Transitivity pairs, markedness, and diachronic stability

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3989702
AutoresBernard Comrie (0000-0003-0487-7005, Max Planck Society, autor de correspondencia)
Año2006
Volumen44
Número2
Fecha de publicación2006-01-20
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLinguistics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X
EditorialWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ling.2006.011
OpenAlexW2042812177
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas15
Referencias citadas1

Utilizing the classification of formal relations in causative–inchoative verb pairs developed by Haspelmath (1993), this article examines two further ramifications. First, the 30 verbs in his list are divided into two groups of fifteen, one where cross linguistically a causative pairing is most likely and the other where the anti causative pairing is most likely. Individual languages are then tested to see whether their verbs conform to this ordering, with overall very positive results. Second, the diachronic stability of languages with predominance of one or other of the individual types within the classification, in particular of the causative and anti causative types, is examined, with some results suggesting stability at least over millennia. Thus, Classical Arabic and Maltese have very similar profiles, even down to individual lexical concepts (even where the two languages have noncognate lexical items). Uralic languages, despite their close proximity to Indo-European languages with predominance of the anticausative type, still show predominance either of the causative type (Finnish, Udmurt), or of the equipollent type (Hungarian), the latter perhaps reflecting a compromise between the putative predominance of the causative type in Proto-Uralic and contact with Indo-European

Biology · Causative · Combinatorics · Linguistics · Maltese · Markedness · Transitive relation · Type (biology) · Verb · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Linguistics and language evolution · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation