[Lingtyp] Functional discord?

Tue Nov 27 17:40:26 UTC 2018

Hebrew has something very close to the kind of morphological discord 
you're looking for.  First, some background ...

Hebrew verbal morphology makes use of so-called binyanim, 
mostly-derivational morphological paradigms that express categories of 
voice, aksionsart and others.  Hebrew has 7 such binyanim.  Of these 7, 
4 form two pairs productively related to each other as active and 
passive, where the passive is characterized by, among others, the 
presence of a "-u-a-" vocalic pattern.  For example, the root k-t-b 
'write' forms the basis for among others (the cited forms are all past 
3rd person singular feminine):

(1) kitev 'address' (act) ~ kutav 'address' (pass)

(2) hixtiv 'dictate' (act) ~ huxtav 'dictate' (pass)

A 5th binyan expresses various medial categories such as, among others, 
reflexive, or in the case of k-t-b, reciprocal

(3) hitkatev 'write to each other'

Now consider the root p-t-r, which, among other things, means 'fire' (as 
in 'force a subordinate to stop working for one'). Exhibiting the same 
binyan as in (1) we have

(4) piter 'fire' (act) ~ putar 'fire (pass)

And exhibiting the same binyan as in (3), this time with a 
medial/reflexive meaning, we have

(5) hitpater 'resign'

So much for the background, now for the fun bit.  For this specific 
root, and for one particular context, Hebrew recently innovated, in what 
seems to be a playful, almost jocular manner, an 8th binyan, derived by 
blending the medial binyan in (5) with the passive binyan in (4):

(6) hitputar

The meaning too is a blend of medial and passive, applied to those not 
uncommon situations in which politicians are forced to submit their 
resignation: officially, the politicians are resigning of their own free 
will, but in practice they are being fired.

To the extent that this innovative binyan constitutes a blend of two 
pre-existing binyanim, this would seem to constitute an instance of 
morphological discord, in that the first part of the word comes from the 
medial binyan while the second part comes from the passive binyan.

As far as I know, this innovated binyan applies just to the single root 
p-t-r, though I wouldn't be surprised if it extends, or perhaps already 
has extended, to other roots.

On 27/11/2018 09:15, Jeff Siegel wrote:
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> People sometimes use morphological discord for joking or stylistic 
> effect – e.g. “Let’s went” (popularised by Poncho in the 1950s TV 
> series /The Cisco Kid/) and this heading on an internet discussion 
> list: “3D TV, I has one…I likes it” (perhaps derived from the speech 
> of Gollum/Sméagol in /Lord of the Rings/).
>
> I’m interested in whether such morphological discord can be 
> conventionalised in a language with a particular meaning or function.
>
> What led me to this interest is a structure in Nama, a Papuan language 
> of Southern New Guinea. In Nama, the S argument of a stative verb is 
> indexed by a prefix indicating person and number – normally singular 
> (sg) vs non-singular (nsg). For non-singular referents, dual number is 
> distinguished from plural by a suffix /-(a)re/. For example:
>
> /áuyè *y*-wakái /[cassowary *3sg*-stand] ‘a cassowary is standing’
>
> /áuyè e-wakái /[cassowary 3nsg-stand] ‘several cassowaries are standing’
>
> /áuyè e-wakái-*are*/**[cassowary 3nsg-stand-*du*] ‘two cassowaries are 
> standing’
>
> But in apparent morphological discord, a singular prefix can co-occur 
> with the dual suffix. The resultant meaning can be that of large 
> plural – e.g.:
>
> /áuyè *y*-wakái-*are*/ [cassowary *3sg*-stand-*du*] *‘**very many 
> cassowaries are standing’*
>
> Or it can be that the state lasted for a long time – e.g.:
>
> /kètè *wè*-mor-ang /[there 1sg-stay-inceptive] ‘I stayed there’
>
> /kètè yèn-mor-ang /[there 1nsg-stay-inceptive] ‘we (3+) stayed there’
>
> /kètè yèn-mor-ang-*re* /[there 1nsg-stay-inceptive-*du*] ‘we (2) 
> stayed there’
>
> /kètè *wè*-mor-ang-*re*/ [*1sg*-stay-inceptive-*du*] *‘**I stayed 
> there a long time’*
>
> The same phenomenon occurs with the copula (/-re/ du, /-m/ nd 
> [nondual]), but with other possible interpretations – indicating  that 
> the S is small or alone:
>
> /yáf kèrtè *y*-m/ [basket heavy 3sg-cop.nd] ‘the basket is heavy’
>
> /yáf kèrtè e-m/ [basket heavy 3nsg-cop.nd] ‘several baskets are heavy’
>
> /yáf kèrtè e-*re*/ [basket heavy 3nsg-cop.*du*] ‘the 2 baskets are heavy’
>
> /yáf kèrtè *y*-*re*/ [basket heavy *3sg*-*cop.du*] *‘**the small 
> basket is heavy’*
>
> /ambum mèngon *y*-m/ [child house.in *3sg*-cop.nd] ‘the child is alone 
> in the house’
>
> /ambum mèngon e-*re*/ [child house.in 3nsg-*cop.du*] ‘the 2 children 
> are in the house’
>
> /ambum mèngon *y*-*re*/ [child house.in *3sg*-*cop.du*] *‘**the child 
> is alone in the house’*
>
> This combination of sg and du is clearly used to express a variety of 
> meanings, but they have the common thread of referring to something 
> unusual (in Nama culture or in the context of a narrative). However, 
> these constructions are extremely rare, and the meanings they have are 
> normally expressed in other ways. These facts have led me to wonder if 
> they originated from morphological discord being used as a stylistic 
> device, with meanings that became conventionalised.
>
> My question is: Are there examples in other languages that could be 
> evidence of morphological discord being used for particular functions 
> or meanings?
>
> Sorry for such a long post,
>
> Jeff Siegel
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lingtyp mailing list
> Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp

-- 
David Gil

Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany

Email: gil at shh.mpg.de
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81281162816

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lingtyp/attachments/20181127/0203ed2f/attachment.htm>