[Lingtyp] "Double reflexive" constructions
Jess Tauber
tetrahedralpt at gmail.com
Thu Dec 9 18:13:02 UTC 2021
I've been considering whether Yahgan me:am 'self' (emphatic) is
compositional in origin. Remember that the normal detransitivizing voice
prefix on verbs is ma(m)-. Yahgan has a suffix -(w)i:a (the /w/ showing up
in only some morphophonetic environments), meaning 'to be (lying)'.
Yahgan's aspect markers are largely based on posture verbs (some apparently
still grammaticalizing even in the mid-to-late 19th century), and we have
copular verbs with basic lexical sense of stand, sit, and lie (as well as
float (one set in the water, one in the air), all in singular, dual, and
plural forms, with a number of the plurals etymologically unrelatable (at
least at first glance) to the singulars, each of which covers a different
aspectual range. -(w)i:a is used when relatively permanent states are
involved. So I'm thinking that me:am is ma(m)- plus -i:a as infix. Whether
this count as intensification I leave up the reader.
Best regards,
Jess Tauber
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On Thu, Dec 9, 2021 at 12:14 PM Riccardo Giomi <rgiomi at campus.ul.pt> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> Thank you very much for an impressive set of data and references -- with
> some touches of fun, Joseph, which is always nice :)
>
> As a follow-up to my original question, I would now like to mention that,
> as far as I can see, probably all the verbal markers used in combination
> with a pronoun or intensifier have other functions besides reflexivity
> (although I still need to check a few references, especially as regards
> some of the South American languages referred to by Josh Birchall). This
> makes sense, of course, because the function (or at least, the origin) of
> the "double reflexive" is usually that of bringing out the reflexive
> meaning unambiguously; on the other hand, it is not totally unconceivable
> that a reflexive-only affix or particle could co-occur with a pronoun or
> intensifier, although one would in principle expect such a situation to be
> relatively rare. So, my new question is: are there any constructions in
> which a marker that has reflexivity as its only attested function co-occurs
> with a pronoun or intensifier -- or, for that matter, in which a
> reflexive-only pronoun co-occurs with an intensifier?
>
> Again, many thanks in advance and best wishes to all!
> R
>
> P.S.: @Randy: since the term "middle" is used in so many different ways in
> the literature, I am not sure this is relevant to your consideration, but
> indeed there are several languages in which the intransitivizer occurring
> in "double reflexive" constructions also occurs in non-reflexive (and
> non-middle?) situations. For instance, the marker *-ki *in Mosetén is
> used for antipassive/object demotion (e.g. 'I eat-*ki*')*; *and then of
> course we have the intransitivizing prefixes of Oceanic languages, which
> have a remarkable variety of uses.
>
> Alex Francois <alex.francois.cnrs at gmail.com> escreveu no dia quinta,
> 9/12/2021 à(s) 13:05:
>
>> Dear Riccardo,
>>
>> In Mwotlap (an Oceanic language of Vanuatu), the reflexive/reciprocal is
>> usually unmarked: such interpretations are usually simply inferred from
>> the co-reference between the agent and the patient [e.g. “I saw me”].
>>
>> With a 3rd non-singular pronoun (dual, trial or plural), there is an
>> ambiguity between
>> (a) a simple transitive clause with distinct referents for agent & patient
>> (b) a reflexive interpretation
>> (c) a reciprocal interpretation
>>
>> Thus ex (1) has three interpretations:
>> 1) *Kōyō* mu-wuh mat *kōyō*.
>> 3du PFT-hit dead 3du
>> a/ “They killed them.” [2 people killed 2 other people, total 4
>> participants]
>> b/ “They killed themselves.” [2 people committing suicide]
>> c/ “They killed each other.”
>>
>> Now, Mwotlap also has a reversive ('refactive'?) postverb *lok* 'back,
>> again':
>> 2) Nok so m̄ōl *lok * l-ēm̄.
>> 1sg Prosp return REVERS Loc-house
>> “Let me go *back* home.”
>>
>> 3) Vap *lok * se!
>> say REVERS also
>> “Say it *again*!”
>>
>> If you use that reversive *lok* in a sentence like (1) above, you
>> disambiguate its meaning by ruling out interpretations (a) and (c);
>> essentially you're left with an interpretation as a reflexive:
>>
>> 4) *Kōyō* mu-wuh mat *lok* *kōyō*.
>> 3du PFT-hit dead REVERS 3du
>> ? *a/ “They killed them.” [2 people killed 2 other people, total 4
>> participants]*
>> b/ “They killed themselves.” [2 people committing suicide]
>> ? *a/ “They killed each other.” *
>>
>> This seems to be the sort of structure you were looking for.
>> ____
>> Reference: See page 372 of my dissertation:
>>
>> - François, Alexandre. 2001.
>> *Contraintes de structures et liberté dans l'organisation du
>> discours: Une description du mwotlap, langue océanienne du Vanuatu
>> <http://alex.francois.online.fr/AFpub_books_e.htm#01>*.
>> Doctoral dissertation in Linguistics, Université Paris-IV Sorbonne.
>> 1078 pp.
>>
>> best,
>> Alex
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Alex François
>> LaTTiCe <http://www.lattice.cnrs.fr/en/alexandre-francois/> — CNRS–
>> <http://www.cnrs.fr/index.html>ENS
>> <https://www.ens.fr/laboratoire/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-et-cognition-umr-8094>
>> –Sorbonne nouvelle
>> <http://www.univ-paris3.fr/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-cognition-umr-8094-3458.kjsp>
>> Australian National University
>> <https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/francois-a>
>> Personal homepage <http://alex.francois.online.fr/>
>> _________________________________________
>>
>>
>> On Wed, 8 Dec 2021 at 18:16, 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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