<div dir="ltr"><div>Dear all,</div><div><br></div><div>Thank you very much to everyone who has commented on this query and has sent me references and examples. My sample of languages with sentential names (SNs) has become considerably larger and more diverse. <br></div><div>I would now like to conclude my query by making a few cross-linguistic generalizations based on (very) preliminary observations of my data:</div><div><br></div><div>It has been claimed recently that names have a "special onymic grammar" (Anderson 2007: 127, 2015: 299, Nübling et al. 2015: 64, Stolz et al. 2017: 123). The aim of my study is to test this claim by comparing SNs in the world's languages with their non-onymic clausal counterparts (relative clauses, commands, declarations, questions, etc.). More specifically, I take four variables into account: (a) phonological weight, i.e. number of syllables; (b) morphological complexity, i.e. number of morphemes; (c) word order; (d) presence vs. absence of dedicated onymic markers. I have so far found out the following (I apologize in case some of the data are inaccurate):</div><div><br></div><div>1. The Basque example I mentioned in the previous message illustrates that SNs can have fewer syllables than their non-onymic clausal counterparts (Salaberri 2008: 733):</div><div><br></div><div>Euri-a dakarr-en gain-a</div><div>rain-DEF.ABS bring.3SG.PRES-REL summit-DEF</div><div>'The summit which brings rain' (Basque) (relative clause) (8 syllables)<br></div><div>Euri-dakar-gain-a</div><div>rain.ABS-bring.3SG.PRES-summit-DEF</div><div>
'The summit which brings rain' (Basque) (SN) (6 syllables)
</div><div><br></div><div>2. The Ese Ejja examples mentioned by Marine Vuillermet illustrate that SNs can have fewer morphemes than their non-onymic clausal counterparts: whereas in the latter locative is usually expressed by a clitic =<i>jo</i>, this is not always the case in SNs (Vuillermet 2012: 217, 313):</div><div><br></div><div>Jáma=ya mími=naje radió=jo Sára<br>so=FOC speak-PST radio=LOC Sara<br>‘So said Sara on the radio’ (SN) (Ese Ejja)<br></div><div>Ena-ba'e<br>water-float/live<br>‘(The one who) lives in the middle of the water’ (SN) (Ese Ejja)<br></div><div><br></div><div>The Mwotlap examples mentioned by Alexandre François seem to point in the same direction: in this language nouns and some proper names are frequently derived from other parts of speech by means of the derivational prefix <i>wo</i>-. However, SNs in particular very often lack this same prefix (François 2001: 241, 243):</div><div><br></div><div>Yip > Nō-wō-yip-yip<br>blow DEF- wō-blow-blow<br>‘To blow’ ‘Cigarette’ (Mwotlap)<br>No-yolah > Wo-yolah<br>DEF-seaweed wō-seaweed<br>‘Seaweed’ ‘Woyolah (name of a reef)’ (Mwotlap)<br>Wot-la-may<br>born-in-famine<br>‘Born during a food shortage’ (SN) (Mwotlap)<br>Hag-dēyē-ok<br>sit-await-ship<br>‘(She) waits for ships’ (SN) (Mwotlap)</div><div><br></div><div>3. The Amharic examples mentioned by Matthew Anstey show that the word order of SNs and the most frequent word order of the language can be different: in this language the usual order in declarative sentences with full NPs is subject-object-verb (SOV) (Leslau 1995: 181). As opposed to this, SNs can have SOV order, as in declarative clauses, but much more frequently present (S)VO order (Leyew 2003: 209-210):</div><div><br></div><div>Addaňňu anbässa-w-ən gäddälä<br>hunter lion-DEF-ACC kill.3SG.PST<br>‘The hunter killed the lion’ (clause) (Amharic)<br>Wärq-yant-əfu<br>gold-cloth-spread.3PL.IMP<br>‘Let them spread a golden rug’ (SN) (Amharic)<br>Agäňňä räd<br>find.3SG.PST helper.ACC<br>‘He found a helper’ (SN) (Amharic)<br></div><div><br></div><div>In Turkish, as well, the optional oblique subject NP of a transitive passive sentence usually precedes the verb, i.e. the order tends to be Subject-Verb (SV) (Kornfilt 1997: 50, 144). In contrast, SNs containing passive verbs and oblique subjects present the opposite order, i.e. Verb-Subject (Aksu 2003: 178-179):</div><div><br></div><div>Zeynep bu haber-e çok üz-ül-dü<br>Zeynep this news-DAT very sadden-PASS-PST<br>‘Zeynep was very saddened by this news’ (clause) (Turkish)<br>Ali Hasan taraf-ɩn-dan öv-ül-dü<br>Ali Hasan side-3SG-ABL praise-PASS-PST<br>‘Ali was praised by Hasan’ (clause) (Turkish)<br>Mamur-et-ül-aziz<br>build-do-PASS-Aziz.NOM<br>‘Built by Aziz’ (SN) (Turkish)</div><div><br></div><div>4. The Hoocank examples mentioned by Johannes Helmbrecht show that SNs can be distinguished from their non-onymic clausal counterparts solely by means of dedicated onymic markers (I repeat here his example):</div><div><br></div><div>
peec taa'ehiga <br>
peec taa'e=Ø-Ø-hi=ga<br>
fire blaze.up=3SG.U-3SG.A-cause=proper name<br>
'He blazes up a fire' (this is a traditional name of the bird clan) (Hoocank)
</div><div><br></div><div>Whereas points 1. and 2. seem to be quite common, i.e. SNs are frequently phonologically shorter/lighter and morphologically simpler than clauses, so far I have found that points 3. and 4. are the exception rather than the rule, i.e. SNs rarely diverge in word order, and they do not very often take dedicated onymic markers. Does this support or contradict the claim that names (in this case, SNs) have a "special onymic grammar"? I think that much more research still needs to be done before a clear answer can be given.<br></div><div><br></div><div>References:</div><div>Aksu, Ibrahim. 2003. The sultan’s journey and other Turkish placename stories. <i>Names </i>51(3/4).163-192.</div><div>Anderson, John M. 2007. <i>The grammar of names</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press.<br>Anderson, John M. 2015. Names. In John R. Taylor (ed.), <i>The Oxford handbook of the word</i>, 599-615. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</div><div>François, Alexandre. 2001. <i>Constraintes de structures et liberté dans l’organisation du discours: Une description du mwotlap, langue océanienne du Vanuatu</i>. Paris: Université Paris-IV Sorbonne dissertation.</div><div>Kornfilt, Jaklin. 1997. <i>Turkish</i>. London/New York: Routledge.</div><div>Leslau, Wolf. 1995. <i>Reference grammar of Amharic</i>. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.<br>Leyew, Zelealem. 2003. Amharic personal nomenclature: A grammar and sociolinguistic insight. <i>Journal of African Cultural Studies</i> 16(2). 181-211.</div><div>Nübling, Damaris, Fabian Fahlbusch & Rita Heuser. 2015. <i>Namen: Eine Einführung in die Onomastik</i>. Tübingen: Narr.</div><div>
Salaberri,
Patxi. 2008. Satznamen direlakoen inguruan: Erlatibozko perpausetan
jatorri duten toponimoak aztergai [On so-called Satznamen: Investigating
toponyms which originate in relative clauses]. In Xabier Artiagoitia
& Joseba A. Lakarra (eds.), <i>Gramatika jaietan: Patxi Goenagaren omenez</i>, 725-741. Bilbao/Bilbo: University of the Basque Country.
</div><div>Stolz, Thomas, Nataliya Levkovych & Aina Urdze. 2017. Die Grammatik der Toponyme als typologisches Forschungsfeld: Eine Pilotstudie. In Johannes Helmbrecht, Damaris Nübling & Barbara Schlücker (eds.), <i>Namengrammatik</i>, 121-146. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.</div><div>Vuillermet, Marine. 2012. <i>A grammar of Ese Ejja, a Takanan language of the Bolivian Amazon</i>. Lyon: Université Lumière Lyon 2 dissertation.</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div>Iker Salaberri</div><div>Public University of Navarre<br></div><div><br></div></div>