[Lingtyp] Grammaticalization of 1SG verb forms

[Kofi Yakpo]

Dear Aigul,

I could think of Krio (Sierra Leone) and some other African-Caribbean
English-lexifier Creoles where *lɛ́* (with a high tone), a fossilized form
of English *let's* is used as a deontic/subjunctive mood complementizer in
insubordinate main clauses throughout the person paradigm as well as in
subordinate clauses of deontic main verbs:

Insubordination:
1. lɛ́ à gó náw [deon 1sg.sbj go now] 'I should go now'
2. lɛ́ è gó náw [ deon 3sg.sbj go now] 'S/he should go now'
3. lɛ́ wì gó náw [deon 1pl.sbj go now] 'Let's go now'
4. lɛ́ dɛ̀n gó náw [deon 3pl.sbj go now] 'Let them go now'

Subordination:
5. à tɛ́l àm sé lɛ́ è gó [1sg.sbj tell quot 3sg.obj deon 3sg.sbj go]
'I told him/her to go'
6. à wɔ́nt lɛ́ è gó [1sg.sbj want deon 3sg.sbj go] 'I want him/her to go'
etc.

Best,
Kofi
————
Dr Kofi Yakpo • Associate Professor
Chair of Linguistics <http://www.linguistics.hku.hk/> • University of Hong
Kong <http://arts.hku.hk/>
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Just published:
Creole prosodic systems are areal, not simple
<https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.690593>
Social entrenchment influences the amount of areal borrowing
<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13670069211019126>
Unidirectional multilingual convergence
<https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069211019126>
Two types of language contact involving English Creoles
<https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/english-today/article/abs/two-types-of-language-contact-involving-english-creoles/DD2FC19B55E041440F3BFC5235234968>





On Fri, Nov 12, 2021 at 9:20 AM Aigul Zakirova <aigul.n.zakirova at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
> I am wondering whether you know of any languages in which a finite 1SG
> verb form (e.g. non-past) is also used in modal contexts (e.g. optative or
> deontic) with subjects which are not 1SG. I am asking because I came across
> such a use in languages I work on, Meadow Mari and Hill Mari (Uralic).
>
> In the examples below a non-past 1SG form is combined with *əl’e*, a form
> of the verb 'to be', to yield an optative reading. In other types of
> optative utterances əl’e is also used, so  əl’e is not very interesting;
> what interests me is the use of the non-past 1SG form.
>
> Meadow Mari
> erla jür lij-am əl’-e!
> tomorrow rain become-NPST.1SG be-AOR.3SG
> ‘If only it rained tomorrow!’
>
> Meadow Mari
> maksim erla tol-am əl’-e
> Maksim tomorrow arrive-NPST.1SG be-AOR.3SG
> ‘If only Maksim (person's name) arrived tomorrow!’
>
> To put it more broadly, if you have encountered cases where a certain
> "petrified" person-number verb form is used in atypical contexts which are
> distant from the original form's meaning, I am also interested in such
> cases. What comes to my mind is
> -formal coincidence or resemblance between indicative and imperative 2PL
> forms
> -use of imperatives in Russian to convey abruptness (А он как побеги!) or
> in conditional / concessive clauses (Сделай он это, все было бы по-другому)
> But maybe there is something else on the matter?
>
> Best,
> Aigul Zakirova
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