Abstract
Recent studies have argued that proper naming expressions cross-linguistically display distinct morphosyntactic behavior, i.e., naming-specific marking for case, definiteness, number and gender, among other categories. This study aims to contribute to the discussion by analyzing the marking of definiteness and specificity (D-marking) on naming expressions and common nouns from a comparative perspective, drawing on a sample of 50 areally, genetically and typologically diverse languages. The results present little support for D-marking being part of a cross-linguistically special onymic grammar: rather, the data suggest that there are different ways in which splits between common nouns and proper naming or between naming classes can materialize. Moreover, it is argued that the variability in D-marking of naming expressions correlates not just with animacy but with other semantic features as well, only some of which are integrated into the Animacy Hierarchy, including agentivity, individuation, identifiability and augmentation.
Funding source: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
Award Identifier / Grant number: PGC2018-098995-B-I00
Acknowledgments
Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Fontes Linguae Vasconum 50 Years Commemoration Conference on 6 March 2019 in Pamplona/Iruñea, Spain, at the 41st Annual conference of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft on 7 March 2019 at Bremen University, Germany, and at the 13th Conference of the Association for Linguistic Typology on 5 September 2019 at the University of Pavia, Italy. I would like to thank the audiences of these conferences, including Peter Arkadiev, Laura Becker, Lyle Campbell, Martin Haspelmath, Johannes Helmbrecht, Matti Miestamo and Céline Mounole, for their valuable comments. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to Iván Igartua, Patxi Salaberri Zaratiegi, Domingo Adolfo Aguilera Jiménez, Alys Boote Cooper, Sileymane Diallo, Nguyễn Đức Huy, Camilo Enrique Díaz Romero, Natalia Evseeva, Akioud Hassan, Jerome Herrera, Juliette Huber, María Isabel Lara Millapán, Bittorio Lizarraga, Esin Nisa Soyer, Victor Oviamionayi, Álvaro Hugo Salgado, Serdar Salim, the editors and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, corrections and contributions to earlier versions of the paper. Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PGC2018-098995-B-I00) is likewise gratefully acknowledged. Finally, thanks are due to Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH, Damaris Nübling, Fabian Fahlbusch and Rita Heuser for granting permission to reprint Table 1. Any remaining errors are the author’s sole responsibility.
- Non-standard Abbreviations
- 3ii
Third-person bound pronoun expressing the undergoer argument or possessor with a distinct reference from the actor argument in the same clause
- ag
agentive affix
- cn
common noun
- cnj
conjunction
- dm
D-marker
- dtp
definite tone pattern
- dynm
dynamic
- evid
evidential
- fact
factitive
- irls
rrealis
- ix
gender nine agreement prefix
- link
linking element
- ntp
non-definite tone pattern
- cpn
complex proper naming
- spn
simple proper naming
- per
personal-factual evidential
- reprt
reportative
- rls
realis
- seq
sequential
- sub
subordinator
- todp
today past
- vrbl
verbalizer
References
Ackermann, Tanja. 2018. Grammatik der Namen im Wandel: Diachrone Morphosyntax der Personennamen im Deutschen. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110600865Search in Google Scholar
Ahland, Michael B.2012. A grammar of Northern Mao (Màwés Aas’è). Eugene: University of Oregon dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Anderson, John M. 2003. On the structure of names. Folia Linguistica 37(3/4). 347–398. https://doi.org/10.1515/flin.2003.37.3-4.347.Search in Google Scholar
Anderson, John M. 2004. On the grammatical status of names. Language 80(3). 435–474. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2004.0108.Search in Google Scholar
Anderson, John M. 2007. The grammar of names. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199297412.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Anderson, John M. 2015. Names. In John R. Taylor (ed.), The Oxford handbook of the word, 599–615. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.2307/j.ctv1kwxf5r.21Search in Google Scholar
Bakker, Peter. 1997. A language of our own: The genesis of Michif, the mixed Cree-French language of the Canadian Métis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1075/cll.17.12bakSearch in Google Scholar
Bauer, Winifred. 1993. Maori. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Becker, Laura. 2018. Articles in the world’s languages. Leipzig: Leipzig University dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Biggs, Bruce. 2013. Let’s learn Maori. Auckland: Auckland University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Broschart, Jürgen. 1991. Noun, verb, and participation (a typology of the noun/verb-distinction). In Hansjakob Seiler & Waldfried Premper (eds.), Partizipation: Das sprachliche Erfassen von Sachverhalten, 65–137. Tübingen: Narr.Search in Google Scholar
Campbell, Lyle. 1985. The Pipil language of El Salvador. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110881998Search in Google Scholar
Caruana, Sandro. 2011. English in Malta: From colonialism to heritage, from social differences to opportunity. In Marinela Burada (ed.), Allotropes of differences in contemporary discourse: Proceedings of the Ninth Conference on British and American Studies, 25–38. Braşov: Transylvania University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Coates, Richard A. 2006. Properhood. Language 82(2). 356–382. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2006.0084.Search in Google Scholar
Croft, William. 1988. Agreement vs. case marking and direct objects. In Michael Barlow & Charles, A. Ferguson (eds.), Agreement in natural language: Approaches, theories, descriptions, 159–179. Stanford: Stanford University.Search in Google Scholar
Croft, William. 1990. Typology and universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Cruse, Alan D. 1973. Some thoughts on agentivity. Journal of Linguistics 9(1). 11–23. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226700003509.Search in Google Scholar
Dahl, Östen & Maria Koptjevskaja-Tamm. 2001. Kinship in grammar. In Irène Baron, Michael Herslund & Finn, Sørensen (eds.), Dimensions of possession, 201–226. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/tsl.47.12dahSearch in Google Scholar
de Mello, George. 1992. El artículo definido con nombre propio de persona en el español hablado culto contemporáneo. Studia Neophilologica 64. 221–234. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393279208588100.Search in Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M. W. 1988. A grammar of Boumaa Fijian. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar
Dryer, Matthew S. 2013. Definite articles. In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. https://wals.info/chapter/37, accessed on 10 November 2018).Search in Google Scholar
Eachus, Francis & Ruth Carlson. 1980. Aprendamos kekchi: Gramática pedagógica popular de kekchí. Guatemala City: Summer Institute of Linguistics.Search in Google Scholar
Epps, Patience. 2008. A grammar of Hup. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110199079Search in Google Scholar
Fortescue, Michael D. 1984. West Greenlandic. London: Croom Helm.Search in Google Scholar
Goldstein, Melvyn C. 1991. Essentials of Modern Literary Tibetan: A reading course and reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.10.1525/9780520911840Search in Google Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1978. How does a language acquire gender markers? In Joseph H. Greenberg, Charles A. Ferguson & Edith Moravcsik (eds.), Universals of human language, vol. 3: Word structure, 47–82. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Guerreiro, Yandira. 2015. Lengua indígena yaruro: Una gramática tipológica-referencial. Córdoba: University of Córdoba dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Handschuh, Corinna. 2017. Nominal category marking on personal names: A typological study of case and definiteness. Folia Linguistica 51(2). 483–504. https://doi.org/10.1515/flin-2017-0017.Search in Google Scholar
Hawkins, John A. 1978. Definiteness and indefiniteness: A study in reference and grammaticality prediction. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. 1997. Deiktikon, Artikel, Nominalphrase: Zur Emergenz syntaktischer Struktur. Tübingen: Niemeyer.10.1515/9783110929621Search in Google Scholar
Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. 2001. Articles. In Martin Haspelmath, Ekkehard König, Wulf Oesterreicher & Wolfgang Raible (eds.), Language typology and language universals: An international handbook, vol. 1, 831–841. Berlin: De Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar
Hoekstra, Jarich. 2010. Die Kasusmarkierung von Eigennamen im Festlandnordfriesischen und in anderen westgermanischen Dialekten. In Antje Dammel, Sebastian Kürschner & Damaris Nübling (eds.), Kontrastive germanistische Linguistik, vol. 2, 749–779. Hildesheim:Olms.Search in Google Scholar
Huddleston, Rodney D. & Geoffrey K. Pullum. 2002. The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781316423530Search in Google Scholar
Kallfell, Guido. 2010. Grammatik des Jopara: Gesprochenes Guaraní und Spanisch in Paraguay, ch. 3: Die Diathesen im Jopara, 183–235. Münster: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.Search in Google Scholar
King, Alan R. 2014. Curso de gramática náhuat, basado en el texto del Yankwik Sentaketzat. San Salvador: Ne Bibliaj Tik Nawat.Search in Google Scholar
Kratochvíl, František. 2007. A grammar of Abui: A Papuan language of Alor. Leiden: Universiteit Leiden dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Lima, Suzi. 2014. The grammar of individuation and counting. Amherst: University of Massachussets dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Longobardi, Giuseppe. 2005. Toward a unified grammar of reference. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 24. 5–44. https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsw.2005.24.1.5.Search in Google Scholar
Loughnane, Robyn. 2009. A grammar of Oksapmin. Melbourne: University of Melbourne dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Lyons, Christopher. 1999. Definiteness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511605789Search in Google Scholar
McGrath, Donovan & Lutz Marten. 2003. Colloquial Swahili: The complete course for beginners. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Mpiranya, Fidèle. 2015. Swahili grammar and workbook. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315750699Search in Google Scholar
Muchnik, Malka. 2017. Personal names in Modern Hebrew: A morphosyntactic and gender analysis. Folia Linguistica 51(2). 369–390. https://doi.org/10.1515/flin-2017-0013.Search in Google Scholar
Nübling, Damaris, Fabian Fahlbusch & Rita Heuser. 2015. Namen: Eine Einführung in die Onomastik. Tübingen: Narr.Search in Google Scholar
Oliveira, Christiane C. 2005. The language of the Apinajé people of Central Brazil. Eugene: University of Oregon dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Pensalfini, Robert J. 2001. Part of speech mismatches in modular grammar: New evidence from Jingulu. In Pierre Rica (ed.), Linguistic variation yearbook, vol. 1, 209–227. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/livy.1.09penSearch in Google Scholar
Plank, Frans. 2007. How crosslinguistically variable is the lexicon and grammar of naming? Paper read at the symposium ‘Nouns cross-linguistically’ in Campobasso, Italy, 22–23 June 2007.Search in Google Scholar
Ramírez, Genaro. 2004. Naja ni Genaro: Ne Nawat yultuk [I am Genaro: Nawat is alive], ch. 1: Tamachtiani Genaro [Master Genaro]. 5–16. Izcalco: Iniciativa para la Recuperación del Idioma Náhuat.Search in Google Scholar
Rice, Keren. 1989. A grammar of Slave. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110861822Search in Google Scholar
Rijkhoff, Jan & Dik Bakker. 1998. Language sampling. Linguistic Typology 2(3). 263–314. https://doi.org/10.1515/lity.1998.2.3.263.Search in Google Scholar
Rijkhoff, Jan, Dik Bakker, Kees Hengeveld & Peter Kahrel. 1993. A method of language sampling. Studies in Language 17(1). 169–203. https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.17.1.07rij.Search in Google Scholar
Room, Adrian. 1996. An alphabetical guide to the language of name studies. Lanham: Scarecrow Press.Search in Google Scholar
Rounds, Carol. 2009. Hungarian: An essential grammar. 2nd edn.London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203886199Search in Google Scholar
Ruhlen, Merritt. 1987. A guide to the world's languages, vol. 1: Classification., London: Arnold.10.1515/9781503621336Search in Google Scholar
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen. 1993. Das Nomen – eine universale Kategorie? STUF – Language Typology and Universals 46(3). 187–221. https://doi.org/10.1524/stuf.1993.46.14.187.Search in Google Scholar
Schlücker, Barbara & Tanja Ackermann. 2017. The morphosyntax of proper names: An overview. Folia Linguistica 51(2). 309–339. https://doi.org/10.1515/flin-2017-0011.Search in Google Scholar
Stewart, Stephen O. 2016. Nueva gramática q’eqchi’. Boulder: University of Colorado dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Stolz, Thomas, Sander, Lestrade & Christel Stolz. 2014. The crosslinguistics of zero-marking of spatial relations. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1524/9783050065304Search in Google Scholar
Stolz, Thomas, Nataliya Levkovych & Aina Urdze. 2017a. Die Grammatik der Toponyme als typologisches Forschungsfeld: Eine Pilotstudie. In Johannes Helmbrecht, Damaris Nübling & Barbara Schlücker (eds.), Namengrammatik, 121–146. Hamburg: Buske.Search in Google Scholar
Stolz, Thomas, Nataliya Levkovych & Aina Urdze. 2017b. When zero is just not enough … In support of a Special Toponymic Grammar in Maltese. Folia Linguistica 51(2). 453–482. https://doi.org/10.1515/flin-2017-0016.Search in Google Scholar
Törkenczy, Miklós. 2002. Practical Hungarian grammar. Budapest: Corvina.Search in Google Scholar
Tsunoda, Tasaku. 2011. A grammar of Warrongo. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110238778Search in Google Scholar
Van Langendonck, Willy. 1981. On the theory of proper names. In Kazimierz Rymut (ed.), Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, vol. 1, 63–78. Wrocław: Polish Academy of Sciences.Search in Google Scholar
Van Langendonck, Willy. 1998. A typological approach to place-name categories. In Wilhelm F. H. Nicolaisen (ed.), Proceedings of the Nineteenth International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, 342–348. Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen.Search in Google Scholar
Van Langendonck, Willy. 2007. Theory and typology of proper names. Berlin: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110197853Search in Google Scholar
Van Langendonck, Willy & Mark Van de Velde. 2009. The functions of (in)definiteness markers with proper names. In Wolfgang Ahrens, Sheila Emberton & André Lapierre (eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-third International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, 1005–1011. Toronto: York University.Search in Google Scholar
Supplementary material
The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/flin-2020-2040).
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Predicative possession across Western Iranian languages
- Nasality in Dagbani prosody
- Variable D-marking on proper naming expressions: A typological study
- Dogon reported discourse markers: The Ben Tey quotative topicalizer
- Spanish [auto + V + se] constructions
- Datives with psych nouns and adjectives in Basque
- Folklore as an evidential category
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Predicative possession across Western Iranian languages
- Nasality in Dagbani prosody
- Variable D-marking on proper naming expressions: A typological study
- Dogon reported discourse markers: The Ben Tey quotative topicalizer
- Spanish [auto + V + se] constructions
- Datives with psych nouns and adjectives in Basque
- Folklore as an evidential category