[Lingtyp] Workshop proposal for the upcoming ALT Conference in Zhuhai: Understudied aspects of phasal polarity

Sun Nov 12 17:30:09 UTC 2023

Dear colleagues,

We are planning to submit a workshop proposal on phasal polarity for the ALT conference which will be held in Zhuhai/online on 8-10 November, 2024. The purpose of the workshop is to enhance research on phasal polarity focusing on the lesser studied aspects of this onomasiolocal domain, see more detailed description below. If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please send your name and affiliation to ljuba at ling.su.se<mailto:ljuba at ling.su.se> and anastasia.b.panova at gmail.com<mailto:anastasia.b.panova at gmail.com> by November 18, 2023.

Best regards,

Ljuba Veselinova

Anastasia Panova

Bastian Persohn

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Understudied aspects of phasal polarity

The onomasiological domain of phasal polarity (PhP), i.e. a system of concepts ALREADY, STILL, NOT YET and NO LONGER, first came to the attention of typologists in the late 1990s (van der Auwera 1998; van Baar 1997). After a gap of about 20 years, we now observe a renewed interest in this topic. Recent works have studied phasal polarity systems or their sub-parts in a broad typological perspective (e.g. Dahl & Wälchli 2016 on ALREADY), in an areal context (e.g. Kramer (ed.) 2021 on PhP in African languages), in particular language groups or families (e.g. Veselinova & Devos 2021 on NOT YET in Bantu, Veselinova et al. Forth. on PhP in Malayo-Polynesian), not to mention papers describing PhP expressions in individual languages (e.g. Zahran & Ström 2022, Fischer et al. 2023). Situated at the intersection of polarity, aspect and, in many instances, other functional domains (see below), studying phasal polarity from a cross-linguistic perspective allows many insights into how human language construes meaning and how different semantic domains relate to each other diachronically.

Probably the biggest gap in the literature on PhP is the typology of NO LONGER expressions. Although studies describing PhP systems include information on the encoding of NO LONGER, no systematic investigation of the diversity of NO LONGER expressions, comparable to studies of ALREADY (Dahl & Wälchli 2016), NOT YET (Veselinova 2015, 2017) and STILL (Panova Forth.; Persohn Forth. [a]), has been conducted so far. Additionally, since NO LONGER expressions are often based on expressions denoting AGAIN (van Baar 1997), it is important to consider the discussion of the same phenomenon in the literature on AGAIN expressions (Stoynova 2013: 221-223), which is often overlooked in works focusing on the internal structure of PhP systems (such as Kramer 2018).

Speaking of relationships between PhP expressions, it has been shown that in some contexts, e.g. with less-than-finite predicates or in the absence of an overt predicate, STILL expressions can mean NOT YET without negation marking (Veselinova & Devos 2021; Veselinova et al. Forthcoming; Persohn Forth. [b]). Another interesting context is combinations with temporal phrases where STILL and ALREADY expressions can acquire similar, although not identical meanings ‘even at a time as far removed as’ and ‘even at a time as early as’ respectively (e.g. Boguslavsky 1996, Persohn forth. [a]), cf. the Russian sentence Èta problema suščestvovala eščё[STILL]/uže[ALREADY] dva goda nazad ‘This problem existed at a time as far removed as/as early as two years ago’. These examples suggest that PhP expressions in general may exhibit peculiar behavior when modifying elements other than finite verbal predicates. Besides, diachronic data from Slavic languages highlight the fact that one and the same lexical item can be polysemous with the senses STILL and ALREADY for extended periods of time. Further research is needed to explore how the syntactic and actional properties of the head constituent impact the semantics of PhP expressions.

As regards the co-lexification of PhP and non-PhP meanings, it has not only become a subject of research (cf. Mazzitelli 2022 on non-phasal functions of ALREADY expressions in Austronesian, Veselinova et al. Forth., Persohn Forth. [a] on the multifunctionality of STILL expressions), but has also led to theoretical discussions on the interpretation of expressions that share several functions. For example, Olsson (2013) and Krajinović et al. (2023) present different views on whether a special 'iamitive' category should be postulated for expressions combining the meanings of ALREADY and (English) perfect. Furthermore, multifunctional STILL expressions are sometimes referred to as not 'true' or not 'dedicated', but there seem to be no commonly accepted criteria determining what exactly a 'true' or 'dedicated' PhP expression is supposed to be (cf. the use of these terms in Guérois 2021, Kießling 2021 and Mitchell 2021).

In terms of areal coverage, the existing literature on PhP is strongly biased towards the languages of Europe, Africa and Papunesia, while, for example, PhP systems in the languages of the Americas seem to be described rather poorly, especially from a typological perspective. In addition, cross-linguistic studies of the entire PhP domain require a more balanced and representative expansion of the current empirical database.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together work on understudied aspects of PhP such as, but not limited to, those described above. We particularly welcome abstracts that consider PhP expressions in lesser-studied languages and from the indigenous languages of the American continents.

References

Boguslavsky, Igor. 1996. Sfera dejstvija leksičeskix edinic [The scope of lexical items]. Moscow: Škola “Jazyki russkoj kul’tury”.

Dahl, Östen & Wälchli, Bernhard. 2016. Perfects and iamitives: two gram types in one grammatical space. Letras De Hoje 51(3). 325–348.

Fischer, Jens G., Bastian Persohn &  Veronika Ritt-Benmimoun. 2023. Phasal polarity in Tunisian Arabic. Studies in Language.

Guérois, Rozenn. 2021. The expression of phasal polarity in Cuwabo (Bantu P34, Mozambique). In Kramer, Raija (ed.), The Expression of Phasal Polarity in African Languages. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 161-198.

Kießling, Roland. 2021. Phasal polarity in Isu – and beyond. In Kramer, Raija (ed.), The Expression of Phasal Polarity in African Languages. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 199-214.

Krajinović, Ana, Jozina Vander Klok & Kilu von Prince. 2023. When (not) to establish a new category: The case of perfect, 'already', and iamitives. Unpublished manuscript.

Kramer, Raija. 2018. Position paper on phasal polarity expressions. Unpublished manuscript. Hamburg: Hamburg University.

Kramer, Raija (ed.). 2021. The Expression of Phasal Polarity in African Languages. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.

Mazzitelli, Lidia Federica. 2022. Non-aspectual functions of iamitive markers in Austronesian languages. Paper presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea. University of Bucharest, 24 August 2022.

Mitchell, Alice. 2021. Phasal polarity in Barabaiga and Gisamjanga Datooga (Nilotic): Interactions with tense, aspect, and participant expectation. In Kramer, Raija (ed.), The Expression of Phasal Polarity in African Languages. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 419-442.

Olson, Bruno. 2013. Iamitives. Perfects in Southeast Asia and Beyond. Stockholm: MA Thesis. Stockholms universitet.

Panova, Anastasia. Forthcoming. Towards a typology of continuative expressions. Accepted for publication in Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads.

Persohn, Bastian. Forthcoming [a]. The polyfunctionality of 'still' expressions. An exploration. Berlin: Language Science Press.

Persohn, Bastian. Forthcoming [b]. When ‘still’ means ‘not yet'. Accepted for publication in STUF – Language typology and Universals.

Stoynova, Natalia M. 2013. Pokazateli refactiva [‘Again’-markers]. Moscow: AST-Press.

van Baar, Theodorus Martinus. 1997. Phasal Polarity. University of Amsterdam. (Doctoral dissertation.)

van der Auwera, Johan. 1998. Phasal adverbials in the languages of Europe. In van der Auwera, Johan (ed.), Adverbial Constructions in the Languages of Europe, 25–145. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton.

Veselinova, Ljuba. 2015. Not-yet expressions in the languages of the world: a special negator or a separate cross-linguistic category? Paper presented at Diversity Linguistics: Retrospect and Prospect. Leipzig, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 1-3 May 2015.

Veselinova, Ljuba. 2017. Expectations shaping grammar: searching for the link between tense-aspect and negation. In SLE 2017 Book of Abstracts, 246-247.

Veselinova, Ljuba & Maud Devos. 2021. NOT YET expressions as a lexico-grammatical category in Bantu languages. In Raija Kramer (ed.), Expression of Phasal Polarity in African Languages, 445–498. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

Veselinova, Ljuba & Asplund, Leif & Vander Klok, Jozina. Forthcoming. Phasal polarity in Malayo-Polynesian languages of South East Asia. In Adelaar, Alexander & Schapper, Antoinette (eds.), The Oxford Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian Languages of South East Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Zahran, Aron & Bloom Ström, Eva-Marie. 2022. Against expectations – the rise of adverbs in Swahili phasal polarity. Studies in African Linguistics 51 (2). 295–323.

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Ljuba Veselinova, Professor
Dept of Linguistics, Stockholm University, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46-8-16-2332 Fax: +46-8-15 5389
URL  : https://www.ling.su.se/ljuba.veselinova<http://www.ling.su.se/ljuba.veselinova>

"We learn by going where we want to go."
                                          Julia Cameron
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