The morphosyntax of (going) home in typological perspective
-
Julia Nintemann
Abstract
The paper explores how the concept of home in Goal constructions is expressed in comparison to common nouns (comms) and toponyms (topos) in a sample of one hundred languages world-wide. In previous studies, it has already been shown that topos in spatial constructions are more often zero-marked or bear a shorter marker than comms in the same role. Furthermore, it has been found that some languages have a small set of certain nouns that receive special treatment similar to topos, ‘one’s house’ commonly being one of them. Based on these findings, the strategies used to express the movement home are evaluated and set in relation to comms and topos both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Acknowledgements
The research for this paper has been conducted within the research project Morphosyntaktische Typologie der Toponyme/Morphosyntactic typology of toponyms (TypTop) (STO 186/2731) financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). A first version of this paper was presented at the Vielfaltslinguistik 6 on June 14, 2024 at the University of Graz. I thank Thomas Stolz for piquing my interest in the research on spatial relations and the grammar of names as well as his continuous support and his comments on the first draft of this paper. My thanks also go to Nataliya Levkovych for providing me with data for Ukrainian and Hebrew and some input for Italian, and to Maike Vorholt who served as my source for Maltese. Both of them also deserve my thanks for reviewing the first draft of this paper. For providing me with data on Welsh, I thank Deborah Arbes and Lynne Davies, while I have to thank Valeria Perchio for my better understanding of Italian. Kevin Behrens deserves to be mentioned for his valuable comments both in terms of content and form. Lastly, I thank all of the discussants at the Vielfaltslinguistik 6 in Graz for their feedback and input. All remaining errors are my own.
Abbreviations
- →
-
acting (on)
- 1, 2, 3
-
1st, 2nd, 3rd person
- a
-
actor
- abl
-
ablative
- acc
-
accusative
- act
-
active
- add
-
additive focus
- adjz
-
adjectivizer
- adv
-
adverb
- aff
-
affectionate
- all
-
allative
- ana
-
anaphoric
- art
-
article
- assert
-
assertive
- aux
-
auxiliary
- b, d, i, ii, iii, iv, v
-
gender (agreement) marker
- bg
-
background
- caus
-
causative
- cert
-
certainty
- cf
-
counterfactual
- cnj
-
conjunctive
- cntr
-
contrastive focus
- coll
-
collective
- com
-
comitative
- comm
-
common noun
- compl
-
completive
- cond
-
conditional
- cont
-
continuative
- cont.dir
-
container directional
- coref
-
coreferential possessive
- crel
-
correlative
- csvn
-
completive subjective verbal noun
- ct
-
contessive
- cvtemp
-
temporal converb
- cyc
-
cyclic
- dec
-
declarative
- def
-
definite
- des
-
desiderative
- det
-
determiner
- dir
-
directional
- dp
-
demonstrative pronoun
- dpm
-
differential place marking
- emph
-
emphasis
- ext
-
extended
- F
-
falling tone
- f
-
feminine
- foc
-
focus
- fut
-
future
- gen
-
genitive
- H
-
high tone
- hab
-
habitual
- HL
-
high-low tone
- hum
-
human
- i.fut
-
immediate future
- i.pst
-
immediate past
- ifr
-
inferential
- inan
-
inanimate
- ind
-
indicative
- indef
-
indefinite
- inf
-
infinitive
- inst
-
instrumental
- int
-
interrogative
- io
-
indirect object
- ipfv
-
imperfective
- irr
-
irrealis
- L
-
low tone
- lnk
-
linker
- loc
-
locative
- m
-
masculine
- med
-
medial
- mid
-
middle
- min
-
minimal
- n
-
neuter
- ncert
-
non-certainty
- neg
-
negative
- nf
-
non-finite
- nmlz
-
nominalizer
- nom
-
nominative
- nonh
-
non-human
- npst
-
non-past
- nrld
-
non-realized
- nsg
-
non-singular
- ntrl
-
neutral orientation
- obl
-
oblique
- pass
-
passive
- perf
-
perfective aspect
- pl
-
plural
- poss
-
possessive
- PostP
-
postposition
- pp
-
prepositional phrase
- prf
-
perfect
- pro
-
pronoun
- prox
-
proximal
- prs
-
present
- prstv
-
presentative
- pst
-
past
- ptcpl
-
participle
- qual
-
qualitative predication
- re
-
iterative/restorative
- real
-
realis mood
- refl
-
reflexive
- rel
-
relative pronoun
- reslt
-
resultative
- SAG
-
Special Anthroponymic Grammar
- sb
-
subordinate
- sbj
-
subject
- seq
-
sequential converb
- sfp
-
sentence-final particle
- sg
-
singular
- sou
-
source
- STG
-
Special Toponymic Grammar
- topo
-
toponym
- topo-n
-
topo-noun
- tr
-
transitive
- tv
-
theme vowel
- u
-
undergoer
- ven
-
venitive
- vert
-
vertitive
- voc
-
vocative
- wp
-
witnessed past tense
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Supplementary Material
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at (https://doi.org/10.1515/stuf-2025-2012).
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Preface
- Research Articles
- Familiarity-based splits in the grammar of toponyms
- Cross-linguistic comparison of agreement verbs in sign languages, their inventory sizes and motivation for verb class affiliation
- Italian loan conjunctions in the alloglottic non-Romance languages of Italy
- The morphosyntax of (going) home in typological perspective
- Maltese prepositions in coordinating constructions: a corpus-based overview
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Preface
- Research Articles
- Familiarity-based splits in the grammar of toponyms
- Cross-linguistic comparison of agreement verbs in sign languages, their inventory sizes and motivation for verb class affiliation
- Italian loan conjunctions in the alloglottic non-Romance languages of Italy
- The morphosyntax of (going) home in typological perspective
- Maltese prepositions in coordinating constructions: a corpus-based overview
