<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:10pt">Yes, as in "Go see whether Joe is upstairs."<br><div><span><br></span></div><div><br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <hr size="1"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Joseph T. Farquharson <jtfarquharson@GMAIL.COM><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Sunday, July 28, 2013 3:20 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: grammaticalization query: 'see' to 'VERIFY'<br> </font> </div>
<div class="y_msg_container"><br><div id="yiv8283774747"><div dir="ltr"><div class="yiv8283774747gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia, serif;font-size:large;">As a lexical verb, English <i>see</i> and its Jamaican Creole (which is an English-lexified creole) counterpart <i>si</i>, has this verificative sense. This, I guess, is in keeping with the "seeing is believing" notion, where one can verify for oneself that something is true by seeing it. This can at least account for the starting point of the process of grammaticalisation and how this verb in another language could come to be used as an affix bearing verificative meaning/function.</div>
<div class="yiv8283774747gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia, serif;font-size:large;"><br></div><div class="yiv8283774747gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia, serif;font-size:large;">Joseph</div></div><div class="yiv8283774747gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="yiv8283774747gmail_quote">
On 28 July 2013 16:01, Michael Daniel <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:misha.daniel@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:misha.daniel@gmail.com">misha.daniel@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="yiv8283774747gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Dear all,<br><br>in two Lezgic (East Caucasian) languages, Archi and Agul, there is a(n apparently rare) morphological category of verificative, or verificational. Its meaning is 'check whether P is true', where P is the lexical verb with its dependents. Here is an Archi example, with VERIF in the infinitive:<br>
<br>qalal-a jašul adam i-r-k:u-s<br>palace-IN inside person 4.be-INTRG-VERIF-INF<br>'(He went inside) in order to see whether there was anyone inside the palace. (4 is the agreement class)'<br>
<br>The following Agul example with VERIF in the past tense shows that VERIF introduces its own argument ('one who checks'):<br><br>gadaji ruš qušunaj-čuk’-une.<br>boy(ERG) girl go_away.PF.RES-VERIF-AOR<br>
'The boy checked, whether the girl has gone away.'<br><br>(See also this handout for further details: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://lingvarium.org/maisak/publ/Maisak_Leipzig2009.pdf">http://lingvarium.org/maisak/publ/Maisak_Leipzig2009.pdf</a>)<br>
<br>In both languages, the construction seems to result from grammaticalization of the verb 'see' (Archi ak:u- and its Agul cognate). The development seems to be historically and areally independent.<br><br>Although there is a number of grammaticalization paths in which this verbal meaning is involved (see Heine and Kuteva 2004: 269-270; and other developments, including evidential-like meanings), we are unaware of the verb 'see' grammaticalizing into categories similar to Archi/Agul verificative. We would be happy to learn of any comparable, in functional semantics terms, evidence from other languages.<br>
<br>Michael Daniel and Timur Maisak<br><br>(if convenient, copy both of us when replying to this message)<br>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><font face="georgia, serif"><span><b>Joseph T. Farquharson</b></span></font><div><font face="georgia, serif"><span><b>Lecturer<br>Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics<br>
The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine</b></span></font><div><font face="georgia, serif"><span><b>Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies </b><br><b><br>Telephone: (868) 662-2002 ext. 83493 | Fax: (868) 663-5059<br>
Email 1: <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:jtfarquharson@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:jtfarquharson@gmail.com">jtfarquharson@gmail.com</a> <br>
Email 2: <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:joseph.farquharson@sta.uwi.edu" target="_blank" href="mailto:joseph.farquharson@sta.uwi.edu">joseph.farquharson@sta.uwi.edu</a> <br></b></span></font></div><div><font face="georgia, serif"><span><b>Website: </b></span></font><font><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.jotifa.com/"><font face="georgia, serif"><span><b>https://sites.google.com/site/jtfarquharson/</b></span></font></a></font><font face="georgia, serif" size="4"><span></span></font></div>
<div><b><font face="georgia, serif">New co-edited book: <i><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=CLL+37">Variation in the Caribbean</a></i> (2011)<br></font></b><br></div><div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;">
Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God's ideal for His children. Godliness--godlikeness--is the goal to be reached. Before the student there is opened a path of continual progress. He has an object to achieve, a standard to attain, that includes everything good, and pure, and noble. He will advance as fast and as far as possible in every branch of true knowledge. But his efforts will be directed to objects as much higher than mere selfish and temporal interests as the heavens are higher than the earth. - E. G. White</blockquote>
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