[Lingtyp] Emergence of word-class systems

[Zygmunt Frajzyngier]

John,
You may want to have a look at:
Frajzyngier, Zygmunt, Natalia Gurian, and Sergei Karpenko. 2021. Language formation by adults: The case of Sino-Russian idiolects. Leiden and Boston: Brill.

We talk there about emergence of verbs as a distinct class,

All best,
Zygmunt

Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Professor Emeritus
Dept. of Linguistics
University of Colorado
Boulder,
USA
    > https://www.colorado.edu/linguistics/zygmunt-frajzyngier
    >





From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of John Mansfield <jbmansfield at gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 9:24 PM
To: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] Emergence of word-class systems
Thanks already for some very useful reading recommendations on this (some via DM).

Since posting the question, I've been reminded of the extent to which word classes are inextricable from phrase structure (and morphology). So arguably the question could be reframed as where does morphosyntax come from.  I have already been recommended to read Hurford (2012) and Heine & Kuteva (2007) on this, but I'd be interested to have any other recommendations for plausible speculations about the emergence of grammar.

On Sun, 2 Apr 2023 at 08:57, John Mansfield <jbmansfield at gmail.com<mailto:jbmansfield at gmail.com>> wrote:
Can anyone point me at literature speculating on how word-class systems may have emerged in human language? That is to say, if we assume that there are or were (proto-)languages without a clear word-class system, then how might one develop?
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