Hocank's challenge to morphological theory
-
Johannes Helmbrecht✝
Abstract
Hočank is a highly endangered Siouan language of Wisconsin and Nebraska which currently is the object of an extensive documentation project at the University of Erfurt, Germany. The paper presents a descriptive investigation of parts of Hočank verb morphology and its implications for morphological theory. Hočank verb morphology – in particular the left side of the verbal complex – reveals cross-linguistically highly unusual and dispreferred patterns which pose a challenge to traditional and contemporaneous morphological theory. Hočank verbs show to some degree systematically a) discontinuous stems, b) stem-internal inflection, and c) inflectional morphology which is morphotactically closer to the verb root than derivational morphology. Diachronically, these patterns derive from the lexicalization of mostly derivational morphology or compounding which eventually led to the entrapment of inflectional prefixes, hence creating interfixes. The traditional notions of infixation and/or interfixation cannot account for these patterns in a satisfying way. Therefore, a partly new and systematized typology of affix types is proposed which takes into consideration the results of diachronic linguistics as well as grammaticalization theory. A grammaticalization path from interfixes to infixes is proposed with regard to the Hočank data but with relevance beyond this individual case.
Abstract
Hočank is a highly endangered Siouan language of Wisconsin and Nebraska which currently is the object of an extensive documentation project at the University of Erfurt, Germany. The paper presents a descriptive investigation of parts of Hočank verb morphology and its implications for morphological theory. Hočank verb morphology – in particular the left side of the verbal complex – reveals cross-linguistically highly unusual and dispreferred patterns which pose a challenge to traditional and contemporaneous morphological theory. Hočank verbs show to some degree systematically a) discontinuous stems, b) stem-internal inflection, and c) inflectional morphology which is morphotactically closer to the verb root than derivational morphology. Diachronically, these patterns derive from the lexicalization of mostly derivational morphology or compounding which eventually led to the entrapment of inflectional prefixes, hence creating interfixes. The traditional notions of infixation and/or interfixation cannot account for these patterns in a satisfying way. Therefore, a partly new and systematized typology of affix types is proposed which takes into consideration the results of diachronic linguistics as well as grammaticalization theory. A grammaticalization path from interfixes to infixes is proposed with regard to the Hočank data but with relevance beyond this individual case.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- A world of many voices: Editors' introduction 1
- Sri Lanka Malay revisited: Genesis and classification 13
- Working Together: The interface between researchers and the native people - The Trumai case 43
- Tense, Aspect and Mood in Awetí verb-paradigms: Analytic and synthetic forms. 67
- Tonogenesis in Southeastern Monguor. 111
- Language, ritual and historical reconstruction: Towards a linguistic, ethnographical and archaeological account of Upper Xingu Society 129
- Endangered Caucasian languages in Georgia: Linguistic parameters of language endangerment 159
- Contact, attrition and shift in two Chaco languages: The cases of Tapiete and Vilela 195
- Tofa language change and terminal generation speakers 243
- Hocank's challenge to morphological theory 271
- A Preliminary study of same-turn self-repair initiation in Wichita conversation 317
- Multimedia analysis in documentation projects: Kinship, interrogatives and reciprocals in ǂ Akhoe Hai ǁ om 355
- Index 371
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- A world of many voices: Editors' introduction 1
- Sri Lanka Malay revisited: Genesis and classification 13
- Working Together: The interface between researchers and the native people - The Trumai case 43
- Tense, Aspect and Mood in Awetí verb-paradigms: Analytic and synthetic forms. 67
- Tonogenesis in Southeastern Monguor. 111
- Language, ritual and historical reconstruction: Towards a linguistic, ethnographical and archaeological account of Upper Xingu Society 129
- Endangered Caucasian languages in Georgia: Linguistic parameters of language endangerment 159
- Contact, attrition and shift in two Chaco languages: The cases of Tapiete and Vilela 195
- Tofa language change and terminal generation speakers 243
- Hocank's challenge to morphological theory 271
- A Preliminary study of same-turn self-repair initiation in Wichita conversation 317
- Multimedia analysis in documentation projects: Kinship, interrogatives and reciprocals in ǂ Akhoe Hai ǁ om 355
- Index 371
