Cross-linguistic variation in grammaticalization processes and areal patterns of grammaticalization
Final Report Abstract
Grammaticalization is a branch of diachronic linguistics which studies the change of lexical items which develop into grammatical morphemes. A classical example is the development of full verbs with the meaning of ‘want, desire’ (source concept) into future markers (target concept). Even though there is extensive research on grammaticalization (cf. The Oxford Handbook of Grammaticalization, Narrog & Heine 2011), there is relatively little research on how to quantify it in a cross-linguistically comparative way. A prominent exception is the work of Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca (1994) on "The Evolution of Grammar". While this work was interested in detecting paths of grammaticalization as the one from ‘want’ to ‘future marker’, the present project was focusing on the following two research questions: 1) To what extent is there a parallelism in the evolution of grammatical markers between changes in meaning to more abstract grammatical concepts and changes on the form side (e.g., phonetic reduction of the linguistic sign). This question is known under the term of "meaning/form coevolution". 2) To what extent is grammaticalization a cross-linguistically homogeneous phenomenon, i.e., to what extent are processes of grammaticalization universal? Methods: Since data on grammaticalization are not readily available from the consultation of grammars or from conducting fieldwork, the project cooperated with 29 world-leading specialists with extensive synchronic and diachronic expertise on languages from Africa, Eurasia, Southeast Asia & Oceania, Australia & New Guinea, North America and South America as well as on Pidgin & Creole languages. As a result, it collected some 1,000 paths of grammaticalization. For checking research questions (i) and (ii), the project developed a unified method of measuring grammaticalization on its way from source to target. Given extensive typological differences between languages, finding adequate criteria was a difficult and time-consuming task which resulted in a questionnaire with eight parameters, each of them with four values (1, 2, 3, 4 with increasing grammaticalization). The parameters was based on Lehmann (1995) with some changes plus the parameters of Decategorization and Allomorphy. Each path was analyzed for the eight parameter values of its target and for the question of whether there was a change in value from source to target [+] or not [–]. Results: The project clearly is a pilot project which showed that it is possible to establish a detailed method for statistically quantifying and comparing processes of grammaticalization cross-linguistically. It produced the following main results: On 1): The idea of the "meaning/form coevolution" is clearly too coarse-grained. The parameter of change in meaning, i.e., Semantic Integrity, only covaries with Syntagmatic Variability (freedom of word order) and Paradigmaticity. Form-related parameters like Phonetic Reduction, Bondedness and Allomorphy covary only very weakly with meaning change. Findings like these are completely new in research on grammaticalization. On 2): There are clear indicators of areal variation, e.g. between Africa and Eurasia. For more details, more data will be needed. The database will be submitted to "Cross Linguistic Linked Data" (CLLD).
Publications
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2016. Linguistic change in grammar. In: K. Allan (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Linguistics, 366–384. Oxford: Routledge
Bisang, W.
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2017. Grammaticalization. Oxford Research Encyclopedia, Linguistics
Bisang, W.
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2017. Unity and Diversity in Grammaticalization Scenarios. Studies in Diversity Linguistics, 16. 2017, 328 S., Berlin: Language Science Press
Bisang, W. & Malchukov, A. (eds.)
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2018. Gramaticalización y variación tipológica. In: A. Regúnaga; S. Spinelli & M. E. Orden, (eds.), IV Encuentro de Lenguas Indígenas Americanas (ELIA), 77–111. Santa Rosa: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de La Pampa
Bisang, W.
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2018. Grammaticalization in isolating languages and the notion of complexity. In: H. Narrog & B. Heine (eds.), Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, 219–234. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Ansaldo, U.; Bisang, W. & Szeto, P-Y.
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2019. The grammatical-lexical distinction in Chinese aspectual markers. Studies in Language 43 (3), 688-714
Sun, L. & Boye, K.
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2020. Grammaticalization Changes in Chinese. In: W. Bisang & A. Malchukov (eds.). Grammaticalization Scenarios: Cross-linguistic Variation and Universal Tendencies, Volume 1: Grammaticalization Scenarios from Europe and Asia, 609–658. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter
Sun, L. & Bisang, W.
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2020. Grammaticalization in Chinese—a cross-linguistic perspective. In: Xing, J. (ed.), A Typological Approach to Grammaticalization and Lexicalization: East Meets West, 17–54. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter
Bisang, W.
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2020. Grammaticalization in Ewen (North-Tungusic) in a comparative perspective. In: W. Bisang & A. Malchukov (eds.), Grammaticalization Scenarios: Cross-linguistic Variation and Universal Tendencies, Volume 1: Grammaticalization Scenarios from Europe and Asia, 399–432. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter
Malchukov, A.
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2020. Grammaticalization Scenarios: Cross-Linguistic Variation and Universal Tendencies. Volume 1: Grammaticalization Scenarios from Europe and Asia; Volume 2: Grammaticalization Scenarios from Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. (1.146 pages) [Comparative Handbooks of Linguistics]
Bisang, W. & Malchukov, A. (eds.)
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2020. Measuring grammatical status in Chinese through quantitative corpus analysis. Corpora 15 (3), 317–342
Sun, L. & Correia Saavedra, D.
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2020. Measuring grammaticalization. A questionnaire. In: W. Bisang & A. Malchukov (eds.). Grammaticalization Scenarios: Cross-Linguistic Variation and Universal Tendencies, Vol. 1, 89–103. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter
Bisang, W.; Malchukov, A.; Rieder, I. & Sun, L.
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2020. Position paper: Universal and areal patterns in grammaticalization. In: W. Bisang & A. Malchukov (eds.). Grammaticalization Scenarios: Cross-Linguistic Variation and Universal Tendencies, Vol. 1, 1– 87. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Bisang, W. & Malchukov, A. and the Mainz Grammaticalization Project team (I. Rieder, L. Sun, M. Martiny, S. Lüll)
