Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 12. Incipient grammaticalization of a redundant purpose clause marker in Lamunxin Ėven
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Chapter 12. Incipient grammaticalization of a redundant purpose clause marker in Lamunxin Ėven

Contact-induced change or independent innovation?
  • Brigitte Pakendorf
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Shared Grammaticalization
This chapter is in the book Shared Grammaticalization

Abstract

When languages that are known to be in contact share features, it is often a simple conclusion that these must be due to contact-induced developments. However, such a conclusion needs to be substantiated with careful analysis of crosslinguistic data. This approach will be demonstrated with a case study of an innovation in the Lamunxin dialect of the Tungusic language Ėven. This dialect, which is under strong contact pressure from the Turkic language Sakha (Yakut), is developing a purpose clause marker out of a converb of the generic verb of speech which is structurally parallel to a Sakha purposive construction. Notwithstanding the crosslinguistic frequency of this construction, detailed analysis supports the role of contact in its development in Lamunxin Ėven.

Abstract

When languages that are known to be in contact share features, it is often a simple conclusion that these must be due to contact-induced developments. However, such a conclusion needs to be substantiated with careful analysis of crosslinguistic data. This approach will be demonstrated with a case study of an innovation in the Lamunxin dialect of the Tungusic language Ėven. This dialect, which is under strong contact pressure from the Turkic language Sakha (Yakut), is developing a purpose clause marker out of a converb of the generic verb of speech which is structurally parallel to a Sakha purposive construction. Notwithstanding the crosslinguistic frequency of this construction, detailed analysis supports the role of contact in its development in Lamunxin Ėven.

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