Volume 62, Issue 5

Both areal and phylogenetic affiliation have been discussed as driving factors of the distribution of word order in the languages of the world. However, disentangling the interaction of these two factors is challenging. Here we take Indo-European as a test case. Word order in this family is largely homogeneous both within areas and within branches, which makes it difficult to assess which factor was more important in shaping the present-day distribution. To break out of this impasse we turn to corpus data and explicit statistical modeling. Building on a parallel corpus of movie subtitles, we investigate word order on the sentence level under stable pragmatic conditions. We measure the similarity of word order variation between pairs of languages with an information-theoretic distance metric. Using cluster analysis and variation partitioning methods these distance metrics show that phylogenetic distance predicts more variation than geographical distance, but the most important predictor is the shared fraction where phylogeny and area overlap. We conclude that word order has evolved along both dimensions and cannot be reduced to a single one.

Quantitative studies of V2 in Medieval French have produced diverging results with respect to the rate of use of V2 and the informational value of the initial XP. These divergences are hypothesized to relate to the register of investigated texts. The hypothesis is verified by the systematic analysis of unambiguous V2 (with an expressed post-verbal subject) with respect to rates of use and informational value of XPs in three register-differentiated Anglo-Norman prose legal texts from the 1260–1300 period. On rates, unambiguous V2 is three times more frequent in the most formal, legal treatise text than it is in the less formal, court dialogues. On informational value, indications are provided that the XP tends to have a Focus value more often in more formal texts. Register thus impacts the behavior of unambiguous V2 configurations in Medieval French; using data less remote from the primary competence of speakers helps in approaching the effective curve of change.

This article addresses the problem of vowel-generated glides in Kurpian. In general, glides come from two sources: Gliding and Glide Insertion, for instance, word-initial /#iVC/ → [jVC] and /#iC/ → [jiC], where V stands for a vowel and C for a consonant. Even though Gliding and Glide Insertion are different phonological operations, they are united by a single goal: to eliminate onsetless syllables because a glide, regardless of whether it comes from a vowel or from insertion, provides an onset to a syllable. Onset -driven effects are particularly rich in Kurpian because they involve all kinds of vowels, including /a/ but not /ɛ/, a situation that has not been noted in the past research on crosslinguistic typologies (Levi, Susannah V. 2004. The representation of underlying glides: A cross-linguistic study . Seattle, WA: University of Washington dissertation, Levi, Susannah V. 2008. Phonemic vs. derived glides. Lingua 118. 1956–1978; Rosenthall, Sam. 1994. Vowel/glide alternation in a theory of constraint interaction . Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts dissertation; Sands, Kathy. 2004. Patternings of vocalic sequences in the world’s languages . Santa Barbara, CA: University of California, Santa Barbra dissertation). Further, glides are found both word-medially and word-initially. In this regard, Kurpian is different from Standard Polish, which tolerates both hiatus and word-initial onsetless syllables. It is argued that the constraint interaction required cannot be accounted for in classic Optimality Theory (OT). The solution is to adopt Derivational OT.

This article offers a case study of a definiteness split in a language in which three different types of nominal expressions are available for definite descriptions. The article contributes ample empirical data and comprises a close investigation of the patterns found in Reunion Creole ( Réyoné ), the language under study. Réyoné displays one kind of contrast also found in other languages which is frequently analyzed in terms of semantic versus pragmatic definiteness (following Löbner) or uniqueness versus familiarity (following Schwarz). What sets Réyoné apart from other languages though, is that it features a determiner that is dedicated to functional concepts. The language thereby distinguishes individual from functional concepts: the former type ( the sun ; the News ) is exclusively expressed by bare noun phrases, while functional concepts – definite descriptions with functional head nouns ( prefect of y; head of y), including a subtype of bridging reference, as well as compositionally created functional relations such as superlatives – are realized by lo -marked noun phrases. These facts offer strong support for Löbner’s theory. The article also discusses demonstrative descriptions, which have already been reported to play a role in certain definiteness splits, and which are obligatory with sortal concepts in Réyoné. It is argued that demonstratives are pragmatic definites.

This paper explores variation in the patterns of reflexivity marking in the Mano language and possible influence from the Kpelle language by using an experimental design with a picture questionnaire. While Kpelle does not have a morphological distinction between reflexive and basic pronouns, the Mano variety spoken by Mano-dominant individuals does possess such a distinction in 3sg. In contrast, the Mano variety spoken by Kpelle-dominant individuals shows a pattern borrowing from Kpelle into Mano, whereby the basic pronoun is used for both coreferential and disjoint readings. In a bilingual village, however, despite daily usage of both languages, almost all speakers from our sample manifest a uniform pattern that aligns closely with the monolingual Mano pattern of reflexivity marking. Therefore, the intensity of contact alone does not predict the amount of influence of Kpelle on Mano. Contrary to predictions by Labov (2010.  Principles of linguistic change. Volume 3, Cognitive and cultural factors . Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell: 5), we conclude that the languages spoken in a multilingual speech community do not necessarily converge and that a balanced multilingual community may provide enough input to acquire monolingual-like competence, at least according to the specific parameter under investigation. In the long run, however, convergence between Mano and Kpelle could indeed be taking place, with Mano losing its reflexivity contrasts, having already lost the contrast in 3pl.

In French, Italian, and other Romance languages indefinite nominal phrases can be introduced by what appears to be the conflation of a genitive preposition and a definite article, the so-called “indefinite partitive articles” (e.g., Fr. Je cuisine de la soupe depuis deux jours . ‘I’ve been cooking soup for two days’). This is rather unexpected, since these nominal phrases are neither definite nor in a syntactic position in which we expect to find a genitive preposition. This led part of the literature to consider them as built by lexical items synchronically distinct from the genitive preposition/definite article but homophonous with them. This contribution shows how a constituent-based approach to the lexicon-syntax interface as nanosyntax, paired with a specific take on the sequence of syntactic functions, can capture their apparently conflicting distribution without stipulating multiple homophonous lexical items. The key factor in this proposal is a revised analysis of the Romance lexical item (LI) for (i) definite articles – linked to a constituent containing not only features of definiteness but also lower indefinite features and higher nominative/accusative case features – and (ii) the genitive preposition DE  – linked to a constituent containing not only genitive features but also lower nominative/accusative features. Holding these LIs crosslinguistically stable, the variation attested in this domain is modeled as depending on the amount of functional structure lexicalized by the nominal root in the different languages.

Analyzing the diachrony of Hebrew bein , originally a spatial preposition ‘within/among’, this article traces several grammaticization clines associated with bein ’s gradual evolution into a rich variety of functions within various constructions. While its early function is purely locative, bein later participates in an array of constructions and sub-constructions, where its syntactic status, its semantic meanings and functions, as well as its discourse role, have shifted considerably. Bein may thus be part of a conjunctive or a disjunctive construction, but it may also be part of an ‘in any case’ adverbial, and later an ‘anyway’ discourse marker. It conveys different locative construals (‘within’, ‘among’ and ‘between’), but also various abstract symmetric relations, such as ‘difference’, ‘dispute’ and ‘separation’. Some bein constructions partition a set, focusing on a subset of it, while in other cases bein serves as an ‘all-purpose’ preposition. Nevertheless, our goal is to show how each grammatical, semantic and discoursal phase is well motivated, given the previous phase. Based on written historical corpora, from Biblical to contemporary Hebrew, we provide a step-by-step diachronic development from earlier to later bein functions.