grammaticalization query: 'see' to 'VERIFY'

Mon Jul 29 02:00:38 UTC 2013

Dear all,

A recent paper that discusses ‘see’ as grammaticalizing a conative sense of ‘try’, test out’ in languages of Eurasia, India, West Africa and PNG is:
Voinov, Vitaly. 2013. ‘Seeing’ is ‘trying’: the relation of visual perception to attemptive modality in the world’s languages. Language and Cognition. Vol. 5.1: 61–80.

Regards,
Alec

---

Dr. Alexander R. Coupe, Ph.D. | Assistant Professor | Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies | Nanyang Technological University
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Editor
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
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From: Discussion List for ALT [mailto:LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Alex Francois
Sent: Monday, 29 July 2013 6:44 AM
To: LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: grammaticalization query: 'see' to 'VERIFY'

dear Misha and Timur,

I'm aware of some languages that use the verb “see” with a conative (TRY) or verificational (VERIF) meaning even when seeing is not involved.

One example is indeed Mandarin 看

kàn, cited by André Müller.

Another example is French. The infinitive voir (literally ‘see’) follows certain imperative verbs to add a meaning of tentativeness or conativity:
(1)

écoute

voir

(si

tu

entends

sa

voix)

listen

TRY

if

you

hear

her

voice

‘(try to) listen if you can hear her voice.’

(2)

goûte

voir!

taste

TRY

‘Try this (to check out the taste).’

I also found the same semantic link in certain Oceanic languages of Vanuatu.
The language Lemerig (2 speakers, northern Vanua Lava) uses the verb ’et /ʔɛt/ ‘see’ as a conative postverbal particle ten (TRY):
(3)

Lēlqön̄

e,

në

m-ta

’et

wë

në

k‑mi'ir,

pa

niv.

in.night

DEF

1sg

PRF‑do

TRY

COMP

1sg

1sg:Irr‑sleep

but

no

’Last night I tried to find some sleep, but
no way
.'

Lemerig ’et /ʔɛt/ ‘see/TRY’ has cognate forms in neighbouring languages: Vera'a  ’ēn /ʔɪn/ ‘see’ + Vurës ten /tɛn/ ‘TRY’.
The three forms are regular reflexes of a single protoform *teⁿde.

In Vurës, the grammaticalisation process has
reached its end:  the word ten has lost its original meaning ‘see’ and is only used synchronically as a postverbal particle with conative meaning (TRY):
(4)

Ru

tur

kal

ten

na

ēl

ten!

Imper:Dual

stand

up

TRY

1sg:Irr

see

TRY

[looking for a knife]
‘Try standing up so I can [try to] have a look!’

Yet the etymology of this ten is suggested by Lemerig
 – as well as other examples of the same semantic shift in other languages of the world.

all the best

Al
e
x.
___

Alex François
LACITO-CNRS<http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/membres/francois.htm>, France
Australian National University<http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/people/personal/frana_ling.php>, Canberra
http://alex.francois.free.fr
__________________________

2013/7/28 André Müller <esperantist at gmail.com<mailto:esperantist at gmail.com>>
Dear Michael & Timur,
Although not quite as high on the grammaticalization scale as the Archi and Agul examples, and with a slightly different meaning, a similar construction does exist in Mandarin Chinese. I don't have Heine & Kuteva 2004 at hand, so I'm not sure if they mention this.
The full verb 看 (kàn, lit. 'to see') is used – often in reduplicated form – after other verbs to convey the meaning 'to check out', so 吃看看 (chī kànkan, lit. 'eat see') means 'to try', referring to food, 听看看 (tīng kànkan, lit. 'listen see') means 'to check out by hearing'.

This construction isn't verificational in the strict sense, as it doesn't verify a previous statement. It can be used for "checking out" something unknown, but it can also be used for statements. 你吃看看，那个是不是太辣。 (Nǐ chī kànkan, nèi ge shì bú shì tài là; lit. you eat see~see, that CLF is not is too spicy) "Eat and try if this is too spicy."
Greetings,
- André Müller
(MPI EVA & Uni Bamberg)

2013/7/28 Michael Daniel <misha.daniel at gmail.com<mailto:misha.daniel at gmail.com>>
Dear all,

in two Lezgic (East Caucasian) languages, Archi and Agul, there is a(n apparently rare) morphological category of verificative, or verificational. Its meaning is 'check whether P is true', where P is the lexical verb with its dependents. Here is an Archi example, with VERIF in the infinitive:

qalal-a          jašul      adam       i-r-k:u-s
palace-IN     inside   person     4.be-INTRG-VERIF-INF
'(He went inside) in order to see whether there was anyone inside the palace. (4 is the agreement class)'

The following Agul example with VERIF in the past tense shows that VERIF introduces its own argument ('one who checks'):

gadaji           ruš    qušunaj-čuk’-une.
boy(ERG)    girl    go_away.PF.RES-VERIF-AOR
'The boy checked, whether the girl has gone away.'

(See also this handout for further details: http://lingvarium.org/maisak/publ/Maisak_Leipzig2009.pdf)

In both languages, the construction seems to result from grammaticalization of the verb 'see' (Archi ak:u- and its Agul cognate). The development seems to be historically and areally independent.

Although there is a number of grammaticalization paths in which this verbal meaning is involved (see Heine and Kuteva 2004: 269-270; and other developments, including evidential-like meanings), we are unaware of the verb 'see' grammaticalizing into categories similar to Archi/Agul verificative. We would be happy to learn of any comparable, in functional semantics terms, evidence from other languages.

Michael Daniel and Timur Maisak

(if convenient, copy both of us when replying to this message)

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