The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in some languages of the Americas (conference talk, SSILA New Orleans)
The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in Wakashan, Salishan, Eskimoan and Mayan For over a century, linguists have repeatedly claimed, for various non-European languages, and in particular for North American languages, that the noun-verb distinction is not made in the same way as w...
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ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:4625031 2023-05-15T16:07:12+02:00 The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in some languages of the Americas (conference talk, SSILA New Orleans) Haspelmath, Martin 2020-01-05 https://zenodo.org/record/4625031 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4625031 unknown doi:10.5281/zenodo.4625030 https://zenodo.org/record/4625031 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4625031 oai:zenodo.org:4625031 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode info:eu-repo/semantics/lecture presentation 2020 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.462503110.5281/zenodo.4625030 2023-03-11T02:21:11Z The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in Wakashan, Salishan, Eskimoan and Mayan For over a century, linguists have repeatedly claimed, for various non-European languages, and in particular for North American languages, that the noun-verb distinction is not made in the same way as we know it from Latin or English. For the verb-adjective distinction (and also the noun-adjective distinction), an analogous claim has been even more common. In recent years, however, the pendulum seems to have swung back to a general universalist attitude, and it has been claimed, for example, that “for the last decade there has been a consensus among linguists working on Salishan and Wakashan languages that a noun-verb distinction must be recognized at both the morphological and syntactic levels” (Davis et al. 2014: e198). In this presentation, I reexamine and compare the facts of Wakashan (e.g. Swadesh 1938; Davidson 2002), Salishan (e.g. Davis & Matthewson 1999), Eskimoan (e.g. Sadock 1999; Mithun 2017) and Mayan (e.g. Lois & Vapnarsky 2003), and I argue for a shift in perspective: Instead of asking “whether all languages have a noun-verb distinction” (e.g. Evans & Osada 2005), or “whether all languages have a verb-adjective distinction” (e.g. Dixon 2004), it is more productive to ask how languages are classified on the polycategoriality parameter: (1) The polycategoriality parameter Value A: Predicative nouns require a copula, and/or referential verbs require a relativizer Value B: Nouns do not require a copula, and verbs do not require a relativizer Latin and English have value A for this parameter, and Nuuchahnulth has value B, as noted by Swadesh (1938). This striking difference remains unaffected by recent claims of category universality (as exemplified by Chung 2012; Davis et al. 2014). If we ask HOW languages distinguish nouns and verbs rather than WHETHER they distinguish them at all (even if they distinguish them in a “very subtle” way), we arrive at an interesting parametric contrast that ... Conference Object eskimo* Zenodo Davidson ENVELOPE(-44.766,-44.766,-60.766,-60.766) Orleans ENVELOPE(-60.667,-60.667,-63.950,-63.950) Mayan ENVELOPE(112.600,112.600,72.633,72.633) Mithun ENVELOPE(13.764,13.764,66.913,66.913) |
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The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in Wakashan, Salishan, Eskimoan and Mayan For over a century, linguists have repeatedly claimed, for various non-European languages, and in particular for North American languages, that the noun-verb distinction is not made in the same way as we know it from Latin or English. For the verb-adjective distinction (and also the noun-adjective distinction), an analogous claim has been even more common. In recent years, however, the pendulum seems to have swung back to a general universalist attitude, and it has been claimed, for example, that “for the last decade there has been a consensus among linguists working on Salishan and Wakashan languages that a noun-verb distinction must be recognized at both the morphological and syntactic levels” (Davis et al. 2014: e198). In this presentation, I reexamine and compare the facts of Wakashan (e.g. Swadesh 1938; Davidson 2002), Salishan (e.g. Davis & Matthewson 1999), Eskimoan (e.g. Sadock 1999; Mithun 2017) and Mayan (e.g. Lois & Vapnarsky 2003), and I argue for a shift in perspective: Instead of asking “whether all languages have a noun-verb distinction” (e.g. Evans & Osada 2005), or “whether all languages have a verb-adjective distinction” (e.g. Dixon 2004), it is more productive to ask how languages are classified on the polycategoriality parameter: (1) The polycategoriality parameter Value A: Predicative nouns require a copula, and/or referential verbs require a relativizer Value B: Nouns do not require a copula, and verbs do not require a relativizer Latin and English have value A for this parameter, and Nuuchahnulth has value B, as noted by Swadesh (1938). This striking difference remains unaffected by recent claims of category universality (as exemplified by Chung 2012; Davis et al. 2014). If we ask HOW languages distinguish nouns and verbs rather than WHETHER they distinguish them at all (even if they distinguish them in a “very subtle” way), we arrive at an interesting parametric contrast that ... |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Haspelmath, Martin |
spellingShingle |
Haspelmath, Martin The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in some languages of the Americas (conference talk, SSILA New Orleans) |
author_facet |
Haspelmath, Martin |
author_sort |
Haspelmath, Martin |
title |
The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in some languages of the Americas (conference talk, SSILA New Orleans) |
title_short |
The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in some languages of the Americas (conference talk, SSILA New Orleans) |
title_full |
The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in some languages of the Americas (conference talk, SSILA New Orleans) |
title_fullStr |
The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in some languages of the Americas (conference talk, SSILA New Orleans) |
title_full_unstemmed |
The polycategoriality parameter: Noun-verb similarities in some languages of the Americas (conference talk, SSILA New Orleans) |
title_sort |
polycategoriality parameter: noun-verb similarities in some languages of the americas (conference talk, ssila new orleans) |
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2020 |
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https://zenodo.org/record/4625031 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4625031 |
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ENVELOPE(-44.766,-44.766,-60.766,-60.766) ENVELOPE(-60.667,-60.667,-63.950,-63.950) ENVELOPE(112.600,112.600,72.633,72.633) ENVELOPE(13.764,13.764,66.913,66.913) |
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Davidson Orleans Mayan Mithun |
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Davidson Orleans Mayan Mithun |
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eskimo* |
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eskimo* |
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.462503110.5281/zenodo.4625030 |
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