The rise and demise of possessive classifiers in Austronesian
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Frank Lichtenberk✝
Abstract
Some Austronesian languages make a grammatical distinction between alienable and inalienable possession, with further distinctions in alienable possession. While the rise of the alienable–inalienable contrast may be due to contact with Papuan languages, the development of the contrasts within alienable possession is internal to Austronesian. Similar complex systems of possessive constructions are found in some languages spoken in other parts of the world. In one subgroup of Austronesian the contrasts within alienable possession have been lost and only the alienable–inalienable distinction persists. The paper reviews the claim of Papuan–Austronesian contact, and argues that grammatical contrasts in alienable possession are cognitively/functionally motivated and that there are no such motivating factors in inalienable possession.
Abstract
Some Austronesian languages make a grammatical distinction between alienable and inalienable possession, with further distinctions in alienable possession. While the rise of the alienable–inalienable contrast may be due to contact with Papuan languages, the development of the contrasts within alienable possession is internal to Austronesian. Similar complex systems of possessive constructions are found in some languages spoken in other parts of the world. In one subgroup of Austronesian the contrasts within alienable possession have been lost and only the alienable–inalienable distinction persists. The paper reviews the claim of Papuan–Austronesian contact, and argues that grammatical contrasts in alienable possession are cognitively/functionally motivated and that there are no such motivating factors in inalienable possession.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and Acknowledgements vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Grammaticalization
- The role of historical research in building a model of Sign Language typology, variation, and change 15
- On the origin of Niger-Congo nominal classification 43
- A closer look at subjectification in the grammaticalization of English modals 67
- Subjectivity encoding in Taiwanese Southern Min 83
-
Part II. Problems in historical comparison and reconstruction
- Emergence of the tone system in the Sanjiazi dialect of Manchu 101
- Searching for undetected genetic links between the languages of South America 115
- Reconstructing the category of “associated motion” in Tacanan languages (Amazonian Bolivia and Peru) 129
- The mirage of apparent morphological correspondence 153
-
Part III. Historical development of morphosyntactic features
- Analogy as a source of suppletion 175
- The rise and demise of possessive classifiers in Austronesian 199
- Immediate-future readings of universal quantifier constructions 227
- The historical development and functional characteristics of the go-adjective sequence in English 243
- Recycling “junk” 267
- Sapirian ‘drift’ towards analyticity and long-term morphosyntactic change in Ancient Egyptian 289
- Language index 329
- Index of terms 333
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and Acknowledgements vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Grammaticalization
- The role of historical research in building a model of Sign Language typology, variation, and change 15
- On the origin of Niger-Congo nominal classification 43
- A closer look at subjectification in the grammaticalization of English modals 67
- Subjectivity encoding in Taiwanese Southern Min 83
-
Part II. Problems in historical comparison and reconstruction
- Emergence of the tone system in the Sanjiazi dialect of Manchu 101
- Searching for undetected genetic links between the languages of South America 115
- Reconstructing the category of “associated motion” in Tacanan languages (Amazonian Bolivia and Peru) 129
- The mirage of apparent morphological correspondence 153
-
Part III. Historical development of morphosyntactic features
- Analogy as a source of suppletion 175
- The rise and demise of possessive classifiers in Austronesian 199
- Immediate-future readings of universal quantifier constructions 227
- The historical development and functional characteristics of the go-adjective sequence in English 243
- Recycling “junk” 267
- Sapirian ‘drift’ towards analyticity and long-term morphosyntactic change in Ancient Egyptian 289
- Language index 329
- Index of terms 333
