[Lingtyp] languages where 'able, can' and 'until, up to' are polysemous/homophonous

Tue Jan 5 17:36:37 UTC 2021

Yahgan (genetic isolate, Tierra del Fuego) has proclitic we: (colon stands
for tenseness of preceding vowel) for 'can, will, should, must, etc.', and
suffix -u:pai  for 'towards' (also limit 'up to, in the direction of'
etc.). I don't know of a temporal usage here, but I don't think it's
impossible. It IS possible (but I hadn't considered it until reading your
post) that we: and -u:pai are actually partially cognate (there was an
alternation between /w/ and /p/ in the language before the period of
European contact, based on internal reconstruction).

On the other hand there is a negative question word da:rara 'why/how/did
(etc.) not?', while suffix -da:ra means 'through, during, while, whilst'
(mostly temporally) with verbs, but 'all, every' with nouns.

Jess Tauber

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On Tue, Jan 5, 2021 at 9:23 AM Timur Maisak <timur.maisak at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Ellen,
> another common source for both meanings can be "arrive at, reach": the
> World Lexicon of Grammaticalization by Kuteva et al. (2019: 63-64) contains
> two relevant grammaticalization paths, namely
> *arrive* (‘arrive at’, ‘reach’) > (2) *pi-possibility (Ability)* - with
> examples from Koranko, Mandarin Chinese
> and
> *arrive *(‘arrive at’, ‘reach’) > (4) *until (temporal)* - with examples
> from Sinitic languages, also Khmer, Zande, Bulu, Kikuyu, Tswana
>
> Best,
> Timur Maisak
>
> вт, 5 янв. 2021 г. в 15:53, David Gil <gil at shh.mpg.de>:
>
>>
>> Dear Ellen.
>>
>>
>> A possible diachronic case of what you're looking for is provided by the
>> biconsonantal Semitic root morpheme *k-l*.
>>
>>
>>
>> Appended below is a passage from an encyclopaedia article on quantifiers
>> about the realizations and functions of *k-l* in Hebrew.  Among these
>> functions you can find 'be able to' and 'ability'.  As for 'until', you
>> can express that periphrastically by means of the *k-l-y* root meaning
>> 'finish', though it's not the most common way of expressing that meaning.
>>
>>
>>
>> So Hebrew gives you the coexpression you're looking for, with the
>> provisos that the relationship between the two is indirect, being
>> mediated by several additional functions, and also synchronically opaque,
>> reflecting word-formation processes  some of which may date back to
>> proto-Semitic or even earlier.
>>
>>
>> Speculating, the range of functions of Semitic *k-l *might be consistent
>> with paths of grammaticalization somewhat like the following, which, in
>> conjunction, would yield can/until coexpression:
>>
>>
>> HAVE MASTERY OVER > FINISH > UNTIL
>>
>> HAVE MASTERY OVER > CAN
>>
>>
>>
>> *****
>>
>>
>>
>> "Consider, for example, the Modern Hebrew universal quantifier *kol*
>> 'all'.  Synchronically it is clearly monomorphemic; however, in its
>> diachronic origins, it reflects an ancient biconsonantal root morpheme
>> *k-l*.  Such roots form the basis of much of the Afroasiatic lexicon;
>> however, in the Semitic family, the biconsonantal roots are often expanded
>> into tri-consonantal ones, by the addition of a third root consonant.  Resulting
>> from this historical process, and also from the synchronic processes of
>> word formation in Modern Hebrew, is a large family of words, all containing
>> reflexes of the original root *k-l *morpheme, and all connected via a
>> semantic network based on the related concepts of ability, containment,
>> consumption, exhaustiveness, and the like.  Some members of this family
>> include verbal forms such as *yaxal* 'be able to' (from root *y-k-l*);
>> *axal* 'eat', *ʔikel* 'consume' (*ʔ-k-l*); *ʕikel* 'digest' (*ʕ-k-l*);
>> *kala* 'end', 'cease to exist'; *kila* 'finish', 'exterminate' (*k-l-y*);
>> *kala* 'imprison' (*k-l-ʔ*); *kal* 'measure', *hexil* 'contain' (*k-w-l*);
>> *kiyel* 'calibrate' (*k-y-l*); *kalal* 'include', *hixlil* 'generalize',
>> *šixlel* 'improve' (*k-l-l*); and *kilkel* 'support', 'provide for' (
>> *k-l-k-l*); and also related nominal forms such as *oxel* 'food'; *kli*
>> 'utensil'; *kila* 'bed curtain'; *meyxal* 'container'; *heyxal*
>> 'palace'; *mixlala* 'college'; *makolet* 'grocery store'; *kele* 'jail';
>> *klal* 'rule'; *kilayon* 'extermination'; *yexolet* 'ability'; *kalkala*
>> 'economy' and many others.  (Note that in many of the above examples, *k*
>> is reflected by its allophone *x*.)"
>>
>>
>>
>> Gil, David (2001) "Quantifiers", in M. Haspelmath, E. König, W.
>> Oesterreicher and W. Raible eds., *Language Typology and Linguistic
>> Universals, An International Handbook*, Volume 2, Walter de Gruyter,
>> Berlin, 1275-1294.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 05/01/2021 14:11, Smith-Dennis, Ellen wrote:
>>
>> Happy New Year all!
>>
>> Could you help?
>>
>> I'm looking for languages where the word for 'able, can' is
>> polysemous/homophonous with 'until, up to, for (X amount of time)'. This is
>> the case in Papapana (Austronesian, Papua New Guinea) and Tok Pisin
>> (pidgin/creole, PNG) so I'm especially (but not only!) interested in
>> languages of the Pacific region.
>>
>> Many thanks in advance,
>> Ellen
>> E.Smith-Dennis at warwick.ac.uk
>>
>> *Dr. Ellen Smith-Dennis, FHEA*
>> Assistant Professor
>> Widening Participation/Schools Liaison Officer
>> Centre for Applied Linguistics, The University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4
>> 7AL
>> Email: E.Smith-Dennis at warwick.ac.uk OR E.L.Smith at uon.edu.au
>> Tel: (+44) (0)24 76 575912 (internal: 75912)
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Lingtyp mailing listLingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.orghttp://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
>>
>> --
>> David Gil
>>
>> Senior Scientist (Associate)
>> 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
>> Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-556825895
>> Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81344082091
>>
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