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Volume 55 Issue s42-s1 - Historica. Special Issue: Towards a diachronic typology of individual person markers; Guest Editors: Linda Konnerth and Andrea Sansò

Issue of Folia Linguistica

Contents
Journal Overview

Publicly Available August 18, 2021

Articles

Open Access August 16, 2021

Towards a diachronic typology of individual person markers

Linda Konnerth, Andrea Sansò

Page range: 1-24

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Abstract

In this introduction we propose an agenda for working towards a diachronic typology of individual person markers. Rather than tracking the development of entire paradigms, our goal is to arrive at a better understanding of the diachronic pathways of those source constructions that end up as a conventionalized means of marking a particular person or person scenario, i.e. the specific (di)transitive person configuration. We discuss how this diachronic typology will need to consider certain types, or characteristics, of person markers, such as free vs. bound forms; SAP vs. 3rd person forms; or the status of person scenario markers. With respect to the source constructions and pathways, it is useful to distinguish between category-internal (e.g., person shift) and category-external (e.g., impersonal constructions) sources that give rise to person forms. We further offer a brief summary of the types of motivations that have been argued to lie behind the observed changes. Other issues of interest involve the stability vs. susceptibility for change as well as the optionality and synchronic variation of person forms, which may precede diachronic change.

Part I: Typological approaches

August 16, 2021

Typological explanations in synchrony and diachrony: on the origins of third person zeroes in bound person paradigms

Sonia Cristofaro

Page range: 25-48

Abstract

A well-known cross-linguistic pattern in bound person paradigms is for zero marking to be restricted to third person forms, particularly third person singular subjects. This has been explained in terms of general language preferences for third person zeroes, possibly determined by principles of iconicity or economy. This paper discusses several diachronic phenomena that result in third person zeroes cross-linguistically, and argues that these phenomena pose two challenges for this type of explanations. First, several phenomena do not appear to be related to general language preferences for third person zeroes. Second, different phenomena are a result of different causal factors, meaning that third person zeroes are not amenable to a unified explanation. This calls for a source-oriented approach to third person zeroes and recurrent cross-linguistic patterns in general, one where these patterns are accounted for in terms of the properties of different diachronic phenomena that shape the pattern over time, rather than synchronic properties of the pattern in itself.

Open Access August 16, 2021

Cyclic changes in verbal person-number indexes are unlikely

Ilja A. Seržant

Page range: 49-86

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Abstract

This paper discusses the emergence and demise of verbal person-number indexes on the basis of a sample of 310 languages. First, qualitative evidence is provided to show that there are different ways in which indexes may emerge, and that independent anaphoric pronouns are not the only possible source. Second, quantitative evidence is provided against the claim that indexes tend to demise via phonological attrition in the course of time. A considerable degree of demise is not a universally likely process, but rather a major restructuring process that requires additional – areal – triggers in order to come about. Thus, 92% of the languages of my sample do not show any strong tendency toward losing their indexes, and the degree of demise of their indexes is persistently low when compared to the proto-forms. This is despite the fact that indexes constantly change over time, and the phonetic shape found in the proto-languages is never faithfully preserved in the modern languages. Finally, those few languages that exhibit a relatively high degree of demise are not randomly distributed across the world, but are clustered in the following areas: Northwestern Europe, Eastern South East Asia with Oceania and, possibly, Mid Africa as well Northern South America.

August 16, 2021

Towards a typology of change in person marking reference

Jonah Bates

Page range: 87-110

Abstract

Previous studies of person marking referent shifts posited directionality: pl > sg and 3rd > 2nd > 1st person. The current study expands the documentation of person shifts, finding possible counter-examples to any directionality if all shifts represent the same phenomenon. However, comparison of shift trajectories allows them to be separated into two categories: paradigm-dependent and paradigm-independent shifts, analogous to the stages of known cycles like Jespersen’s Cycle for negation. Dependent shifts are context restrictions that occur after the introduction of more specific contrasting person markers. Independent shifts are context extensions. I analyze both shift types using a model of competition between referent-specific and referent-general markers causing pragmatic restriction of the more general form. Dependent shifts occur when the innovation of a referent-specific marker pragmatically restricts a general one to a subset of its original uses with no real change in reference. Independent shifts begin when some speakers use a referent-specific marker non-prototypically in more general contexts, triggering reanalysis of the marker’s reference by reducing specification to match the broader context. Crucially, using a general marker in more specific contexts would not trigger reanalysis, naturally resulting in directionality similar to ‘bleaching’.

Part II: Case studies

August 16, 2021

How to restructure a grammatical category: the innovative person system of Chamacoco (Zamucoan, northern Paraguay)

Luca Ciucci

Page range: 111-154

Abstract

Chamacoco is a Zamucoan language of northern Paraguay that has considerably restructured its person reference system. Starting from the existing reconstruction of Proto-Zamucoan, I will analyze the evolution of person marking in free pronouns, verbs and possessable nouns. The verb lost the realis/irrealis distinction in speech act participants, while the third person underwent some allomorphic changes and introduced a distinction between third singular and plural, dependent on an innovative animacy hierarchy. The first person proved overall particularly unstable. In possessable nouns, it was replaced by a form for unspecified possessor, while a new exponent was created for the latter. In free pronouns, the first plural shifted to the first singular and then grammaticalized to the new verb prefix for the first singular. The most significant changes concern the introduction of clusivity in verbs and free pronouns, which was combined with an unusual number term: the greater plural. Besides, the verbal first-person exclusive is typologically unexpected, since it derives from the inclusive. I will discuss the reasons for these and other minor changes, which involve internal factors and language contact. Finally, I will show how recent contact with Spanish has affected the Chamacoco person system.

August 16, 2021

Differential innovation in 2nd person pronouns and agreement indexation in Trans-Himalayan languages

Scott DeLancey

Page range: 155-174

Abstract

Tibeto-Burman languages show a drastic difference in the stability of independent and bound 2nd person forms. The 2nd person pronoun * naŋ is the most stable form in the Proto-Trans-Himalayan paradigm, preserved in almost every low-level clade, while 1st person is sometimes replaced. But 2nd person indexation in the verb is highly unstable. There were two distinct forms already in PTH, a suffix # -na , belonging to the original paradigm, and an innovative prefix # tV- , as well as an irrealis form which could be used with 2nd person reference. In daughter languages across the family we find further innovations in this category. These facts pose two questions. The first – why is 2nd person indexation so unstable? – can be interpreted in terms of politeness and face management. But this raises another question – if 2nd person indexation is inherently unstable, why is 2nd person independent pronominal reference not? The difference in stability reflects a difference in function. In Tibeto-Burman languages, with or without argument indexation, independent pronouns are always ‘optional’, i.e. carry some information management function such as contrast. Thus when pronominal reference to the addressee might be awkward, it can always be avoided, so there is no need to innovate face-saving substitutes for it. In contrast, in languages with argument indexation, the verbal index is obligatory, so any desire to avoid direct reference to one’s interlocutor requires adopting an alternative construction which then, over time, may grammaticalize into a new 2nd person index.

August 16, 2021

Multiple functions of the inclusive: examining synchronic variation in light of diachronic shift in South-Central Trans-Himalayan

Pavel Ozerov, Linda Konnerth

Page range: 175-204

Abstract

A few languages of the South-Central branch of Trans-Himalayan (Tibeto-Burman/Sino-Tibetan) display diachronic shifts of the inclusive to become innovative markers of 1 sg or 2 sg . Such shifts are rarely reported in the cross-linguistic literature. In conjunction with phylogenetic-comparative evidence on cases of actual diachronic shift, we offer a synchronic usage-based analysis of the inclusive in one particular language, Anal Naga. In this language, usage frequencies suggest that a shift of the inclusive is underway: apart from the frequent generic usage, the inclusive now commonly has a humbling, empathy-seeking first person (1 sg/excl ) reference. In contrast, forms that combine inclusive and plural marking pattern more like a prototypical inclusive, i.e., with regular reference to the local speech act participants of speaker and addressee(s). The optional plural marking is the most important factor to determine the reference pattern of the inclusive. Other factors (irrealis setting; lexeme semantics) only play a marginal role; person form (bound indexes or free pronouns) and syntactic role are not indicative.

August 16, 2021

Clusivity and the history of personal pronouns in East Caucasian

Gilles Authier

Page range: 205-222

Abstract

Personal pronouns are among the most stable lexemes in the East Caucasian family, which consists of at least forty different languages distributed over eight well established branches, with nevertheless important variations and paradigmatic reshaping across branches, languages, and even dialects. The 1st and 2nd singular pronouns have been replaced or changed shape at least once in many subparts of the family, and the main 1st person singular innovation was apparently followed by areal spread. Most languages retain two different pronouns for the 1st person plural European pronoun, but the cognates are not always clear, suggesting that although clusivity is an inherited feature of East Caucasian pronominal paradigms, its history is complex, with various types of loss and renewal. This paper attempts to draw a fine-grained and accurate picture of these 1st person plural pronouns and their history within the larger setting of personal pronouns in general. Most individual stories behind variation across branches, languages and dialects provide reasons to see inclusive pronouns as prone to be maintained or renewed over time, whereas exclusive pronouns (1st person singular or plural) are specially targeted by avoidance and replacement processes.

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 55 Issue s42-s1 - Historica. Special Issue: Towards a diachronic typology of individual person markers; Guest Editors: Linda Konnerth and Andrea Sansò

Issue of Folia Linguistica

Frontmatter

Towards a diachronic typology of individual person markers

Abstract

Typological explanations in synchrony and diachrony: on the origins of third person zeroes in bound person paradigms

Abstract

Cyclic changes in verbal person-number indexes are unlikely

Abstract

Towards a typology of change in person marking reference

Abstract

How to restructure a grammatical category: the innovative person system of Chamacoco (Zamucoan, northern Paraguay)

Abstract

Differential innovation in 2nd person pronouns and agreement indexation in Trans-Himalayan languages

Abstract

Multiple functions of the inclusive: examining synchronic variation in light of diachronic shift in South-Central Trans-Himalayan

Abstract

Clusivity and the history of personal pronouns in East Caucasian

Abstract