Published by De Gruyter Mouton

Volume 53 Issue s40-s2 - Historica

Issue of Folia Linguistica

Contents
Journal Overview

Publicly Available November 15, 2019

Main Articles

November 12, 2019

Using character N-grams to explorediachronic change in medieval English

Kevin Buckley, Carl Vogel

Page range: 249-299

Abstract

This paper applies character N-grams to the study of diachronic linguistic variation in a historical language. The period selected for this initial exploratory study is medieval English, a well-studied period of great linguistic variation and language contact, whereby the efficacy of computational techniques can be examined through comparison to the wealth of thorough scholarship on medieval linguistic variation. Frequency profiles of character N-gram features were generated for several epochs in the history of English and a measure of language distance was employed to quantify the similarity between English at different stages in its history. Through this a quantification of internal change in English was achieved. Furthermore similarity between English and other medieval languages across time was measured allowing for a measurement of the well-known period of contact between English and Anglo-Norman French. This methodology is compared to traditional lexicostatistical methods and shown to be able to derive the same patterns as those derived from expert-created feature lists (i.e. Swadesh lists). The use of character N-gram profiles proved to be a flexible and useful method to study diachronic variation, allowing for the highlighting of relevant features of change. This method may be a complement to traditional qualitative examinations.

November 12, 2019

The diachrony of velar coronalization in Mojeño (Arawakan)

Fernando O. de Carvalho

Page range: 301-322

Abstract

The goals of the present paper are: to improve the reconstruction of Proto-Mojeño (PM) by reconstructing a synchronic morphophonological alternation; to provide a clearer picture of the relations between PM and some of its closest relatives and to better understand the historical development of the Trinitario dialect, arguably the least conservative of the attested varieties of Mojeño. I show here that an antecedent stage of PM, Pre-PM, was subject to a contextual merger (primary split or split-merger) of *k and *s , yielding a morphophonological alternation *k ~ *s in PM. Apparent exceptions to the Pre-PM change *k>s provide evidence for the reconstruction of a non-palatalizing contextual vowel, possibly *ɨ , that was merged with *i in PM and with e in Terena, possibly PM’s closest relative. A preliminary comparison of certain verb stem formatives and deverbal nominalizers in PM and Terena is also presented. Finally, I show that a context-dependent development involving k in the Trinitario dialect, this time a secondary split yielding the fricative ç , resulted in alternations k ~ ç , thus creating a second, diachronically separable layer of palatalization/coronalization in the phonology of Trinitario.

November 12, 2019

Prosodic change and the (apparent) irregularities in the development of segments

Eugen Hill

Page range: 323-353

Abstract

According to the so-called Prosodic Change Hypothesis, sound change may be irregular if it is caused by a change in prosodic features of units to which the relevant segments belong. This theoretically not implausible hypothesis may provide an explanation for the well-known fact that some instances of sound change display what appears to be unexplainable exceptions. The present paper investigates the question of what kind of data can be used to verify the Prosodic Change Hypothesis. The paper establishes criteria which should be applied to potential evidence and demonstrates that, at present, the Prosodic Change Hypothesis has not yet been confirmed by reference to actual instances of sound change.

November 12, 2019

From Athenian fleet to prophetic eschatology. Correlating formal features to themes of discourse in Ancient Greek

Georgios Ioannou

Page range: 355-400

Abstract

This is a diachronic corpus-based semantic analysis of the verb plēróō in Ancient Greek, from 6th c. BCE to the 2nd c. ce . Adopting the usage-based profile approach, it inquiries into the relation between formal features and themes of discourse, following the methodological consequences of two theoretical assumptions: first, that textual themes have a prototypical structure. Second, that formal features as a conceptual schematicity underlying the elaborated and situated level of discourse are immanent to these themes. Methodologically, it implements a Multiple Correspondence Analysis for each century, exploring the contribution of the formal and a fine-grained range of semantic features to the variation, as well as the strength of association between them. In order to test the plausibility of the immanence hypothesis, the analysis implements a Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering for the totality of data over the eight-century period, comparing the results of the latter with the individual MCA analyses.

November 12, 2019

Fine details of a larger picture: Proto-Sakishima au and ao diphthongs

Aleksandra Jarosz

Page range: 401-437

Abstract

Using comparative evidence from the three Sakishima (South Ryukyuan) languages, Miyakoan, Yaeyaman and Dunan, this paper postulates a reconstruction of two Proto-Sakishima *a-initial diphthongs, *ao and *au , and argues that this distinction was carried over to Proto-Miyakoan and Proto-Yaeyaman. The number of vocabulary items traceable to Proto-Sakishima *au is scarce and almost exclusively involves morphologically complex forms, mostly verbs, making the *ao and *au distinction one easy to omit or disregard as random sound change irregularities. Furthermore, most of the modern Sakishima regiolects have lost the distinction between *ao and *au , Tarama-Miyakoan being the only one that consistently maintains the original distinction in all relevant areas of vocabulary and not just verbs, reflecting *ao as /au/ or /oː/ and *au as /uː/. Positing Proto-Sakishima *ao and *au in accordance with the Tarama reflexes begets new insights concerning the * o > * u raising in Sakishima as well as in Ryukyuan in general, thus confirming the slow gradualness of the process and hinting at the chronology of the changes related to this raising. It also reveals a number of specifics concerning the diachrony of Sakishima verb systems, especially the development of conclusive verb forms, thus explaining the apparent discrepancy in *au and *ao reflexes in the regiolects of Miyako and Yaeyama.

November 12, 2019

Standard negation in Awa Pit: From synchrony to diachrony

Olga Krasnoukhova, Johan van der Auwera

Page range: 439-474

Abstract

This study deals with clausal negation in Awa Pit, a Barbacoan language spoken in South America. By bringing together the data on negation from different varieties of the language, we present an analysis of synchronic patterns of negation marking. Based on the variation we suggest a number of innovations in the negation system, for which we put forward diachronic scenarios. Some innovations are likely to be contact-induced, whereas others are products of language-internal diachronic processes. The latter involve mechanisms associated with a classical ‘Jespersen Cycle’. However, Awa Pit offers us very non-classical Jespersen’s Cycles – at best. The case of Awa Pit is instructive as some of the scenarios that we suggest are likely to be relevant for other languages or languages families.

November 12, 2019

Parentheticals revisited: The case of Dutch denken

Jan Nuyts, Karolien Janssens

Page range: 475-508

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation into the diachrony of the parenthetical uses of the mental state verb denken ‘think’ in Dutch. It reviews the literature on the emergence of parentheticals, which predominantly focuses on English. Supported by a systematic diachronic corpus study, it argues that the facts of Dutch (in particular: its word order properties, which are quite different from those in English) are not obviously in line with the most important traditional views (including the well know hypothesis that the parentheticals are the result of a reduction of the full complementing use of the relevant verbs). Instead, the data offer arguments for an alternative hypothesis: the parentheticals may originate in a combination of two main clauses, of the kind present in direct quote expressions (as in I thought: Oh no, he is doing it again ).

November 12, 2019

On the development of two progressive constructions in U̠t-Ma’in

Rebecca Paterson

Page range: 509-554

Abstract

U̠t-Ma’in (Kainji, Benue-Congo), spoken in northwestern Nigeria, has two morphosyntactically distinct progressive constructions – the Intransitive Progressive Construction and the Transitive Progressive Construction. This paper presents the synchronic structure of each construction, proposed historical sources of the distinct morphological pieces, and a comparison of the U̠t-Ma’in Progressive Constructions with cognate elements from four Kainji language clusters. No single source component has grammaticalized to mark progressive aspect in U̠t-Ma’in. Rather, the combination of several elements created the progressive. Formal changes in several morphosyntactic elements within each of the constructions provide evidence that originally nominalized verb forms are gradually becoming less noun-like and more verb-like. These developments are examples of constructionalization, as the Progressive Constructions exist as new form-meaning pairs distinct from the source. These formal changes also show signs of adjustment, whereby a construction moves toward isomorphism, that is, a one-to-one correspondence between form and meaning. Specifically, various stages of morphological loss are evident in particular lexemes when used in U̠t-Ma’in Progressive Constructions, gradually spreading throughout the lexicon.

November 12, 2019

Reconstructing the ditransitive construction for Proto-Germanic: Gothic, Old English and Old Norse-Icelandic

Juan G. Vázquez-González, Jóhanna Barðdal

Page range: 555-620

Abstract

The semantic range of ditransitive verbs in Modern English has been at the center of linguistic attention ever since the pioneering work of Pinker (1989. Learnability and cognition: The acquisition of argument structure . Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press). At the same time, historical research on how the semantics of the ditransitive construction has changed over time has seriously lagged behind. In order to address this issue for the Germanic languages, the Indo-European subbranch to which Modern English belongs, we systematically investigate the narrowly defined semantic verb classes occurring in the ditransitive construction in Gothic, Old English and Old Norse-Icelandic. On the basis of data handed down from Proto-Germanic and documented in the oldest layers of the three Germanic subbranches, East, West and North Germanic, respectively, we show that the constructional range of the ditransitive construction was considerably broader in the earlier historical stages than now; several subclasses of verbs that could instantiate the ditransitive in early Germanic are infelicitous in the ditransitive construction in, for instance, Modern English. Taking the oldest surviving evidence from Germanic as point of departure, we reconstruct the ditransitive construction for an earlier proto-stage, using the formalism of Construction Grammar and incorporating narrowly defined semantic verb classes and higher level conceptual domains. We thus reconstruct the internal structure of the ditransitive construction in Proto-Germanic, including different levels of schematicity.

Review

November 12, 2019

IE5.com. Historical Linguistics pro populo

Todd B. Krause

Page range: 621-632

About this journal

Objective
Folia Linguistica and Folia Linguistica Historica are the peer-reviewed journals of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE). Each volume consists of two issues of Folia Linguistica, one issue of Folia Linguistica Historica, and one Special Issue. Folia Linguistica is devoted to empirically based linguistic topics and covers all non-historical areas in the traditional disciplines of general linguistics. The journal welcomes work from various theoretical perspectives, but contributions should be directed towards a general linguistic audience, in other words the argument should be understandable to linguists with other theoretical backgrounds. The domain of interest of Folia Linguistica includes sociological, discoursal, computational and psychological aspects of language and linguistic theory. Other areas of central concern are grammaticalization, language typology, and variation within and across languages. Folia Linguistica Historica is exclusively devoted to empirically based diachronic linguistics of all language families (including both historical and comparative linguistics).

Topics
Folia Linguistica

non-historical areas in general linguistics
grammaticalization
language typology
language variation
language varieties
sociological, discoursal, computational and psychological aspects of language and linguistic theory

Folia Linguistica Historica

diachronic linguistics (including both historical and comparative linguistics)
linguistic reconstruction (both internal and external) and language phylogeny
computational approaches to linguistic variation and change

Article formats
Research articles, Review articles, Book reviews, Miscellanea (reports and discussion notes)

Volume 53 Issue s40-s2 - Historica

Issue of Folia Linguistica

Frontmatter

Using character N-grams to explorediachronic change in medieval English

Abstract

The diachrony of velar coronalization in Mojeño (Arawakan)

Abstract

Prosodic change and the (apparent) irregularities in the development of segments

Abstract

From Athenian fleet to prophetic eschatology. Correlating formal features to themes of discourse in Ancient Greek

Abstract

Fine details of a larger picture: Proto-Sakishima *au and *ao diphthongs

Abstract

Standard negation in Awa Pit: From synchrony to diachrony

Abstract

Parentheticals revisited: The case of Dutch denken

Abstract

On the development of two progressive constructions in U̠t-Ma’in

Abstract

Reconstructing the ditransitive construction for Proto-Germanic: Gothic, Old English and Old Norse-Icelandic

Abstract

IE5.com. Historical Linguistics pro populo

Fine details of a larger picture: Proto-Sakishima au and ao diphthongs