1,720,971 research outputs found
Pluractionality: A cross-linguistic perspective
No full textThis paper aims to give a cross-linguistic overview of pluractionality. Pluractionality is defined as a structural modification of the verb indicating the presence of multiple events. The paper first investigates the functions associated with pluractional markers in the languages of the world and classifies them into core and additional functions. I then present the most frequent marking strategies that the languages adopt in order to encode pluractionality and briefly discuss the morphological nature of one in particular (i.e., lexical alternation), as well as the formal identification of participant plurality. Finally, I examine the grammatical status of pluractionality in a cross-linguistic perspective, taking the most recent typological literature into consideration. I conclude that “pluractionality” cannot be theoretically conceived as a unique, cross-linguistically valid category but should rather be regarded as a label, which indicates different phenomena in different languages, useful for typological comparison but not reflecting any kind of pre-established grammatical category
Syntactic discontinuous reduplication with antonymic pairs: A case study from Italian
Full text linkThis article aims at giving a comprehensive account of a so far undescribed reduplicative pattern in Italian named syntactic discontinuous reduplication with antonymic pairs (SDRA). This pattern, characterized by the non-contiguous repetition of the same element within a larger fixed configuration defined by two spatial antonyms, can be schematized as , where Adv1 and Adv2 are antonyms (e.g., di qua 'here' ∼di là 'there'). After describing its formal and functional properties, based on naturally occurring data extracted from the Italian Web 2016 corpus, the SDRA is analyzed as an independent 'construction' in the Construction Grammar sense. This construction is claimed to convey a general value of 'plurality' and to have developed a polysemy network of daughter constructions expressing more specific functions such as 'distributivity,' 'related variety,' and 'dispersion.' In addition, we propose considering the SDRA a 'multiple source construction,' originating from the blending of two independent constructions: syntactic reduplication and irreversible binomials with antonymic adverbs. Finally, we discuss SDRA-like patterns in other typologically different languages (Russian, Modern Hebrew, Mandarin Chinese, German), pointing out similarities and differences, and paving the way to a more systematic study of discontinuous reduplication in a crosslinguistic perspective
Come si combinano le parole: la sintassi
No full textQuesto è un capitolo didattico sulle basi teoriche della sintassi all'interno di un volume per i corsi di linguistica generale
The pluractional marker -pödï of Akawaio (Cariban) and beyond
No full textThe aim of this paper is to give a comprehensive description of the suffix-pödï of Akawaio (Cariban, Venezuelan). In particular, we aim to investigate the functions that this marker can express and the grammatical status that it has in the grammar of Akawaio. This is a challenge because-pödï shows broad multifunctionality that has not yet been fully explored. A review of the typological phenomenon of pluractionality suggests that all the functions of this suffix can be captured within the pluractional conceptual space. In addition to mapping the functions of-pödï into the pluractional space, we also iden-tify additional morphology that explains the absence of-pödï in the other typical plurac-tional functions. Finally, we give an overview of pluractional markers in other Cariban languages, with particular reference to Kari’nja
The conceptual space of pluractional constructions
No full textThis paper investigates the functional domain of pluractional constructions (i.e., a verb modification that expresses a plurality of situations) through the analysis of a typological sample of 240 languages. Crosslinguistically, these constructions can express a large set of different functions, and they can be classified in two main classes: core and additional functions. The former class comprises the functions that are necessary to describe a construction as pluractional, the latter functions that convey some supplementary information and that are recurrent in the languages of the world. In order to describe and explain such multifunctionality, we adopt the Semantic Map model (Croft 2001; Haspelmath 2003). The result is a Pluractional Conceptual Space that shows the connections among the functions (both core and additional). Then, we provide a functional explanation that allows to interpret the organization of the space and we discuss some interesting linguistic correlations that the space reveals. These correlations ultimately lead also to a new conceptualization of pluractional constructions in a cross-linguistic perspective
Counterfactual conditionals: Linguistic variation in italian and beyond
No full textThe aim of this paper is to integrate the analysis of the intra-linguistic variation attested in the coding of counterfactual conditionals in spoken Italian with a larger cross-linguistic perspective. We start by providing a sociolinguistically-informed discussion of the counterfactual conditional strategies attested in spoken Italian, through a corpus-based analysis. After describing the corpus and the parameters of analysis, we provide a typology of the attested constructions, based on the verbal forms employed for protasis and apodosis, showing that the observed variation goes beyond the representations available in the literature. In particular, we describe the spread of counterfactual imperfective past indicative forms, which are especially frequent in symmetrical constructions and are argued to be associated to lower educational achievements and, to a lesser extent, to informal contexts. We then consider the picture of Italian counterfactual conditionals within a wider perspective, to verify whether the patterns described for Italian follow more general tendencies. After addressing some crucial methodological issues, concerning the problems raised by the integration of a sociolinguistic and a cross-linguistic approach, we argue that Italian data are probably to be analyzed as manifestations of a widespread trend towards the use of symmetrical countefactual constructions on the one hand and the use of past habituals for functions connected to the irrealis domain on the other hand
Discontinuous reduplication: a typological sketch
Full text linkThe paper investigates discontinuous reduplication (DR), a pattern where reduplicant and base are separated by other material, by annotating a 214-example dataset collected from a 99-language sample. Several items turned out to serve as interposing elements, although their nature does not seem to correlate with function, unlike the category of the base. DR’s functions are a subset of those associated with reduplication cross-linguistically. All languages displaying DR also present contiguous reduplication, suggesting a contiguous reduplication > discontinuous reduplication hierarchy. Finally, a corpus-based analysis of Italian (lacking DR according to grammars) unveiled a wealth of DR patterns, suggesting that corpora are essential for the typological enterprise
The non-universality of linguistic categories
No full textThis paper aims at giving a typological overview of pluractionality in order to show how grammatical categories, in cross-linguistic perspective, cannot be considered as universally valid entities. After having defined the phenomenon, I will present the main functions and some formal characteristics that pluractional markers have in the languages of the world. Then, I will describe the diachronic sources from which pluractional markers probably come from. Finally, I will discuss the grammatical status that pluractionality has in cross-linguistic perspective in the light of the broad variety it shows in the languages of the world and also taking into consideration data from specific languages
Wild words
Full text linkIn this paper we analyse the formal and functional 'extravagance' of general extenders embedded within morphological schemas, either at the end of coordinate compounds, or as constituents of complex words, especially at the end of lists of complex words formed according to the same schema. After discussing two case studies from Italian (eccetera 'etcetera' and tutto 'everything/all'), we conclude that complex words containing general extenders are 'wild words', namely 'contextuals' (Clark & Clark 1979) that are created to meet specific communicative needs and are meant not to be stored. As such, they serve as a strategy to create 'ad hoc categories' (Mauri & Sansò 2018a). The relationship of 'wild words' with lists is also explored and deemed crucial both for their semantic interpretation and for explaining their collocation within morphological structures
- …
