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Chapter 2. On the strength of morphological paradigms

A historical account of radical pro-drop
  • Walter Bisang
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Paradigm Change
This chapter is in the book Paradigm Change

Abstract

This paper will present a historical explanation of radical pro-drop based on the strength of morphological paradigms. It will start out from the observation that East and mainland Southeast Asian languages (EMSEA) with their reduced or absent morphology are radical pro-drop, while West African Niger-Congo languages with similarly reduced or absent morphology have obligatory subject and object arguments. The reason for this is that the ancestor languages of Niger-Congo had a morphological paradigm expressing the features of [person] and [number] on the verb, while the ancestor languages of EMSEA had not. It will be argued that the existence of morphological paradigms keeps the frequency of [person] and [number] features above the critical percentage of 20–30% for linguistic change (s-curve model, Wang & Cheng 1970) and thus blocks the change from non-pro-drop to radical pro-drop in the West African languages concerned by passing on the frequency of the former morphological features to syntax and obligatory pronouns. In EMSEA languages, there is no morphological paradigm that pushes the frequency of these features up to the percentage that would be necessary for a change to non-pro-drop.

Abstract

This paper will present a historical explanation of radical pro-drop based on the strength of morphological paradigms. It will start out from the observation that East and mainland Southeast Asian languages (EMSEA) with their reduced or absent morphology are radical pro-drop, while West African Niger-Congo languages with similarly reduced or absent morphology have obligatory subject and object arguments. The reason for this is that the ancestor languages of Niger-Congo had a morphological paradigm expressing the features of [person] and [number] on the verb, while the ancestor languages of EMSEA had not. It will be argued that the existence of morphological paradigms keeps the frequency of [person] and [number] features above the critical percentage of 20–30% for linguistic change (s-curve model, Wang & Cheng 1970) and thus blocks the change from non-pro-drop to radical pro-drop in the West African languages concerned by passing on the frequency of the former morphological features to syntax and obligatory pronouns. In EMSEA languages, there is no morphological paradigm that pushes the frequency of these features up to the percentage that would be necessary for a change to non-pro-drop.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of tables ix
  4. List of figures xv
  5. List of contributors xvii
  6. Acknowledgements xix
  7. Chapter 1. When paradigms change 1
  8. Part I. Paradigm change
  9. Chapter 2. On the strength of morphological paradigms 23
  10. Chapter 3. Derivational paradigms in diachrony and comparison 61
  11. Chapter 4. On arguing from diachrony for paradigms 89
  12. Chapter 5. Reconstructing the Niger-Congo Verb Extension Paradigm 103
  13. Part II. The continuation of paradigms
  14. Chapter 6. Perceived formal and functional equivalence 129
  15. Chapter 7. Comparative consequences of the tongue root harmony analysis for proto-Tungusic, proto-Mongolic, and proto-Korean 141
  16. Chapter 8. Old Japanese bigrade paradigms and Korean passives and causatives 177
  17. Chapter 9. The Japanese inflectional paradigm in a Transeurasian perspective 197
  18. Part III. The innovation of paradigms
  19. Chapter 10. A Yakut copy of a Tungusic viewpoint aspect paradigm 235
  20. Chapter 11. Amdo Altaic directives and comparatives based on the verb ‘to see’ 243
  21. Chapter 12. Innovations and archaisms in Siberian Turkic spatial case paradigms 257
  22. Chapter 13. Paradigm copying in Tungusic 287
  23. Chapter 14. Ural-Altaic 311
  24. Language index 337
  25. Subject index 343
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.161.07bis

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of tables ix
  4. List of figures xv
  5. List of contributors xvii
  6. Acknowledgements xix
  7. Chapter 1. When paradigms change 1
  8. Part I. Paradigm change
  9. Chapter 2. On the strength of morphological paradigms 23
  10. Chapter 3. Derivational paradigms in diachrony and comparison 61
  11. Chapter 4. On arguing from diachrony for paradigms 89
  12. Chapter 5. Reconstructing the Niger-Congo Verb Extension Paradigm 103
  13. Part II. The continuation of paradigms
  14. Chapter 6. Perceived formal and functional equivalence 129
  15. Chapter 7. Comparative consequences of the tongue root harmony analysis for proto-Tungusic, proto-Mongolic, and proto-Korean 141
  16. Chapter 8. Old Japanese bigrade paradigms and Korean passives and causatives 177
  17. Chapter 9. The Japanese inflectional paradigm in a Transeurasian perspective 197
  18. Part III. The innovation of paradigms
  19. Chapter 10. A Yakut copy of a Tungusic viewpoint aspect paradigm 235
  20. Chapter 11. Amdo Altaic directives and comparatives based on the verb ‘to see’ 243
  21. Chapter 12. Innovations and archaisms in Siberian Turkic spatial case paradigms 257
  22. Chapter 13. Paradigm copying in Tungusic 287
  23. Chapter 14. Ural-Altaic 311
  24. Language index 337
  25. Subject index 343
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