Studies in Chadic Morphology and Syntax

Studies in Chadic Morphology and Syntax PDF Author: Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
"The present volume consists of fourteen comparative and descriptive studies dealing with the syntax and morphology of the simple clause in Chadic. Chadic languages are the largest and the most diversified branch of the Afroasiatic family. Among the issues discussed in the volume are the underlying forms of verbs in West Chadic, nominal and verbal plurality, ergative characteristics, coding of grammatical relations in proto-Chadic, double coding of the subject (also known as "intransitive copy pronouns"). Also discussed are the use of verbal extensions in the coding of causative and benefactive, the ventive and the centrifugal, logophoric systems, the interrogative clause, and grammaticalization from preposition to copula. The volume concludes with a discussion of the implications of Chadic for the theory and methodology of diachronic syntax. The studies are of interest to scholars of Afroasiatic languages, African languages, typologists, scholars interested in grammaticalization, diachronic syntax, and structures of grammatical systems."--BOOK JACKET.

Studies in Chadic Morphology and Syntax

Studies in Chadic Morphology and Syntax PDF Author: Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
"The present volume consists of fourteen comparative and descriptive studies dealing with the syntax and morphology of the simple clause in Chadic. Chadic languages are the largest and the most diversified branch of the Afroasiatic family. Among the issues discussed in the volume are the underlying forms of verbs in West Chadic, nominal and verbal plurality, ergative characteristics, coding of grammatical relations in proto-Chadic, double coding of the subject (also known as "intransitive copy pronouns"). Also discussed are the use of verbal extensions in the coding of causative and benefactive, the ventive and the centrifugal, logophoric systems, the interrogative clause, and grammaticalization from preposition to copula. The volume concludes with a discussion of the implications of Chadic for the theory and methodology of diachronic syntax. The studies are of interest to scholars of Afroasiatic languages, African languages, typologists, scholars interested in grammaticalization, diachronic syntax, and structures of grammatical systems."--BOOK JACKET.

Interaction of Morphology and Syntax

Interaction of Morphology and Syntax PDF Author: Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9789027229878
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
The present volume deals with hitherto unexplored issues on the interaction of morphology and syntax. These selected and invited papers mainly concern Cushitic and Chadic languages, the least-described members of the Afroasiatic family. Three papers in the volume explore one or more typological characteristics across an entire language family or branch, while others focus on one or two languages within a family and the implications of their structures for the family, the phylum, or linguistic typology as a whole. The diversity of topics addressed within the present volume reflects the great diversity of language structures and functions within the Afroasiatic phylum.

Motion, Direction and Location in Languages

Motion, Direction and Location in Languages PDF Author: Erin Shay
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027275211
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
This book contributes to an area of study that is of interest to linguists of all backgrounds. Typological in nature this volume presents data analysis from the major language families of Africa as well as Sino-Tibetan, Austronesian, Japanese, Indo-European, Siouan and Penutian. The 16 contributors to the volume share a commitment to examining the language phenomena pertaining to the volume’s theme with a fresh eye. While most of the papers make reference to existing theoretical frameworks, each also makes a novel and sometimes surprising contribution to the body of knowledge and theory concerning motional, directional and locational predicates, complements, morphology, adpositions and other phenomena. This collection of articles suitably complements courses on comparative and diachronic linguistics, semantics, syntax, typology, or field methods.

Interaction of Morphology and Syntax

Interaction of Morphology and Syntax PDF Author: Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027290237
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
The present volume deals with hitherto unexplored issues on the interaction of morphology and syntax. These selected and invited papers mainly concern Cushitic and Chadic languages, the least-described members of the Afroasiatic family. Three papers in the volume explore one or more typological characteristics across an entire language family or branch, while others focus on one or two languages within a family and the implications of their structures for the family, the phylum, or linguistic typology as a whole. The diversity of topics addressed within the present volume reflects the great diversity of language structures and functions within the Afroasiatic phylum.

Current Progress in Chadic Linguistics

Current Progress in Chadic Linguistics PDF Author: Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027235597
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
The volume consists of papers prepared for the International Symposium of Chadic Linguistics (Boulder, Colorado, May 1-2, 1987). Although the papers are representative of the current work being done in the field of Chadic linguistics, they also reflect the current and past interests and methodologies of general linguistics. The papers included in the volume should therefore be of interest to a general linguist as much as to the Chadicist or a specialist in some other Afroasiatic branch. The papers are grouped by the areas of linguistic fields and methodologies. Papers on syntax are followed by papers on morphology, phonology, and methodology of historical reconstruction.

Grammaticalization of the Complex Sentence

Grammaticalization of the Complex Sentence PDF Author: Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027230358
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
The general objective of the study is systematic examination of the processes involved in the formation and evolution of complex sentence constructions in a group of genetically related languages. The Chadic language group, at about 140 languages, constitutes the largest and most diversified branch of the Afroasiatic family. One of the findings of the present work is that languages starting from the same base may develop quite different morphological and syntactic structures. With respect to issues of general linguistic interest, the book deals with motivations for grammaticalization: It is proposed that one of the most important motivations is satisfaction of the principle of well formedness, that is, that every element in an utterance must have its role transparent to the hearer either by inherent lexical properties or by grammatical means. In the present work both aspects of grammaticalization, viz. the emergence of grammatical constructions and the emergence of grammatical morphemes, are given equal weight. In addition to semantic metaphor and metonymy as mechanisms in the processes of grammaticalization, the present work develops the notion of semiotic metonymy, whereby a part of a sign performs the function of the sign. It is shown that semiotic metonymy plays an important role in the grammaticalization of grammatical morphemes and constructions into other morphemes and constructions. The book also shows that unindirectionality is not a governing principle with respect to the development of grammatical morphemes into other grammatical morphemes; rather, there is considerable evidence and theoretical justification for the bidirectionality principle.

A Grammar of Wandala

A Grammar of Wandala PDF Author: Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110218410
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 736

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Book Description
Wandala is a hitherto undescribed Central Chadic language spoken in Northern Cameroon and Northeastern Nigeria. The Grammar of Wandala describes, in a non-aprioristic approach, phonology, morphology, syntax, and all functional domains grammaticalized in the language. The grammatical structure of Wandala is quite different from the structure of other Chadic languages described thus far in both the formal means and the functions that have been grammaticalized. The grammar provides proofs for the postulated hypotheses concerning forms and functions. The grammar is written in a style accessible to linguists working within different theoretical frameworks. The phonology is characterized by a rich consonantal system, a three vowel system, and a two tone system. The language has abundant vowel insertion rules and a vowel harmony system. Vowel deletion marks phrase-internal position, and vowel-insertion marks phrase-final position. The two rules allow the parsing of the clause into constituents. The language has three types of reduplication of verbs, two of which code aspectual and modal distinctions. The negative paradigms of verbs differ from affirmative paradigms in the coding of subject. The pronominal affixes and extensive system of verbal extensions code the grammatical and semantic relations within the clause. Wandala has unusual clausal structure, in that in a pragmatically neutral verbal clause, there is only one nominal argument, either the subject or the object. These arguments can follow a variety of constituents. The grammatical role of that argument is coded by inflectional markers on the verb and most interestingly, on whatever lexical or grammatical morpheme precedes the constituent. The markers of grammatical relations added to verbs are different for different classes of verbs.

Grammaticalization of the Complex Sentence

Grammaticalization of the Complex Sentence PDF Author: Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027281998
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
The general objective of the study is systematic examination of the processes involved in the formation and evolution of complex sentence constructions in a group of genetically related languages. The Chadic language group, at about 140 languages, constitutes the largest and most diversified branch of the Afroasiatic family. One of the findings of the present work is that languages starting from the same base may develop quite different morphological and syntactic structures. With respect to issues of general linguistic interest, the book deals with motivations for grammaticalization: It is proposed that one of the most important motivations is satisfaction of the principle of well formedness, that is, that every element in an utterance must have its role transparent to the hearer either by inherent lexical properties or by grammatical means. In the present work both aspects of grammaticalization, viz. the emergence of grammatical constructions and the emergence of grammatical morphemes, are given equal weight. In addition to semantic metaphor and metonymy as mechanisms in the processes of grammaticalization, the present work develops the notion of semiotic metonymy, whereby a part of a sign performs the function of the sign. It is shown that semiotic metonymy plays an important role in the grammaticalization of grammatical morphemes and constructions into other morphemes and constructions. The book also shows that unindirectionality is not a governing principle with respect to the development of grammatical morphemes into other grammatical morphemes; rather, there is considerable evidence and theoretical justification for the bidirectionality principle.

Studies in Hausa

Studies in Hausa PDF Author: Graham Furniss
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131740615X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
First published in 1988, this book is a landmark in the study of one of the major African languages: Hausa. Hausa is spoken by 40-50 million people, mostly in northern Nigeria, but also in communities stretching from Senegal to the Red Sea. It is a language taught on an international basis at major universities in Nigeria, the USA, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle and Far East, and is probably the best studied African language, boasting an impressive list of research publications. As Nigeria grows in importance, so Hausa becomes a language of international standing. The volume brings together contributions from the major contemporary figures in Hausa language studies from around the world. It contains work on the linguistic description of Hausa, various aspects of Hausa literature, both oral and written, and on the description of the relationship of Hausa to other Chadic languages.

On the Placement and Morphology of Clitics

On the Placement and Morphology of Clitics PDF Author: Aaron Halpern
Publisher: Center for the Study of Language (CSLI)
ISBN: 9781881526605
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Using data from a variety of languages, this book investigates the place of clitics in the theory of language structure, and their implications for the relationships between syntax, morphology and phonology. It is argued that the least powerful theory of language requires us to recognise at least two classes of clitics, one with the syntax of independent phrases and the other with the syntax of inflectional affixes. It is also argued that prosodic conditions may influence the surface position of clitics beyond what may be accomplished by filtering potential syntactic structures. Finally, the relationship between syntactic, morphological, and phonological constituents within wordlike elements is explored.