Co-ExpressionpatternsofnominalpredicationinIndo-Iranian

ShaharShirtz/Linguisticsdepartment,UniversityofOregon

NACIL1StonyBrookUniversity,NY

“Itiscertainlyacuriousdevelopmentthatthestudyoflinguisticvariationhasbecome,overthepastseveraldecades,anamedandrecognizedbranchofthefieldoflinguistic.NootherfieldthatIknowofhasdevelopedaseparatebranchforthestudyofvariationinitsobject,whilethemaingroupofresearchersdevotethemsleves (SIC)single-mindedlytothepursuitofinvariance.”(WilliamLabov,1993)

h/tCharlieFarrington,forfindingthisquoteforme.

Introduction

• Usually,linguistsspeakofsixnominalpredicationfunctions(Hengeveld 1992,Stassen1997,Payne2007,interalia).• Thesearemostcommonlydefinedas:• Equation(followingPayne2007:111-113): predicatingtheequivalenceofreferentbetweentwoconstituents• predicateproperty/predicateattribute(followingPayne2007:111-113):predicatingthatthereferentofsomeexpression(thetopic)hassomeproperty(thepredicate).• properinclusion(followingPayne2007:111-113):predicatingthatthereferentofsomeexpression(thetopic)belongstoagroupdesignatedbyanotherexpression(thepredicate).

Definitions

• predicativepossession(followingLangacker1993,Heine1997):predicatingacontrolofoneentityinrelationtoanother,oranintimaterelationshipbetweenthetwo(e.g.,inalienablepossession).• predicatelocative(followingPayne2007:111-113,Creissels2013,2014):predicatingthelocationofonereferent(figure)inrelationtoanother(theground)• existential(followingPayne2007:111-113,Creissels 2013,2014“inverselocative”):predicatingtheexistenceofthereferentofsomeexpression(thefigure)insomelocation(theground).

Definitions

(1a) dēn ān baw-ēdreligionDEMbe.PRS-3SG“religionisthis”(MiddlePersian,Shaked 1979)

(1b) pašēmān baw-ēdregretfulbe.PRS-3SG"heisregretful”(MiddlePersian, Shaked 1979)

(1c) ōy az harw dō ōh baw-ēdDEMfromalltwoDEMbe.PRS-3SG“heisoneofthosetwo”(MiddlePersian,Williams1990)

Definitions

(1d) čēon=šān xwadāy ud dahibed … nebūdas=3PLlordandruler…NEGbe.PST.3SG“becausetheyhadnolord,ruler,leader…”(MP,Vahman 1988)

(1e) dušmenān padrāh būd h-ēndenemy-PLbyroadbe.PRS be.PRS-3PL“theenemiesareontheroad”(MiddlePersian,Williams1990)

(1f) būd dastwar kē=š ēdōn guftbe.PST.3SGpriestREL=3SGthussay.PST.3SG“therewasapriestwhosaidthus:”(MiddlePersian,Shaked 1979)

Introduction:[NPNPCOP]

(2a) irijkur=asbiyairij son=3SGbe.PST.3SG“Irij washisson”(Gorani,Mahmoudveysietal.2012)

(2b) mana ʈinɡ bhi-l-u1SG.NOMNEGfirmbe-PST-MSG“(Isaid)Iwasnotfirm”(Palula,Liljegren &Haider 2015)

(2c) meaɣagalesbie1SG.GENmistergaleshbe.PST.3SG“Myhusbandwasagalesh(cow-herd)”(Ziyarti,Shokri etal.2013)

Introduction:[NPNPCOP]

• Infrequently,NPNPCOPexpressedpredicativelocation,orpredicativepossession:

(3a) usaasafaransa biyamasterthenFrancebe.PST.3SG“Atthattime,themasterwasinFrance”(Gorani,Mahmoudveysietal.2012)

(3b) aŋgrar santa kilagaɖa as-eTuesdaymarketKilagada be-PRS.3SG“(there’s)aTuesdaymarketinKilagada”(Kupia,Christmas&Christmas1973)

Introduction:[NPNPCOP]

• Infrequently,NPNPCOPexpressedpredicativelocation,orpredicativepossession:

(4a) harw kas ciš=ē asteverypersonthing=INDEFbe.PRS.3SG“Everypersonhasonething”(MiddlePersian,Shaked 1979)

(4b) ukʰ=rə dulhi=k cʰawa nidz=bʰəi-lə3SG=GENwife=3SG.POSSsonNEG=be-PST“hiswifedidnotgivebirthtoason”(Darai,Dhakal 2013)

Introduction

• Situationsinwhichtwofunctionsareexpressedbythesamegrammar(i.e.,byclauseswiththesamestructuralcodingmeans)isbehindmanyargumentsthat“Possessorsarelocations”(Jackendoff 1983,Baron&Herslund 2001,Freeze2001,Sørensen2001,DeLancey2002interalia)

• AcrossWesternEurope,wefindthe gardenhaslotsofweeds andsimilarclauses,wherepredicativelocationisencodedbythemeansnormallyusedtoexpresspredicativepossession.

• Further,inmanyotherlanguages(e.g.,Tibetan,Mongolian)synchronicallyactivelocativemarkersareusedtoflagpossessors.

Introduction

• Butgivenexamples(2)– (4),theco-expressionofthesixnominalpredicationfunctionsgoes(way)beyondco-expressionsofpossessionandlocation.

• Whataretheco-expressiontendenciesofthesixnominalpredicationfunctionin(asampleof)Indo-Iranianlanguages?

(spoileralert:complicated!)

• CanwesomehowmeasurethedegreetowhichpairsofthesefunctionsareexpressedbythesameconfigurationsofstructuralcodingmeansinIndo-Iranian(andbeyond)?

(spoileralert:It’salsocomplicated,butIthinkso!)

Twopreviousstudies

• Clark1978• Compareswhatshecalls“locatives”(predicativepossession,predicatelocation,existential)• a(convenience?)sampleofelicited datafrom30languages.• Givesseparateconsiderationto

(1)thecopula/verbused(2)therelativewordorder,(3)(some)flagging.

• Manyinterestingpatterns(e.g.,existential/predicatelocativemostlydistinguishbywordorder),butcodingmeansareneverconsideredasanensemble.

Twopreviousstudies

• Stassen2013a(WALSentry)• Askswhetherpredicatelocativeisexpressedlike“core”nominalpredication(equation,predicateproperty,properinclusion)• Restrictsscopetothecopulaalone,• Butacknowledges“mixed”languages(seealsoStassen1997)whichisoftentheresultofgrammaticalizationofmotion/postureverbsascopulasandotherprocesses.• Togetaround“mixed”languagesandthebinarycodingrequiredbyWALS,Stassenexcludesusesofsuchcopulaswhicharerelatedtotime-stability,andisleftwithabinaryvariable.• Healsoacknowledgesthatabinaryanswerisasimplification(butitshouldberememberedthateverymeasurewouldbeasimplification).

Inthistalk:

• Iwishtoarguethat(followingPayne2009):• (a)wecan,andshould,takeintoaccountentireconfigurationsofstructuralcodingmeansasanensemble,notjustthecopula;• (b)wecantakeintoaccountmultiplewaysofencodingasinglefunction,without“time-stability”orother restrictions.• (c)wecantrytoprovidesomenumericmeasureofdissimilarity thedifferencesinthegrammarusedtoencodetwofunctionaldomains,thusenablecross-linguisticcomparison.

• Note,thatsuchameasure(likeevery measure,e.g.,Stassen’s2013aWALSentry)reducesinformation.

Method

• PublishednaturalistictextsinasetofIndo-Iranianlanguages(asubsetofmydissertationdata)• Extractedallinstancesofclausesexpressingthesixfunctionsasdefinedabove,andcodedeachonefor:• Function:thenominalpredicationfunctionaldomainitexpresses.• Copula:thecopula(ornotcopula)used.• Flagging:theflaggingofthedifferentnon-copularconstituents• Indexing /agreementonthecopula(whenavailable)• Relativewordorder ofthecopulaandthetwoconstituents.

Method

(5a) čēon=šān xwadāy ud dahibed … nebūdas=3PLlordandruler…NEGbe.PST.3SG“becausetheyhadnolord,ruler,…”(MP,Vahman 1988)

(5b) harw kas ciš=ē asteverypersonthing=INDEFbe.PRS.3SG“Everypersonhasonething”(MiddlePersian,Shaked 1979)

(5c) ud ōy wirāz rāy haftxwah būd h-ēndandDEMwiraz tosevensisterbe.PST be.PRS-3PL“andWiraz hadsevensisters”(MiddlePersian,Vahman 1988)

Method

Function Verb type ARG1 ARG2 Indexing Worder

Possession B-copula NP Clitic pronoun 1 21v

Possession H-copula NP NP 1 21v

Possession B-copula NP NP ray 1 21v

Table (1)

Method

Predicativepossessionandequationencodedby[NPNP]:

(6a) seraza goʈek maiziDEMkingINDEFwife“thekinghadone/awife”(KotiaOriya,Gustafsson 1973)

(6b) mo-rmunos oricondor raza1SG-GENman PNking“MyhusbandiskingOricondor”(KotiaOriya,Gustafsson 1973)

Method

• Tablesliketable1canbevisualizedasbipartite(bi-modalnetworks),oftenusedinsocial-networkresearch.• Bimodalnetworks:twotypesofnodes,eachcanbeconnectedonlytonodesfromtheothertype(e.g.,membersofacommunityandinstitutions).• Here:onenodetyperepresentthesixnominalpredicationfunctions,andtheothertheconfigurationsofcodingmeansattestedexpressingthem.• Eachconfigurationisrepresentedonlyonce regardlessofitsrelativefrequency.• ImplementedusingtheRIgraph package(Csardi &Nepusz 2006).

Extremebipartitenetworks

Someresults

But:

• Thisdoesnotreallyhelpustocomparethedegreetowhichtwofunctionsareencodedbythesamemeansintwodifferentlanguages.• Todothat,Iproposetotesthowclosetherelationshipbetweenthesetsofconfigurationsofcodingmeansexpressingtwofunctions,AandB,topropersetinclusion:

𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑟𝑦 𝐴, 𝐵 = 1 − #ofconfigurations<=>?@ABCD>EAF𝑀𝐼𝑁(#𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝐴,#𝑐𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝐵)

But:

PredicateLocativevs.“core”nominalpredication• AskingthesamequestionasStassen2013,but:(1)Notlimitingscopetocopula,butalsoincludingothercodingmeans.(2)Notposingthe“timestability”restriction.

• Towhatdegreedoes“statesarelocations”interactwiththeexpressionofpredicatelocativeandcorenominalpredication(equation,predicativeproperty,properinclusion).

PredicateLocativevs.“core”nominalpredication• Cross-linguisticvariation

PredicateLocativevs.“core”nominalpredication• Whatcxns drivethesimilarity:• NPNPcopulausedforlocative(asseenabove).• Theexpressionofpredicativeproperty/properinclusionwithlocativeadpositions:

(12a) wasruwān ud frawahr-ān andar ān rōd būd h-ēndmanysouland fravashi-PLinDEMriverbe.PST be.PRS-3PL“andmanysoulsandfravashi wereinthatriver”(MiddlePersian,AWN)

(12b) mardōm-ān andar gumān būd h-ēndman-PL indoubt be.PST be.PRS-3PL“menwerefullofdoubt”(MiddlePersian,AWN)

Predicativepossessionvs.thepredicatelocative/theexistential• Iacceptthatthereisaprivilegedsemantic(cognitive)relationshipbetweenpossessorandlocations(e.g.,Jackendoff 1993,Baron&Herslund 2001,DeLancey 2002…)

• Howdoesthisrelationshipinteractwithsynchronic co-expressionofthesefunctionsintexts?

Predicativepossessionvs.thepredicatelocative/theexistential• Predicativepossessionvs.thepredicatelocative:mostlydifferent.

Predicativepossessionvs.thepredicatelocative/theexistential• Thelittlesimilarityhereisdrivenby:• Occasionalinnovativepredicativepossessioncxns wherethepossessorisflaggedbyasynchroniclocativemarker:

(13) kaʈéeri biaɽíi=weehín-iknifeTOP3sg.OBL=inbe.PRS-F“hehadaknife”(Palula,Liljegern andHeider 2015)

• Occasional“indirect”co-expression:bothfunctionexpressedby[NPNPCOP].

Predicativepossessionvs.thepredicatelocative/theexistential• Predicativepossessionvs.theexistential:moresimilarity inencoding,atleastsometimes.•

Summary

• Wemeasuredthedegreetowhichthesamegrammarisusedtoencodedifferentnominalpredicationfunctionsinnaturalistictexts.• ThisdegreevariesacrossIndo-Iranian.

• So,acrossIndo-Aryanwefindvariationinthedegreetowhich“possessorsarelocations”or“statesarelocations”interactswiththegrammarofdifferentnominalpredicationfunctionaldomains.

That’sit.

PredicateLocativevs.Theexistential