31.1121, Review: Linguistic Theories; Semantics; Syntax; Typology: Mattiola (2019)
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Subject: 31.1121, Review: Linguistic Theories; Semantics; Syntax; Typology: Mattiola (2019)
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Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 22:26:09
From: Vadim Dyachkov [hyppocentaurus at mail.ru]
Subject: Typology of Pluractional Constructions in the Languages of the World
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-2232.html
AUTHOR: Simone Mattiola
TITLE: Typology of Pluractional Constructions in the Languages of the World
SERIES TITLE: Typological Studies in Language 125
PUBLISHER: John Benjamins
YEAR: 2019
REVIEWER: Vadim Dyachkov, Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Science
SUMMARY
The present book is a large-scale typological survey of (verbal)
pluractionality from a functional perspective. The main aim of this book is to
construct a semantic map of pluractionality and to verify it on the data of
several languages. Thus, the work brings together typological observations
(based on a 246 language sample) and case studies of particular languages. The
primary framework adopted in this book is the semantic map model. The author
also gives some other (rather informal) theoretical considerations about
semantic issues of pluractionality.
The content is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 “Introduction” discusses
previous studies of pluractionality, the methodology adopted in the book and
the language sample. Chapter 2 “The semantic domain of pluractional
constructions” describes several functions constituting the phenomenon of
pluractionality and proposes a semantic map capturing these functions. Chapter
3 “The morpho-syntax of pluractional constructions” deals with means used in
languages of the world to express meanings of pluractional domain. Chapter 4
“Pluractional constructions: Some case studies” includes three case studies of
pluractionality based on the author’s own work with corpora of three
genetically distant languages. Chapter 5 “Pluractional constructions in
cross-linguistic perspective” describes some possible diachronic sources of
pluractional markers in several languages and discusses their semantic
interactions with constructions from which they evolved. A comparative concept
of pluractionality is proposed in the conclusion. The appendixes present the
language sample used in the survey and lists of grammatical functions for
pluractional markers in all the languages of the sample.
In Chapter 1, previous studies of pluractionality are discussed, with special
focus on the principal investigations in this field by Dressler (1968), Cusic
(1981) and Xrakovsky (1997). First, the author discusses crucial semantic
parameters differentiating pluractional markers from each other; these are
distributivity and event-internal vs. event-external plurality. The
classification of iterative constructions proposed in Xrakovsky (1997) is also
briefly discussed. The author uses labels adopted in Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca
(1994) in order to avoid ambiguity, since language descriptions differ in how
they treat pluractionality; moreover, there are numerous mismatches between
language-specific terms and categories which are claimed to be universal. The
methodology of the author’s own survey is also discussed in this chapter, as
well as his choice of language sample — he uses a convenience sample of 246
languages.
Chapter 2 discusses the semantic domain of pluractional constructions. All the
functions of pluractional markers are subdivided into core and additional
functions. Core functions are those which express plurality of situation
components. The crucial components of any situation are its participants,
space and time, and semantic types of pluractionality can be differentiated
according to which of these components is pluralized. Iterative and
frequentative markers are also distinguished. They denote events where “[t]he
situation occurs multiple times, but the repetitions are limited to a single
and the same occasion” (p. 23) and events where “[t]he repetitions of a
specific situations are performed over multiple and different occasions” (p.
24), respectively. One of the author’s most important findings based on his
language sample was the fact that event-internal pluractionality in terms of
Cusic (1981) occurs more rarely than markers denoting iterativity and
frequentativity. In contrast to core functions, additional functions are
associated with iterative- and frequentative-like meanings (habituality,
imperfectivity and continuativity), degree modification (intensity) and
reciprocity. Another very important finding of the book is that pluractional
meanings in some languages (namely, Karo Batak < Austronesian) are combined
with the meaning of emphasis which is related to degree modification but, as
the examples show, they must be treated separately from it. The existence of
such a phenomenon seems intriguing from a semantic point of view and needs
further research. One more unusual fact in this book is that pluractional
markers can have antipassive and causative meanings. In the end of Chapter 2,
a semantic map is proposed which covers the pluractional domain. However, some
meanings often co-occur within a single pluractional marker. For instance,
spatial distributivity (= plurality of spaces in which the situation takes
place) is rarely expressed by a separate marker, and the author provides a
semantic explanation for this fact.
Chapter 3 deals with strategies used to express pluractional meanings. The
most common strategies are affixation, reduplication and lexical alternation.
The latter strategy comes into play when two distinct lexical entries are used
to express pluractional and non-pluractional meanings. This strategy is
widespread in the North American area. Reduplication strategies can be
subdivided into two groups. First, there is a strategy involving reduplication
per se, that is, a special verbal form including total or partial reproduction
of the phonological material. Second, there is a strategy involving
repetition, which can be found almost in every language of the world. The
latter strategy is used to express a range of pluractional meanings but, as
argued by the author, it must be treated separately from pluractionality,
since it is not driven by grammatical rules of a given language, but rather by
stylistic and pragmatic factors (for example, it occurs mainly in narrative
texts). Nevertheless, repetition and verbal reduplication are regarded as
related phenomena and the former might be the possible diachronic source for
the latter, although there is yet no direct evidence in favor of this
statement. Other minor marking strategies are considered in the chapter as
well, and each linguistic area is attributed with basic strategies.
Chapter 4 presents three case studies of pluractionality. Three languages are
investigated in this chapter — Akawaio (< Cariban), Beja (< Afro-Asiatic), and
Maa (< Nilotic). The choice of languages is driven by the availability of
extensive corpora for each of them; however, all the three case studies do not
represent the author’s own fieldwork. Among the three languages, two are
widespread in Africa, but belong to different macro-families. For each
language, the author enumerates the functions of pluractional markers and then
plots them on the semantic map. In Akawaio, one of the pluractional markers
can combine both with nouns and verbs, which is very intriguing from both the
typological and semantic point of view. However, the author does not discuss
this phenomenon in detail. In Beja, pluractionality can be expressed via two
different strategies which are so-called intensive verb stems and pluractional
affixes. These strategies can be combined within the same stem. In Maa,
pluractionality can be expressed via lexical alternation. This case is
represented by the verb ‘go’, which has phonologically distinct singular and
pluractional forms. Reduplication in Maa is the principal strategy for marking
pluractional stems and it gave rise to lexicalized forms which are no longer
segmentable. Another possible grammaticalization source for pluractionality in
Maa is the andative marker whose basic meaning is ‘away from the reference
point’. At least six different meanings were reported for this morpheme,
including those expressing the notion of plurality (of participants, spaces or
events). Despite this fact, the author argues that the andative marker cannot
be treated as a true pluractional marker since the meaning of plurality arises
via a metaphorical transfer.
Chapter 5 is of special interest, since it discusses paths of
grammaticalization for pluractional constructions, bringing together the
evidence from several languages. The chapter discusses the work of Frajzyngier
(1997), who argues that pluractionality markers in Chadic languages have
originated from demonstratives. Though this scenario is quite plausible, it is
regarded as controversial since the argumentation presented in Frajzyngier
(1997) is based solely on phonological grounds, and he does not consider the
fact that the coincidental occurrence of phonologically similar elements is
highly probable. Other sources for pluractional markers are verbs of feeling,
motion and position which can be found in genetically and areally distant
languages. In conclusion, a comparative concept of pluractionality is
proposed.
EVALUATION
The book presents an extensive study of pluractionality and follows the line
of such important works as Cusic (1981), Xrakovski (1989) and Wood (2007). The
main advantage of the book is its coverage and it is definitely the most
extensive study of the phenomenon so far. The presentation is quite
consistent, and all the goals stated in the introduction have been achieved.
However, the book has some minor deficiencies. First of all, not all important
studies on pluractionality are mentioned. The most striking gap is the Ph. D.
thesis Shluinsky (2005) which has been probably the largest typological survey
of pluractionality so far. This work is written in Russian, which obviously
makes it inaccessible for international researchers. However, both Shluinsky
(2005) and the present book present semantic maps for the domain of
pluractional constructions, but there are crucial differences between them.
Although the semantic map in Shluinsky (2005) was created using a relatively
small set of languages (76), it reflects several typological observations
which were not considered in the book under review. For instance, Shluinsky
(2005) showed that pluractionality markers tend to evolve into markers
denoting relative frequency of events (attenuative, discontinuative etc.),
which must be distinguished from basic event-internal or event-external
pluractionality. He also mentions that in some languages, pluractionality
affixes can function as TAM markers, which are neither habituals, nor generic
imperfectives as would be predicted by Mattiola’s semantic map. Examples of
such polysemy can be found, for instance, in Komi-Zyrian and Udmurt which
belong to the Finno-Ugric family, which is quite poorly represented in
Mattiola’s sample (he mentions only Finnish, leaving all the other languages
out). In these languages, pluractional markers can be also used as
experiential perfect markers. There are other important grammatical functions
which were captured by the semantic map in Shluinsky (2005) but were not
discussed in the book. In the future, it would be very promising to combine
these two semantic maps and account for the observed discrepancies.
Second, Mattiola’s choice to use only functionally-oriented approaches has
prevented him from considering the achievements of formal approaches to
pluractionality, which would have contributed much to the typology of the
phenomenon. For instance, pluractional markers in some languages were reported
to be degree-denoting markers rather than markers denoting simple plurality
(see, for instance, Tatevosov (2007) on Chuvash, Ward (2012) on some formal
implementations of Chechen data). If at least these two works had been taken
into consideration, it would have accounted for several unexplained facts
mentioned in the book.
The third drawback which seems quite significant for a typological work is the
lack of any statistical or quantificational generalizations, which would be
appropriate while illustrating the statements about distribution of markers.
Nevertheless, the abovementioned imperfections do not detract from the volume.
It contains a high quality study of pluractionality and contributes much to
the understanding of the phenomenon in question. It will become a necessary
resource for anyone whose research interests lie in the field of verbal aspect
and pluractionality. A lot of accurate observations made by the author will
definitely inspire future researchers interested in deeper semantic
investigations, since the book brings to light many puzzles associated with
non-standard models of polysemy (causative/pluractional polysemy, emphasis
readings etc.). Any future research of this phenomenon will certainly have to
take the present book into consideration, and it can be recommended both for
specialists in typology and scholars who are interested in particular language
families
REFERENCES
Bybee, Joan, Perkins, Revere & Pagliuca, William. 1994. The Evolution of
Grammar. Tense, Aspect and Modality in the Languages of the World. Chicago:
The University of Chicago Press.
Cusic, David. 1981. Verbal Plurality and Aspect. Ph.D. Dissertation. Stanford.
Dressler, Wolfgang. 1968. Studien zur verbalen Pluralität. Wien: Verlag der
Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Frajzyngier, Zygmunt. 1997. Grammaticalization of number: From demonstratives
to nominal and verbal plural. Linguistic Typology, Vol. 1, 193-324.
Shluinsky, Andrey B. 2005. Tipologiya predikatnoi mnozhestvennosti:
kolichestvennye aspektual’nye znacheniya. [Typology of pluractionlaity:
quantificational aspectual meanings.] Ph.D. Dissertation. Moscow.
Xrakovsky, Viktor S. (ed.) 1989. Tipologiya iterativnykh konstrukcij.
[Typology of iterative constructions.] Leningrad.
Xrakovsky, Viktor S. (ed.) 1997. Semantic types of the plurality of situations
and their natural classification. Typology of Iterative constructions, 3 – 64.
München: Lincom.
Tatevosov, Sergey G. 2007. Pluractionality vs. discontinuity. Proceedings of
the Sixteenth Amsterdam Colloquium. 217–222.
Ward, Kaeli Shannon. 2012. A Micro-Typology of Pluractionality. Thesis. Los
Angeles: University of California.
Wood, Esther. 2007. The semantic typology of pluractionality. PhD thesis.
Berkeley: University of California.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Vadim Dyachkov is a researcher at the Institute of Linguistics, Russian
Academy of Science. His specializations are language description, African
language studies, Finno-Ugric linguistics, typology, morphology and generative
linguistics. He is mostly interested in verbal derivation, aspect and
pluractionality.
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