The evolution of grammar : tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world

Joan Bybee and her colleagues present a new theory of the evolution of grammar that links structure and meaning in a way that directly challenges most contemporary versions of generative grammar. This study focuses on the use and meaning of grammatical markers of tense, aspect, and modality and identifies a universal set of grammatical categories. The authors demonstrate that the semantic content of these categories evolves gradually and that this process of evolution is strikingly similar across unrelated languages. Through a survey of seventy-six languages in twenty-five different phyla, the authors show that the same paths of change occur universally and that movement along these paths is in one direction only. This analysis reveals that lexical substance evolves into grammatical substance through various mechanisms of change, such as metaphorical extension and the conventionalization of implicature. Grammaticization is always accompanied by an increase in frequency of the grammatical marker, providing clear evidence that language use is a major factor in the evolution of synchronic language states. The Evolution of Grammar has important implications for the development of language and for the study of cognitive processes in general. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 2 Contents......Page 4 Figures & Tables......Page 9 Preface & Acknowledgments......Page 13 Abbreviations......Page 18 Ch. 1 Theoretical Background......Page 20 Ch. 2 Method Used in The Study......Page 46 Ch. 3 Anterior, Perfective, and Related Senses......Page 70 Ch. 4 A Quantitative Approach to Grammaticization......Page 125 Ch. 5 Progressive, Imperfective, Present, and Related Senses......Page 144 Ch. 6 Mood and Modality......Page 195 Ch. 7 Future......Page 262 Ch. 8 Mechanisms of Semantic Change......Page 299 Appendix A. GRAMCATS Sampling Procedure......Page 322 Appendix B. Meaning Labels......Page 334 Appendix C. Sourses of Language Data......Page 343 Bibliography for GRAMCATS Sample......Page 374 References......Page 382 Author Index......Page 393 Languages Index......Page 396 Subject Index......Page 400 This study focuses on the use and meaning of grammatical markers of tense, aspect and modality, and identifies a universal set of grammatical categories. It argues that the same paths of change occur in languages in different phyla and that movement along these paths is in one direction only. Joan Bybee, Revere Perkins, And William Pagliuca. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 357-375) And Indexes.