grammaticalization query: 'see' to 'VERIFY'

[Chao Li]

Dear André,

Just a quick note that, if *kan* in Mandarin is reduplicated, the
reduplicated form and the preceding verb will belong to different syntactic
and phonological phrases. In this case, some other material to indicate
quantity is required to follow that preceding verb. For example, the
corresponding Mandarin sentence for "You can give it a bite and see whether
it is spicy or not" would be:

(1)  Ni      keyi   chi    yi      kou,          kankan   la         bu
la.
       you   can    eat   one   mouthful   see         spicy   not   spicy

When *kan* and the preceding verb are used in the same prosodic group, it
is the preceding verb that normally gets reduplicated. In this case, there
is normally no other material that follows *kan*. For example,

(2) A:   Zhe-dao    cai      la        bu      la?
            this-CL      dish    spicy  not     spicy
            'Is this dish spicy or not?'
     B:   Ni   keyi    chang-chang-kan    ma.
           you can     taste-taste-see        SENTENCE-FINAL PARTICLE
           'You can taste it and find it out.'

Best wishes,
Chao Li









On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 4:42 PM, André Müller <esperantist at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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>
>
>> 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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