[Lingtyp] "become"

[Matthew Dryer]

In Walman (Torricelli family; Papua New Guinea), one was to express 
'become' is to use the reflexive form of the verb for 'do' in a middle 
sense.

(1)

	

To

	

ri

	

ngal

	

nta

	

eni

	

y-r-any

	

chrieuchrieu,

	

olun

	

then

	

3pl

	

bird

	

here

	

now

	

3pl-refl/recip-make

	

coloured

	

some

	

pisi,

	

olun

	

nyerien,

	

olun

	

kalway,

	

olun

	

y-ama

	

nta-nta.

	

white

	

some

	

black

	

some

	

red

	

some

	

3pl-like

	

this-this

‘And this is why birds here today have become coloured, some white, some 
black, some red, et cetera.’

Matthew Dryer

On 7/3/15 4:17 PM, Denis Creissels wrote:
> Dear David,
>
> There is an obvious semantic relationship between ‘become’ and one of the
> possible meanings of ‘make’, since  ‘X makes/transforms Y into Z’ or ‘X
> makes Z out of Y = X CAUS [Y becomes Z], which explains why some languages
> use a detransitivized  form of ‘make’ with the meaning ‘become’ (for example
> French ‘se faire’ lit. ‘make himself’, as in ‘Il s’est fait prêtre’ = ‘He
> became -lit. made himself- a priest’), and others have a labile verb
> expressing ‘make, transform’ when used transitively, and ‘become’ when used
> intransitively (for example, Mandinka ké, or Soninke ñá)
>
> Best wishes,
> Denis
>
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : Lingtyp [mailto:lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] De la part
> de David Gil
> Envoyé : vendredi 3 juillet 2015 15:59
> À : LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Objet : [Lingtyp] "become"
>
> Greetings, typologists, from the New Guinea Bird's Head.
>
> Does anybody know of any cross-linguistic studies examining the
> historical sources and etymologies of words or affixes that mean "become"?
>
> Alternatively, is anybody familiar with cases in which a word meaning
> "become" has its origin in a word meaning "make"/"do"?
>
> Thanks,
>
> David
>

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