[Lingtyp] Lingtyp Digest, Vol 87, Issue 13

Thu Dec 9 15:13:37 UTC 2021

Dear Riccardo,
This type of construction is found in Chini, a Ramu family language of
Madang Province PNG. I call it the double middle construction.

Some complexities aside, nji- in Chini is a middle marker, and this appears
transparently to derive from the plural dative/possessive pronominal form
nji=.

As far as I know, there is only one semantic domain for Chini middles where
you get the double marking, and that's bodily functions of the squeamish
type. Certain bodily functions (shit, piss, vomit) get to count as middles
in Chini where the action is construed as autopathic/reflexive. The fun
part comes when one (hopefully accidentally) shits/pisses/vomits on
oneself, and then you get the double marking. Makes sense doesn't it. Just
make sure not to think too in depth about the semantics on a full stomach...

anɨ vrɨmɨ nji=mhi=nji-mim-kɨ

3sg mistakenly mid=foc.all=mid-urinate-realis

'S/he mistakenly urinated on him/herself.'

To be clear, this marker isn't a misanalyzed reflexive but is in fact a
middle. I know some people won't believe in middles, but in Chini, except
for possessive constructions, the autopathic/reflexive and
mutual/reciprocal semantics are subsumed within the middle construction and
it does other semantic work beyond those things as well.

Cheers

Joseph

On Wed, Dec 8, 2021 at 2:43 PM <lingtyp-request at listserv.linguistlist.org>
wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. "Double reflexive" constructions (Riccardo Giomi)
>    2. Re: "Double reflexive" constructions (Jess Tauber)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2021 18:15:05 +0100
> From: Riccardo Giomi <rgiomi at campus.ul.pt>
> To: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> Subject: [Lingtyp] "Double reflexive" constructions
> Message-ID:
>         <CA+KJqQFP0tgtAPFO+uit2HTrQdLoN20Czz0yF5Lv=
> 3CxOGHEPg at mail.gmail.com>
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>
> Dear typologists,
>
> I am looking for languages in which, with some predicates at least,
> unambiguous expression of reflexivity is only attained by combining two
> separate markers. Typically, the elements participating in such
> "double-reflexive" constructions (quotes needed) belong to one of the
> following, broadly-defined classes:
>
> - a valency-decreasing "middle" marker / intransitivizer (usually, though
> not necessarily a bound morpheme);
>
> - a reflexive, personal or logophoric pronoun;
>
> - a so-called reflexive intensifier, i.e. an element that functions like
> English reflexive pronouns in appositional or adverbial position (e.g. *I
> myself swept the ground / I swept the ground myself*).
>
> Below are a few examples of possible combinations of such elements (I have
> harmonized the glosses used by the various authors):
>
> Intransitivizer + reflexive pronoun: Kuuk Thaayorre
> [image: immagine.png]
>
> Intransitivizer + personal pronoun: Hmwaveke
> [image: immagine.png]
>
> Intransitivizer + intensifier (attached to the (subject) nominal and
> glossed 'SELF'): Dyirbal
> [image: immagine.png]
>
> Intransitivizer + intensifier (attached to the verb): Mezquital Otomí
> [image: immagine.png]
>
> (Gast & Siemund 2006: 368. The authors also give an example in which the
> intensifier takes the longer form *sε̌hε̒ *and occurs as an unbound
> adverb-like element.)
>
> Intensifier (marked ergative, in apposition to the (subject) nominal) +
> personal/logophoric pronoun (marked absolutive) : Tsakhur
> [image: immagine.png]
>
> If any of you is aware of a language in which "double marking" of
> reflexivity is the only option, that would be especially helpful; but, more
> generally, I am interested in all such constructions -- or possibly other,
> comparable ones which I may be leaving out of the picture. (Please don't
> bother signalling Germanic or Romance data like German *sich + selbst* or
> Spanish *si + a si mismo* -- I am already taking those into account.)
>
> Many thanks in advance, best wishes,
> Riccardo
>
> References
> Dik, Simon C. 1983. The Status of verbal reflexives. In Liliane Tasmowski &
> Dominique Willems (eds.), *Problems in syntax*, 231–255. New York & London:
> Plenum Press.
> Gaby, Alice. 2006. *A grammar of Kuuk Thaayorre.* Melbourne: University of
> Melbourne dissertation.
> Gast, Volker & Peter Siemund. 2006. Rethinking the relationship between
> SELF-intensifiers and reflexives". *Linguistics* 44(2), 343-381.
> Lyutikova, Ekaterina A. 2000. Reflexives and emphasis in Tsaxur
> (Nakh-Dagestanian). In Z. Frajzyngier and T. Curl (eds.), *Reflexives:
> Forms and Functions, *227-255. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
> Moyse-Faurie, Claire. 2008. Constructions expressing middle, reflexive and
> reciprocal situations in some Oceanic languages. In Ekkehard König & Volker
> Gast (eds.), *Reciprocals* *and reflexives: Theoretical and typological
> explorations*, 105–168. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
>
> --
> Riccardo Giomi, Ph.D.
> University of Liège
> Département de langues modernes : linguistique, littérature et traduction
> Research group *Linguistique contrastive et typologie des langues*
> F.R.S.-FNRS Postdoctoral fellow (CR - FC 43095)
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2021 13:42:24 -0500
> From: Jess Tauber <tetrahedralpt at gmail.com>
> To: rgiomi at campus.ul.pt
> Cc: "list, typology" <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] "Double reflexive" constructions
> Message-ID:
>         <CA+30tAR8HJ2ddymFegQmJq=
> kJf+CiszqYVrVf820CcjRf17+DA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> In Yahgan (critically endangered genetic isolate from Tierra del Fuego),
> the valence-reducing morpheme is verbal prefix ma(m)- (the second /m/ only
> showing up when the next morpheme is either /h/ or vowel  initial.
> Logophoric pronoun is me:am (colon marks tenseness of vowel preceding it).
> SFAIK there isn't any true reflexive intensifier. ma(m)-..... -a:pai forms
> the equivalent reciprocal, and there is also a logophoric hvngvmbai (v
> represents schwa) for reciprocal.  But use of me:am isn't obligatory before
> ma-, for example (me:am) ma-tu:-atama 'to feed oneself', where tu:- is
> causative prefix, and atama is 'to eat'. The parentheses (from the
> dictionary entry, penned in the 1870's, when most speakers were still
> monolingual) shows that me:am  was a take-it-or-leave it affair. But my
> readings of the three biblical translations (New Testament Gospels of Luke,
> John, and Acts of the Apostles) leads me to believe that me:am makes the
> construction emphatic. Yahgan also had a suffix on pronouns of shape -tu:
> that rendered the meaning 'alone, only', probably from -tvpan  with the
> same sense. For example ki:tu: 'he, she, it alone', with the ki:- from 3rd
> person coreference pronoun prefix kv- (the free pronoun is kvnjin).
>
> Jess Tauber
>
>
>
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>
> On Wed, Dec 8, 2021 at 12:16 PM Riccardo Giomi <rgiomi at campus.ul.pt>
> wrote:
>
> > Dear typologists,
> >
> > I am looking for languages in which, with some predicates at least,
> > unambiguous expression of reflexivity is only attained by combining two
> > separate markers. Typically, the elements participating in such
> > "double-reflexive" constructions (quotes needed) belong to one of the
> > following, broadly-defined classes:
> >
> > - a valency-decreasing "middle" marker / intransitivizer (usually, though
> > not necessarily a bound morpheme);
> >
> > - a reflexive, personal or logophoric pronoun;
> >
> > - a so-called reflexive intensifier, i.e. an element that functions like
> > English reflexive pronouns in appositional or adverbial position (e.g. *I
> > myself swept the ground / I swept the ground myself*).
> >
> > Below are a few examples of possible combinations of such elements (I
> have
> > harmonized the glosses used by the various authors):
> >
> > Intransitivizer + reflexive pronoun: Kuuk Thaayorre
> > [image: immagine.png]
> >
> > Intransitivizer + personal pronoun: Hmwaveke
> > [image: immagine.png]
> >
> > Intransitivizer + intensifier (attached to the (subject) nominal and
> > glossed 'SELF'): Dyirbal
> > [image: immagine.png]
> >
> > Intransitivizer + intensifier (attached to the verb): Mezquital Otomí
> > [image: immagine.png]
> >
> > (Gast & Siemund 2006: 368. The authors also give an example in which the
> > intensifier takes the longer form *sε̌hε̒ *and occurs as an unbound
> > adverb-like element.)
> >
> > Intensifier (marked ergative, in apposition to the (subject) nominal) +
> > personal/logophoric pronoun (marked absolutive) : Tsakhur
> > [image: immagine.png]
> >
> > If any of you is aware of a language in which "double marking" of
> > reflexivity is the only option, that would be especially helpful; but,
> more
> > generally, I am interested in all such constructions -- or possibly
> other,
> > comparable ones which I may be leaving out of the picture. (Please don't
> > bother signalling Germanic or Romance data like German *sich + selbst* or
> > Spanish *si + a si mismo* -- I am already taking those into account.)
> >
> > Many thanks in advance, best wishes,
> > Riccardo
> >
> > References
> > Dik, Simon C. 1983. The Status of verbal reflexives. In Liliane Tasmowski
> > & Dominique Willems (eds.), *Problems in syntax*, 231–255. New York &
> > London: Plenum Press.
> > Gaby, Alice. 2006. *A grammar of Kuuk Thaayorre.* Melbourne: University
> > of Melbourne dissertation.
> > Gast, Volker & Peter Siemund. 2006. Rethinking the relationship between
> > SELF-intensifiers and reflexives". *Linguistics* 44(2), 343-381.
> > Lyutikova, Ekaterina A. 2000. Reflexives and emphasis in Tsaxur
> > (Nakh-Dagestanian). In Z. Frajzyngier and T. Curl (eds.), *Reflexives:
> > Forms and Functions, *227-255. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
> > Moyse-Faurie, Claire. 2008. Constructions expressing middle, reflexive
> and
> > reciprocal situations in some Oceanic languages. In Ekkehard König &
> Volker
> > Gast (eds.), *Reciprocals* *and reflexives: Theoretical and typological
> > explorations*, 105–168. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
> >
> > --
> > Riccardo Giomi, Ph.D.
> > University of Liège
> > Département de langues modernes : linguistique, littérature et traduction
> > Research group *Linguistique contrastive et typologie des langues*
> > F.R.S.-FNRS Postdoctoral fellow (CR - FC 43095)
> > _______________________________________________
> > Lingtyp mailing list
> > Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
> >
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> End of Lingtyp Digest, Vol 87, Issue 13
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