[Lingtyp] from connector to focus marker

Mon Feb 20 16:18:20 UTC 2023

Dear Mohammad,

In Nakh-Daghestanian languages, the position of some grammatical markers
(auxiliaries, person markers, pragmatic markers etc.) often depends on the
information structure: as a rule, this is being described as the position
after the focused constituent (often, encliticized to the focused
constituent). In particular, quotative markers in some languages can be
placed this way. Although their "default" position is on the right edge
of quotes (1), they can be also found earlier in the quote, presumably
after the constituent in focus (2). Examples below are from Bagvalal (<
Avar-Andic) grammar by Kibrik et al. (2001).

(1) “χːeχː mašina b-aχːa b-ah-a=ʁala,
quickly car N-away N-take-IMP=QUOT
pojist b-ā-ɬā-χ ek’ʷa=ʁala”.
train N-come-IPFV-CONV COP=QUOT
(The woman started to cry:) 'Quickly take you car away from here, the train
is coming!'

(2) o-ru-r b-as’ĩ, “hindi=ʁala ɬ-ō-ba?”
that-OBL.HPL-ERG N-ask.AOR where=QUOT go.IPFV-PTCP-HPL
'They asked: Where are you going?'

Thus, if we treat quotative markers as a kind of subordinators, (2) above
illustrates a "shift" in the position of the subordinator. (If I understand
your reference to "shifting" correctly.)

Kibrik, Aleksandr E., Konstantin I. Kazenin, Ekaterina A. Ljutikova &
Sergej G. Tatevosov (eds.). 2001. Bagvalinskij jazyk. Grammatika. Teksty.
Slovari [Bagvalal: Grammar. Texts. Dictionaries.] Moscow: Nasledie.

Best,
Timur Maisak

пн, 20 февр. 2023 г. в 12:59, mohammad rasekh <mrasekhmahand at yahoo.com>:

> Dear Jurgen, Dear All,
> Thank you for your comments and the sources. Actually, 'ke' in Persian is
> used in cleft constructions and it seems the grammatcalization path is from
> subordinator > focus marker. However, I don't know the related functions,
> e.g. rhetorical question marker, mirativity marker and indifference marker
> are related to this development, if they are.
>
> And, it has not been clitic in the history of this language, but in
> marking adverbial clauses, it appears in different positions (not clause
> finally).
>
> Thank you all again.
> Mohammad
>
> Mohammad Rasekh-Mahand
> Linguistics Department,
> Bu-Ali Sina University,
> Hamedan, Iran.
> Postal Code: 6517838695
> https://basu.academia.edu/MohammadRasekhmahand
>
>
> On Sunday, February 19, 2023 at 05:22:40 AM GMT+3:30, Juergen Bohnemeyer <
> jb77 at buffalo.edu> wrote:
>
>
> Dear Mohammad – The following may be obvious to you. In which case, please
> ignore it.
>
>
>
> There are two reasonably well-established grammaticalization pathways
> between connectives (and complementizers in particular) and focus markers
> (that I’m aware of). Both involve clefts. Clefts may involve a
> complementizer/subordinator in the subordinate clause, which is often a
> relative clause or RC-like construction. And clefts may of course
> grammaticalize into clause-internal focus constructions (or may be
> misanalyzed as such). You will find examples in Heine & Kuteva (2002).
> Perhaps the earliest widely cited treatment of this nexus is Schachter
> (1973).
>
>
>
> The second route also involves clefts, but in this case, the connection to
> complementizers is an indirect one: demonstratives are a common
> grammaticalization source of both copulas and complementizers, and copulas
> in turn may find their way into clefts, which may again grammaticalize into
> clause-internal focus constructions (etc.).  Again, you’ll find examples in
> Heine & Kuteva (2002).
>
>
>
> Best – Juergen
>
>
>
> Heine, B. & T. Kuteva. (2002). World lexicon of grammaticalization.
> Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
>
> Schachter, P. (1973). Focus and relativization. Language 49: 19–46.
>
>
>
>
>
> Juergen Bohnemeyer (He/Him)
> Professor, Department of Linguistics
> University at Buffalo
>
> Office: 642 Baldy Hall, UB North Campus
> Mailing address: 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260
> Phone: (716) 645 0127
> Fax: (716) 645 3825
> Email: jb77 at buffalo.edu
> Web: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/
>
> Office hours Tu/Th 3:30-4:30pm in 642 Baldy or via Zoom (Meeting ID 585
> 520 2411; Passcode Hoorheh)
>
> There’s A Crack In Everything - That’s How The Light Gets In
> (Leonard Cohen)
>
> --
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of
> mohammad rasekh <mrasekhmahand at yahoo.com>
> *Date: *Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 5:06 AM
> *To: *LINGTYP LINGTYP <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> *Subject: *[Lingtyp] from connector to focus marker
>
> Dear All,
>
> There is a particle in Persian (Iranian language) which has multiple
> functions. This particle is ‘ke’, literally meaning ‘that’. Broadly, it has
> two general/main functions: a)connector (connecting complement, relative
> and adverbial clauses), b) marking some parts of information structure
> (focus, rhetorical question, mirativity, indifference, etc.). Concerning
> this particle, I have two questions:
>
> First, is there any evidence in other languages in which a particle moves
> from subordinator to information structure marker? If there is, I
> appreciate providing me with the sources.
>
> Second, the position of ‘ke’ as adverbial clause marker is not fixed. It
> may appear clause initially, but it moves to different parts of the
> adverbial clause (not the final position). Actually it ‘shifts’. Is there
> any evidence in other languages for this ‘subordinator shift’?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Mohammad Rasekh-Mahand
>
>
>
>
>
> Mohammad Rasekh-Mahand
>
> Linguistics Department,
>
> Bu-Ali Sina University,
>
> Hamedan, Iran.
>
> Postal Code: 6517838695
>
> https://basu.academia.edu/MohammadRasekhmahand
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