How synchronic is synchronic analysis?
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Nikolai Vakhtin
Abstract
Siberian Yupik (SY) is considered a classical agglutinative polysynthetic language. Linguists often regard agglutination as more cumbersome but structurally less complicated than other morphological types. Consequently, in agglutinative languages, grammatical meanings are expected to be expressed by elements of a single level: standard morphemes. However, agglutinative morphemes occupy different ranks (orders) in the word structure, and display differences in their morphological and morphophonemic behavior. These features can be indicators of different origin and/or different time of origin for morphemes of different classes. Rank (order) analysis turns out to be “too powerful”: while designed to yield synchronic description, it “smuggles in” diachronic information. In this paper, this is illustrated by (1) a brief example of rules of the morphophonemic behavior of SY derivational suffixes, and (2) a more detailed analysis of the structure of the so-called “double tense” forms.
Abstract
Siberian Yupik (SY) is considered a classical agglutinative polysynthetic language. Linguists often regard agglutination as more cumbersome but structurally less complicated than other morphological types. Consequently, in agglutinative languages, grammatical meanings are expected to be expressed by elements of a single level: standard morphemes. However, agglutinative morphemes occupy different ranks (orders) in the word structure, and display differences in their morphological and morphophonemic behavior. These features can be indicators of different origin and/or different time of origin for morphemes of different classes. Rank (order) analysis turns out to be “too powerful”: while designed to yield synchronic description, it “smuggles in” diachronic information. In this paper, this is illustrated by (1) a brief example of rules of the morphophonemic behavior of SY derivational suffixes, and (2) a more detailed analysis of the structure of the so-called “double tense” forms.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
-
Part I. Polysynthesis
- Polysynthesis in the Arctic 3
- Polysynthesis as a typological feature 19
- Analytic vs. synthetic verbal constructions in Chukchi and West Greenlandic 35
- Lexical polysynthesis 51
- How synchronic is synchronic analysis? 65
- Comparative constructions in Central Alaskan Yupik 81
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Part II. Around the verb
- The efficacy of anaphoricity in Aleut 97
- Objective conjugations in Eskaleut and Uralic 115
- Complex verb formation revisited 135
- Determining the semantics of Inuktitut postbases 149
- The marking of past time in Kalaallisut, the Greenlandic language 171
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Part III. Discourses and contacts
- Tracking topics 185
- Arguments and information management in Inuktitut 201
- Space and structure in Greenlandic oral tradition 215
- Grammatical structures in Greenlandic as found in texts written by young Greenlanders at the turn of the millennium 231
- Chat – New rooms for language contact 249
- Seward Peninsula Inupiaq and language contact around Bering Strait 261
- Typological constraints on code mixing in Inuktitut–English bilingual adults 273
- Index of languages 307
- Index of subjects 309
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
-
Part I. Polysynthesis
- Polysynthesis in the Arctic 3
- Polysynthesis as a typological feature 19
- Analytic vs. synthetic verbal constructions in Chukchi and West Greenlandic 35
- Lexical polysynthesis 51
- How synchronic is synchronic analysis? 65
- Comparative constructions in Central Alaskan Yupik 81
-
Part II. Around the verb
- The efficacy of anaphoricity in Aleut 97
- Objective conjugations in Eskaleut and Uralic 115
- Complex verb formation revisited 135
- Determining the semantics of Inuktitut postbases 149
- The marking of past time in Kalaallisut, the Greenlandic language 171
-
Part III. Discourses and contacts
- Tracking topics 185
- Arguments and information management in Inuktitut 201
- Space and structure in Greenlandic oral tradition 215
- Grammatical structures in Greenlandic as found in texts written by young Greenlanders at the turn of the millennium 231
- Chat – New rooms for language contact 249
- Seward Peninsula Inupiaq and language contact around Bering Strait 261
- Typological constraints on code mixing in Inuktitut–English bilingual adults 273
- Index of languages 307
- Index of subjects 309
