[Lingtyp] query: Metaphoricity and Agreement in Genitive Constructions

[Greville Corbett]

Dear David

Just to say that the data are richer than you suggest "Cross-linguistically, in languages where there is agreement in genitive constructions, it is the possessor (or G) that controls the agreement and the possessum (or N) that is its target (the so-called "head-marking" pattern).” In fact both patterns of agreement are found, possessor-possessum and possessum-possessor (there are some examples in Agreement (2006: section 2.2.6). So your hypothesis has wider implications. I don’t know about metaphors; but no doubt other LingTypers do
Very best
Grev


On 16 Sep 2019, at 14:28, David Gil <gil at shh.mpg.de<mailto:gil at shh.mpg.de>> wrote:


Dear all,

I am interested in testing a hypothesis regarding a correlation between the respective directionalities of metaphoricity and agreement.

Let X Y be a construction in which Y is the source of a metaphor (the metaphorical description) and X its metaphorical target (the thing being described by the source).

Hypothesis:
IF a relationship of morphological agreement obtains between X and Y, THEN X is the controller of agreement and Y is its target (but not vice versa).

(Terminological note: it is inconvenient that both theories of metaphor and theories of agreement use the same term "target".  It should be kept in mind that there is no connection between the two usages of the term - in fact, the hypothesis suggests that the two usages fall on opposite sides of the correlation.)

Commonplace examples upholding the correlation are cases of an NP in construction with an adjectival or verbal predicate, as in (1), and a N in construction with an adjectival or verbal attribute, as in (2).  (The examples are in French so as to illustrate the agreement.)

(1) Ton idée est verte
(2) Une idée verte

However, attributive genitive metaphors, as in (3), pose a potential challenge to the hypothesis.

(3) Heart of stone

Cross-linguistically, in languages where there is agreement in genitive constructions, it is the possessor (or G) that controls the agreement and the possessum (or N) that is its target (the so-called "head-marking" pattern).  Accordingly, in such languages, in the equivalent of, say, (3), the metaphorical target 'heart' would also be the agreement target', in violation of the proposed hypothesis.

My query therefore is:  are there languages with agreement in genitive constructions in which metaphorical interpretations are available in such constructions (in violation of the hypothesis)?

Hebrew provides prima facie reason to suspect that there may not be any such counterexamples.  Hebrew has two genitive constructions, the first, as in (4/5a), without agreement, the second, as in (4/5b), with agreement:

(4)    (a)    Halev šel moše
                  DEF:heart of Moses
         (b)    Libo šel moše
                  heart.CONSTR:3SGM of Moses

(5)    (a)    Lev šel even
                  heart of stone
         (b)    Libo šel even
                  heart.CONSTR:3SGM of stone

While (4a/b) are interpreted literally, (5a) has a metaphorical interpretation.  Crucially, though, in (5b), the metaphorical interpretation is no longer available — the construction doesn't make sense.  What seems to be happening here is that the agreement in (5b) is preventing the metaphorical interpretation from occurring, and thereby providing seemingly strong support for the hypothesis.

But Hebrew is just one language.  So I'd be interested in knowing whether similar facts hold cross-linguistically.  A counterexample to my hypothesis would be a language that allows an agreeing genitive construction such as in (5b) to bear a metaphorical interpretation:  Is anybody familiar with such cases?  Of course, I would also greatly appreciate examples of languages with agreeing genitives that do not allow them to bear metaphorical interpretations, as these would provide additional support for the hypothesis.

Thanks,

David

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