[Lingtyp] Remind-Me particles across languages

Mon Mar 31 11:46:07 UTC 2025

Dear All, Dear Ljuba,

Your observation about Bulgarian makes the functions of the imperfect even
more interesting, because it is precisely only this fossilised form of one
verb (biti 'be'), at most two verbs (zvati se 'be called') that remain,
whereas the rest has been entirely replaced by the analytic past of
imperfective verbs.

With regards to the Russian examples I suppose the counterpart of *govorite
*can also be used in BCMS, but I would expect it in a different context.
I'd say in (1) and (2) from my previous email, the speaker indicates that
this information used to be part of their memory. This is not necessarily
the case in (3), where the present tense *kažeš/kažete* "you (sg/pl) say"
can be used either as a reaction to what the interlocutor has just said or
as a remind-me-particle regarding the information that was shared very
recently, e.g. during that very same conversation, and not as something
that the speaker used to know from before.

(3) *Kako  kažeš              da        se                zvao?*
     how    say.PRS.2SG COMP  REFL.ACC  be_called.IPFV.PST.M.SG
     "What do you say he was called?"

Best,
Stefan

On Mon, 31 Mar 2025 at 13:19, Timur Maisak <timur.maisak at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear all,
> in Russian, there is a cognate particle *бишь* (*biš'*), which is a bit
> archaic.
> Here's a recent paper <https://russkayarech.ru/ru/archive/2024-1/60-69>
> about its origin (from the verb 'to be'). See also
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/бишь
>
> Ian's Wiktionary link gives *govorite *'say.PRS.2PL' for Russian,
> probably what the compilers meant are constructions like the following:
> *Kak, ty govoriš', tebja zovut?* / *Kak, vy govorite, vas zovut?*
> 'What, you (sg, informal) say, is your name?' / 'What, you (pl or
> sg.formal) say, is your name (or: are your names)?'
> = 'What's your name(s) again?'
>
> One can also say
> *Kak biš' tebja zovut?*
> = 'What's your name again?'
>
> Best,
> Timur Maisak
>
> пн, 31 мар. 2025 г. в 13:51, Stefan Savić via Lingtyp <
> lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>:
>
>> Dear Ms Lecavelier,
>>
>> Interesting question. In BCMS (Bosnian-Croatian-Mobtenevrin-Serbian) an
>> element with this function is the 3SG imperfect of the verb 'be', i.e. *beše
>> *in Ekavian and *biješe *in Jekavian dialects (apologies in advance if I
>> have omitted another form from other dialects).
>>
>> It's important to note that in most dialects the analytic past (be +
>> l-participle) functions as the only general/unmarked past, whereas the
>> synthetic forms, the aorist and the imperfect, are stylistically marked and
>> exhibit a very limited use. It is not an exaggeration to say that for
>> speakers of most dialects the imperfect is not a productive part of the
>> verb paradigm (most speakers learn it only in school, many seem to be
>> unsure about the conjugation and it often gets confused with the aorist).
>> Its obsolescence may explain why in a sentence like (1) *beše* co-occurs
>> in the same sentence as another finite verb (the auxiliary that carries the
>> finiteness of *zvao se* is ellided when it co-occurs with the reflexive
>> pronoun *se*) as if it was a particle, implying it is a so-called
>> remind-me-particle rather than a finite verb.
>>
>> (1) *Kako se               beše  zvao*?
>>      how   REFL.ACC beše  be_called.IPFV.PST.M.SG
>>      "What was his name again?"
>>
>> My grandparents (born in 1920's and 1930's) who used the aorist (not the
>> imperfect) more frequently that my parents' generation used another
>> variant, which I find would be marked for speakers of my generation (born
>> in 1980's):
>>
>> (2) *Kako se               zvaše*?
>>      how   REFL.ACC be_called.IPFV.IMPF.3SG
>>      "What was her/his name again?"
>>
>> Best,
>> Stefan
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of
>> Jeanne Lecavelier des Etangs-Levallois via Lingtyp <
>> lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
>> *Sent:* Monday, March 31, 2025 11:59:59 AM
>> *To:* lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org <
>> lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
>> *Subject:* [Lingtyp] Remind-Me particles across languages
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>>   I am currently looking at Remind-Me particles (particles which express
>> that the speaker is asking for an information they used to know but
>> forgot,
>> like English "again" in "What's your name again?") across languages.
>> Specifically, I am interested in Remind-Me particles (i) which have
>> another
>> (canonical) meaning when used in other contexts, and (ii) whose
>> other/canonical meaning is not "again".
>>
>> For instance, French Remind-Me particle is "déjà" ("already"): "Comment
>> tu
>> t'appelles toi déjà ?" (literally "What's your name already?") is
>> interpreted as "What's your name again? (I forgot)".
>>
>> If you know of any such particle (which can have a Remind-Me use, and
>> which
>> does not mean "again") in your native language or the language(s) you're
>> working on, please write to me :-)
>>
>> Many thanks for your help!
>> Best,
>> Jeanne Lecavelier
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