[Lingtyp] Lingtyp Digest, Vol 98, Issue 3

Fri Nov 4 05:15:46 UTC 2022

If we are talking about the “dropping” (again, a misnomer based on the false assumption that all of the meaning a speaker is attempting to get the hearer to create is supposed to be in the sentence somehow) of things other than the initial elements as well, then we can bring up Japanese, where whole predicates can often be "left out" because they can be understood in the context. There has also been a polarity shift in some cases like the French example where the negative predicate is not produced, but the speaker’s intention is understood as negative:
There are two loanwords from Chinese, zenzen (全然) ‘completely’ and betsuni (別に) ‘other’ that can be used alone in some contexts to mean ’nothing at all’ and ’nothing in particular’.

Randy
——
Professor Randy J. LaPolla（罗仁地), PhD FAHA 
Center for Language Sciences
Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences
Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai
A302, Muduo Building, #18 Jinfeng Road, Zhuhai City, Guangdong, China

https://randylapolla.info <https://randylapolla.info/>
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> On 4 Nov 2022, at 12:38 PM, Eitan Grossman <eitan.grossman at mail.huji.ac.il> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> We might be moving away from what David was initially interested in, but because of what Josh wrote, I wanted to share that in Yiddish, non-finite perfective motion verbs with a directional can also be omitted. I understand that this is possible in other Germanic languages, but I don't have any examples (the only ones I ever saw were in German translations of Yiddish spoken texts).
> 
> (a) er  iz arayn-gekumen in hoyz
>       he is in.DIR-come      in house
> 'He entered the house'
> 
> (b) er iz arayn in hoyz
> 'He entered the house' 
> 
> Talmy gives the example:
> 
> (c) bald vi er  iz  aroyf[getrotn[ oyf dem tretar, iz er arayn[gegangen/gekumen] in der kretschme
>      right as he is  on[stepped] on the sidewalk, is he in[gone/come] in the tavern
> 'As soon as he [stepped] onto the sidewalk, he [went/came] into the tavern.'
> 
> Eitan
> 
> 
> 
> Eitan Grossman
> Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics
> Department of Linguistics
> Hebrew University of Jerusalem
> Tel: +972 2 588 3809
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Nov 3, 2022 at 10:50 PM Joshua Birchall <jtbirchall at gmail.com <mailto:jtbirchall at gmail.com>> wrote:
> For motion events in Aikanã, an isolate language from western Brazil, the verb root ware 'go' is often not expressed if a directional morpheme is also used. This gives the impression that the person markers that are usually suffixed onto the verb root are actually prefixed to the directional, which doesn't happen in any other contexts. This seems quite similar to what Marine mentioned about negation in French in terms of pragmatics and predictability.
> 
> ware-ka-xüne-ẽ 
> go-1SG-DIR:return-DECL
> 'I am going back (home)'
> 
> Or:
> 
> ka-xüne-ẽ
> 1SG-DIR:return-DECL
> 'I am going back (home)'
> 
> Here are some more examples from a grammar sketch that is coming out in January (sorry about the formatting): 
> 
> baba   hapü-ke-muka-a-na    ka-yã-pü    ka-yã-ẽ
> father  cover-3.AG-CLF:eye-1SG.PAT-DS 1SG-DIR:hither-SS 1SG-DIR:hither-DECL 
> ‘Father covered my eyes and then I came.’
> (van der Voort and Birchall 2023:21)
> 
> ĩwã-are-na   ka-xü-pa-ne-’eyã-re-’ẽ   mama-deri    he-pü
> like.that-SYMP-DS  1SG-DIR:return-TR-PFV-2PL.PAT-FUT-IMP  mother-3.POSS  say-SS
> ‘“How unfortunate, let me bring you back!”’ his mother said (to the girls).’ 
> (van der Voort and Birchall 2023:30)
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Josh
> 
> 
> Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2022 12:57:59 +0000 (UTC)
> From: MARINE vuillermet <marinevui at yahoo.fr <mailto:marinevui at yahoo.fr>>
> To: "lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org <mailto:lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>"
>         <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org <mailto:lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>>
> Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] Lingtyp Digest, Vol 98, Issue 3
> Message-ID: <1297005634.5547111.1667480279341 at mail.yahoo.com <mailto:1297005634.5547111.1667480279341 at mail.yahoo.com>>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> French speakers very systematically use t'inqui?te! (REC-worry) 'do? worry' to actually mean ne t'inqui?te pas (NEG REC-worry-NEG) 'don't worry'. Here the entire negation is ellipsed, and I see it as a confirmation of it being a very pragmatic phenomenon where very predictable elements can be left unspoken without leading to confusion.
> Best,
> Marine
> 
> Marine VuillermetPostdoctoral fellow 
> -----
> University of Z?rich
>  Department of Comparative LinguisticsOut Of Asia: Linguistic Diversity and Population History
> 
> "Humans and flies diverged from a common ancestor about 600 million years ago." (Baum & Smith 2013:5)
> 
> 
> 
> 
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