The efficacy of anaphoricity in Aleut
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Jerrold M. Sadock
Abstract
The unusual inflectional system of Aleut can be understood holistically, as deploying forms, meanings, and forces so as to make efficient use of the contrasts that its limited space of expression types makes available. Indeed, in every natural language, the features of its grammar work together to allow the communication of what needs to be communicated. Every language, I believe, accomplishes a great deal of this work by using the ability of native users of the language to know what else might have been said and how the alternatives would contrast with what is said. All that is unusual about Aleut is that a preconceived idea about how the direct relation between form and meaning works fails more obviously in Aleut than it does in more familiar languages. We expect that definite reference to third persons will always be directly encoded, either in inflection or by means of clitics or independent pronouns. Knut Bergsland, who devoted more time to the study of Aleut than anyone else has, provided convincing evidence that definite reference is not directly coded in Aleut. What is coded is only that there is an additional reference that is “left out as known from context or the situation”. The rest is Saussurean–Gricean holism.
Abstract
The unusual inflectional system of Aleut can be understood holistically, as deploying forms, meanings, and forces so as to make efficient use of the contrasts that its limited space of expression types makes available. Indeed, in every natural language, the features of its grammar work together to allow the communication of what needs to be communicated. Every language, I believe, accomplishes a great deal of this work by using the ability of native users of the language to know what else might have been said and how the alternatives would contrast with what is said. All that is unusual about Aleut is that a preconceived idea about how the direct relation between form and meaning works fails more obviously in Aleut than it does in more familiar languages. We expect that definite reference to third persons will always be directly encoded, either in inflection or by means of clitics or independent pronouns. Knut Bergsland, who devoted more time to the study of Aleut than anyone else has, provided convincing evidence that definite reference is not directly coded in Aleut. What is coded is only that there is an additional reference that is “left out as known from context or the situation”. The rest is Saussurean–Gricean holism.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
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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
