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Hi Hilario,<br>
<br>
Greetings from Manokwari. If you can spare a few moments of your
time for a linguistic puzzle ...<br>
<br>
I don't know whether you follow the LINGTYP list, but a couple of
days ago I posted a query on languages which have the same word for
'give' and for 'do'/'take' (see below). So far I have received a
handful of positive responses, including one from Randy LaPolla who
notes that Classical Chinese had very similar words for "do" and for
"benefactive" (differing only in tone). So I am wondering whether
you are familiar with any contemporary Sinitic languages/dialects
that have the same (or similar) words for 'give' (or the
benefactive) and for 'do'/'make'. If you can't think of any, I
would also be greatly appreciative of negative data, ie.
languages/dialects that have different words for these two meanings.<br>
<br>
And while we're on the topic, I'd also be interested to know whether
'give' and 'do'/'make' are the same or different in Dera.<br>
<br>
Many thanks,<br>
<br>
David<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 16/02/2015 15:14, David Gil wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:54E18AC2.8080301@eva.mpg.de" type="cite">
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Dear all,<br>
<br>
Does anybody know of languages in which 'give' and 'do'/'make' are
expressed with the same or related words? Or of cases in which
forms expressing one of these two meanings are historically
derived from forms expressing the other meaning? <br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
<br>
David <br>
<br>
<br>
Further details: <br>
<br>
My interest in this question stems from current field work on Roon
(South Halmahera West New Guinea, Austronesian). In Roon there is
a single form <i>be</i> expressing both 'give' and 'do'/'make'.
(In fact, the same form <i>be </i>is associated with a wide
range of grammatical and semantic functions, most or all of which
seem to be derivable diachronically and possibly also
synchronically from either 'give' or 'do'/'make'.) A cognate form
<i>be </i>meaning both 'give' and 'do'/'make' is also present in
closely related Biak and Dusner.<br>
<br>
Identical words for 'give' and 'do'/'make' (but unrelated to <i>be</i>)
also occur in at least two nearby non-Austronesian languages,
Meyah and Hatam, and in the geographically proximate Austronesian
language Wooi. However, I have not yet been able to find any
other examples of 'give'-'do'/'make' identity in other languages
of the region, Austronesian or otherwise. Thus,
'give'-'do'/'make' identity seems to be an areal characteristic of
a small region of the eastern Bird's Head and western Cenderawasih
Bay, in which it presumably spread from the original
non-Austronesian to the intrusive Austronesian languages, through
metatypy, relexification, or some such process.<br>
<br>
In order to gauge the significance of 'give'-'do'/'make' identity
as a diagnostic feature of language contact, I am thus interested
in getting a feel for how widespread this feature is across the
world's languages. For what it's worth, I can't think of any
examples from other parts of the world can you?<br>
<br>
I am also interested in any ideas you might have about what the
semantic basis of the connection between 'give' and 'do'/'make',
and possible mechanisms of semantic generalization. In the
Roon/Biak/Dusner case, at least, the form <i>be</i> is clearly
cognate with the proto-Malayo-Polynesian word for 'give',
suggesting that the direction of semantic spread was from 'give'
to 'do'/'make'. But I have no information on the other known
cases (Meyah, Hatam, Wooi).<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Department of Linguistics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550333
Email: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@eva.mpg.de">gil@eva.mpg.de</a>
Webpage: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.eva.mpg.de/%7Egil/">http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Department of Linguistics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550333
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@eva.mpg.de">gil@eva.mpg.de</a>
Webpage: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.eva.mpg.de/%7Egil/">http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/</a>
</pre>
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