanatian Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Grammatical Polysemy The Systematicity of Multiple Meanings in Grammar by Michele Emanatian Abstract This study explores grammatical polysemy, the phenomenon whereby multiple, related functions are expressed by a single grammatical morpheme or construction. I investigate the ways in which the functions of polysemous grammatical markers are related to each other, and whether these relationships parallel the kinds of relationships among the senses of polysemous lexemes. Chapter 1 situates the dissertation within cognitive semantics. Grammatical morphemes and constructions, like lexical items, are taken to be symbolic units, pairings of form and meaning. Grammatical meanings are prototypically schematic, abstract, and relational. Polysemy, as an implicit categorization of two or more meanings under one form, is a primary focus in the study of meaning. Chapter 2 presents a typology of relationships among the meanings and functions of polysemous elements, both lexical and grammatical, based on a variety of languages. Important kinds of relations include metaphor, metonymy, the mapping and transformation of schematic images, and the strengthening of an inference. The next three chapters are case studies, each of which Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. examines in-depth an instance of grammatical polysemy in Chagga, a Bantu language of Tanzania. Chapter 3 documents the development of aspectual uses of the motion verbs 'come' and 'go', highlighting the role of metaphor in the grammaticalization of tense-aspect and the special properties of deictic elements. It shows in detail the non­ discrete character of the formal and semantic changes that constitute grammaticalization. Chapter 4 investigates the high degree of formal similarity in the Chagga Conditional and Consecutive constructions, and argues that together they are a polysemous category. The importance of image-schematic meaning in grammar is illustrated. In addition, the Consecutive alone exemplifies a common type of grammatical polysemy, in which a construction functions simultaneously in different domains. In Chapter 5 a semantic account of the Chagga Applicative is proposed. Attributing a meaning to a construction that has previously been analyzed as a syntactic valence- increaser enables us to motivate its properties and characterize the possible semantic roles of the Applied Object, accounting for much of its morphosyntactic behavior. The final chapter discusses the outcomes of the study. One of the major findings is that the differences between lexical and grammatical polysemy detailed in the preceding chapters may be traced to differences in the nature of lexical and grammatical meaning. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Page Abbreviations iv Acknowledgements v Part I Setting 1 1 Grammatical Polysemy 1 1.0 Introduction ................................... 1 1.0.0 Grammatical Polysemy . .'....................1 1.0.1 A Broader Semantics ....................... 6 1.0.2 The Nature of Grammatical Meaning .......... 9 1.0.3 Polysemy As Categorization ............... 16 1.0.4 Polysemy in Social Context ............... 18 1.0.5 Recurrent Polysemy in Gram mar.............. 22 1.0.6 Grammaticalization & Meaning ............. 25 1.1 Some Further Assumptions About Meaning .......... 27 1.2 Aims & Approach of this Study ................... 41 1.3 Organization of this W o r k ...................... 44 2 Polysemy: The Current State of the Art 49 2.0 Introduction & A i m s ............................ 49 2.1 Polysemy Relations............................. 52 2.1.0 Types of Polysemy......................... 52 2.1.1 Image-Schema Transformations ............. 56 2.1.2 Metaphor.................................. 72 2.1.3 Metonymy.................................. 88 2.1.3.0 Introduction ......................... 88 2.1.3.1 Part-Whole Metonymy.................... 97 2.1.3.2 Pragmatic Strengthening ............. 100 2.1.3.3 Part-Part Metonymy....................119 2.1.4 New Territory............................ 130 2.2 Summary ....................................... 144 Part II Case Studies 151 3 Chagga 'Come' and 'Go' 151 3.0 Introduction.................................. 151 3.1 Chagga 'come' and ' g o ' ........................ 153 3.2 A Shift in Perspective and Some Consequences . 158 3.2.1 Shifting Perspective in Metaphorical Coming & G o i n g ................................. 158 3.2.2 Consequences of this Analysis............. 164 3.2.3 Constraints on 'Go' with P a s t s ............ 170 3.3 Prospective Aspect ........................... 175 3.4 Differences Between 'Come' and 'Go' in Chagga . .179 3.5 The Formal Side of Grammaticalization.......... 184 3.6 Summary & Conclusions......................... 191 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. i i i 4 The Consecutive and the Conditional in Chagga 199 4.0 Introduction.................................. 199 4.1 Chagga ka-: an Overview....................... 200 4.2 The Chagga Consecutive Construction ............ 205 4.2.0 Prototypical U s e ......................... 205 4.2.1 Contingency and Functional Coherence . .215 4.2.2 Simultaneous Functioning ..................218 4.3 The Chagga ka- Conditional.................... 220 4.4 Arguments for Relatedness..................... 223 4.4.1 Shared Formal Properties..................224 4.4.2 Recurrent Polysemy....................... 227 4.4.3 Semantic Relatedness..................... 230 4.4.4 KiVunjo k a - .............................. 243 4.5 Grammatical Polysemy and Schematic Semantics . 245 5 The Chagga Applicative 250 5.0 Introduction.................................. 250 5.0.0 The Applicative.......................... 250 5.0.1 Approaches to the Applicative in Bantu . .251 5.0.2 Central Questions & Aims of this Chapter . .253 5.0.3 The Chagga Applicative....................255 5.0.4 Preview: Profiling a Resultant Relation . 257 5.1 Theoretical Preliminaries..................... 259 5.2 The Meaning of the Chagga Applicative.......... 268 5.2.0 Introduction............................. 268 5.2.1 Applicative Meaning ..................... 2 69 5.3 Motivating the Polysemy of the Chagga Applied O b j e c t ....................................... 298 5.3.0 Introduction............................. 298 5.3.1 Interpretations for Applicatives.......... 300 5.3.2 Motivating the Category of A O ............. 319 5.4 Applicative Object Behavior....................325 5.5 Residual I s s u e s ............................... 336 5.6 Consequences and I s s u e s ....................... 34 6 Part III Assessment 355 6 Conclusions 355 6 . 0 Summary ....................................... 355 6.1 Overlapping Meanings ......................... 359 6.2 Multiplicity.................................. 362 6.3 Similarity.................................... 365 6.4 Grammatical Polysemy ......................... 369 Bibliography 373 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abbreviations APPL Applicative ASSOC Associative CAUS Causative CONSEC Consecutive CONT Continuous COP Copula EMPH Emphatic EXPR Expressive FOC Focus FUT Future IMPER Imperative INCHO Inchoative IND Indicative INF Infinitive INTR Intransitive IRR Irrealis LOC Locative NEG Negative OM Object Marker PASS Passive PERF Perfect PERF2 Perfect of Resultant State P. IMP Past Imperfective P.PFV Past Perfective P L .IMPER Plural Imperative PROG Progressive RECIP Recipient RED Reduplicative SM Subject Marker STAT Stative SUB non-asserted SUB.NEG Subordinate Negative TRANS Transitive Numbers following SM or OM in examples refer to Noun Class. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V Acknowledgements A lot goes into a dissertation, and I have been lucky to have support of many kinds. For financial assistance during the research phases, I gratefully acknowledge the Sloan Foundation, through UC Berkeley's Institute of Cognitive Studies; the Graduate Division at Berkeley, for a Graduate Humanities Research Grant; the US Dept, of Education, for a Foreign Language & Area Studies Fellowship to study Chagga; and the Linguistic Society of America, for a scholarship to its 1987 Summer Institute at Stanford. I am especially grateful for a Rocca Fellowship, through the Institute of International Studies at Berkeley, for financial support during this last year of writing. I've had many generous readers, audiences, and friends over the last few years, and they have contributed in various ways to the ideas in and/or the very existence of this work. I am appreciative of the help of Joan Bybee, Marion Emanatian,
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