[Lingtyp] Functional discord?

Tue Nov 27 17:46:31 UTC 2018

Beside hitputar 'was made to resign', we also have hitnudav 'was made to
volunteer'.

Moshe

On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 7:41 PM David Gil <gil at shh.mpg.de> wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> --
> 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
>
>
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-- 
Professor Moshe Taube (Emeritus)
Tamara and Saveli Grinberg Chair in Russian Studies
Department of Linguistics / Department of Russian
and East-European Studies
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mt. Scopus 91905 Israel
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