<div dir="ltr"><div>Dear Jose,</div><div><br></div><div>The Torricelli "and verbs" stand out as interesting and unusual. In my worldwide survey of coordination in several hundred languages (Ross 2021) I didn't find much else that closely resembles like this. Verbal etymologies of conjunctions are somewhat rare (vs. adpositions and adverbs) but found in a number of languages (see below on converbs specifically, although it could also be from other verb forms), but this is not exactly like the Torricelli case, since they generally do not retain agreement inflection. Similarly, there are some agreeing adpositions which resemble verbs in that way in some languages, such as Cahuilla and some related Uto-Aztecan languages, although I don't recall seeing these translated as conjunctions, just prepositions; they would also be more likely to be 'and, with' functioning to combine nouns, rather than as verb/clause coordinators (as is the tendency shown from my survey, although there can also sometimes be overlap, but usually as a secondary extension from noun conjunction function).</div><div><br></div><div>There are also some languages where a verb 'accompany, be together, go with' serves a coordinating-like function with nouns (similar to comitative prepositions), although I'm not sure that's what you're looking for (I have notes about this not summarized in my dissertation, but too many to try to list here: this isn't particularly rare, found in maybe around 10% of my sample based on my notes, especially since if there is already a well-established coordinator 'and' I might not have also noted this as a secondary strategy). Another question is the etymology of the Torricelli "and verbs", which might be 'take' or 'use' (Brown & Dryer 2008: 560-1): in that case, this is similar to the extensive worldwide usage of TAKE (and occasionally USE) in serial verb constructions (Ross 2021: §4.2.4), although not grammaticalized in the same way as the Torricelli case. Similarly, I imagine 'accompany' verbs might develop like that. So this might just be the connection between the two common grammaticalization pathways of verb > comitative (especially via SVCs), and then comitative > noun coordinator, with the unusual property of retaining verbal agreement in the coordination construction. This may also be relatively common in analytic languages with no verb agreement, for example in Chinese languages and various languages of Southeast Asia with "coverb" prepositions grammaticalized from serial verb constructions, and then potentially extended from comitative to noun coordinator, but in that case there is no verb agreement so this could be analyzed more straightforwardly as just category change (verb > preposition > conjunction).<br></div><div><br></div><div>In general, my survey confirms the specific Torricelli construction is rare, but there are probably other some languages not included in my sample that have relevant features. From what I have come across, both within my sample and looking over other languages along the way, I can mention three cases I've noticed (mostly periphral to my sample) with constructions most similar to the Torricelli "and verbs":</div><div><br></div><div>1. Austronesian</div><div>As you mentioned, some Austronesian languages like Lamaholot (Nishiyama 2011) have agreeing conjunctions. I think other examples I've seen aren't quite as similar to Torricelli, but still have this property of agreement. For example, Lichtbenberk (2014) surveys conjunction-like sequential markers that have different forms depending on the subject in Vitu and some related languages.<br></div><div><br></div><div>2. West Africa<br></div><div>Duncan et al. (2019) report an Ibibio (Niger-Congo, Nigeria) construction similar to Torricelli as in (1): note the 3SG prefix, similar to (although they argue distinct from) serial verbs. Souag (2015) also discusses the relatioship between comitatives, agreement and coordination in Songhay (Nilo-Saharan?), including agreement in coordinative function but only with pronouns in Kwarandzyey as in (2); if the first conjunct is a full NP, then no agreement prefix is used. I have a vague memory of seeing something else in other languages in West Africa, although I'm not finding specific reference(s) at the moment (so it might have only been one of these papers already cited), but this is a potentially relevant area to continue searching in. It's interesting that distinct strategies of noun and verb coordination with these agreeing forms are attested, which is something to consider in the typology of these constructions.<br></div><div><br></div><div>(1) Ìmá á-kpón<b> á-nyʌ́ŋ</b> á-yáíyá.</div><div>Ima 3SG-become.big <b>3SG-CONJ</b> 3SG-be.beautiful</div><div>'Ima grew up and became beautiful.' (Duncan et al. 2019: 424)<br></div><div><br></div><div>(2) aɣəy <b>ʕ-indᶻa</b> ħəṃṃad y-a-nnən atˢəy</div><div>1SG <b>1SG-COM</b> Hammad 1PL-PRF-drink tea<br></div><div>'I and Hammad have drunk tea.' (Kwarandzyey: Souag 2015: 85)<br></div><div><br></div><div>3. Awa Pit (Barbacoan, Colombia):</div><div>Curnow (1997: 67-8, 308-9) describes verb coordination as in (3) with phrasing reminiscent of the Torricelli "and verbs", but the similarity may be somewhat superficial. While Curnow refers to the -t suffix as marking "serial verbs" this is probably better classified as a converb suffix (as a dependency marker: see Ross 2021, 2025 for that different issue), since only the final verb in the sequence of "serial verbs" has finite inflection and the previous ones are inflected with this "-t", although it was described as having only this function (rather than as a typical i.e. adverbial converb suffix). This is the same -t in <i>kit</i> 'and', grammaticalized from the verb 'do'. While the description is very similar to that of the Torricelli languages, it seems to me to be more like other examples of converbs developing into conjunctions as in 'come having, Marcos ate plantains'. For example, there is a similar conjunction etymology in Mongol from a converb of 'do': <i>kiged</i> 'and' < <i>ki-ged</i> do-CVB (Kara 2022; Ross 2025).<br></div><div><br></div><div>(3) Marcos=na a-t <b>kit</b> pala ku-ma-tɨ<br></div><div>Marcos come-SV <b>AND</b> plantain eat-COMP-TERM</div><div>'Marcos came and ate plantains.' (Curnow 1997: 309)</div><div><br></div><div>Brown, Lea & Matthew S. Dryer. 2008. The Verbs for “and” in Walman, a Torricelli Language of Papua New Guinea. <i>Language</i> 84(3). 528–565. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.0.0044">https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.0.0044</a></div><div>Curnow, Timothy Jowan. 1997. A grammar of Awa Pit (Cuaiquer): An indigenous language of south-western Colombia. Australian National University Ph.D. dissertation.</div><div>Duncan, Philip T., Travis Major & Mfon Udoinyang. 2019. Verb and predicate coordination in Ibibio. In Emily Clem, Peter Jenks & Hannah Sande (eds.), <i>Theory and description in African Linguistics: Selected papers from the 47th Annual Conference on African Linguistics</i>, 423–439. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3367170">http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3367170</a></div><div>Kara, György. 2022. Mongol <i>kiged</i>: A Verbal Adverb as Conjunction and Verbal Noun. In Bayarma Khabtagaeva (ed.), <i>Historical Linguistics and Philology of Central Asia: Essays in Turkic and Mongolic Studies</i>, 298–310. Leiden: Brill. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004499966_019">https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004499966_019</a></div><div>Lichtenberk, Frantisek. 2014. Sequentiality-Futurity Links. <i>Oceanic Linguistics</i> 53(1). 61–91. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/ol.2014.0000">https://doi.org/10.1353/ol.2014.0000</a></div><div>Major, Travis. 2014. Serial Verbs in Ibibio. <i>Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics</i> 35. 129–148. <a href="https://doi.org/10.17161/1808.16963">https://doi.org/10.17161/1808.16963</a></div><div>Nishiyama, Kunio. 2011. Conjunctive agreement in Lamaholot. <i>Journal of Linguistics</i> 47. 381–405. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226710000356">https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226710000356</a></div><div>Ross, Daniel. 2021. Pseudocoordination, Serial Verb Constructions and Multi-Verb Predicates: The relationship between form and structure. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Ph.D. dissertation. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5546425">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5546425</a></div><div>Ross, Daniel. 2025 (in press). The life cycle of converbs: A diachronic typology. In Paola Cotticelli-Kurras, Eystein Dahl & Jelena Živojinović (eds.), <i>Diachronic, Typological, and Areal Aspects of Converbs</i>. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.</div><div>Souag, Lameen. 2015. How to make a comitative preposition agree it-with its external argument: Songhay and the typology of conjunction and agreement. In Jürg Fleischer, Elisabeth Rieken & Paul Widmer (eds.), <i>Agreement from a Diachronic Perspective</i>, 75–100. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110399967-005">https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110399967-005</a></div><div><br></div><div>I hope that's helpful, and I'd be interested in hearing about the results of your research!<br></div><div><br></div><div>Daniel Ross</div><div>University of California, Riverside<br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Nov 24, 2024 at 8:55 AM Zygmunt Frajzyngier via Lingtyp <<a href="mailto:lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org">lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div class="msg7519486475443738247">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">Dear Jose Anonio Jodar,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">You may find this paper useful for your research.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">In my Grammar of Gidar (2008) you fill find evidence of the verb ‘go’ serving as clausal conjunction.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">Frajzyngier, Zygmunt. 2005.<b>
</b>Grammaticalization of phrasal and clausal relators. </span><i><span style="font-size:11pt" lang="FR">Afrika und Übersee</span></i><span style="font-size:11pt" lang="FR">, 88, 79-102.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">All best,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">Zygmunt<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">Zygmunt Frajzyngier<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">Emeritus Professor of Linguistics<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">University of Colorado<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"><a href="http://www.colorado.edu" target="_blank">www.colorado.edu</a>>linguistics>Zygmunt_frajzyngier<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"><b><span style="color:black">From:
</span></b><span style="color:black">Lingtyp <<a href="mailto:lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org" target="_blank">lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>> on behalf of Jose Antonio Jodar Sanchez via Lingtyp <<a href="mailto:lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org" target="_blank">lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>><br>
<b>Date: </b>Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 6:53 AM<br>
<b>To: </b><a href="mailto:LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG" target="_blank">LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG</a> <<a href="mailto:lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org" target="_blank">lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>><br>
<b>Subject: </b>[Lingtyp] Verbs meaning 'and, with'<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">[External email - use caution]<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Dear all,<br>
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My colleague Andrey Drinfeld and I are looking at a group of verbs meaning 'and, with' in a family of Papuan languages, the Torricelli family. Instead of using linking devices such as conjunctions (e.g. English 'and') or affixes/clitics (e.g. Amharic -əm) to
join two noun phrases, these languages use verbs which have pronominal affixes for either subject, object, or both. Examples from Walman and Yeri can be found in (1) and (2) respectively, with the 'and' verb in bold:<br>
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(1) [Runon <b>n-a-Ø</b> chu] y-an y-ayako-Ø<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"> </span> klay-poch ...<br>
3SG.M <b>3SG.M.SUBJ-and-3SG.F.OBJ</b> wife <a href="http://3pl.subj-be.at/" target="_blank">
3PL.SUBJ-be.at</a> 3PL.SUBJ-make-3SG.F.OBJ taro-porridge ...<br>
‘[He and his wife] were making taro porridge ...’ (Brown and Dryer, 2008: 529)<br>
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(2) Hem teipa dore m-nobia [Sila <b>w-od</b><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">ɨ</span>-Ø</b> Lagosi].<br>
1sg then get.up 1sg-talk.R Sila <b>3SG.F-and.R-SG.F</b> Lagosi<br>
‘I got up and told [Sila and Lagosi].’ (Wilson, 2017: 333)<br>
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We have been operating under the assumption that this phenomenon is not attested outside the Torricelli family and a few Austronesian languages (such as Lamaholot), but we do not have concrete evidence one way or the other, and are considering the possibility
that there may be other attestations of such a phenomenon elsewhere that have not gotten into the literature on this topic. We are wondering if anyone is aware of such a phenomenon being attested in other language families and parts of the world.<br>
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Best,<br>
<br>
Jose.<u></u><u></u></p>
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