Inheritance, calquing, or independent innovation? Reconstructing morphological complexity in Amazonian numerals

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5820104
AutoresP Epps (0000-0002-7429-7885, autor de correspondencia)
Año2013
Volumen6
Número2
Páginas329-357
Fecha de publicación2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Language Contact (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1955-2629 • E-ISSN: 1877-4091
EditorialBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/19552629-00602007
OpenAlexW2012662933
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas16

The reconstruction of morphologically complex forms offers familiar problems. As illustrated by textbook examples like Bloomfield's seemingly reconstructable anachronism-Algonquian 'fire-water' for 'whisky'-the existence of corresponding complex forms across related languages can alternatively be attributed to calquing or parallel independent innovation. This paper considers the problem of accounting for the history of complex forms in the context of the northwest Amazon, where lexical borrowing is actively resisted but calquing is rampant. Where complex forms are widely shared across related and unrelated languages, is there any hope of identifying their source, or establishing their relative age in particular groups of languages? I focus in particular on numeral terms, which reveal considerable complexity among northwest Amazonian languages. I evaluate the challenges encountered in gauging the time-depth and reconstructability of morphologically complex forms, and the criteria-comparative, typological, and geographical-that must be brought to bear in weighing more or less probable histories of complex forms

Anachronism · Inheritance · Numeral system · Categorization, perception, and language · Language and cultural evolution · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation