Typologie et Universaux Linguistiques

Northern Akhvakh, like other Nakh-Daghestanian languages, has a large inventory of converbs specialized in the expression of various semantic types of adverbial subordination: locative, temporal, conditional, concessive, similative, gradual, and purposive. After outlining the general characteristics of Akhvakh morphosyntax, this paper describes the morphology and the uses of the individual converbs, and discusses the possibility of reconstructing their origins. Attention is drawn to the high proportion of etymologically transparent converbs, which suggests that the particular type of morphosyntactic organization characteristic of Nakh-Daghestanian languages favors grammaticalization processes that do not modify the overall organization of the adverbial subordination system, but result in a constant and relatively rapid renewal of the inventories of specialized converbs.

In this article we explore the ways in which Mankon, a Grassfields Bantu language, links clauses together to form certain sentences by using four distinct verbal constructions – the successive, exhortative, non-future and future consecutive. These constructions encode the syntactic and semantic links between clauses. After a brief typological survey of the language we present the affi rmative perfective conjugation. Sections 3, 4, 5 discuss sentences whose constituting clauses are not linked by coordinating or subordinating morphemes, or where such links are optional. Even when one such morpheme is required, this does not indicate the status of the clause it marks. Section 6 deals with fixed constructions relating to the sentences examined in the preceding sections. The conclusion briefly reviews research on the topic for other Grassfields languages.

Due to the specificity of its verb conjugation system, Wolof (Senegal) favors parataxis for clause combining and provides an interesting case where interclausal dependency can be marked by forms indicating information hierarchy. Furthermore, the study of clause combining shows that, with some restrictions on possible combinations, the various combinations of conjugations (or Tense-Aspect-Modality markers) produce different but regular interclausal meanings, such as succession, causality, opposition or consecution. Moreover, due to the nature of the different conjugations, paratactic clause chaining in Wolof yields different types of interclausal dependency, defining a gradient of syntactic integration: from simple assertive juxtaposition to more integrated syntactic dependency, through lesser known types of dependency, defined here as ‘situational dependency’ and ‘pragmatic dependency’.

The deictic ad fulfills many functions in Mauritanian Berber (demonstrative, copula, connector, injunctive particle, etc.). Most of these uses are found more or less in all Berber languages. However, Zenaga differs markedly on several points: ad is not used as a preverb to express future; on the contrary, it is used as a conditional and quotative particle. The author analyses these divergent evolutions and proposes explanations for the various grammaticalization phenomena involved by conjointly studying the TAM (tense-aspect-mood) markers and sentence structure. The polygrammaticalization of the deictic is partly linked to the semantic indetermination of the Aorist and to some specific conditions which bear on fronted verbs.

Coptic Egyptian (3rd–13th c. CE) possesses a large variety of coordinating constructions. The most central pattern for symmetric clause linkage involves the coordinating conjunction awɔː ‘and’. Symmetric awɔː -coordinations at different levels (phrasal, clausal, discourse paragraph) differ systematically in meaning. In the domain of asymmetric clause coordination the language employs special verb conjugations. The focus of this study is on converbs and conjunctive verbs. Coordinating converbs belong to the paradigm of relative tenses, which formally distinguish a large family of focus-sensitive constructions from pragmatically neutral declarative sentences. The conjunctive covers a broad spectrum of semantic relations between clauses, crossing the traditional distinction between coordination and subordination.

Deixis expressed by three definite articles is a well-known characteristic of the Pomak varieties, given the absence of grammaticalized definite markers in most Slavic languages. In this paper, we present a practically unknown use of deixis in Slavic languages, namely the use of deictic suffixes in the formation of temporal subordinate conjunctions in Pomak. The deictic suffixes on the temporal subordinator indicate the relation between the process and the discourse situation; the choice of the deictic suffix depends on the type of event encoded in the clause. The free temporal subordinator indicates that the event is not anchored in speech time. This study is based on first-hand data of a nearly undescribed variety of Pomak spoken in Greece.

Despite the wealth of subordinators in Hiw and Lo-Toga (Oceanic, north Vanuatu), two of their Tense-Aspect-Mood categories – the Subjunctive and the Background Perfect – can do without them, and encode clause dependency by themselves. A pragmatic hypothesis is proposed to account for this clause-linking faculty. The Subjunctive differs from other irrealis categories insofar as it lacks any specific illocutionary force; the Background Perfect labels its predicate as informationally back grounded. In both cases, the clause lacks certain key properties (illocutionary force; informational weight) which are normally required in pragmatically well-formed utterances. This pragmatic demotion makes the clause dependent on external predications, which naturally results in syntactic subordination. This case study illustrates how syntax can be reshaped by the pragmatic parameters of discourse.

In the dialects of Inuit, two main features of clause subordination stand out: first, the lack of subordinating conjunctions, as subordinate clauses are indicated by verbal morphology and synthetic devices; second, there is a structural parallelism between several verb forms found in subordinate clauses and possessive noun phrases. Alongside verbal morphology marking subordination, several markers found within the verb phrase also indicate subordination. We will emphasize the frequency and role of multiple subordinate clause-chaining in East Greenlandic Tunumiisut discourse. Our findings show that the supposed dichotomy between the verbal markers found in dependent sentences and those found in independent sentences might be less rigid in oral narratives. This leads us to also consider dependency phenomena at the level of discursive paragraphs or sentence sequences.

This paper analyses clause-linking strategies in mostly Austronesian languages, with particular focus on the functions of informational and referential hierarchy strategies in the architecture of complex clauses. Informational (topic, focus) hierarchy and its markers, structure clauses as subordinate via the contrast between presupposition vs. assertion. Referential hierarchy and its markers (endophoric demonstratives and definite markers), are another subordinating strategy based on the contrast between already referential/backgrounded clause vs. asserted main clause. Paths of evolution leading from coordinators or from endophoric demonstratives to informational hierarchy markers and to subordinating conjunctions or constructions are more specifically discussed. It is argued that informational hierarchy and referential hierarchy strategies are inherent to the syntactic architecture of the complex clause.

Nêlêmwa is an Aspect-Mood oriented language; verbs are unmarked for tense, time reference is expressed by chronology and time adverbs. Aspect hinges on three notions: events (in the aorist), states, and processes. One focus is the contrast between the perfect and the aorist. Bare aorist verb forms refer to events or to sequences of events with no reference to their internal phases. The perfect expresses internal relations between processes and clauses (anteriority, backgrounding, causal relations); it refers to transitional processes that have reached or not their final instant, expressing changes of states and resulting states. In future reference frames, the perfect expresses imminent change of states, or imminent completion of a process, and the speaker’s certainty about their projected occurrence.

This paper analyzes complex sentence constructions in Badaga, a Dravidian language spoken in Southern India. After identifying the strategies used to express clause dependency, mainly based on converbs, adjectival participles and a quotative element, it examines their use and distribution in different semantic functions: temporal, causal, purposive etc. A few sample cases of the simultaneous use of these strategies in complex sentences will be given. Noticeable findings are that (i) there is a clear distinction between a polyfunctional dependent contextual converb and several specialized converbs, constructing more autonomous adverbial clauses, and (ii) none of the clause dependency strategies is specific to a single semantic function. Crucially, word order, and prosodic and pragmatic factors contribute to the interpretation of dependent clauses.

The present article deals with the status and definition of correlative markers in modern German subordinate clauses, which retain “phoric” properties from their etymological determinative nature, from which their demarcative or connective functions proceed, characterising either the subordinate clause itself or its relation to the complex sentence. The discussion shows that correlatives are deep structure determination markers and that their semantic and pragmatic functions vary with the type of subordinate clause and the type of complex sentence with which they combine. The complex sentence is thus to be defined not as the mere concatenation of two simple sentences, but rather as the result of intricate constructions which must be considered from a holistic viewpoint, because the whole sentence is more than the sum of its parts, where additional meaning is essentially contained in the binding determinative markers and assertive markers which build interdependent relations and set the sentence within a bigger pragmatic and textual whole.

Several particles in the Arabic variety spoken in the area of Yafi’ (Yemen) show tight recurring links between deixis, informational hierarchy, and syntactic hierarchy, both diachronically and synchronically. In the light of Robert’s (1993, 2000) findings on focusing strategies, these links are discussed in detail for two polyfunctional particles, raʕ , and ta , which can be used, among other things, as deictics, topic markers, focusing particles and clause-linking devices (see Vanhove 1996 & 2004). The present paper shows how, in a language where subordinating constructions and markers are also available, topicalisation and focusing strategies may become the preferred strategies for clause-linking, especially in causal, relative and complement clauses.

This article studies the relator ama in dialectal Greek as spoken in Bulgaria. The relator is polysemous and marks temporality and hypotheses, it is also polyfunctional and serves as a subordinator and a coordinator. Our goal in this study is to isolate its syntactic and semantic properties so as to distinguish its functions and meanings. We will also examine the notion of opposition which ama can also convey, following contact between dialectal Greek and Bulgarian.

Northern Akhvakh, like other Nakh-Daghestanian languages, has a large inventory of converbs specialized in the expression of various semantic types of adverbial subordination: locative, temporal, conditional, concessive, similative, gradual, and purposive. After outlining the general characteristics of Akhvakh morphosyntax, this paper describes the morphology and the uses of the individual converbs, and discusses the possibility of reconstructing their origins. Attention is drawn to the high proportion of etymologically transparent converbs, which suggests that the particular type of morphosyntactic organization characteristic of Nakh-Daghestanian languages favors grammaticalization processes that do not modify the overall organization of the adverbial subordination system, but result in a constant and relatively rapid renewal of the inventories of specialized converbs.

. Il contient un plus grand nombre d'articles que les autres numros, mais moins longs.

Nelemwa is an Aspect-Mood oriented language; verbs are unmarked for tense, time reference is expressed by chronology and time adverbs. Aspect hinges on three notions: events (in the aorist), states, and processes. One focus is the contrast between the perfect and the aorist. Bare aorist verb forms refer to events or to sequences of events with no reference to their internal phases. The perfect expresses internal relations between processes and clauses (anteriority, backgrounding, causal relations); it refers to transitional processes that have reached or not their final instant, expressing changes of states and resulting states. In future reference frames, the perfect expresses imminent change of states, or imminent completion of a process, and the speaker’s certainty about their projected occurrence.

This paper analyses clause-linking strategies in mostly Austronesian languages, with particular focus on the functions of informational and referential hierarchy strategies in the architecture of complex clauses. Informational (topic, focus) hierarchy and its markers, structure clauses as subordinate via the contrast between presupposition vs. assertion. Referential hierarchy and its markers (endophoric demonstratives and definite markers), are another subordinating strategy based on the contrast between already referential/backgrounded clause vs. asserted main clause. Paths of evolution leading from coordinators or from endophoric demonstratives to informational hierarchy markers and to subordinating conjunctions or constructions are more specifically discussed. It is argued that informational hierarchy and referential hierarchy strategies are inherent to the syntactic architecture of the complex clause.

This article studies the relator áma in dialectal Greek as spoken in Bulgaria. The relator is polysemous and marks temporality and hypotheses, it is also polyfunctional and serves as a subordinator and a coordinator. Our goal in this study is to isolate its syntactic and semantic properties so as to distinguish its functions and meanings. We will also examine the notion of opposition which áma can also convey, following contact between dialectal Greek and Bulgarian.

Sociolinguistique CALVET L.J., La Sociolinguistique. Paris, 1993. HOLMES J., An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London & New York, 1992. WARDHAUGH R., An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford & Cambridge, 1992. Planification linguistique ; généralités et études de cas CALVET L.J., Linguistique et colonialisme. Paris, 1974. CALVET L.J., « Typologie des politiques linguistiques », in GRUENAIS M.P. (éd.), États de langue. Peut-on penser une politique linguistique ? Paris, 1986. CALVET L.J.,...