Title: Loanword Typology: Verbal Borrowings
1Loanword Typology Verbal Borrowings
- Jan WOHLGEMUTH
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary
Anthropology, Leipzig
2The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Basic goal contribute to improving the
methodology for testing hypotheses about
historical relatedness between languages
3The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Basic goal contribute to improving the
methodology for testing hypotheses about
historical relatedness between languages - Means systematic studies of attested diachronic
changes in languages worldwide ? typology of
language change
4The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Basic goal contribute to improving the
methodology for testing hypotheses about
historical relatedness between languages - Means systematic studies of attested diachronic
changes in languages worldwide ? typology of
language change - Paths of change
- Rates of change
- Degree of stability of grammatical and lexical
items - Effects of language contact
5The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
6The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Two projects in Leipzig
- Handbook of Sound Change (Juliette Blevins)
7The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Two projects in Leipzig
- Handbook of Sound Change (Juliette Blevins)
- Handbook of Lexical Borrowing (Martin Haspelmath
Uri Tadmor)
8The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Handbook of Lexical Borrowing (Martin Haspelmath
Uri Tadmor) - Basic questions
- What kinds of borrowings are common, what kinds
are unusual? Under what circumstances? - What is the direction of borrowing?
9The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Degree of lexical borrowability
- Which word meanings are likely to be borrowed,
and which are likely to resist borrowing?
10The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Degree of lexical borrowability
- Which word meanings are likely to be borrowed,
and which are likely to resist borrowing? - Thomason Kaufman (1988 77)
- With a minimum of cultural pressure we expect
only lexical borrowing, and then only nonbasic
vocabulary.
11The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Degree of lexical borrowability
- Which word meanings are likely to be borrowed,
and which are likely to resist borrowing? - Thomason Kaufman (1988 77)
- With a minimum of cultural pressure we expect
only lexical borrowing, and then only nonbasic
vocabulary. - Borrowing of basic vocabulary starts with (3) on
the borrowing scale
12The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Degree of lexical borrowability
- Which word meanings are likely to be borrowed,
and which are likely to resist borrowing? - Thomason Kaufman (1988 77)
- With a minimum of cultural pressure we expect
only lexical borrowing, and then only nonbasic
vocabulary. - Borrowing of basic vocabulary starts with (3) on
the borrowing scale - (1) Casual contact (2) slightly more intensive
contact - (3) more intense contact (4) strong cultural
pressure - (5) very strong cultural pressure
13The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Degree of lexical borrowability
- basic vocabulary intentionally left undefined
by Thomason Kaufman.
14The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Degree of lexical borrowability
- basic vocabulary intentionally left undefined
by Thomason Kaufman. - Often defined as the list of basic words by
Swadesh.
15The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Degree of lexical borrowability
- basic vocabulary intentionally left undefined
by Thomason Kaufman. - Often defined as the list of basic words by
Swadesh. - Swadeshs list is based on intuitions, not on any
systematic research.
16The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Degree of lexical borrowability
- basic vocabulary intentionally left undefined
by Thomason Kaufman. - Often defined as the list of basic words by
Swadesh. - Swadeshs list is based on intuitions, not on any
systematic research. - ? Lexical borrowability needs to be studied
empirically in a systematic fashion using a
world-wide sample of languages,
17The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Implementation
- Study based on a fixed list of lexical meanings.
18The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Implementation
- Study based on a fixed list of lexical meanings.
- An adapted version of the 1300-word list of the
Intercontinental Dictionaries Series (IDS), based
on Buck 1949.
19The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Implementation
- Study based on a fixed list of lexical meanings.
- An adapted version of the 1300-word list of the
Intercontinental Dictionaries Series (IDS), based
on Buck 1949. - Comparison across a wide range of languages.
- Over 30 languages from all continents, each
covered by one contributor, who will create a
data set and a discussion chapter
20The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Implementation
- Study based on a fixed list of lexical meanings.
- An adapted version of the 1300-word list of the
Intercontinental Dictionaries Series (IDS), based
on Buck 1949. - Comparison across a wide range of languages.
- Over 30 languages from all continents, each
covered by one contributor, who will create a
data set and a discussion chapter e.g.
Christopher Schmidt Japanese
21The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Implementation
- Study based on a fixed list of lexical meanings.
- An adapted version of the 1300-word list of the
Intercontinental Dictionaries Series (IDS), based
on Buck 1949. - Comparison across a wide range of languages.
- Over 30 languages from all continents, each
covered by one contributor, who will create a
data set and a discussion chapter e.g.
Christopher Schmidt Japanese - Each data set will identify each word as borrowed
or not borrowed, giving the source language if
applicable.
22The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Planned results
- For each lexical meaning, the cross-linguistic
percentage of loanwords will be established. The
ranking yields a list from the most resistant to
the most borrowable of the ca. 1300 meanings.
23The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Planned results
- For each lexical meaning, the cross-linguistic
percentage of loanwords will be established. The
ranking yields a list from the most resistant to
the most borrowable of the ca. 1300 meanings. - If the sample is representative, this ranking may
indicate a structural universal of borrowing.
24The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Planned results
- For each lexical meaning, the cross-linguistic
percentage of loanwords will be established. The
ranking yields a list from the most resistant to
the most borrowable of the ca. 1300 meanings. - If the sample is representative, this ranking may
indicate a structural universal of borrowing. - Influence of degree of contact as well as
structural properties of the recipient languages
on the types of word borrowed can be tested for.
25The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Planned results (contd)
- Further generalizations from the literature can
be tested, e.g.
26The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Planned results (contd)
- Further generalizations from the literature can
be tested, e.g. - The most frequent lexical items are more
resistant to being replaced by a borrowing than
the rarer items.
27The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Planned results (contd)
- Further generalizations from the literature can
be tested, e.g. - The most frequent lexical items are more
resistant to being replaced by a borrowing than
the rarer items. - Content words are more easily borrowed than
function words.
28The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Planned results (contd)
- Further generalizations from the literature can
be tested, e.g. - The most frequent lexical items are more
resistant to being replaced by a borrowing than
the rarer items. - Content words are more easily borrowed than
function words. - Different parts of speech show different
susceptibility to borrowing (e.g. verbs are more
resistant to b.)
29The Leipzig Loanword Typology Project
- Planned results (contd)
- Further generalizations from the literature can
be tested, e.g. - The most frequent lexical items are more
resistant to being replaced by a borrowing than
the rarer items. - Content words are more easily borrowed than
function words. - Different parts of speech show different
susceptibility to borrowing (e.g. verbs are more
resistant to b.) - ... to what extent?
30Verbal borrowings
31Verbal borrowings
- Objective
- A typology of verbal borrowing patterns
32Verbal borrowings
- Objective
- A typology of verbal borrowing patterns
- A typology of social, grammatical and lexical
parameters affecting the borrowability of verbs
33Verbal borrowings
34Verbal borrowings
- The database
- FilemakerPro 7 database
35Verbal borrowings
- The database
- FilemakerPro 7 database
- Currently gt 120 examples from gt 50 language
pairs goal at least 200 different language
pairs from all continents
36Verbal borrowings
- The database
- FilemakerPro 7 database
- Currently gt 120 examples from gt 50 language
pairs goal at least 200 different language
pairs from all continents - Incorporating typological and other
meta-information for all languages involved
37Verbal borrowings
- The database
- FilemakerPro 7 database
- Currently gt 120 examples from gt 50 language
pairs goal at least 200 different language
pairs from all continents - Incorporating typological and other
meta-information for all languages involved - Including information on the productivity of
borrowing patterns
38Verbal borrowings
- The database
- FilemakerPro 7 database
- Currently gt 120 examples from gt 50 language
pairs goal at least 200 different language
pairs from all continents - Incorporating typological and other
meta-information for all languages involved - Including information on the productivity of
borrowing patterns - Including information on contact situations
39Verbal borrowings
- Metadata collected
- Contact situation and estimated date of borrowing
40Verbal borrowings
- Metadata collected
- Contact situation and estimated date of borrowing
- Attitude of recipient language speakers towards
borrowings
41Verbal borrowings
- Metadata collected
- Contact situation and estimated date of borrowing
- Attitude of recipient language speakers towards
borrowings - Productivity and frequency of loan verb
adaptation pattern(s) in the recipient language
42Verbal borrowings
- Metadata collected
- Contact situation and estimated date of borrowing
- Attitude of recipient language speakers towards
borrowings - Productivity and frequency of loan verb
adaptation pattern(s) in the recipient language - Lexical status of the borrowing (insertion,
replacement, synonym)
43Verbal borrowings
- Metadata collected
- Contact situation and estimated date of borrowing
- Attitude of recipient language speakers towards
borrowings - Productivity and frequency of loan verb
adaptation pattern(s) in the recipient language - Lexical status of the borrowing (insertion,
replacement, synonym) - Reliability / accuracy of the information
44Verbal borrowings
- Metadata collected (contd)
- Typological information on both languages (data
from the WALS database)
45Verbal borrowings
- Metadata collected (contd)
- Typological information on both languages (data
from the WALS database) - Geographical location of donor and recipient
language (from the WALS database)
46Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
47Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- Direct insertion (no morphological adaptation)
48Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- Direct insertion (no morphological adaptation)
- Indirect insertion (adaptation by affixation etc.)
49Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- Direct insertion (no morphological adaptation)
- Indirect insertion (adaptation by affixation
etc.) - Light verb strategy
50Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- Direct insertion (no morphological adaptation)
- Indirect insertion (adaptation by affixation
etc.) - Light verb strategy
- Paradigm insertion (borrowing of verb
inflection)
51Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- Direct insertion (no morphological adaptation)
- Indirect insertion (adaptation by affixation
etc.) - Light verb strategy
- Paradigm insertion (borrowing of verb
inflection) - Other (e.g. calques)
52Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- 1.1 Direct insertion of root or infinitive-like
stem - Ket lt Russian
- dasitaru?av?t
- da-sitat-u-k-a-bet
- 3SG.F.S-read-3.N.O-ABL-DUR-ACT
- she reads it
- lt ?????? to read
- (Vajda Werner)
53Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- 1.2 Direct insertion of inflected form
- Tasawaq lt Touareg (Air)
- gháy yÃlmà q
- I swim.PFT
- I swam
- lt i-lmäq 3m.PFT of ëlmëq to swim
- (Wichmann 2004 a,b)
54Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- 1.3 Direct insertion across word-class
- Tasawaq lt Touareg (Air)
- ghá b-tásrìg
- I IPF-sneeze
- I am sneezing
- lt tusrak sneezing
- (Wichmann 2004 a,b)
55Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- 2.1 Affixation with a verbalizer
- Yakut lt Russian
- ??????? ??????????? ????, ????? ?????????.
- Armiya-GA suluspa-LA-A die-An, uonna
kel-BAtA?-(t)A. - army-DAT/LOC service-VR-CVB say-CVB and
come-PSTPTCP.NEG-POSS.3SG - He (went off) to serve in the army and didn't
return. - lt ?????? service
- (Brigitte Pakendorf, p.c.)
56Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- 2.2 Affixation with a causative/factitive
- English lt Jakarta Indonesian
- downloadin
- download-in
- download-FACT
- to download
- lt download
- (elicited data)
57Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- 2.3 Affixation with a special borrowing affix
- Meyah lt Indonesian
- diebebelajar
- di-ebe-belajar
- 1SG-LW-learn
- I'm learning
- lt belajar to learn
- (Gravelle)
58Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- 3.1 Light verb do, make
- Modern Greek lt English (USA)
- ???e? retire
- kani retire
- do.3SG retire
- (s)he retires
- lt retire
- (Moravcsik 2003) of migrants in the USA
59Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- 3.x Other light verb
- Carib lt Guianese French Creole
- pentiré poko man
- paint busy.with 3SG.cop
- he is painting
- lt pentiré to paint
- (Renault-Lescure)
60Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- 4.1 Borrowing of verb plus inflectional paradigm
- Romani lt Turkish
- and o sxoljo ka siklos te okursun ta te jazarsun
- and o sxoljo ka sikl-os te okur-sun ta te
jazar-sun - in ART school FUT learn-2 COMP read-2 and COMP
write-2 - in the school you will learn how to read and
write - lt okurmak to read yazmak to write
- (Bakker)
61Verbal borrowings
- Loan verb embedding patterns
- 5.1 Loan translation
- Ket lt Russian
- dÃri?ú?av?t
- d-iri?-u-k-a-bet
- 3SG.M.S-sign-3.N.O-ABL-DUR-ACT
- he signs it
- lt Ket iri? pattern, design, writing
- (Vajda Werner)
62Verbal borrowings
63Verbal borrowings
- Findings so far
- Most languages have more than one loan verb
adaptation pattern
64Verbal borrowings
- Findings so far
- Most languages have more than one loan verb
adaptation pattern. - Different patterns used for the same pair of
languages can be an indicator for the date of the
particular borrowings. (e.g. in Finnish lt Swedish
or Nahuatl lt Spanish).
65Verbal borrowings
- Findings so far
- Most languages have more than one loan verb
adaptation pattern. - Different patterns used for the same pair of
languages can be an indicator for the date of the
particular borrowings. (e.g. in Finnish lt Swedish
or Nahuatl lt Spanish). - In these language pairs, the adaptation patterns
seem to become less complex over long times of
contact.
66Verbal borrowings
- Findings so far
- Most languages have more than one loan verb
adaptation pattern. - Different patterns used for the same pair of
languages can be an indicator for the date of the
particular borrowings. (e.g. in Finnish lt Swedish
or Nahuatl lt Spanish). - In these language pairs, the adaptation patterns
seem to become less complex over long times of
contact. - ? If this is a general pattern, it can be a
useful key to a languages contact history.
67Verbal borrowings
- Findings so far (2)
- Some languages (e.g. Hup) where speakers claim
they keep their language pure did not borrow
anything apart from a few verbs that usually get
heavily affixed with native morphemes.
68Verbal borrowings
- Findings so far (2)
- Some languages (e.g. Hup) where speakers claim
they keep their language pure did not borrow
anything apart from a few verbs that usually get
heavily affixed with native morphemes. - This contradicts the generalization that verbs
are less likely to be borrowed than other parts
of speech it also challenges the explanation
that verbs are less easily to be borrowed because
of the morphology involved.
69Verbal borrowings
- Example contribution form
- http//loanverb.linguist.de/loanverb.html
- If you have examples of verbal borrowings in
whatever pair of languages, please share them
with me!!
70Acknowledgements
- Examples and findings used here were partly
contributed by - Edward Vajda (Western Washington U)
- Brigitte Pakendorf (MPI EVA)
- Patience Epps (U Virginia / MPI EVA)
- Søren Wichmann (MPI EVA)
- Funding
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der
Wissenschaften e.V. - via Max-Planck-Institute für evolutionäre
Anthropologie, Leipzig
71Keep on verbing
- Further Information
- http//loanverb.linguist.de/
- http//email.eva.mpg.de/wohlgemu/
- Contact
- wohlgemuth_at_eva.mpg.de