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Chapter 6. Scalar additive operators in Transeurasian languages

A comparison with Europe
  • Volker Gast and Johan van der Auwera
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Shared Grammaticalization
This chapter is in the book Shared Grammaticalization

Abstract

This article provides a survey of scalar additive operators such as Turkish bile, Japanese sae, Korean cocha ‘even’, etc. and related expressions in a sample of thirteen Transeurasian languages. The data is presented and interpreted against the background of evidence from European languages and with the question of shared grammaticalization in mind. It is shown that Transeurasian languages differ from European ones in their systems of scalar additive operators in at least two respects. First, all languages of our sample have “general additive operators”, i.e. additive operators which are used in both scalar and nonscalar contexts. Second, Transeurasian languages show patterns of distribution which differ systematically from those characteristic of European languages. The consequences of these findings for a general typology of scalar additive operators are considered.

Abstract

This article provides a survey of scalar additive operators such as Turkish bile, Japanese sae, Korean cocha ‘even’, etc. and related expressions in a sample of thirteen Transeurasian languages. The data is presented and interpreted against the background of evidence from European languages and with the question of shared grammaticalization in mind. It is shown that Transeurasian languages differ from European ones in their systems of scalar additive operators in at least two respects. First, all languages of our sample have “general additive operators”, i.e. additive operators which are used in both scalar and nonscalar contexts. Second, Transeurasian languages show patterns of distribution which differ systematically from those characteristic of European languages. The consequences of these findings for a general typology of scalar additive operators are considered.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of tables ix
  4. List of figures xi
  5. List of contributors xiii
  6. Acknowledgements xv
  7. Chapter 1. Towards a typology of shared grammaticalization 1
  8. Part I. Shared grammaticalization: Typological and theoretical aspects
  9. Chapter 2. Areal diffusion and parallelism in drift 23
  10. Chapter 3. Demystifying drift 43
  11. Chapter 4. Contact-induced replication 67
  12. Chapter 5. Isomorphic processes 101
  13. Part II. Shared grammaticalization in the Transeurasian languages
  14. Chapter 6. Scalar additive operators in Transeurasian languages 113
  15. Chapter 7. Genealogically motivated grammaticalization 147
  16. Chapter 8. Verbalization and insubordination in Siberian languages 177
  17. Part III. Shared grammaticalization in the Altaic languages
  18. Chapter 9. Personal pronouns in Core Altaic 211
  19. Chapter 10. Postposed indefinite articles in Mongolic and Turkic languages of the Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund 227
  20. Chapter 11. Growing apart in shared grammaticalization 251
  21. Chapter 12. Incipient grammaticalization of a redundant purpose clause marker in Lamunxin Ėven 259
  22. Part IV. Shared grammaticalization in Japanese and Korean
  23. Chapter 13. Grammaticalization of space in Korean and Japanese 287
  24. Chapter 14. Grammaticalization of allocutivity markers in Japanese and Korean in a crosslinguistic perspective 317
  25. Chapter 15. A possible grammaticalization in Old Japanese and its implications for the comparison of Korean and Japanese 341
  26. Language index 355
  27. Subject index 359
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.132.12gas

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of tables ix
  4. List of figures xi
  5. List of contributors xiii
  6. Acknowledgements xv
  7. Chapter 1. Towards a typology of shared grammaticalization 1
  8. Part I. Shared grammaticalization: Typological and theoretical aspects
  9. Chapter 2. Areal diffusion and parallelism in drift 23
  10. Chapter 3. Demystifying drift 43
  11. Chapter 4. Contact-induced replication 67
  12. Chapter 5. Isomorphic processes 101
  13. Part II. Shared grammaticalization in the Transeurasian languages
  14. Chapter 6. Scalar additive operators in Transeurasian languages 113
  15. Chapter 7. Genealogically motivated grammaticalization 147
  16. Chapter 8. Verbalization and insubordination in Siberian languages 177
  17. Part III. Shared grammaticalization in the Altaic languages
  18. Chapter 9. Personal pronouns in Core Altaic 211
  19. Chapter 10. Postposed indefinite articles in Mongolic and Turkic languages of the Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund 227
  20. Chapter 11. Growing apart in shared grammaticalization 251
  21. Chapter 12. Incipient grammaticalization of a redundant purpose clause marker in Lamunxin Ėven 259
  22. Part IV. Shared grammaticalization in Japanese and Korean
  23. Chapter 13. Grammaticalization of space in Korean and Japanese 287
  24. Chapter 14. Grammaticalization of allocutivity markers in Japanese and Korean in a crosslinguistic perspective 317
  25. Chapter 15. A possible grammaticalization in Old Japanese and its implications for the comparison of Korean and Japanese 341
  26. Language index 355
  27. Subject index 359
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