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<p class="MsoNormal">Dear all – I’m looking for leads regarding existing research and thinking on a topic of grammaticalization theory (GT) that from my perspective has been neglected a bit. At least it has not to my knowledge been discussed as a separate process
in the context of GT (with the arguable exception of Traugott & König 1991, which I discuss below).
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the earliest stages of the grammaticalization of functional expressions (function words, inflections, highly productive derivations), we can distinguish at least two distinct scenarios:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One involves a lexical expression of a semantic relation which subsequently turns into an operator of an argument of the relation. Think a relational noun or serialized verb that turns into an adposition or case marker. This has been dealt
with extensively in GT. (In fact, this is probably the kind of phenomenon that the rediscovery of grammaticalization in the 1970s took off from.) To have a label to distinguish this scenario from the one I’m interested in, let’s provisionally call this first
kind of scenario <b>grammaticalization of lexical relators</b>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The other, from my point of view neglected, scenario is what I’d like to call provisionally
<b>pragmatic cue support</b> (PCS). This involves a lexical expression or weakly grammaticalized functional expression that is optionally combined with a co-constituent in order to clarify the co-constituent’s intended interpretation, particularly its reference.
Examples:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">A demonstrative is optionally added to a nominal to indicate definiteness (in a pretheoretical sense). Subsequent grammaticalization turns the demonstrative into a definite article.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">A semantically generic noun is combined with a nominal in an appositive or possessive construction or through compounding in order to disambiguate the referent. Subsequent grammaticalization
turns the noun into a noun class or gender marker.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Perfective aspect is used to conversationally implicate past time reference. Subsequent grammaticalization turns it into a past tense marker.
<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Any form of optional inflectional morphology, such as optional case markers and optional plural marking, can be considered instances of PCS, regardless of whether it involves grammaticalization
or not. <o:p></o:p></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The distinction between PCS and the grammaticalization of lexical relators is not a trivial matter. Nevertheless, I am for now committed to the assumption that the two are distinct phenomena. (There are also instances of grammaticalization
of (what most linguists consider a type of) functional expressions that are not clearly exemplars of either of the two scenarios – particularly, the development of personal pronouns out of demonstratives (Heine & Song 2011). If it’s a forced choice, I would
subsume the evolution of pronouns out of demonstratives under PCS, but that would necessitate broadening the definition.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, again, I’m looking for literature and thoughts on the PCS phenomenon. I speculate that the reason that PCS has apparently been neglected in GT (as a distinct phenomenon) is that GT as we know it has focused on the semantic and morphosyntactic
changes that may occur subsequently to PCS. PCS does not itself involve processes such as coalescence or attrition/bleaching – it is merely a prelude to such processes, a “soft” onset of grammaticalization.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fwiw., here’s what relevant literature I’m aware of:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">PCS might fall under what Lehmann (1985) discusses as ‘creativity’ in grammaticalization, which reflects freedom of expressive choice coupled with the speaker’s desire to “give the
fullest possible expression” (p315) to her intended meaning. However, creativity in Lehmann’s sense is a broader phenomenon, since the examples he considers are reinforcements and renewals such as the development of an analytical future tense alongside the
existing synthetic one in Vulgar Latin and then again in Romance. (Haspelmath (1999) seems to rechristen Lehmann’s ‘creativity’ ‘extravagance’.)<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">The closest thing I’ve found to a proper discussion of PCS is the treatment of the conventionalization of conversational implicatures in Traugott & König (1991) (cf. also Hopper &
Traugott (2003 [1993]: 71-98)), focusing on semantic shift of temporal connectives to connectives expressing relations of causality, concession, preference, and/or denial. However, although Traugott & König’s paper seems to start out with the premise that
the relevant types of grammaticalization processes serve to boost informativeness, and thus facilitate processing, it seems to take a different tack at the conclusion, where the authors propose that the relevant processes instantiate a previous unrecognized
form of metonymy. Plus, it does not seem to be the case that all instances of PCS involve implicature.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Traugott & Trousdale (2013: 198-203) bring Traugott & König’s ideas even closer to what I’m looking for, by considering the role of implicatures of the relevant kind as providing onset
contexts for grammaticalization.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Lastly, the pragmatics and psycholinguistics of optional case marking has been studied by Fedzechkina et al. (2012), Kurumada & Jaeger (2015), Kurumada & Grimm (2019), and Fedzechkina
& Jaeger (2020). But that work does not address the grammaticalization perspective.<o:p></o:p></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks! And, apologies for the long message <span style="font-family:"Apple Color Emoji"">
🙄</span> – Juergen<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fedzechkina, M., T. F. Jaeger, & E. L. Newport. (2012). Language learners restructure their input to facilitate efficient communication.
<i>PNAS</i> 109(44): 17897-17902.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="ES-US">Fedzechkina, M. & T. F. Jaeger. </span>(2020). Production efficiency can cause grammatical change: Learners deviate from the input to better balance efficiency against robust message transmission.
<i>Cognition</i> 196: article 104115.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Haspelmath, M. (1999). Why is grammaticalization irreversible?
<i><span lang="ES-US">Linguistics</span></i><span lang="ES-US"> 37(6): 1043-1068.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="DE">Heine, B. & K.-A. Song. </span>(2011). On the grammaticalization of personal pronouns.
<i>Journal of Linguistics</i> 47(3): 587-630.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hopper, P. J. & E. C. Traugott. (20032 [1993]). <i>Grammaticalization</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="ES-US">Kurumada, C. & S. Grimm. </span>(2019). Predictability of meaning in grammatical encoding: Optional plural marking.
<i>Cognition</i> 191: Article 103953.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="ES-US">Kurumada, C., & Jaeger, T. F. (2015). </span>
Communicative efficiency in language production: Optional case-marking in Japanese.
<i>Journal of Memory and Language</i> 83: 152–178.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lehmann, C. (1985). Grammaticalization: Synchronic variation and diachronic change.
<i>Lingua e Stile </i>20: 303-18. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="DE">Traugott, E. C. & E. König. </span>(1991). The semantics-pragmatics of grammaticalization revisited. In E. C. Traugott & B. Heine (eds.),
<i>Approaches to grammaticalization</i>. <i>Volume I: Focus on theoretical and methodological issues</i>. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 189-218.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Traugott, E. C. & G. Trousdale. (2013). <i>Constructionalization and constructional changes</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Juergen Bohnemeyer (He/Him)<br>
Professor, Department of Linguistics<br>
University at Buffalo <br>
<br>
Office: 642 Baldy Hall, UB North Campus<br>
Mailing address: 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260 <br>
Phone: (716) 645 0127 <br>
Fax: (716) 645 3825<br>
Email: </span><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><a href="mailto:jb77@buffalo.edu" title="mailto:jb77@buffalo.edu"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#0078D4">jb77@buffalo.edu</span></a></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><br>
Web: </span><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><a href="http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/" title="http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:#0563C1">http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/</span></a></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"> <br>
<br>
</span><span style="color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Office hours Tu/Th 3:30-4:30pm in 642 Baldy or via Zoom (Meeting ID 585 520 2411; Passcode Hoorheh) </span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><br>
<br>
There’s A Crack In Everything - That’s How The Light Gets In <br>
(Leonard Cohen) </span><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ligatures:none">-- <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="DE"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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