DiachronicaPub Date : 2021-09-14DOI: 10.1075/dia.20047.kuo
Y. Kuo
{"title":"Bidirectionality between modal and conditional constructions in Mandarin Chinese","authors":"Y. Kuo","doi":"10.1075/dia.20047.kuo","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.20047.kuo","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper proposes that modal constructions can develop into conditional constructions in Mandarin Chinese and vice versa. Therefore, bidirectionality exists between these kinds of constructions diachronically. While bidirectionality is an apparent violation of unidirectionality, both directions of change are shown to be regular cases of procedural constructionalization, enabled by the fact that modal and conditional constructions can perform identical indirect speech acts (i.e., they are performatively equivalent) and instances of one may be morphosyntactically categorized as the other in Chinese (i.e., they are morphosyntactically vague). A crosslinguistically generalizable prediction is then proposed: bidirectionality is possible if instances of two constructions are performatively equivalent and morphosyntactically vague with respect to each other in certain contexts.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42108897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DiachronicaPub Date : 2021-05-22DOI: 10.1075/DIA.20010.OSK
Sofia Oskolskaya, Ezequiel Koile, Martine Robbeets
{"title":"A Bayesian approach to the classification of Tungusic languages","authors":"Sofia Oskolskaya, Ezequiel Koile, Martine Robbeets","doi":"10.1075/DIA.20010.OSK","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.20010.OSK","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The Tungusic language family is comprised of languages spoken in Siberia, the Russian Far East, Northeast China and\u0000 Xinjiang. There is a general consensus that these languages are genealogically related and descend from a common ancestral language.\u0000 Nevertheless, there is considerable disagreement with regard to the internal structure of the Tungusic family and the time depth of its\u0000 separation into daughter languages. Here we use computational Bayesian phylogenetic methods to generate a phylogeny of Tungusic languages\u0000 and estimate the time-depth of the family. Our analysis is based on the recently introduced Leipzig-Jakarta-Jena list, a dataset of 254\u0000 basic vocabulary items collected for 21 Tungusic doculects. Our results are consistent with two basic classifications previously proposed in\u0000 the literature, notably a Manchu-Tungusic classification, in which the break-up of Jurchenic constitutes the first split in the tree, as\u0000 well as a North-South classification, which includes a Jurchenic-Nanaic and an Orochic-Ewenic branch. In addition, we obtain a time-depth\u0000 for the age of Proto-Tungusic between the 8th century BC and the 12th century AD (95% highest posterior density interval). Previous\u0000 classifications of Tungusic were based on both classical historical comparative linguistic and lexicostatistic approaches, but the\u0000 application of Bayesian phylogenetic methods to the Tungusic languages has not so far been attempted. In contrast to previous approaches,\u0000 our Bayesian analysis adds an understanding of the statistical robustness of the proposed branches and infers absolute divergence dates,\u0000 allowing variation of rates of change across branches and cognate sets. In this way, our research provides a reliable quantitative basis for\u0000 previous estimates based on classical historical linguistic and lexicostatistic approaches.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44313303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DiachronicaPub Date : 2021-05-15DOI: 10.1075/DIA.20009.BOD
T. Bodt, Johann-Mattis List
{"title":"Reflex prediction","authors":"T. Bodt, Johann-Mattis List","doi":"10.1075/DIA.20009.BOD","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.20009.BOD","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 While analysing lexical data of Western Kho-Bwa languages of the Sino-Tibetan or Trans-Himalayan family with the\u0000 help of a computer-assisted approach for historical language comparison, we observed gaps in the data where one or more varieties\u0000 lacked forms for certain concepts. We employed a new workflow, combining manual and automated steps, to predict the most likely\u0000 phonetic realisations of the missing forms in our data, by making systematic use of the information on sound correspondences in\u0000 words that were potentially cognate with the missing forms. This procedure yielded a list of hypothetical reflexes of previously\u0000 identified cognate sets, which we first preregistered as an experiment on the prediction of unattested word forms and then\u0000 compared with actual word forms elicited during secondary fieldwork. In this study we first describe the workflow which we used to\u0000 predict hypothetical reflexes and the process of elicitation of actual word forms during fieldwork. We then present the results of\u0000 our reflex prediction experiment. Based on this experiment, we identify four general benefits of reflex prediction in historical\u0000 language comparison. These comprise (1) an increased transparency of linguistic research, (2) an increased efficiency of field and\u0000 source work, (3) an educational aspect which offers teachers and learners a wide plethora of linguistic phenomena, including the\u0000 regularity of sound change, and (4) the possibility of kindling speakers’ interest in their own linguistic heritage.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43609262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DiachronicaPub Date : 2021-05-10DOI: 10.1075/DIA.19014.BLE
J. Blevins, R. Sproat
{"title":"Statistical evidence for the Proto-Indo-European-Euskarian hypothesis","authors":"J. Blevins, R. Sproat","doi":"10.1075/DIA.19014.BLE","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.19014.BLE","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Based on a new reconstruction of Proto-Basque, and regular sound correspondences between this Proto-Basque and Proto-Indo-European as standardly reconstructed, Blevins (2018) argues that Proto-Basque and Proto-Indo-European have a common ancestor that pre-dates the two proto-languages. Part of this argument is based on proposed Proto-Indo-European/Proto-Basque cognate sets that include basic vocabulary items. In this study we offer statistical support for Blevins’ conclusions by using a Monte Carlo simulation that allows us to estimate the probability that the proposed lexical correspondences could have arisen by chance. The method makes use of phonotactic language models to generate possible words in a pair of languages, and then attempts to discover consistent correspondences between the words, producing a list of possible “cognates”. The method differs from some previous approaches by considering matches between all segments in the word pairs. By running such a simulation a large number of times, we can estimate the probability that two languages with the given phonotactics could have produced the number of cognate pairs observed in the actual data. The method is independently assessed by comparing wordlists from 100 pairs of languages, related and unrelated, where relations are known. Our conclusion is that the proposed correspondences are unlikely to have arisen by chance, supporting a distant relationship between Proto-Basque as reconstructed by Blevins (2018) and Proto-Indo-European.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45120653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DiachronicaPub Date : 2021-05-04DOI: 10.1075/DIA.19034.BUR
Roslyn Burns
{"title":"Persistent innovations and historical conspiracies as reanalysis and extension","authors":"Roslyn Burns","doi":"10.1075/DIA.19034.BUR","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/DIA.19034.BUR","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores temporally extended innovations as a form of phonological reanalysis and extension. Polabian (West Slavic) exhibits multiple dissimilatory innovations that target the reflexes of Late Common Slavic (LCS) *v/w. In this paper, I propose that the outputs of syllable structure changes in early West Slavic were reinterpreted as restrictions on the distribution of [w], thus introducing dissimilation to the language. The new grammar was not able to stop other innovations from occurring (prophylaxis) and instead restructured intermediate outputs from subsequent innovations into an acceptable phonetic form (repair) thereby extending dissimilation to new items. I demonstrate that (a) outputs of an earlier onset epenthesis grammar conform to the surface-true generalizations enforced by the reanalyzed dissimilation grammar and (b) a single grammar can account for both the dissimilation which developed during the West Slavic period and subsequent extensions which occurred after Polabian was fully differentiated from its relatives.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41584606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DiachronicaPub Date : 2021-03-15DOI: 10.1075/dia.19047.gel
Ewa Geller, Michał Gajek
{"title":"Loanwords vs relics","authors":"Ewa Geller, Michał Gajek","doi":"10.1075/dia.19047.gel","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.19047.gel","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract One of the major issues in historical and contact linguistics is how to distinguish between inherited and acquired vocabulary in a given language: both traditional historical linguistics and modern contact linguistics are in this respect eventually forced to resort to inferences. The aim of this paper is to propose a diagnostic test to aid in the identification of putative substratum relics in the lexicon. The method for this test consists in juxtaposing and comparing word families in the source and recipient language. We use the example of Yiddish-Slavic language contact, in which contact-induced changes are still relatively transparent. We employ wordnets – digital networks of lexical entities connected by lexico-semantic relations – in order to visually “map” lexical and semantic relations of transferred lexemes within the recipient language onto the source language. The method allows us to combine contemporary empirical data with historical analysis.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46287954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DiachronicaPub Date : 2021-02-24DOI: 10.1075/dia.19076.kil
Marwan Kilani
{"title":"Phonological change and interdialectal differences between Egyptian and Coptic: ḏ, ṯ → c = ϫ versus ḏ, ṯ → t = ⲧ","authors":"Marwan Kilani","doi":"10.1075/dia.19076.kil","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.19076.kil","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The development of the Egyptian palatals ḏ and ṯ has long been a thorny issue in Egyptian linguistics. No convincing phonological rule for it has been identified so far. In the present paper I argue that the distribution of these phonemes is the result of inter-dialectal borrowings between a pre-Coptic dialect (C‑Dialect) in which ḏ , ṯ → c = ϫ and a pre-Coptic dialect (T‑Dialect) in which ḏ , ṯ → t = ⲧ. It is then argued that the attested Coptic dialects derive from T‑Dialects with lexical borrowings from C‑Dialects. A preliminary discussion of the sociolinguistic contexts of these dialects is presented in the second part of the article, where it is suggested that the C‑Dialect may have been associated with the area of the cities of Avaris/Pi-Ramses/Tanis and may have become a prestigious dialect and thus a source of lexical borrowings starting from the 19th dynasty.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46271704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DiachronicaPub Date : 2021-02-07DOI: 10.1075/dia.19040.lar
P. Larrivée
{"title":"An information structure scenario for V2 loss in Medieval French","authors":"P. Larrivée","doi":"10.1075/dia.19040.lar","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.19040.lar","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper discusses word order change in Medieval French. Verb-second (V2) configurations are generally understood as\u0000 having an initial XP and the verb in the left periphery. How has this configuration been lost in French? Under an Information Structure\u0000 scenario, the XP is in initial position because of its characterized (discourse-old) informational value, which motivates the\u0000 left-peripheral position of the verb. The decline of the characterized informational value of the XP thus accounts for the gradual loss of\u0000 V2. The informational behaviour of XPs was examined in unambiguous V2 configurations with an overt post-verbal subject in Medieval French.\u0000 This detailed quantitative study of a calibrated corpus shows that XPs with a characterized informational value were predominant with\u0000 productive V2 configurations, that they gradually declined as productive V2 was lost, and that they increasingly failed to attract the verb\u0000 to the left periphery. These observations can be accounted for if V2 in Medieval French was driven by informational values and if it\u0000 disappeared along with the informational cues provided by the XPs.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42701599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DiachronicaPub Date : 2021-01-12DOI: 10.1075/dia.18032.fer
Fabrício Ferraz Gerardi, Stanislav Reichert
{"title":"The Tupí-Guaraní language family","authors":"Fabrício Ferraz Gerardi, Stanislav Reichert","doi":"10.1075/dia.18032.fer","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.18032.fer","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Attempts to classify Tupí-Guaraní languages have so far been inconsistent with archaeological evidence and ignored\u0000 information from historical sources. The case of Tupinambá is most illustrative in this regard. Using both Bayesian phylogenetic analysis\u0000 and a stochastic algorithm that reconstructs phylogenetic trees by relying on maximum likelihood estimation, we suggest a new internal\u0000 classification of the Tupí-Guaraní branch. The results of the analyses are in accordance with the most recent genetic research on Tupían\u0000 populations and challenge previous classifications by suggesting, among others, that Tupinambá should not be considered a ‘Guaraní’\u0000 language.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42649130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DiachronicaPub Date : 2021-01-12DOI: 10.1075/dia.19024.sal
Iker Salaberri
{"title":"The word order of negation in the history of Basque","authors":"Iker Salaberri","doi":"10.1075/dia.19024.sal","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.19024.sal","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article investigates word order changes in negated periphrastic constructions in the history of Basque. A number of\u0000 linguistic variables are argued to correlate with these changes: the negative particle ez is increasingly focalized in main\u0000 clauses, the innovative pattern negative particle – auxiliary verb – main verb allows for more syntactic\u0000 flexibility than the conservative one, and the word order changes do not progress at equal rates in all clause subtypes. Genre issues are\u0000 also considered, including the hypothesis that the loss of the conservative order main verb – negative particle – auxiliary\u0000 verb of main clauses occurs first in texts close to oral language. Moreover, it is argued that eastern dialects are more\u0000 innovative than western dialects and that efforts towards standardization of the language have slowed down this case of word order\u0000 change.","PeriodicalId":44637,"journal":{"name":"Diachronica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44140816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}