Typology and grammaticalization in the Papuan languages of Timor, Alor, and Pantar

Abstract

This chapter investigates two grammaticalization patterns that are characteristic for the Timor-Alor-Pantar (TAP) family, a family of ~25 Papuan languages spoken in eastern Indonesia: first, the grammaticalization first of locational, deictic, and handling verbs into adpositions and verbal prefixes, and second, of nouns into numeral classifiers. It is observed that in verb grammaticalization, many cognate forms are involved, while the process is not influenced by contact with (an) Austronesian language(s). The grammaticalization of nouns into classifiers, on the other hand, does not involve any cognates, and is influenced by Austronesian contact. Grammaticalization is thus not determined only by universal tendencies, nor by typology alone; sociohistorical circumstances play a role too. If and how contact influences grammaticalization depends on the type and intensity of contact; and contact affects grammaticalization in the verbal and nominal domain in different ways.