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Survival in a niche. On gender-copy in Chamorro (and sundry languages)

  • Thomas Stolz
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Morphologies in Contact
This chapter is in the book Morphologies in Contact

Abstract

This study looks at an especially interesting case of gender-copy. The Austronesian language Chamorro has undergone heavy influence from Spanish which manifests itself among other things in massive lexical borrowing. Several thousands of Spanish nouns and adjectives have become part of the lexicon of contemporary Chamorro. A sizable proportion of the Spanish loans are overtly marked for gender (masculine/feminine) – a distinction previously alien to the grammatical system of Chamorro. The integration of gender-marked nouns and gender-sensitive adjectives from Spanish has established gender agreement in Chamorro. The characteristic properties of grammatical gender in its Chamorro variant are discussed on the basis of original language data from present-day literary/written Chamorro. The findings are compared summarily to a selection of other cases of gender-copy.

Abstract

This study looks at an especially interesting case of gender-copy. The Austronesian language Chamorro has undergone heavy influence from Spanish which manifests itself among other things in massive lexical borrowing. Several thousands of Spanish nouns and adjectives have become part of the lexicon of contemporary Chamorro. A sizable proportion of the Spanish loans are overtly marked for gender (masculine/feminine) – a distinction previously alien to the grammatical system of Chamorro. The integration of gender-marked nouns and gender-sensitive adjectives from Spanish has established gender agreement in Chamorro. The characteristic properties of grammatical gender in its Chamorro variant are discussed on the basis of original language data from present-day literary/written Chamorro. The findings are compared summarily to a selection of other cases of gender-copy.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter 1
  2. Preface 9
  3. Part I: Amerindia
  4. Part I: Amerindia
  5. Morphologies in contact: form, meaning, and use in the grammar of reference 13
  6. Part I: Amerindia
  7. Borrowing of a Cariban number marker into three Tupi-Guarani languages 37
  8. Part I: Amerindia
  9. Spanish diminutive markers -ito/-ita in Mesoamerican languages: a challenge for acceptance of gender distinction 71
  10. Part II: Austronesia
  11. Part II: Austronesia
  12. Survival in a niche. On gender-copy in Chamorro (and sundry languages) 91
  13. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  14. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  15. Verb morphologies in contact: evidence from the Balkan area* 141
  16. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  17. Romani in contact with Bulgarian and Greek: replication in verbal morphology 163
  18. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  19. Morphology in language contact: verbal loanblend formation in Asia Minor Greek (Aivaliot)* 177
  20. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  21. Mood meets mood: Turkic versus Indo-European 195
  22. Part IV: Romance
  23. Part IV: Romance
  24. Contact-induced change in personal pronouns: some Romance examples* 205
  25. Part IV: Romance
  26. The influence of loanwords on Sardinian word formation 227
  27. Part IV: Romance
  28. Swinging back the pendulum: French morphology and de-Italianization in Piedmontese 247
  29. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  30. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  31. Contact phenomena in the Slavic of Molise: some remarks about nouns and prepositional phrases* 263
  32. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  33. Language contact, language decay and morphological change: evidence from the speech of Czech immigrants in Paraguay* 283
  34. Part VI: Africa
  35. Part VI: Africa
  36. Roots and patterns in Beja (Cushitic): the issue of language contact with Arabic 309
  37. Part VI: Africa
  38. Back Matter 327
https://doi.org/10.1524/9783050057699.91

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter 1
  2. Preface 9
  3. Part I: Amerindia
  4. Part I: Amerindia
  5. Morphologies in contact: form, meaning, and use in the grammar of reference 13
  6. Part I: Amerindia
  7. Borrowing of a Cariban number marker into three Tupi-Guarani languages 37
  8. Part I: Amerindia
  9. Spanish diminutive markers -ito/-ita in Mesoamerican languages: a challenge for acceptance of gender distinction 71
  10. Part II: Austronesia
  11. Part II: Austronesia
  12. Survival in a niche. On gender-copy in Chamorro (and sundry languages) 91
  13. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  14. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  15. Verb morphologies in contact: evidence from the Balkan area* 141
  16. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  17. Romani in contact with Bulgarian and Greek: replication in verbal morphology 163
  18. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  19. Morphology in language contact: verbal loanblend formation in Asia Minor Greek (Aivaliot)* 177
  20. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  21. Mood meets mood: Turkic versus Indo-European 195
  22. Part IV: Romance
  23. Part IV: Romance
  24. Contact-induced change in personal pronouns: some Romance examples* 205
  25. Part IV: Romance
  26. The influence of loanwords on Sardinian word formation 227
  27. Part IV: Romance
  28. Swinging back the pendulum: French morphology and de-Italianization in Piedmontese 247
  29. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  30. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  31. Contact phenomena in the Slavic of Molise: some remarks about nouns and prepositional phrases* 263
  32. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  33. Language contact, language decay and morphological change: evidence from the speech of Czech immigrants in Paraguay* 283
  34. Part VI: Africa
  35. Part VI: Africa
  36. Roots and patterns in Beja (Cushitic): the issue of language contact with Arabic 309
  37. Part VI: Africa
  38. Back Matter 327
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