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The Linguistic Cycle of Objects

The Linguistic Cycle of Objects. Elly van Gelderen, LASSO, Corvallis, October 2008 ellyvangelderen@asu.edu. Outline. Background on the cycle Why is it interesting? Different cycles Example from Athabaskan The different stages Explanation. Background on the Cycle/Spiral.

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The Linguistic Cycle of Objects

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  1. The Linguistic Cycle of Objects Elly van Gelderen, LASSO, Corvallis, October 2008 ellyvangelderen@asu.edu

  2. Outline • Background on the cycle • Why is it interesting? • Different cycles • Example from Athabaskan • The different stages • Explanation

  3. Background on the Cycle/Spiral • de Condillac, Tooke, A.W. von Schlegel, von Humboldt, Bopp, etc • Jespersen 1917 in particular about Negatives • more recently: Tauli 1958 and Hodge 1970 • Grammaticalization literature: word > clitic > affix > 0 (from Hopper & Traugott 2003) • formal approaches

  4. Why are Cycles interesting? If these are real patterns of change, then they give insight in the Faculty of Language Recent Factors: 1. Genetic endowment 2. Experience 3. Principles not specific to language

  5. Third factor Economy factors or `third' factor' principles (Chomsky 2005 etc) explain this: - Locality = Minimize computational burden (Ross 1967; Chomsky 1973) - Use a head = Minimize Structure - Late Merge = Minimize computational burden

  6. Cognitive Economy (or UG) principles help the learner, e.g: Phrase > head (minimize structure) Avoid too much movement XP Spec X' X YP Y …

  7. Feature Economy phrase > head > agreement > zero [i-phi] [i-phi] [u-phi] -- [u-Case]

  8. Linguistic Cycles Negative: 1. neg adverb > neg particle > (neg particle) + neg indefinite/adverb > neg particle 2. verb > aspect > neg > C Clausal 1. pronoun > complementizer 2. PP/Adv > Topic > C Definiteness demonstrative > definite article > Case/non-generic > class marker Agreement demonstrative/emphatic > pronoun > agreement Auxiliary A/P > M > T > C

  9. Is there an object cycle? (1) b-í-na-bi-ni-sh-tin Navajo 3-against-ASP-3-Q-1S-handle `I teach it to him’ (Y&M 1980: 223) (2)be-ghá-yé-n-i-ł-tį Dene Suline 3S-to-3S-ASP-1S-CL-handle `I have given her to him’ (Li 1946: 419 Rice 1998: 102)

  10. What counts as object? (3) guyéndíh Kaska gu-yé-n-Ø-díh 1P-about-2S-CL-know `You know (about) us’. (4) men ts'i‘ ayal Kaska men ts'i‘ Ø-Ø-ayal. lake to 3SCLwalk `She is walking to the lake’.

  11. Some differences between the Athabaskan languages: (5) sú bek'ágoweneli Slave Q 3S-2S-taste `Have you tasted it?' (6) sú tuwele k'ágoweneli Slave Q soup 2S-taste `Have you tasted the soup?' (7) denekegogháyeda Slave people-P 3-see-4P `S/he sees the people‘.

  12. Objects cannot double in: (8) meganehtan Kaska me-ga-ne-0-h-tan 3S-at-ASP-3S-CL-look `He looks at her’. (9) ayudeni ganehtan kaska girl at-ASP-3S-CL-look He looks at the girl(s). (and Salcha, not shown)

  13. In Navajo, they do: (10) 'atoo' yí-ní-dlaa'-ísh soup 3S-2S-eat-Q `Did you eat the soup?' (Jelinek 2001: 23) (11) yí-ní-dlaa'-ísh 3S-2S-eat-Q, `Did you eat it?' (Jelinek 2001: 23)

  14. Changes Northern > Southern • Increase of polysynthesis: object MUST be marked on the verb • (Loss of Noun Incorporation, see Rice 2008)

  15. Full pronoun: Urdu, Japanese, Mokilese (12) mẽy nee us ko gher me dekhaa I ERG 3S OBL house in saw-3SM `I saw her/him in the house'. (13) kare-wa watashi-o mimashita 3S-TOP 1S-ACC saw `He saw me'. (Yoko Matsuzaki p.c.) (14) Ih ka-mwinge-hla arai She CAUS-eat-PF them `She fed them' (Harrison 1976: 87).

  16. Somewhat reduced:Coll. Persian, Kashmiri, English (15) sib-o xord-am-esh apple-RA ate-1S-3S, `As for the apple, I ate it' (Ghomeshi 1996: 241) (16) raath vuch-n-ay yesterday saw-3S-2S, ‘He saw you yesterday’ (Bhatt 1999: 48). (17) I saw'r yesterday.

  17. Marshallese (18) E-ar pukot-e (kōj) 3S-PST look.for-OM 1P 'He looked for us' (Willson 2008: 32) (19) E-ar denōt-i (kweet ko) 3S-PST pound-OM octopus the 'He pounded the octopuses.' (Harrison 1978:1075)

  18. Swahili and Kinande (20) a. ni-li-soma kitabu I-PAST-read a-book, `I read a book'. b. ni-li-ki-soma kitabu I-PAST-it-read the-book, `I read the book' (Givón 1978: 159). (21) a. N-a-gul-a eritunda 1S-T-buy-FV fruit.5 , 'I bought a fruit.' b. Eritunda, n-a-ri-gul-a fruit.5 1S-T-OM5-buy-FV 'The fruit, I bought it.' Baker (2003: 109)

  19. Malinche Spanishand S-W Macedonian (22) lo trae un chiquihuite it he-brings a basket, `He brings a basket' (Hill 1987: 74) (23) (Mu) go dade pismoto na dete 3S-DAT 3S gave.3Sg letter+DEF to child ‘(S)he gave the letter to a (mere) child.’ (Tomic 2006)

  20. Tohono O'odham and Yaqui (24) Ceoj 'o 'añi: ñ-ceggia boy is/was me 1S-fighting, `The boy is/was fighting me'. (Zepeda 1983) (25) Inepo enchi bo'o-bit-nee I you await-FUT, `I will wait for you' (Dedrick & Casad 1999: 245)

  21. Account of the change, stage a TP T' T vP DP v' v VP [u-phi] DP V’ [ACC] [i-phi] V [u-Case]

  22. Stage b + c TP T' T vP DP v' v VP [u-phi] D V’ [ACC] [i-phi] V

  23. Conclusions • Interesting to find patterns of change + then see what that might say about the Language faculty • Polysynthesis and parameters à la Baker 2001? • Problems/further work • definiteness

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