Abstract The main aim of this study was to use the methodologies of Du Bois (1987) and Givón (1983) to investigate the relationships between various features associated with topicality (role (A, S, O), humanness, givenness, person, topic persistence (TP), referential distance (RD)) and the type and position of referential elements within the clause, in a corpus of Eastern Armenian oral narrative texts. Three main issues are explored here: factors affecting the distribution of lexical NPs , factors affecting the distribution of pronouns vs. zero anaphora, notably the ‘emphatic’ pronoun inkʿə , and factors affecting the position of objects (preverbal vs. postverbal). The results show that the most important factor favouring the avoidance of lexical NPs and the use of a pronoun or zero anaphora is low RD, with humanness, high TP, and role prominence (agent role) as probable further contributing factors. Zero anaphora and the ‘emphatic’ pronoun inkʿə are associated with low RD, while the average RD of demonstratives is intermediate between that of zero and lexical NP. Inkʿə is distinguished from all other anaphoric elements by its high average TP. Definiteness is argued to be the key factor in object position, with indefinite (especially bare) objects typically appearing preverbally, while definite objects can also appear postverbally.
Abstract Jitotoltec is the only language of the Zoquean branch that developed an overt inverse marking system. All the languages of the Mixe-Zoquean family have a hierarchical alignment, but only Mixean languages and Jitotoltec developed an inverse marking with overt inverse morphology. The language has a split inverse system in which 3:1 follows a purely hierarchical pattern, but 3:2 and 3 obviative:3 proximate follow an inverse system. In Mixean languages, the inverse marker developed from an old passive construction, a historical development that is synchronically attested in Jitotoltec. Passive morphology is a common source for the emergence of an inverse marker in languages with inverse voice/obviation or with inverse alignment. The source comes from cases in which a 3rd person O is higher in topicality with respect to a 3rd person A. Unlike a canonical passive with non-topical A, the A in the inverse continuous to be topical. Thus, an inverse construction is formally coded as a passive but pragmatically it is different from a passive. The path of development from passive to inverse is demonstrated through the comparison of the development attested in Mixean languages. On the other hand, the functional difference between a canonical passive and an inverse developed from a passive is clearly appreciated via the comparison of Topic Persistance and Referential Distance measurements obtained of the two different constructions in the study of narrative texts.
Abstract Amis (an Austronesian language of Taiwan) has a symmetrical, multi-voice system. Selection of voice and argument structure are multifactorial, with lexical, syntactic and semantic constraints. This corpus analysis of Northern Amis also shows voice and alignment to be selected by the arguments’ referential properties both within and beyond the clause. In the latter case, they react to information management and topic tracking. Discourse factors thus interact with syntax and conspire to choose the definite nominative Patient as the Preferred Syntactic Argument (PSA) argument to be tracked across clauses and sentences. The discourse function of voice selection is infrequently researched in Formosan languages; new perspectives are presented in Northern Amis.
Abstract An underlying question in linguistics is which aspects of speech might be direct reflections of cognitive factors and which might be mediated by the grammars of individual languages. One strategy for addressing such questions is to compare speech from different languages on the same topic, produced under similar circumstances. Here this approach is brought to the expression of topicality and reference in three genealogically and areally unrelated languages: Mohawk, Navajo, and Central Alaskan Yup’ik. All are head-marking, but they differ typologically in several ways, among them their pronominal distinctions, the semantic specificity of their verb stems, their alignment types, their basic constituent orders, and their clause-combining strategies. Not surprisingly, some matching patterns across the languages suggest direct cognitive effects. All show bulkier coding for less accessible referents and reduced or even zero coding for more accessible ones, and all show similar prosodic patterning in the packaging of information. But there are also differences. In some cases, existing structures are exploited to facilitate identification of referents, while in others, strategies aimed at facilitating of referent identification have apparently shaped different grammatical developments.
Abstract Differential Object Marking (DOM) is a pattern in which some grammatical objects in a language bear special marking, while others do not. Well known cases involve a range of often interacting factors: inherent properties of objects, such as animacy or person; (pro)nominality; and/or contextual properties, such as definiteness or specificity. Recent work has shed light on the role that information structure, especially topicality, plays in DOM ( Dalrymple and Nilolaeva 2011 ; Iemmolo 2010 ), but so far this line of inquiry has concentrated on topicality at the level of the proposition ( Lambrecht 1994 ). Zenzontepec Chatino (Otomanguean, Mexico) has been argued to display DOM in which objects are marked if they are (secondary) topic ( Dalrymple and Nilolaeva 2011 ). A larger and more naturalistic corpus of language use reveals that discourse topic ( Givón 1983 ), and not sentence topic, is the principal determinant of DOM in Zenzontepec Chatino. These findings broaden our view and expand our toolkit for understanding this common and intriguing, if sometimes confounding, linguistic phenomenon.
Abstract In Pesh (ISO 639-3 pay; Honduras, Chibchan), arguments show interesting patterns of differential case marking. While arguments are expressed more frequently without a case marker (87%), in this paper my goal is to explore the conditions under which an argument is flagged with case marking. The absence or presence of case marking cannot be explained by morphological or syntactic environments. Based on a corpus annotated according to Givón’s method ( 1983 , 1994 ), which focuses on accessibility and topic continuity, I show that the majority of arguments that are case-marked have given and persistent referents, contrary to what certain authors write about the lighter encoding of a given referent ( Chafe 1976 , Givón 1983 , Krifka 2008 ). The motivation for this heavier expression is the contrastiveness of the referent. I show how the unexpected combination of givenness and contrastiveness constitute in Pesh given referents which may indicate an alternative, exclude other alternatives, or highlight surprising information. At information structure level, they consist of a topic that contains a focus, which is doing what focus always does, namely indicating an alternative. Case marking in Pesh is motivated by contrastiveness, whether the referent is given (62.3%) or new (32.8%). The characteristic that distinguishes given and new referents is the degree of continuity of the referent in relation to the following context of the discourse. Most often, given referents are marked by the ergative case or the absolutive case when they are persistent, while new referents are case-marked when they are used to introduce unexpected or surprising information involved in an important event at some specific moment. These contrastive referents are almost all non-persistent in the clauses following their mention. The other occurrences of case marking (4.9%) are motivated by the discriminative function, to avoid a possible ambiguity between A and other participants of an event.
Abstract I concentrate here on the information structure relations topic and focus , and on their contrastive versions ( contrastive focus and contrastive topic ). All four depend crucially on discourse context. Although topic and focus are sometimes viewed as complementary relations, in fact they belong to distinct dimensions of information structure, with one (focus) having to do with the locus of new information in an utterance, and the other (topic) with the entity that the utterance is about. For each, we will try to understand [1] what is the nature of the relation? [2] how is it marked cross-linguistically? and [3] how can it be elicited and documented? We will discuss the utility of various techniques for documenting these relations, including the study of naturally occurring speech, the use of constructed contexts, and the role of elicitation.
In this book, habitual meaning is studied from a typological perspective, with Chapters 2 – 11 describing habitual meaning in ten different languages, and Chapter 12 presenting typological generalizations. In this introductory chapter we define the notion of habitual meaning, introduce the theoretical framework used, explain the methodology that was applied, and present our typological predictions. As an appendix we provide the typological questionnaire which the language-specific chapters are based on.
This chapter presents typological generalizations that can be derived from a comparison of the data presented in Chapters 2 – 11 in this volume. The languages are compared in the light of the two predictions presented in Chapter 1 : (i) across and within languages, dedicated habitual expressions may differ from one another in terms of the layer(s) at which they apply; (ii) if a habitual expression applies at more than one layer, the layers involved will be contiguous in the hierarchy of layers established within Functional Discourse Grammar. Both predictions are confirmed without exceptions, and thus support the new approach to habitual meanings elaborated in this volume.
This chapter discusses the Spanish infinitival auxiliary constructions with soler and acostumbrar (a) from a Functional Discourse Grammar perspective. A preliminary description leads to hypotheses on their semantics: both constructions are expected to apply to Episodes, States-ofAffairs and Situational Properties, and soler seems to operate additionally on Proposional Contents, but without expressing genericity, contrary to what the theory predicts. These hypotheses are tested by means of a questionnaire that checks the interaction of the constructions with adverbials and other grammatical operators, and their behaviour in complement clauses. The results confirm the hypothesis regarding soler; however, acostumbrar (a) turns out to operate maximally on the State-ofAffairs. Finally, a mutual interaction test results in acostumbrar (a) being less grammaticalized than soler.
This chapter presents and discusses strategies for the expression of habitual aspect in the Amazonian language isolate Kwaza. There are five dedicated habitual strategies. Three of those are morphosyntactic strategies that employ existing grammatical constructions in a specific way. There is furthermore one lexical strategy involving the verb root iita- '(as) always', which usually occurs as the second part of a compound. And there is a negative habitual suffix -hisi. si that occurs in the position of a sentential mood marker. In addition to these habitual strategies some other constructions are presented that can marginally have a habitual connotation. With this research I hope to contribute both to theoretical inquiry and to refinement of language description.
This chapter investigates the scope of the habitual aspect marker -AːččI in Dolgan, a Turkic language spoken in Siberia (Russian Federation), within the theoretical framework of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). Based on a questionnaire which was developed for the purpose of this volume, as well as data from an annotated corpus of Dolgan spoken language, it is concluded that in Dolgan the habitual suffix -AːččI operates on the layer of the State-of-Affairs and the layer of the Episode.
This chapter offers the first synchronic functional analysis of the Habitual in Sahidic Coptic. It is based on six recently edited or re-edited textual sources. We demonstrate that the semantically prototypical Habitual, marked by the morpheme šare/ša= or its alternants, occurs in the narrative discourse mode and operates at the lower layers in the layered structure of Functional Discourse Grammar. This prototypical Habitual is contrasted with other uses of verbal forms marked with šare/ša= which occur in the persuasive, procedural and performative discourse modes and are treated as semantic extensions of the Habitual: generic extensions, quotative indexes, prescriptive Habituals and performatives. The differences between these uses involve their compatibility with specific grammatical operators and modifiers, the possibility to occur in complement clauses and the referential characteristics of the participants.
In Mandarin, habitual aspect is usually thought to be expressed by lexical means. This chapter challenges that view by examining two habitual auxiliaries in Mandarin, namely guanyu 'habitually/in the habit of ' and ai 'do something often/love to', within the framework of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). The analysis of the data shows that both guanyu and ai express multiple subtypes of habitual meaning. Guanyu conveys three subtypes, corresponding to three adjacent layers within FDG: the Episode, the State-of-Affairs, and the Situational Property. Ai expresses two subtypes, associated with the State-of-Affairs and the Situational Property layers.
This study examines the Russian habitual expression byvalo, focusing on its semantic, syntactic, and functional properties within the framework of Functional Discourse Grammar ( FDG). Using data from the Russian National Corpus ( RNC) and supplementary sources, we analyze byvalo in relation to FDG's theory of layers. It is concluded that there is ample evidence that byvalo functions on the layer of the Episode, and some evidence that it functions on the layer of the State-of-Affairs. In some cases, the tests developed to determine the layer status of habituals are inconclusive. Further research into such cases may provide more insight into habituality and its relationship to the theory of the layers proposed by FDG.
This chapter examines two habitual constructions in European Portuguese, costumar + infinitive and the present perfect, from a Functional Discourse Grammar perspective. Through a variety of collocation and interpretation tests designed to determine the semantic scope of grammatical expressions, the conclusion is reached that both constructions express operators belonging to the same two adjacent layers of semantic organization. However, costumar displays a closer association with the higher of these two layers, while the present perfect more often applies to the lower one. Moreover, the chapter reassesses the communis opinio that the Portuguese present perfect is not a resultative aspect marker, concluding that a resultative operator is in fact one of the inherent components of the complex semantics of this construction.
In this paper, I tease apart the semantic differences between three major habitual constructions in Ancient Greek (8th-4th centuries BCE): (1) a suffixal construction that uses the mislabelled "iterative" suffix with past tenses, ( 2) a modal past habitual which had developed out of a past counterfactual, and (3) habitual auxiliaries with sources in 'volition', 'love' and 'custom' predicates. Using collocational tests with absolute and relative temporal modifiers and qualificational aspect from a typological questionnaire, I point out the differences between these strategies, as, for example, some express participant-oriented propensity habituality whereas others are polyfunctional, expressing both a single and a series of habitual States-of-Affairs. Also, based on the evidence from my diachronic corpus, I demonstrate that these meanings are diachronically related.
This chapter presents typological generalizations that can be derived from a comparison of the data presented in Chapters 2-11 in this volume. The languages are compared in the light of the two predictions presented in Chapter 1: ( i) across and within languages, dedicated habitual expressions may differ from one another in terms of the layer(s) at which they apply; (ii) if a habitual expression applies at more than one layer, the layers involved will be contiguous in the hierarchy of layers established within Functional Discourse Grammar. Both predictions are confirmed without exceptions, and thus support the new approach to habitual meanings elaborated in this volume.
In this chapter we present two Slovak habitual expressions: the verbal suffix -va- and the auxiliary zvyknut. Examples extracted from the Slovak National Corpus were tested for the scopal behaviour in terms of Functional Discourse Grammar. Although our conclusions mostly lean on modifier tests, tests with operators and of complementation confirm that the two habitual strategies may be associated with two different scopal layers. Examples of the cooccurrence of the strategies further confirm the scopal hierarchy.
Abstract This paper presents a micro-typological study of two closely related Otomi languages of central Mexico, Tilapa Otomi and Northern Otomi from the variety of San Ildefonso Tultepec Otomi, and examines the evolution of their “impersonal-passive” construction. Drawing on natural discourse data and the quantitative methodology developed by Givón (1983), I analyze 300 transitive clauses with third-person A and O arguments to assess the discourse topicality of participants through referential distance and topical persistence. The results indicate that Tilapa Otomi, the most conservative member of the family, retains a VOS syntax and employs the construction as a truly impersonal mechanism of agent demotion. By contrast, Northern Otomi, the most innovative variety, has shifted toward SVO word order and reanalyzes the same construction as a passive, promoting O to subjecthood in accordance with its high discourse topicality. Independent syntactic evidence from complementation further supports this analysis. The study highlights the utility of Givón’s quantitative approach for documenting the interplay between voice, word order, and information structure in under-described languages, and it shows how closely related varieties can diverge significantly in the syntax and function of a shared grammatical construction.
