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Abstract: The present study contributes to the empirical basis of grammaticalization theory by presenting a grammaticalization profile of Zapotec, a language family of Mesoamerica. The discussion centers around co-grammaticalization of lexemes and constructions, polygrammaticalization, interdependence between syntactic and prosodic conditioning of grammaticalization, and mutual feedback between grammaticalization and morphosyntactic typology.

Andi (East Caucasian) features a verb form that marks an event that is (still) not happening, contrary to the speaker's expectation (i.e. 'Still Not' Present). This form is unusual for several reasons. First, forms of this kind are not typical for the language family. Second, while it conveys negative semantics, the form does not contain negation marking, even though segmentally it is rather heavy in comparison to other synthetic tenses. Third, to our knowledge grammatical 'still not' expressions are typologically uncommon. The paper describes the semantics and morphosyntactic properties of the 'Still Not' Present and suggests a plausible grammaticalization source by comparing dialects and closely related languages. We also try to match the data to typological categories like phasal polarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ossetic future is generally believed to originate in compounds with Proto-Iranian *čana(h)- 'desiring', but the morphological and phonological details have never been explored. Examination of the Indo-Iranian evidence confirms that since the root *kanH- 'take pleasure in' occurs almost exclusively as a stative perfect, the only plausible source is possessive (bahuvrīhi) compounds with the derived noun *čanah- 'desire', which were restricted to this usage already in Old Iranian (cf. Avestan šaētō.cinah- 'whose desire is possessions'). From denominative bases and thematic verbal nouns, *X-čanāh 'whose desire is XN, desiring XN' was reinterpreted as deverbal '(be) wanting to XV' > 'XV-fut' and generalized to all verbal stems. The phonological evolution to Ossetic -ʒæn- is regular; the distribution of the allomorphs -ʒæn- and -ʒin- in the Digor dialect provides indirect evidence for the placement of stress in Proto-Ossetic, which in turn permits the resolution of an old problem, the double reflex of Proto-Iranian *pati- in compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I revisit the continued debate surrounding manner of grammatical innovation, i.e. whether it is abrupt or gradual. I show that the debate is complicated by different diagnostics for manner and argue that it is best understood in terms of degree of similarity (how similar the innovative use is to existing uses of a construction). However, even when adopting degree of similarity as a diagnostic, approaches differ with regards to how similar they find innovative and existing uses. The gradualness account argues that innovative uses are similar but distinct from existing uses, as they imply a new form-meaning pairing. A seamlessness account instead argues that innovative and existing uses are so similar that no new form-meaning pairing is required. I develop seamlessness into a theoretical position for semantic innovation in grammaticalization, which holds that grammatical innovations are maximally similar to existing uses i.e. they exhibit considerable conceptual overlap and the existing use is semantically underspecified. Seamlessness is empirically tested using semantic innovations in be going to as a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to elaborate on the typology of affix changes due to reanalysis. By discussing the Polish nominal suffix /-ix-/ as resulting from morphological reduction, viz. the false subtraction of /-k-/ from /-isk-/, the supposed unidirectionality of affix changes, i.e., the irreversibility of affix growth, is questioned. Furthermore, the article points to the possible gradual nature of morphological reanalysis, in line with recent studies in syntactic reanalysis. Other types of affix changes, which were previously unidentified or deemed impossible, are also commented on and the supposed parallelism between affix reanalysis and grammaticalization as well as degrammaticalization is considered, including the role of analogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the process of grammaticalization unfolds, it remains to be determined whether a word could co-occur with more words in contexts or would be restricted to fewer words. Based on the Lancaster Corpus of Mandarin Chinese (LCMC), this study examines the differences in colligation diversity between lexical and grammatical words in Chinese by using entropy, aiming to explore how the colligational behaviour of the left and right sides of Chinese words changes accordingly with increasing grammaticalization. The comparisons of colligation diversity between two sides and across word categories reveal that lexical words show quite similar levels of colligation diversity on the left, which makes them significantly different from grammatical words. More category-specific observations are disclosed by entropy-based approach. In the case of grammaticalization, an increase in entropy values denotes more types with a more uniform distribution, which is suggested to be the manifestation of semantic bleaching. Conversely, a decrease in entropy values may be an indicator of an increasing bondedness. The discussion on how grammaticalization affects the colligational behaviour of words should be based on the specific pathways of grammaticalization concerning word categories, as well as specific sides of words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the grammaticalization of the verb ʔadʒa 'come' in Jordanian Arabic. The study argues that the verb has been grammaticalized into three meanings that constitute three levels on the grammaticalization pathway. These three meanings coexist i.e. are not considered three diachronic stages. The first meaning is to introduce a purpose clause; it is the least grammaticalized since the core lexical meaning of the verb is still apparent. The second meaning that the verb 'come' is grammaticalized into is intention; it is more advanced since the core lexical meaning is completely absent. The third meaning the verb come is grammaticalized into is prediction. It can be considered the most advanced since the verb come is used as a preposition meaning 'around'. Finally, the paper provides several tests to differentiate the lexical verb from the grammaticalized forms including: the types of complements the lexical verb and gramaticalized forms require, the logical completions of the sentences, negation, and elliptical answers for yes/no questions. All of these tests show that the lexical verb and the grammaticalized forms do not require the same complements, are negated differently, and are asked about in yes/ no questions in a different manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Russian Linguistics is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Diachronica is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Diachronica is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines a hitherto unreported use of the Gã Perfect gram termed the 'sequential perfect'. The sequential perfect represents a late stage of grammaticalization as it no longer conveys any aspectual information on its own, instead deriving its semantics from verbal categories in the prior discourse. It is primarily modal, being used for irrealis, habitual and iterative situations. It occurs in the non-initial clause of multiclausal constructions and signals that the event it marks is temporally posterior to another event. It also imparts the epistemic modal meanings of inevitability and certainty. I propose that these newer functions are developed from the core semantic components of change-of-state and completion. This involves grammaticalization via domain extension, where change-of-state within an event is extended to change between events. The investigation introduces a new pathway for grammaticalization of the perfect, which has implications for studies of the perfect and grammaticalization generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Russian Linguistics is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper foccusses on the Tangwang language, a Chinese variety spoken in southern Gansu that has been in contact with the Dongxiang language, a Mongolic language. Tangwang is believed to be a highly altaicised variety, as it demonstrate several traits that are usually absent in this language family are are reputed 'typical' of the Turkic-Mongolic languages. However, most of these traits are present in the other northwestern chinese varieties and are the result of reanalysis, thus, it is difficult to trace their exact origin. This paper aims at analyzing the influence of Mongolic languages on Tangwang from the perspective of borrowings, and in particular direct loans. Taking the formally identical features that are shared in Dongxiang and Tangwang as a starting point, we will try to determine which form can be seen as a direct borrowing due to the adstratal influence of Dongxiang and which one is probably due to an earlier altaic influence. We will try to classify which form is a 'true' direct loan from Dongxiang and which form could be the evidence of an earlier substrate. From the results, and based on the existing models on languages contact, we will try to understand which mechanisms from relexification, grammaticalization, and language shift is the most probable in the case of Tangwang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a debate concerning the history of demonstratives. Are they primitive or grammaticalized elements in languages? Moreover, notwithstanding the relevance of demonstratives to NP, nominals are not regarded as a potential source of grammaticalized demonstratives. The present study, based on synchronic observations, argues that the proximal demonstratives ða 'this' and ʔulaaʔ 'these', which constitute the nucleus of the demonstrative system of Standard Arabic, are grammaticalized elements. It also offers a new grammaticalization pathway and a new source of demonstratives. Arabic proximal demonstratives evolve from possessive adjectives, which are themselves grammaticalized from nominals that mean 'oneself' and 'companion'. The motive underpinning this pathway is that the lexical sources and the grammaticalized elements share the property of being egocentric. Concerning medial and distal demonstratives, two further stages of grammaticalization occur: (1) the phonological derivation of two medial demonstratives from their corresponding proximal demonstratives and (2) the phonological derivation of two distal demonstratives from their corresponding medial demonstratives. The extended grammaticalization pathway is as follows: nominals that mean 'self' and 'companion' > possessive adjectives > proximal demonstratives > medial > distal. This pathway implies that the source of demonstratives may comprise more than one lexical word; however, they are meaningfully related, and their grammaticalization pathway towards forming the demonstrative system of Standard Arabic applies uniformly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to examine the functional and formal features of the construction here’s hoping. Our analysis is informed by the frameworks of construction grammar (Fried, 2010, 2013), grammaticalization (Fried, 2009; Himmelmann, 2004), subjectification (Company, 2006) and impersonalization (Siewierska, 2008). The construction seems to have developed a novel subjectified function, i.e. to express the speaker’s positive expectation while retaining a degree of tentativeness and distance. The data for the analysis was excerpted from the corpus English Web 2021 (enTenTen21). The internal and external features of the construction (e.g. the (non-)deictic function of here, fixedness, syntactic isolation, initial position) together with the overall expansion of the semantic and pragmatic context and the gradual host-class expansion suggest that the process of grammaticalization/subjectification is currently under way (cf. Fried, 2010; Company, 2006).

In this study, I parameterize the five tests proposed by Stevens (2005) for characterizing an element as an affixoid and formulate ten criteria for prefixation. Using these criteria, I analyze the morphological status of the initial components of Modern Greek words beginning with pale - and paʎo -. Contrary to Giannoulopoulou's (1999) analysis of paleo - as a "confix" and paʎo - as a "stem", I argue that pale - is a stem that has two allomorphic realizations: pale ~ paʎ. pale - is marked as [+learnèd] and paʎ - as [-learnèd]. While paʎo - historically derives from pale -, it has acquired a distinct morphological status and should now be considered a prefixoid. The ten criteria I present could serve as a model for determining the morphological status of initial elements in other Greek morphological structures and potentially in other languages where this status is ambiguous. Finally, I propose that prefixation in Greek differs from that in word-based languages. In Greek, prefixation is not a case of morphologization; rather, prefixes originate in and remain confined to the morphological domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modality is of fundamental importance in studying the structure of all languages worldwide. Providing a comprehensive definition of this notion is difficult. In general, modality expresses the speaker's point of view towards the statement in the sentence. In terms of semantics, the modality is considered in two general categories: epistemic and root modalities. Epistemic modality expresses the speaker's assessment of the probability or predictability of the action. This type of modality involves the possibility or necessity of the proposition based on the judgment, evidence, or knowledge of the speaker. Root modality is used to express concepts such as coercion, permission, and ability and is divided into two subsets: deontic and dynamic. In deontic modality, external circumstances and power often oblige the third person or addressee to act or do an activity. In dynamic modality, the inner force or the existing conditions provide the necessity or possibility for the action to be performed. This kind of modality expresses the ability and capability of the actor.

There are no completely grammatical studies in Chinese scholarly tradition prior to 1898. Mainly commentary orientation of linguistic works and the general tendency towards the lexicographic form of presentation of philological researches determined function words’ dictionaries to be the leading way of describing linguistic phenomena in the field of grammar. Turning to treatises of this kind contributes to the study of linguistic traditions’ generation and grammatical researches’ formation in China. Special attention is paid to the description of grammatical meanings’ development from lexical one’s and to method of exegesis based on such description, used in《助字辨略》 «Zhu Zi Bian Lüe» (1711) by 刘淇 LiuQi. The structure of the dictionary entries of this work was analyzed, as well as the interpretations in which LiuQi refers to the significant meanings of the described units. Examples of dictionary entries are given, or excerpts from them, provided with translations into Russian. The analysis of the material showed that dictionary entries can vary significantly in length, their internal structure is also not the same, however, in general, it includes an explanation of the meaning of the described unit (from authoritative sources such as 《尔雅》 «Erya», 《广韵》 «Guangyun» and/or a comment made by the author of «Zhu Zi Bian Lüe») and illustrative material from classical works (such as 《论语》 «Lun yu», 《大学》 «Da xue», 《中庸》 «Zhong yong», 《孟子》 «Mencius», 《诗经》 «Shi jing», 《汉书》 «Han shu», etc.). In a number of dictionary entries, LiuQi demonstrates the mechanism of grammatical meanings’ development from the significant one, emphasizing that the grammatical meaning is determined by the significant meaning and is closely connected with it.

The present study, as a data-based and diachronic one, has been done in order to investigate different types of pragmatic meanings belonging to the discourse marker “ya’ni” on thetical grammar level, and development of these meanings over time (centuries 4 to 14 A.H.). This study is based on Traugott and Dasher’s view (2002) on “subjectification spectrum” (non- subjective > subjective > intersubjective meanings). To collect research data, two literary books from each century were chosen. Then, all the occurrences of “ya’ni” in those books were manually identified. Finally, they were analyzed based on the paper’s analytical framework. The research data show that the discourse marker “ya’ni” acquires new pragmatic meanings such as textual, subjective and intersubjective ones on thetical grammar level, and moves away from its propositional meaning. It indicates that after pragmaticalization and transferring to thetical grammar, this discourse marker acquires new meanings through grammaticalization. The more it moves away from its propositional meaning, the more it is grammaticalized. There is also an order in forming these meanings so that textual meanings are formed at first; then subjective and intersubjective meanings appear in this discourse marker respectively. Introduction Discourse markers are linguistic units that have always been studied from various perspectives in different languages. Levinson (1983) studied discourse markers based on discoursal-pragmatic observations for the first time. He believes it is not possible to investigate these linguistic units within the framework of truth-conditional semantics. Osman (1995) suggests that we can make inferences about the speaker’s attitude through discourse markers. These linguistic elements can have different semantic roles based on the context in which they occur. Aijmer and Vandenbergen (2011) assert that analyzing discourse markers based on polysemy is in accord with grammaticalization theory. Accordingly, multifunctionality of discourse markers is the result of grammaticalization. The present study aims to investigate one of the Persian discourse markers (ya’ni) and its semantic development on the level of thetical grammar through the course of eleven centuries (4th to 14th) based on Heine’s pragmaticalization framework (2013) and Traugott & Dasher’s (2002) view on the “subjectification spectrum” (non-subjective > subjective > intersubjective meanings). Some studies on discourse markers have been done in Persian such as the ones conducted by Zoghdar Moghaddam (2002), Moghaddam Kiya (2004), Amouzadeh and Noora (2014), Noora (2015), Naghzguy Kohan and Meshkinfam (2019), and Abbasi et al. (2021). While most of these studies are synchronic including the one conducted by Amouzadeh and Noora (2014) on “ya’ni”, the present research examines “ya’ni” diachronically. Methodology and Theoretical Framework The present study is data-based, in which the development of the discourse marker “ya’ni” over eleven centuries (4th to 14th) was studied. To this end, two literary books, representative of each century, were chosen, and all occurrences of “ya’ni” were manually identified and analyzed based on the paper’s analytical framework (Heine’s approach, 2013, and Traugott & Dasher, 2002). Heine believes that the process leading to the rise of discourse markers is pragmaticalization, at the heart of which is a process called cooptation. He considers pragmaticalization and grammaticalization as distinct processes and asserts that, through cooptation, a linguistic unit is transferred from sentence grammar to thetical grammar, acquires new semantic functions based on the complicated network of the situation of discourse, and can be grammaticalized on thetical grammar level. Traugott & Dasher (2002) believe that discourse markers acquire different meanings through grammaticalization. More specifically, they propose three types of meaning that discourse markers can have in relation to the components of the situation of discourse. Those meanings are textual, subjective, and intersubjective. They suggest a “subjectification spectrum” (non-subjective > subjective > intersubjective meanings) representing the order in which these meanings appear. Results and Discussion The results of data analysis indicate that “ya’ni” (with the propositional content “meaning that”) acquires textual, subjective, and intersubjective meanings in relation to the different components of the discourse situation, which include text organization, attitudes of the speaker, and speaker-hearer interaction, respectively. The results also demonstrate that “ya’ni” gains these pragmatic meanings in the same order as proposed by Traugott & Dasher (2002). During the first three centuries (4th, 5th, 6th), “ya’ni” was only used in textual meaning. In the 7th century, the first occurrence of this discourse marker in subjective-intersubjective function is observed, which, of course, presupposes the presence of subjective meaning in this century. Finally, the first independent intersubjective meaning was encountered in the 8th century. Regarding the different types of textual meaning, the data indicates that there exists a relationship between the extent to which each type of textual meaning is similar to the propositional meaning of “ya’ni” and the time of its occurrence. The more it is similar to the propositional meaning, the earlier it is formed. Conclusion Based on the data analysis, it is concluded that, as Heine (2013) observes, “ya’ni” moves from sentence grammar to thetical grammar through cooptation, as the cornerstone of any pragmaticalization process. It is on thetical grammar level that “ya’ni” undergoes increasing grammaticalization, moving away from its original propositional meaning. If we consider grammaticalization as a continuum, the discourse marker “ya’ni” is in the initial parts of this continuum during the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries. As time passes and this discourse marker acquires new pragmatic meanings, it moves forward in the grammaticalization process; therefore, it undergoes grammaticalization increasingly. This confirms Heine’s (2013) approach toward pragmaticalization. It also affirms Traugott & Dasher’s “subjectification spectrum” (2002) because textual meanings are the first meanings that are formed in “ya’ni”, then subjective and intersubjective meanings appear respectively.

The article provides an overview of the meanings of the Estonian core verb laskma (‘to let’), explains the development and usage of its grammatical constructions, and describes the most common semantic types of the laskma-causative (LET-causative). Data for this study were collected from corpora of written Estonian texts from the 16th century to the present. The first instance of the laskma-causative is impossible to ascertain due to the grammatical constructions of laskma already appearing in written texts in the 16th and 17th centuries (explained as forced grammaticalization). However, the process of grammaticalization can be elucidated through the relationships among the meanings of laskma and bridging constructions. The lexical meanings of laskma were categorized into four groups: ‘to move a substance somewhere or in some direction’, ‘to not hinder’, ‘to act at full speed’, and ‘to discharge something from a firearm’. The verb laskma appears in a permissive causative construction (causer + laskma + causee + Vda-inf), expressing the meaning of ‘to allow’. Laskma + Vda-inf also signifies ‘to ask someone to do something’. The usage of laskma + Vda-inf ‘to allow’ is the most frequent among all laskma usages in each century, currently accounting for 45% of all instances of laskma. Additionally, laskma appears in a phasal construction that denotes an initial phase (causer + laskma + causee + Vma-inf). The evolution of the da– and ma-infinitive constructions is demonstrated through the bridging constructions (“to allow to move into some place or state” and “to allow” (with the objective case)). The cases of the construction laskma + Vda-inf (‘to allow’ or ‘to ask someone to do something’) that explicitly express causer and causee were analyzed in terms of semantic roles. Among 24 different types, the three most frequent types are AGENT-PATIENT-PROCESS (28%), AGENT-PATIENT-ACTION (21%) and AGENT-PATIENT-STATE (12%).

This paper delves into the intriguing phenomenon of mesoclisis in Old Occitan. Mesoclisis, the insertion of an object clitic pronoun within the verbal form rather than before or after it, is explored particularly within the context of future and conditional tenses. While mesoclisis is evidenced in both the future and conditional tenses in Old Catalan and Old Spanish, in Occitan, it is exclusively observed in the future tense. Notably, all clitics may feature in this construction, with a higher prevalence observed in the first person singular, especially with class I verbs. Furthermore, there appears to be a lexicalized association with verbs of speech, likely due to discourse-related factors. This investigation not only sheds light on the differential grammaticalization between the future and conditional tenses but also unveils an intermediate stage in their grammatical evolution, bridging the gap between Catalan and French linguistic contexts.

Contemporary Korean and Thai both have a number of forms that denote the future-time reference. The grammatical statuses of these forms are widely variable in terms of their morphosyntax, and thus, there exists some debate about whether some of them can be regarded as future tense markers. By virtue of the dynamic, panchronic nature of grammaticalization theory, there is an advantage in viewing the change, both holistically and microscopically, from the historical source lexeme, if available, to the grammatical forms and functions in the contemporary states of the languages. An investigation into the grammaticalization patterns of the broadly defined future-time references in the two languages reveals a number of interesting features. Future-time references in the two languages developed from very different lexical sources, e.g., TEMPORAL POSTERIORITY and MODE in Korean as compared with KNOWLEDGE and TEMPORAL PROXIMITY, as well as contextually inferred IMMINENT REALIZATION in Thai. The two languages also exhibit idiosyncrasies reflecting typological features, e.g., argument omissibility and agglutination in Korean and strong pragmatic orientation, verb serialization, and preference for polylexemic units in lexicalization and grammaticalization in Thai. Despite the differences in conceptual sources and developmental paths, Korean and Thai show commonalities in the modal functions of the future-time reference markers, which lends support to the thesis that these modal notions are strongly connected to the notion of futurity across languages. Also notable is that in Thai, reinforcement is often observed, supposedly for boosting perceptual salience and conceptual strengthening in grammaticalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development of the existential sign var 'there' in Turkish Sign Language from a synchronic point of view. The sign has been previously described as being restricted to clause-final predicate position and typically used for two main linguistic functions: (i) existential and (ii) possessive. However, abundant corpus evidence indicates that var can also be used for other linguistic functions in post-verbal position, which have not been reported in the literature before. Following Construction Grammar, this study presents a theoretical framework to investigate how the construction [verb + var] arose and what its semantic motivation is, paying particular attention to the notion of possession. It is argued that this construction has three different functions: (i) habitual, (ii) evidential, and (iii) assumptive. According to this account, var originated as an existential marker and subsequently developed into a marker of possession, before evolving to encompass its other linguistic functions in three stages. Using Labov's Apparent Time Hypothesis (Labov, William. 1963. The social motivation of a sound change. Word 19(3). 273–309), closer examination also revealed that a progressive difference exists between age groups. Younger TİD signers use the construction [verb + var] more frequently, and as the age of the TİD signer decreases, the usage of this construction in the assumptive function increases considerably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Response signals (RS) have emerged as a powerful interaction tool, but they have yet to be fully understood. The current study analyzes 16 h of daily conversations using discourse-pragmatic frameworks to discuss certain aspects of the most prevalent primary and secondary Persian RSs. An RS is identified as a brief interactive response to a prior speaker's statement, typically expressing (dis)confirmation, (un)acceptance, or backchannel (including assessment and continuer feedback). The research also differentiates and compares the functional and distributional differences and similarities between confirmation and backchannel signals. Following that, it takes a semasiological approach and discusses how the emergence, overlap, and markedness of certain functions for an item can be determined by the persistence of its original propositional meaning as well as the item's grammaticalization and cooptation. The paper thus reviews the markedness of the backchannel function for na 'no' compared to this function's development for ɂāre 'yes'. Last but not least, cross-linguistic phonological tendencies, such as the integration of the phoneme /ɂ/ or /h/ in positive RSs and click sounds in negative ones, are supported by Persian RSs and their variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this study is on the function and grammaticalization of nominalizations in Thai and the nominalization categories and nominalizing strategies in Thai are described. The Thai language exhibits a composite of derivational and clausal nominalizations marked with three nominalizers: kaan1 derives nouns or nominalized clauses from lexical verbs and relative or complement clauses; khwaam1 derives nouns from lexical verbs and adjectives; and kaan1thii3 is used for clauses. The current study posits diachronic developments for nominalizers and addresses related issues. It is concluded that nominalizers kaan1 and khwaam1 were originally lexical nouns meaning 'work' and 'matter'. The essential features of the use of nominalizations have remained constant, but certain developments have occurred, which include lexical nominalization to clausal nominalization and the emergence of a new nominalizer, kaan1thii3. It is found that nominalizers kaan1, khwaam1 and kaan1thii3 are basically in complementary distribution, and language internal evolution and external contact are the primary motivations for nominalization in Thai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Pangkhua and South Central languages exhibit an elaborate indexation of arguments on verbs. Pangkhua shares many of the characteristics of argument indexation with other languages in South Central while showing a relatively more innovative pattern in this domain (verbal argument indexation). In South Central, major tendencies of argument indexation include the loss of archaic patterns in mostly Central languages as opposed to Northwestern and Peripheral languages, the retention of archaic forms in mostly negative constructions, and the relatively higher complexity in 1st person and 2nd person argument indexation than in 3rd person. There is a notable affinity between a few Central and Peripheral languages in the grammaticalization of directional markers as argument indexes. This affinity in specific functional domains indicates the likelihood of language contact at a post proto-SC period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to examine the functional and formal features of the construction here’s hoping. Our analysis is informed by the frameworks of construction grammar (Fried, 2010, 2013), grammaticalization (Fried, 2009; Himmelmann, 2004), subjectification (Company, 2006) and impersonalization (Siewierska, 2008). The construction seems to have developed a novel subjectified function, i.e. to express the speaker’s positive expectation while retaining a degree of tentativeness and distance. The data for the analysis was excerpted from the corpus English Web 2021 (enTenTen21). The internal and external features of the construction (e.g. the (non-)deictic function of here, fixedness, syntactic isolation, initial position) together with the overall expansion of the semantic and pragmatic context and the gradual host-class expansion suggest that the process of grammaticalization/subjectification is currently under way (cf. Fried, 2010; Company, 2006). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the grammaticalization patterns of evidentiality from a cross-linguistic perspective with a focus on Lhasa Tibetan. It documents the history of the evidential morphemes 'dug, -song, -bzhag, and =ze from Old Literary Tibetan to modern spoken Lhasa Tibetan. Our analyses show that these morphemes started grammaticalizing before encoding evidentiality. We argue that, through pragmatic strengthening, evidentiality tends to infiltrate forms which have already grammaticalized to express other semantic domains. These patterns of grammaticalization are confirmed by diachronic and reconstructed data from genetically unrelated languages. Evidentiality thus tends to be a 'grammaticalization passenger' (i.e., a conventionalized meaning which used to be merely implied from the recurrent contexts of a grammaticalized form) rather than a 'grammaticalization target' (i.e., a functional domain which triggers grammaticalization). This may explain why evidentiality is less often grammaticalized than other notions, such as time or modality, in the world's languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the main notions that are addressed in this special issue, namely evidentiality, modality, and grammaticalization. It defines each notion and briefly synthesizes the literature. It also presents some of the controversies which surround the ideas that prevail in these research fields. Crosslinguistic examples illustrate the main evidential and modal categories, and clarify why the two domains are both distinct and related. The paper then sketches the main pathways of grammaticalization of modal and evidential markers as they have been documented in typological work. Finally, it introduces the contributions to this special issue, highlights the new insights, and discusses what remains to be investigated on the links between evidentiality, modality, and grammaticalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the widespread view that the diachronic processes of grammaticalization and of subjectification go hand in hand, and that highly subjectivized meanings typically correlate with highly grammaticalized forms, should be revised. The point is made on the basis of the case of the diachrony of the Dutch modal verbs. Corpus data show that four of these verbs recently got involved in a process of collective re-autonomization, while the two other modals in the language do not. This correlates with differences in the semantic development of the verbs: the four re-autonomizing verbs do, but the two outliers do not show a regular process of (inter)subjectification. The paper unravels through which mechanisms the grammatical and the semantic developments may correlate, hence why highly subjectivized meanings do not necessarily like a grammatical status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to answer three questions: (1) What is the difference between grammatical and lexical indications of information source? (2) What qualifies an element for grammaticalization as an evidential? (3) How can we identify grammatical evidentials and instances of evidential grammaticalization? The answers proposed are as follows: (1) The difference between grammatical and lexical indications of information source is a difference between indications conventionalized as discourse secondary and indications conventionalized as potentially discourse primary. (2) A candidate for grammaticalization as an evidential must (i) have propositional scope, (ii) belong in the conceptual domain of information source, (iii) be frequent enough to pass the threshold for conventionalization, and (iv) be discourse secondary, but not by convention. (3) Grammatical evidentials and instances of evidential grammaticalization can be identified based on focusablity, addressability and modifiability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study investigates the syntactic behavior and the discoursal roles of hala? in Jordanian Arabic, which corresponds to the English 'now' and is frequently used as a discourse marker. Specifically, the syntactic distribution of this discourse marker in everyday conversations, its function in establishing coherence between discourse units, and its communicative and discoursal meanings are scrutinized. The data necessary for the study was obtained from almost a 15-hour corpus of naturally-occurring conversations recorded by the researchers through 30 interviews with 80 (40 males and 40 females) Jordanian students from Al-Balqa Applied University. The data analysis revealed that hala? can be used as an adverb conveying temporal meaning and as a discourse marker conveying coherence-related meanings. Semantically, it is a temporal adverb that has a semantic meaning parallel to that of its English adverbial counterpart 'now'. However, it was found that hala? can also serve six pragmatic functions: Changing a topic, introducing a contrast or comparison, marking disagreement, initiating reasons, explanations or clarifications, listing, and marking shifts in participation framework (Marking a change in the speaker's orientation and marking a change of footing). The study concludes with a suggested grammaticalization path for the development of this discourse marker from a lexical source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics / Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada (John Benjamins Publishing Co.) is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of CIRCULO de Linguistica Aplicada a la Comunicacion is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

While speed is a secondary parameter in some associated motion systems, some languages have verbal affixes dedicated to the encoding of speed – celerative markers. Celeratives can encode both quick and slow speed and are in some languages even the main or the sole way of expressing this meaning. However, some morphemes not only encode speed, but also other types of action manner, in particular hurry or suddenness, following colexification patterns also observed in the lexicon crosslinguistically. This paper provides a first overview of this category in the world's languages, and more generally suggests that action manner constitutes a set of comparative concepts that can be be encoded morphologically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses primarily on the claim in previous research that finiteness asymmetry occurs less often in imperative negation, due to its illocutionary dynamicity, than in standard negation, due to its stativity. Its secondary aim is to identify the languages suitable to test this hypothesis, with specialized imperatives as well as negative imperatives. The findings of this identification process in a balanced 200-language sample confirm the imperative and its negative counterpart as near-universal sentence types while simultaneously providing evidence for specialization asymmetry and thus for a certain mutual independence between the two. The results about finiteness asymmetry challenge the earlier claim: not only is finiteness asymmetry equally frequent in the two domains of negation; an explicit expression of illocutionary dynamicity can even give rise to it in imperative negation. In general, imperative negation's finiteness asymmetry is found to be relatively unrelated to standard negation's and not to be attributable to one single principle. The article shows that a variety of processes, such as grammaticalization and insubordination, are at work. They are argued to be motivated by the diachronic instability of negative imperatives, itself likely due to competing factors like politeness and negative reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present study, as a data-based and diachronic one, has been done in order to investigate different types of pragmatic meanings belonging to the discourse marker "ya'ni" on thetical grammar level, and development of these meanings over time (centuries 4 to 14 A.H.). This study is based on Traugott and Dasher's view (2002) on "subjectification spectrum" (non-subjective > subjective > intersubjective meanings). To collect research data, two literary books from each century were chosen. Then, all the occurrences of "ya'ni" in those books were manually identified. Finally, they were analyzed based on the paper's analytical framework. The research data show that the discourse marker "ya'ni" acquires new pragmatic meanings such as textual, subjective and intersubjective ones on thetical grammar level, and moves away from its propositional meaning. It indicates that after pragmaticalization and transferring to thetical grammar, this discourse marker acquires new meanings through grammaticalization. The more it moves away from its propositional meaning, the more it is grammaticalized. There is also an order in forming these meanings so that textual meanings are formed at first; then subjective and intersubjective meanings appear in this discourse marker respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of the meanings of the Estonian core verb laskma ('to let'), explains the development and usage of its grammatical constructions, and describes the most common semantic types of the laskmacausative (LET-causative). Data for this study were collected from corpora of written Estonian texts from the 16th century to the present. The first instance of the laskmacausative is impossible to ascertain due to the grammatical constructions of laskma already appearing in written texts in the 16th and 17th centuries (explained as forced grammaticalization). However, the process of grammaticalization can be elucidated through the relationships among the meanings of laskma and bridging constructions. The lexical meanings of laskma were categorized into four groups: 'to move a substance somewhere or in some direction', 'to not hinder', 'to act at full speed', and 'to discharge something from a firearm'. The verb laskma appears in a permissive causative construction (causer + laskma + causee + Vdainf), expressing the meaning of 'to allow'. Laskma + Vdainf also signifies 'to ask someone to do something'. The usage of laskma + Vdainf 'to allow' is the most frequent among all [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is based on a sample of 30 Sinitic languages spoken in the Hunan Province. Its first objective is to explore the types of dative markers, comparing the form of the dative with allative, passive, benefactive, and differential object markers in these languages. Five patterns are identified: (I) DAT = ALL (II) DAT = GIVE = OM ≠ PASS; (III) DAT = GIVE = OM = PASS; (VI) DAT = GIVE = PASS ≠ OM; (V) DAT = BEN. Then, we reveal three main possible grammaticalization pathways that motivate the five synchronic patterns: (a) Allative > Dative; (b) (TAKE >) GIVE > Dative; (c) Benefactive > Dative. It concerns two distinct developments for the second pathway. Based on the areal distribution of the various types of dative markers, we can observe how the dative markers are developed in Hunan Sinitic languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called perífrasis perfectivas in Galician present the action as concluded or realized. This particular aspectual feature constitutes the common ground for an otherwise heterogeneous set of constructions, ranging from rematar de 'finish'+ infinitive (e.g., rematóu de beber '(s/he) finished drinking') to ter 'have' + participle (e.g., teñen ido '(they) have gone (Rep.)'). This work provides a critical assessment of their syntactic and semantic properties in cases where the participle may not show agreement. This is the case for periphrases built on three auxiliaries: ter, levar, and dar, of which ter + participle stands out as the most grammaticalized one. The case of ter is further investigated in relation to European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP), where ter + participle is considered a fully-fledged perfect tense. Additionally, the use of these periphrases in areas where Spanish is also present is evaluated from a contact perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Talmy's (1991; 2000a; 2000b) influential work on motion events provides a strong two-way typology that can examine and account for the typology of a language, but this framework is basically synchronic. It may not be equally valid to explain language change. In this paper, we apply the event integration theory and its latest development, The Macro-event Hypothesis (Li, 2020, 2023), to account for the development of the causative verb 使-shǐ- make (SHI for short) in Chinese. This study reveals that, firstly, the multi-functional behavior of SHI represents a typical case of grammaticalization, with a full verb acquiring the role of conjunction and expressing abstract meanings. Secondly, the semantic division of the causative and non-causative uses of SHI in Contemporary Chinese is the most clear-cut. Thirdly, causative SHI shows a greater level of semantic bleaching, and the construction profiles a single causal activity and has a higher degree of event integration when compared to its lexical verbal use. The constructional grammaticalization of SHI confirms that event integration is key to its development. This study verifies The Macro-event Hypothesis of a continuum of grammaticalization in language and uncovers the process of semantic gradation that takes place in Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explores the progressive constructions in different Balochi dialects from a diachronic and an areal linguistic point of view. Previous studies on different Balochi dialects (Buddruss 1988; Baranzehi 2003; Farrell 2003; Axenov 2006; Ahangar 2007; Jahani and Korn 2009; Nourzaei et al. 2015; Korn and Nourzaei 2019; Korn 2020, 2017a and 2017b) have described progressive constructions, but discussion from a diachronic and an areal linguistic point of view is largely lacking. I will argue that the diversity of progressive constructions in Balochi dialects is a result of language contact and diffusion rather than an internal historical development that can be explained in terms of grammaticalization. In addition, there is no trace of a morphological progressive construction in written samples of Balochi. The general imperfective marker = a = (verbal clitic) covers ongoing meaning. To the extent that this marker has lost its ongoing meaning and become a general indicative marker in the present domain, the language has filled the progressive gap with new constructions which are basically a result of language and dialect contact. The new progressive constructions are mainly periphrastic constructions that represent either direct or indirect code copying from dominant languages and other Balochi dialects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The paper posits the hypothesis that if a form or construction entering a process of grammaticalization has a diachronic structural pattern, the grammaticalization may become entrenched and strengthened; it can recategorize and move easily into other grammatical areas, can make more complex diachronic paths, and will progress better than a change without a pattern. The paper poses two types of structural pattern: an intraparadigmatic one and an interparadigmatic one. The empirical evidence is the grammaticalization of the predication dice que into the evidential discourse marker dizque and later into the adjective dizque. The paper examines two patterns supporting this grammaticalization: first, the various grammaticalizations undergone by the verb decir into different discourse particles, an intraparadigmatic pattern, and second, three predications that undergone the same diachronic path: que es que > quesque; puede que > pueque; vaya > ¡vaya!, an interparadigmatic pattern.

Over the last decades, the acknowledgment of the dynamic character of language has led to the focus on language evolution and change. Among the different streams of linguistics, Historical linguistics (morphosyntax), Construction Grammar and Phraseology have paid attention to these processes, studying grammaticalization, constructionalization and phraseologization, respectively. The three frameworks we are dealing with were quite different in origin, but through the adoption of cognitive, usage-based, pragmatic approaches they are tending to converge. In this paper we will outline the respective frameworks, their conception of language unit and the process of change, including its mechanisms and stages. In each section, we will include some applications in Catalan language. As we consider them to be complementary, since they account for different items of language, at the end we will suggest an integration of the three of them.

Determining the linguistic nature of light verbs – whether they are lexical or grammatical units – is still an open question. Light verbs are often characterised as delexicalized. Thus, grammaticalization would be the process by which a lexical verb (lexical unit) assumes the value of a light verb (grammatical unit). However, it has also been argued that light verbs are just regular verbs, albeit ones with little semantic specification. If they are, there can be no grammaticalization, at least in principle. Nevertheless, even if light verbs are considered lexical verbs, the way they evolve invite to relate them to grammaticalization processes. In this paper I contribute to the debate by providing evidence on the historical evolution of the Catalan verb agafar ‘to take, to catch, to pick, to get’. The conclusion is not firm, but suggests that the description of light verbs can benefit from the framework of grammaticalization.