[Lingtyp] the favorative clitic

Thu Sep 14 11:06:13 UTC 2023

Dear Michael,

Thanks for bringing up that point, which is indeed something where we (or at least I) have been simplifying a bit.

> However, not only in the cross-linguistic study of apprehensives that followed Lichtenberk (e.g. Dobrushina 2006, work by Eva Shultze-Berndt and Marine Vuillermet), but I think also in Lichtenberk himself the category of apprehesion is far from being equated with just negative evaluation, which would be the counterpart to your definition of the approbative. In this line of research, apprehensive is often considered as grammaticalization of warning, sometimes if not often including an element of manipulative speech act (causing the addressee to avoid an undesirable situation or an undesirable consequence; hence the short-lived alternative term preventive). This is how I've been reading it.

I don’t think I would entirely agree. In line with what you said, Lichtenberk discusses these items under the term of „apprehensions epistemic“, i.e. a combination of epistemic possibility plus negative subjective evaluation of the potential state-of-affairs (together yielding the ‚risk of‘ meaning). Why I have been glossing over this dual modal analysis is because I wanted to avoid the (somewhat philosophical) question of whether the epistemic component is actually necessary as a separate meaning element, or whether the subjective evaluation („bouletic“ modality, to use that unfortunate term) entails epistemic possibility (i.e. can you evaluate what is not even considered possible?).  

As for the  subsequent works you refer to, I understood them as pointing to warnings as a type of speech acts that apprehensionals tend to surface in, but which are not a necessary prerequisite for a given element to qualify as an apprehensional. I would be very hesitant to equate these two, especially given that we are speaking about a semantic definition on the one hand, vs. usage patterns and pragmatic issues such as interlocutive force on the other hand.

Best,
Bastian

> Am 14.09.2023 um 12:52 schrieb Michael Daniel <misha.daniel at gmail.com>:
> 
> Dear Christian,
> 
> (I put this message back to the original thread in order not to spoil your concise concluding message).
> 
> I was a bit surprised when the discussion of the apprehensive came up as a potential category counterpart of the approbative (approbative, welcome!). I have a limited experience of working with apprehensives, and my intuitions are limited to the extension of this empirical domain in East Caucasian. It could be that the apprehensives in the data Ellison, Bastian and Åshild alluded to are very different. 
> 
> However, not only in the cross-linguistic study of apprehensives that followed Lichtenberk (e.g. Dobrushina 2006, work by Eva Shultze-Berndt and Marine Vuillermet), but I think also in Lichtenberk himself the category of apprehesion is far from being equated with just negative evaluation, which would be the counterpart to your definition of the approbative. In this line of research, apprehensive is often considered as grammaticalization of warning, sometimes if not often including an element of manipulative speech act (causing the addressee to avoid an undesirable situation or an undesirable consequence; hence the short-lived alternative term preventive). This is how I've been reading it.   
> 
> So, to me, the difference would be strong between the approbative with the core meaning of positive evaluation (with possible pragmatic inference to, and diachronic evolution towards contrastive uses or even, as Åshild pointed out, indeed manipulative uses 'P is good [->so do it]', as optatives may be leaning towards imperatives), on the one hand, and the apprehensive with the core meaning of warning ('there is a risk of P'). Note that apprehensive always (?) relates to future and potential situations, while the approbative does not have to belong to the irrealis domain, as example 1 from your initial message shows.
> 
> Michael
> 
> 
> ср, 13 сент. 2023 г. в 09:06, Åshild Næss <ashildn at gmail.com <mailto:ashildn at gmail.com>>:
> To continue on the apprehensive thread, it's interesting how they seem to overlap with Christian's 'favoratives' in the context of prohibition: 'Let it not be taken away (it is desirable that it is not taken away)', which is a classic context where Oceanic languages would use the apprehensive: 'Let it not be taken away (because its being taken away would be undesirable)'. For those interested, may I recommend Ellen Smith-Dennis' paper on apprehensives and prohibitives: "Don't feel obligated, lest it be undesirable: the relationship between apprehensives and prohibitives in Papapana and beyond", LingTyp 25:3 (2021). https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/lingty-2020-2070/html <https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/lingty-2020-2070/html>
> 
> Best,
> Åshild
> 
> 
> On Tue, Sep 12, 2023 at 12:46 PM Bastian Persohn <persohn.linguistics at gmail.com <mailto:persohn.linguistics at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Dear Christian,
> Adding to what Ellison said (with apprehensionals sometimes being analyzed as a combination of epistemic possibility and negative subjective evaluation of the state-of-affairs in question), I’d suggest the slightly more common label 
> 	
> desiderative
> 
> as the clitic seems to have a function (or one if its functions) somewhere in the realm of bouletic (a.k.a. boulomaic) modality/attitude in the sense of „indicates[ing]  the degree of the speaker’s (or someone else’s) liking or disliking of the state of affairs” (Nuts 2005: 12).
> 
> Nuyts, Jan. 2005. Modality: Overview and linguistic issues. In William Frawley (ed.), The expression of modality. 1–26. Berlin: de Gruyter
> 
> Hope this helps!
> 
> Best,
> Bastian
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Am 12.09.2023 um 12:03 schrieb Ellison Luk <ellisonluk at gmail.com <mailto:ellisonluk at gmail.com>>:
>> 
>> Dear Christian,
>> 
>> Functionally, this seems to be comparable to the 'apprehensional' category (found in many Australian, Austronesian, and South American languages). Instead of conveying something undesirable or regrettable, the 'favorative' seems to convey desirability or satisfaction. Apprehensional markers also often have epistemic modal functions too (uncertainty), which might also be a function of your marker, if I interpret the interrogative sentence example correctly.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Ellison
>> 
>> On Tue, 12 Sept 2023 at 11:04, Christian Lehmann <christian.lehmann at uni-erfurt.de <mailto:christian.lehmann at uni-erfurt.de>> wrote:
>> Here is a Cabecar clitic with which I have been struggling for years: The mobile enclitic pa attaches to almost any constituent in a clause S at almost any position and conveys something like 'S is/would be good/better/convenient/desirable'. The translation difference between 'is' and 'would be' depends on the mood of the verb of S.
>> 
>> With the indicative:
>>  <> I ks-á=jka=pa.
>> 
>> 3 sing-pfv=atp=fav
>> 
>>             ‘Appropriately enough, he already sang.’
>> 
>>  <> Ká yís dä jawá kú̱na̱=pa=ba.
>> 
>> neg 1.sg cop healer n.val=fav=acp
>> 
>>             ‘I am not yet a healer (as would be desirable).’
>> 
>> 
>> With the subjunctive:
>>  <>S’ kí̱s-ö́=pa bá kú̱ bë́rbë́na̱ !
>> 
>> 1.sg wait-sbj=fav 2.sg erg for.a.while
>> 
>>             ‘Please wait a moment for me !’
>> 
>> Kë́ i bak-ó̱-n-ó̱=pa !
>> 
>> neg 3 take.away-sbj-mid-sbj=fav
>> 
>>             ‘Let it not be taken away !’
>> 
>> In a subordinate clause:
>> 
>>  <>Ma̱ kú̱ jé w-ó̱=pa kí̱=ka, bá së́-r=mi̱ rä báá.
>> 
>> [2.sg erg d.med do1-sbj=fav sup=lat] 2.sg feel:non-mid(ipfv)=pot tsa nice
>> 
>>             ‘Once you would have conveniently done that, you might have felt good.’
>> 
>> In an interrogative sentence:
>> 
>>  <> … i te i sh-á=ká̱  ijé wä́=na̠ i juë́-n-á̱=pa jé=ra ...
>> 
>> 3 erg 3 say-pfv=asc [3.ps face=in 3 see2-mid=fav d.med=tmp]
>> 
>>             ‘… they added: “Does he perhaps know?” ...’ (Historia p. 8)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The subjunctive sentences would be imperatives and jussives without pa and are attenuated by it. I have never seen such a thing before; and since it is so unfamiliar, I cannot even translate it well into English. I had at first called it 'optative'. There is, however, a different particle with illocutionary force which converts a subjunctive sentence into an optative sentence ('Would that S!'), where S may or may not contain pa.
>> 
>> I don't expect anybody to come up with an analysis of pa on the basis of the above examples. My question is: Has anybody ever seen such a thing? And if so, how did you call it? I am not particularly happy with my (or rather, my coauthor Guillermo's) most recent neologism 'favorative'.
>> 
>> -- 
>> Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann
>> Rudolfstr. 4
>> 99092 Erfurt
>> Deutschland
>> 
>> Tel.:	+49/361/2113417
>> E-Post:	christianw_lehmann at arcor.de <mailto:christianw_lehmann at arcor.de>
>> Web:	https://www.christianlehmann.eu <https://www.christianlehmann.eu/>_______________________________________________
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