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Thanks, Björn, for this interesting question – unfortunately, I am
not aware of any work that answers it.<br>
<br>
There has been some quantitative work on stability (e.g. Dediu &
Cysouw 2013 in PlosOne), but it seems that this work always concerns
"language traits", not particular constructions.<br>
<br>
Lindstedt (2000) talks about gram types, which are
construction-strategy types (or types of markers), and the stability
of these cannot be so easily measured with the usual genealogy-based
methods. If a language always has a future tense form/construction,
then it will be stable with respect to the feature "is there a
future tense construction?", but the form of the construction may be
unstable if there is frequent renewal (e.g. Latin-Spanish canta-bo
> canta-ré > voy a cantar 'I will sing'). Comparisons on the
basis of language traits will simply overlook such renewals.<br>
<br>
On the other hand, one may take the perspective of a particular form
(e.g. the French avoir+participle periphrasis) and ask how quickly
it changes. But in order to compare such changes across languages,
one needs to identify comparable paths of change with respect to
their speed. This is hard, because it cannot be done on the basis of
languages whose earlier stages we know little about (i.e. the vast
majority of languages).<br>
<br>
Lindstedt (2000) says that perfects are unstable, but on what basis?
Has there been any broadly comparative research on perfects since
Dahl & Velupillai (2005) in WALS? It seems that we don't really
know much more than we used to know two decades ago...<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
Martin<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 06.08.22 um 17:12 schrieb Björn
Wiemer:<br>
</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Dear All,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">is anybody aware of work
done to compare tense-aspect grams across languages with
respect to (i) their stability in time and to (ii) their
“fuzziness” in terms of range of functions? I’m particularly
interested in a comparison between constructions considered
as perfects vs those considered as futures. Both have been
considered as rather unstable (in comparison at least to
present tense), but have these “instabilities” been compared
for a representative sample of grams belonging to the
perfect or, respectively, to the future domain among each
other? And has instability be captured in objectifiable
(cross-linguistically testable) properties?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> For
instance, Lindstedt (2000: 366), in his contribution to the
EuroTyp volume on tense-aspect, wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span
style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"
lang="EN-US">“In terms of Greenberg’s (1978: 75-76)
distinction between the stability and frequency of
typological features, the perfect is a gram type that is
frequent, that is to say, likely to appear in different
languages, but unstable, as it often tends to be lost. More
often than not, it does not disappear as a form but becomes
something else – a general past tense, for instance.”</span><span
style="font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif;color:windowtext" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Would there be a measure
for stability (for particular grams, constructions) and
frequency (across languages) that would allow for a more
straightforward comparison between grams/constructions, in
particular between perfects and futures?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> And, by the
way, have futures been attested to become anything else, or
do they just disappear (if they don’t stay)? Of course, we
know of epistemic uses (e.g., Engl.
<i>Paul will be in Heidelberg now.</i> = Certainly, Paul is
in H. now; [pointing at an object before themselves]
<i>What is this going to be? </i>= What might this be?].
However, the question is whether, actually, these uses do
not precede proper future uses (i.e. reference to a single
event after speech time) in the chronology of functions
assigned to some gram/construction. What is known about this
chronological relation?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I would appreciate
comments on this, and can compose a small digest of
responses (if there will be many).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Best,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Björn (Wiemer).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Martin Haspelmath
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
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