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Chapter 17. Calquing a quirk

The perfect in the languages of Europe
  • Bridget Drinka
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Perfects in Indo-European Languages and Beyond
This chapter is in the book Perfects in Indo-European Languages and Beyond

Abstract

The have-perfect, found almost exclusively in western Europe, has been identified as a “European quirk, unparalleled elsewhere in the world” (Cysouw 2011: 425). The spread of this highly marked construction to adjacent varieties provides us with an exceptional opportunity to observe the conditions under which this calquing occurred, and to assess the role of external as well as internal factors in the adoption of this structure in closely-related, distantly-related, and unrelated languages. After a general overview of the distribution of have-perfect calques across Europe, three representative instances are presented: Old High German and Old Saxon, Portuguese, and Czech. These examples illustrate, respectively, three important principles of social conditioning connected with the grammatical calquing: the role of prestige in the operation of ‘roofing’, the linguistic repercussions of political and confessional realignment, and the capacity of social motivation to outweigh internal linguistic factors.

Abstract

The have-perfect, found almost exclusively in western Europe, has been identified as a “European quirk, unparalleled elsewhere in the world” (Cysouw 2011: 425). The spread of this highly marked construction to adjacent varieties provides us with an exceptional opportunity to observe the conditions under which this calquing occurred, and to assess the role of external as well as internal factors in the adoption of this structure in closely-related, distantly-related, and unrelated languages. After a general overview of the distribution of have-perfect calques across Europe, three representative instances are presented: Old High German and Old Saxon, Portuguese, and Czech. These examples illustrate, respectively, three important principles of social conditioning connected with the grammatical calquing: the role of prestige in the operation of ‘roofing’, the linguistic repercussions of political and confessional realignment, and the capacity of social motivation to outweigh internal linguistic factors.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Editors’ foreword vii
  4. Abbreviations xi
  5. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  6. Chapter 2. The development of the perfect within IE verbal systems 15
  7. Chapter 3. Celtic past tenses past and present 49
  8. Chapter 4. The development of the perfect in selected Middle and New Germanic languages 95
  9. Chapter 5. Perfects in Baltic and Slavic 123
  10. Chapter 6. Paradigmatisation of the perfect and resultative in Tocharian 215
  11. Chapter 7. The synthetic perfect from Indo-Iranian to Late Vedic 245
  12. Chapter 8. The perfect in Middle and New Iranian languages 279
  13. Chapter 9. The perfect in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic 311
  14. Chapter 10. The perfect in Classical Armenian 351
  15. Chapter 11. The Hittite periphrastic perfect 377
  16. Chapter 12. The Gothic perfective constructions in contrast to West Germanic 411
  17. Chapter 13. The perfect system in Ancient Greek 435
  18. Chapter 14. The perfect in Medieval and Modern Greek 483
  19. Chapter 15. The perfect system of Old Albanian (Geg variety) 505
  20. Chapter 16. The perfect system in Latin 549
  21. Chapter 17. Calquing a quirk 591
  22. Chapter 18. The perfect in context in texts in English, Sistani Balochi and New Testament Greek 615
  23. Chapter 19. Indo-European perfects in typological perspective 635
  24. Language Index 669
  25. Subject Index 675
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.352.17dri

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Editors’ foreword vii
  4. Abbreviations xi
  5. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  6. Chapter 2. The development of the perfect within IE verbal systems 15
  7. Chapter 3. Celtic past tenses past and present 49
  8. Chapter 4. The development of the perfect in selected Middle and New Germanic languages 95
  9. Chapter 5. Perfects in Baltic and Slavic 123
  10. Chapter 6. Paradigmatisation of the perfect and resultative in Tocharian 215
  11. Chapter 7. The synthetic perfect from Indo-Iranian to Late Vedic 245
  12. Chapter 8. The perfect in Middle and New Iranian languages 279
  13. Chapter 9. The perfect in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic 311
  14. Chapter 10. The perfect in Classical Armenian 351
  15. Chapter 11. The Hittite periphrastic perfect 377
  16. Chapter 12. The Gothic perfective constructions in contrast to West Germanic 411
  17. Chapter 13. The perfect system in Ancient Greek 435
  18. Chapter 14. The perfect in Medieval and Modern Greek 483
  19. Chapter 15. The perfect system of Old Albanian (Geg variety) 505
  20. Chapter 16. The perfect system in Latin 549
  21. Chapter 17. Calquing a quirk 591
  22. Chapter 18. The perfect in context in texts in English, Sistani Balochi and New Testament Greek 615
  23. Chapter 19. Indo-European perfects in typological perspective 635
  24. Language Index 669
  25. Subject Index 675
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