[Lingtyp] query: "come here" > "hey" grammaticalization in spoken and sign language

[Chao Li]

Dear David,



Thank you for your observation of this interesting phenomenon. I believe
that Mandarin 来 lái (‘to come’ when used as a verb) is related to what you
requested. (Particularly when the speaker intends to invite the
addressee(s) to jointly participate in the action expressed by the verb in
the remaining part of the utterance), he or she, to draw the addressee(s)’
attention, may use  来 or 来来来 at the beginning of a Chinese utterance (two 来’s
in a row for this use appear to be less common; others may correct me if my
intuition is wrong here). I didn’t gloss 来 in the following examples, but
its vocative function appears to be clear.



(1)    来，再唱一遍。

         Lái,   zài       chàng   yí      biàn.

                  again    sing     one   time

‘Hey, let’s sing it one more time!’ or ‘Hey, please sing it one more time.’
(depending on the   context)



(2)    来，唱一遍给我们听听。

         Lái,   chàng   yí      biàn     gěi    wǒmen   tīngtīng.

                  sing     one     time     for    us            listen

         ‘Hey, please sing it for us.’



(3)    来来来，咱们好好看看。

         Lái lái lái, zánmen   hǎohǎo       kànkàn.

                           we          carefully    watch/examine/study

         ‘Hey, let’s examine it carefully!’



(4)    来来来，再敬你一杯!

         Lái lái lái, zài       jìng                           nǐ      yì
     bēi!

                           again   respectfully.offer     you   one   cup

         ‘Hey, another toast to you!’



Best regards,

Chao

On Sat, Aug 31, 2024 at 4:20 PM David Gil via Lingtyp <
lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
>
>
> I am interested in an apparent path of grammaticalization in which an
> expression meaning "come here" is reinterpreted as an exclamation whose
> effect seems to be to draw the interlocutor's attention to the speaker.  I
> am familiar with two such cases and would like to know if any of you happen
> to be familiar with others.
>
>
>
> The first is from Hebrew, in which *bo hena* (come.IMP.2SGM here),
> reduced to *boena*, may be used to begin an utterance, with an effect
> rather like English *hey*, as in
>
>
>
> Boena yored gešem
>
> BOENA descend.PRS.SGM rain
>
> 'Hey it's raining'
>
>
>
> The reduced nature of the form is often reflected by its orthographic
> representation as a single word: בוא הנה > בואנה.
>
>
>
> The second case is from the home sign used by a single deaf child and his
> hearing friends in Sorong, on the western tip of New Guinea.  The signers
> make use of a "come here" gesture that is widespread in many parts of the
> world, in which the hand is extended forward with the palm facing downward,
> and then makes one or more sweeping downward motions, iconically
> suggesting movement from the interlocutor to the signer.  However, in
> this usage, the same gesture is used not to mean "come here", but rather to
> attract the interlocutor's attention, as a prelude to a further signed
> message.
>
>
>
> I would appreciate any other examples you might be familiar with of
> similar paths of grammaticalization derived from "come here", in either
> spoken or signed language.  For what it's worth, Heine and Kuteva's
> (2002) *World Lexicon of Grammaticalization* provides examples of COME >
> HORTATIVE grammaticalization, which is perhaps in the same ballpark, but
> not quite the same thing.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> David
>
>
> --
>
> David Gil
>
> Senior Scientist (Associate)
> Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
> Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
> Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
>
> Email: dapiiiiit at gmail.com
> Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
> Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-082113720302
>
>
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