Cyclical Change Continued

This book presents new data and additional questions regarding the linguistic cycle. The topics discussed are the pronoun, negative, negative existential, analytic-synthetic, distributive, determiner, degree, and future/modal cycles. The papers raise questions about the length of time that cycles take, the interactions between different cycles, the typical stages and their stability, and the areal factors influencing cycles. The languages and language families that are considered in depth are Central Pomo, Cherokee, Chinese, English, French, Gbe, German, Hmong-Mien, Maipurean, Mayan, Mohawk, Mon-Khmer, Niger-Congo, Nupod, Quechuan, Sino-Tibetan, Tai-Kadai , Tuscarora, Ute, and Yoruboid. One paper covers several of the world’s language families. Cyclical change connects linguists working in various frameworks because it is exciting to find a reason behind this fascinating phenomenon. LA 227 Cyclical Change Continued 2 Editorial page 3 Title page 4 LCC data 5 Table of contents 6 Cyclical Change Continued 12 1. What is the cycle? 12 2. Analytic and synthetic 15 3. Recent work and emerging questions 17 4. Contributions to the cycle in this volume 20 5. Conclusion and future directions 23 Acknowledgements 24 References 24 What Cycles When and Why? 28 1. Routinization, phonological erosion, and semantic fading 29 2. Semantic generalization and abstraction 33 3. Pragmatic reinforcement 40 3.1 Distributive cycles 40 3.2 Pronominal cycles 41 3.3 Negative cycles 44 4. Contributions from contact 47 5. Conclusion 53 References 54 Is radical analyticity normal? 58 1. Introduction 58 1.1 The problem 58 1.2 The proposal 60 1.3 Garden Path Number One: Radical analyticity 62 1.4 Garden Path Number Two: Cycles 63 2. West Africa 65 2.1 The languages, the problem 65 2.2 A solution? 67 2.3 Evidence, Part One: Language spread 68 2.4 Evidence, Part Two: 69 2.4.1 In syntax: Elimination of contextual rather than inherent morphology 69 2.4.2 In morphology: Grammatical simplification 70 2.4.3 In phonology: Monosyllabic template 72 2.5 Evidence Part Three: Distribution of Analyticity 73 2.5.1 Layers of analyticity 73 2.5.2 Analytic-lite: The Niger-Congo norm 74 2.5.2.1 Syntheticity increases incrementally westward of GYN. New Kwa. New Kwa differs from GYN is that as a group, it is about as analytic as English – and in some cases vastly less so. Akan varieties retain a degree of concordial affixation within the n 74 2.5.2.2 Syntheticity increases incrementally eastward of GYN. Edoid. In the best-known representative of this group just eastward of Yoruboid and Nupoid, Edo has vestiges of noun class marking, with a singular-plural distinction in animates (Omoregbe & Ai 75 2.5.2.3 Languages northward of GYN are more synthetic. Idoma. Noun class marking, with a singular/plural distinction, is reduced to one prefixal alternation, and verbal extensions are lost (Abraham 1951; Adejoh 2012). However, the language is inflected in 76 2.6 What happened to Niger-Congo? 77 2.6.1 From the inside out? 77 2.6.2 Niger-Congo analyticity as evidence of cycles of second-language acquisition 79 2.6.3 Cyclical second language acquisition: Parallels 80 2.7 Two questions, two answers 82 3. Analyticity in the Sinosphere 83 3.1 Rolling back the tape 83 3.2 Language groups rendered analytic by Chinese migration 84 3.3 Proto-Sino-Tibetan over Chinese 85 3.4 Old Chinese: Ordinarily transmitted grammar? 87 3.5 Reading the data 89 3.6 Historical possibilities 90 4. If radical analyticity is so unnatural, why haven’t these languages become synthetic? 91 5. Conclusion 92 References 94 An analytic-synthetic spiral in the history of English 102 1. Introduction 102 2. Terminology 103 3. Data 105 4. Method 105 5. The bird’s eye perspective: The big merry-go-round 110 6. The jeweler’s eye perspective 113 7. Discussion and Conclusion 117 Acknowledgments 119 References 119 The Interaction between the French Subject and Object Cycles 122 1. Introduction 122 2. The Subject Cycle in general and in French 123 3. Changes in the third person subject pronoun 129 4. Changes in object pronouns 133 4.1 Acquisition 133 4.2 Three changes 135 5. The Object Cycle in general and in French 139 6. Account and puzzles 140 7. Conclusion 142 References 143 The Negative Existential Cycle viewed through the lens of comparative data 148 1. Introduction 148 2. Overview of the negative existential cycle 150 3. Application of the cycle on different kinds of samples 155 3.1 Graphic representation of the collected data 156 3.2 Summary and discussion of the types instantiated in the world-wide sample and in the families 158 3.2.1 Cross-linguisitic frequency of the NEC types 158 3.2.2 Overlaps of types within the NEC 160 3.3 Recapitulation of this section 162 4. Summary of the findings on Slavonic, Polynesian and Uralic 163 5. Diachronic analysis of the comparative data from Berber, Turkic and Dravidian 167 5.1 Berber 167 5.2 Turkic 168 5.3 Dravidian 172 5.3.1 Tamil 175 5.3.2 Kannada 177 6. Summary and concluding discussion 179 6.1 The dominance and also frequent overlap of types with variation 180 6.2 The use of negative existentials in nominalized constructions 180 6.3 Other lexicalizations of negation into the NEC 181 6.4 The constant renewal of the negative existentials 182 6.5 Jespersen Cycle vs. the NEC 183 Abbreviations 183 Appendix 184 References 192 Jespersen Cycles in the Mayan, Quechuan and Maipurean languages 198 1. Introduction 198 2. Negation in the Americas 201 3. Negation in the Mayan languages 202 4. Negation in the Quechuan languages 206 5. Negation in the Maipurean languages 211 6. Conclusion 221 Abbreviations 222 References 222 Mayan Negation Cycles 228 1. Introduction 228 2. The Mayan languages 229 3. Historical reconstruction 232 3.1 Greater K’iche’an 233 3.2 Greater Mamean 238 3.3 Eastern Mayan 240 4. Ch’olan 241 4.1 Greater Tzeltalan 244 5. Greater Q’anjob’alan 245 6. Central Mayan 248 7. Proto-Mayan 249 8. Conclusion 251 1. Extension 252 2. Division 252 3. Clitic addition 252 References 254 The diachrony of pronominal agreement 260 1. Introduction 260 2. Referential coherence in discourse 262 3. Demonstratives and definite articles 263 3.1 Demonstrative modifiers 263 3.2 Demonstratives as definite articles 265 3.3 Demonstratives as pronouns 266 4. Pronouns 267 4.1 Independent personal pronouns: Discontinuity and contrast 267 4.2 Clitic anaphoric pronouns vs. zero anaphora 272 4.2.1 Preliminaries 272 4.2.2 Zero anaphora as default choice for referential continuity 273 4.3 Subject vs. object clitics: In search of a general principle 275 4.4 Pronominal agreement 281 4.5 Cliticization locus: ‘Second-position clitics’? 283 5. Flexible word-order and referential coherence 285 6. Discussion 291 References 294 The Degree Cycle 296 1. Introduction 296 2. Theoretical background 300 2.1 Syntactic structure 300 2.2 Semantic categories 303 3. The CP Cycle and thus 304 3.1 Position of clausal thus 305 3.2 Reinforcement loss and renewal 307 4. Degree that and this 310 4.1 Background to this and that 310 4.2 Reanalysis of that: Possible paths 313 5. Degree adverb this (and thus) 318 6. Conclusion 322 Sources 325 References 325 Modality and gradation 328 1. Introduction and background 328 2. Comparative temporality shifting to modality 330 2.1 Essentials of the trajectory: The temporal-based scale and facets of its erosion 330 2.1.1 English rather 330 2.1.2 German eher 334 2.2 Modal elements 336 2.2.1 Rather as a modal relator marking preferences in Present-day English 336 2.2.2 The modal flavors of eher 338 2.2.3 Further modal flavors in rather 345 3. More ordering and scalar structures operated on by eher and rather 347 3.1 Ordering 347 3.2 Modifying adjectives 349 4. More on how rather and eher spiraled twice 353 4.1 From temporal to modal: Why does ‘rather’ spiral to preference readings? 353 4.2 On the spiral to the modificational use; and most specially, why it is one 354 4.3 Summary and outlook 356 Acknowledgments 356 References 357 All you need is another ‘Need’ 360 1. Introduction 361 2. Dürfen and brauchen as modal verbs 363 2.1 Semantics 363 2.2 Morphosyntax 366 2.3 Interim summary 375 3. Bedürfen as a modal predicate 378 3.1 Semantics 378 3.2 Morphosyntax 380 3.3 Interim summary 385 4. The verbal NPI cycle 387 5. Conclusion 396 Primary sources 397 References 397 Appendix 401 The Grammaticalization of 要 Yao and the Future Cycle from Archaic Chinese to Modern Mandarin* 404 1. Introduction 405 2. 要 Yāo as a full verb in Archaic Chinese 408 3. 要 Yào as a modal auxiliary in Ancient Chinese 411 3.1 Deontics and futures 411 3.2 Forming Auxiliary Modals from Full Verbs 413 3.2.1 AspP and MP 413 3.2.2 Late Merge and labeling 415 4. The syntactic structure of deontic and future 要 Yào in Modern Chinese 418 4.1 The ambiguous status of 要 Yào in Modern Chinese 418 4.2 要 Yào as the head of a mood phrase 421 4.3 Verbal renewal 423 5. Conclusion 424 References 425 Author Index 428 Subject and Language Index 434