[Lingtyp] collective action marking
David Gil
gil at shh.mpg.de
Wed Jul 25 07:01:55 UTC 2018
Daniel and others,
In a 1996 article (reference below) I point out that the term
"collective" is used with a bewildering array of meanings. While the
article deals exclusively with collectivity as marked on nominal
expressions, the same point is clearly relevant for the cases of "verbal
collectivity" being discussed in this thread. In particular, I would
beg to differ with Daniel Ross' claim that "In English, the
(derivational) prefix 'co-' seems to have exactly this function".
Consider the following four examples:
(1) Mary and John are cowriting this article
(2) These two noun-phrases corefer to each other
(3) These two species coexist in this region
(4) Mary and John costarred in the new movie
Each of these four sentences differs logically from the others in ways
that have to do with collectivity, as evidenced by the following
potential inferences:
(1') Mary is writing this article
(2') This noun-phrase refers
(3') This species exists in this region
(4') Mary starred in the new movie
(1) > (1') is not a valid inference.
(2) > (2') is a valid inference, but is weird (in ways that I don't have
time to go into).
(3) > (3') is a valid inference.
(4) > (4') is a valid inference.
The most common understanding of the term "collective" is that it blocks
inferences from a plural set to its individual members. Thus, under this
understanding, "co-" is marking collectivity in (1), perhaps also in
(2), but certainly not in (3) and (4). Now it may be the case that all
of the above usages of "co-" share a common semantic core, but simply
applying the label "collective" to such a putative common meaning
doesn't help much in trying to figure out its nature.
And to return briefly to the "coexpression" thread: given the diversity
of meanings of the "co-" prefix (which is hardly exhausted by the above
four examples — and this is even before we take into consideration its
opaque uses in "collect", "collate", etc.), I don't see any problem with
using it in the word "coexpression" in the sense intended by Martin and
others.
David
Gil, David (1996) "Maltese 'Collective Nouns':A Typological
Perspective", /Rivista di Linguistica /8:53-87/./
On 24/07/2018 23:59, Daniel Ross wrote:
> In English, the (derivational) prefix "co-" seems to have exactly this
> function, as I pointed out in the previous discussion on this list
> regarding why I found the proposed term "coexpress(ion)" to be odd
> because it refers to alternatives rather than collective action. I'm
> not sure where this has been written about (but probably someone has,
> maybe for Latin?), and it is derivational, perhaps not fully
> productive, but it does seem to be able to form new verbs, so it seems
> to fit here.
> (It is interesting to note that at least in more established verbs
> like "cowrite", they do not strictly require a plural subject-- "I
> cowrote an article", as long as the context allows for a reasonable
> interpretation. If you're looking at the typology cross-linguistically
> that might be an interesting point of variation to consider.)
>
> Daniel
>
> On Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 8:11 AM, "Ekkehard König"
> <koenig at zedat.fu-berlin.de <mailto:koenig at zedat.fu-berlin.de>> wrote:
>
> Hi Randy,
>
> rich information on the reciprocal - sociative/collective polysemy
> can be
> found in all of the Nedjalkov volumes. A condensed overview is
> given in
> Chapter 5 of the first volume. (I did a review of the 5 volumes for
> Language, 2011).
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Ekkehard
>
>
>
>
> > Randy,
> > There is a similar category in Wandala (Frajzyngier 2012),
> > All best,
> > Zygmunt
> >
> > From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org
> <mailto:lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org>> on behalf of
> > "Randy J. LaPolla" <randy.lapolla at gmail.com
> <mailto:randy.lapolla at gmail.com>>
> > Date: Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at 1:33 AM
> > To: "LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> <mailto:LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>"
> > <LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> <mailto:LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>>
> > Cc: weifeng liu <175204935 at qq.com <mailto:175204935 at qq.com>>
> > Subject: [Lingtyp] collective action marking
> >
> > Hi All,
> > A student in China (Liu Weifeng) working on Kyrgyz asked me for
> references
> > about collective marking on the verb. This marking in Kyrgyz
> (-ish-) is
> > distinct from plural marking, and used together with plural
> marking, and
> > implies the action was done by two or more people together
> rather than
> > individually.
> >
> > I am aware of the following article, though do not have access
> to it, and
> > don’t even know know for sure whether it documents this phenomenon:
> >
> > Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. 2007. Reciprocals, assistives and plural in
> > Kirghiz. In Nedjalkov, Vladimir (with the assistance of Emma
> Geniusiene
> > and Zlatka Guentcheva) (eds.), Typology of reciprocal constructions,
> > 1231-1280. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
> >
> > I don't know of any other works on this type of category in any
> language.
> > Has this been looked into in any languages?
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Randy
> > -----
> > Randy J. LaPolla, PhD FAHA （羅仁地）
> > Professor of Linguistics and Chinese, School of Humanities
> > Nanyang Technological University
> > HSS-03-45, 14 Nanyang Drive | Singapore 637332
> >
> http://randylapolla.net/<http://secure-web.cisco.com/1r49xGHjDHpvduhLxc8xcFdeDWaQRDmx6JT631_HJ88j0WzNbUSSBJKa_anFZBkB1cSFVPmw9ikThvWoEF7RIEZwRrF41ZmOg8Q1r5KEyCUxZC5wuC28aG_DlUMVjf4vKly6Ga5U846AFU_8ciIgNuIsCxBZP90e2AXadGa_EaJF3qeI0PsXURTP7UIoNYFZSnz_SDDdFEuzk165x1qlfrXFPZWqpG2ZvIir6ai7vfmDn9hv5v1Fqfoz2YKBK325exE--qzqARuhIetwE_l8o-x0t3UnQiilemsqt4EqZfAOQo_BRlSyjjeIKhlCgtch0P5B9ppouqgFfeYSKqDwzhmlzNUAom_lTGiK5TO2YlOC2K2nbRFX-7nK89BmKSZm_brUS2-KjnVVKJrnPK9sM1XE5PPbNO8ggB4SPl9zw7DdqEaqZ_qgihNd8wV-Nb4yfRy2XIMtSrFC_G9CbVWKe-Q/http%3A%2F%2Frandylapolla.net%2F
> <http://secure-web.cisco.com/1r49xGHjDHpvduhLxc8xcFdeDWaQRDmx6JT631_HJ88j0WzNbUSSBJKa_anFZBkB1cSFVPmw9ikThvWoEF7RIEZwRrF41ZmOg8Q1r5KEyCUxZC5wuC28aG_DlUMVjf4vKly6Ga5U846AFU_8ciIgNuIsCxBZP90e2AXadGa_EaJF3qeI0PsXURTP7UIoNYFZSnz_SDDdFEuzk165x1qlfrXFPZWqpG2ZvIir6ai7vfmDn9hv5v1Fqfoz2YKBK325exE--qzqARuhIetwE_l8o-x0t3UnQiilemsqt4EqZfAOQo_BRlSyjjeIKhlCgtch0P5B9ppouqgFfeYSKqDwzhmlzNUAom_lTGiK5TO2YlOC2K2nbRFX-7nK89BmKSZm_brUS2-KjnVVKJrnPK9sM1XE5PPbNO8ggB4SPl9zw7DdqEaqZ_qgihNd8wV-Nb4yfRy2XIMtSrFC_G9CbVWKe-Q/http%3A%2F%2Frandylapolla.net%2F>>
> > Most recent book:
> >
> https://www.routledge.com/The-Sino-Tibetan-Languages-2nd-Edition/LaPolla-Thurgood/p/book/9781138783324
> <https://www.routledge.com/The-Sino-Tibetan-Languages-2nd-Edition/LaPolla-Thurgood/p/book/9781138783324>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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--
David Gil
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
Email: gil at shh.mpg.de
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81281162816
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