Cover not available
Article published In:
Diachronica
Vol. 31:3 (2014) ► pp.379–406

Complex coordination in diachrony

Two Sogeram case studies

| University of California, Santa Barbara

This paper presents two innovations in the clause chaining system of the Sogeram languages of Papua New Guinea. In the first, chain-final morphology was reanalyzed as chain-medial morphology with different-subject switch reference meaning. In the second, common collocations of two verbs in a clause chain were reanalyzed as constituting a single compound verb stem. Previously, scholars held that increased structural integration of clauses necessarily results in structural asymmetry (that is, subordination), but the Sogeram data show that this need not always be the case. The cross-linguistic impulse towards increased integration is realized in both innovations, but the impulse towards asymmetry is only realized in the first. This paper thus argues that with coordinate source constructions such as these clause chains, one clause may become subordinate to the other, but the clauses may also retain their coordinate relationship as they become more integrated.

Keywords: complex coordination, clause chaining, Sogeram, grammaticalization, reconstruction, switch reference, Trans New Guinea, Madang
Published online: 14 November 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.31.3.03dan
References
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y
2009 Semantics and grammar in clause linking. In R.M.W. Dixon & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (eds.), The semantics of clause linking: A cross-linguistic typology, 380–402. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Appiah Amfo, Nana Aba
2010 Noun phrase conjunction in Akan: The grammaticalization path. Pragmatics 201. 27–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arcodia, Giorgio Francesco
2012 Constructions and headedness in derivation and compounding. Morphology 22(3). 365–397. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bauer, Laurie
1990 Be-heading the word. Journal of Linguistics 26(1). 1–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bradshaw, Joel
1982 Word order change in Papua New Guinea Austronesian languages. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i dissertation.Google Scholar
Braunmüller, Kurt
1991 Die skandinavischen Sprachen im Überblick. Tübingen: Francke.Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan
2006 From usage to grammar: The mind’s response to repetition. Language 82(4). 711–733. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Comrie, Bernard
1983 Switch reference in Huichol: A typological study. In John Haiman & Pamela Munro (eds.), Switch reference and universal grammar, 17–37. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Crowley, Terry
2002 Serial verbs in Oceanic: A descriptive typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Daniels, Don
2010a A preliminary phonological history of the Sogeram languages of Papua New Guinea. Oceanic Linguistics 49(1). 163–193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010b On the position of Manat within the Sogeram family. Paper presented at the Australian National University Department of Linguistics Seminar Series, Canberra, Australia, September 10.
2013 Proto-Sogeram serial verbs. Paper presented at the Workshop on the Languages of Melanesia 2013, Kioloa, Australia, May 25.
DeLancey, Scott
1991 The origins of verb serialization in Modern Tibetan. Studies in Language 15(1). 1–23. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Donohue, Mark
2005 Configurationality in the languages of New Guinea. Australian Journal of Linguistics 25(2). 181–218. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Foley, William A
2000 The languages of New Guinea. Annual Review of Anthropology 291. 357–404. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 Clause linkage and nexus in Papuan languages. In Isabelle Bril (ed.), Clause linking and clause hierarchy: Syntax and pragmatics, 27–50. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Franklin, Karl J
1971 A grammar of Kewa. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy
1983 Topic continuity in discourse: The functional domain of switch reference. In John Haiman & Pamela Munro (eds.), Switch reference and universal grammar, 51–82. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haiman, John
1980 Hua: A language of the Eastern New Guinea Highlands. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1983 On some origins of switch reference marking. In John Haiman & Pamela Munro (eds.), Switch reference and universal grammar, 105–128. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1987 On some origins of medial verb morphology in Papuan languages. Studies in Language 11(2). 347–364. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haiman, John & Pamela Munro
1983 Introduction. In John Haiman & Pamela Munro (eds.), Switch reference and universal grammar, ix–xv. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harris, Alice C. & Lyle Campbell
1995 Historical syntax in cross-linguistic perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harris, Kyle
1990 Nend grammar essentials. In John R. Roberts (ed.), Two grammatical studies (Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages 37), 73–156. Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea: Summer Institute of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Manuscript. Nend texts. Electronic files, Pioneer Bible Translators.
Heine, Bernd
1993 Auxiliaries: Cognitive forces and grammaticalization. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hopper, Paul J. & Elizabeth Closs Traugott
2003 Grammaticalization, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ingram, Andrew
2001 Anamuxra: A language of Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. Sydney: University of Sydney dissertation.Google Scholar
Keine, Stefan
2013 Deconstructing switch reference. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 31(3). 767–826. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Klinken, Catharina van
2000 From verb to coordinator in Tetun. Oceanic Linguistics 39(2). 350–363. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mithun, Marianne
1988 The grammaticization of coordination. In John Haiman & Sandra A. Thompson (eds.), Clause combining in grammar and discourse, 331–359. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moyse-Faurie, Claire & John Lynch
2004 Coordination in Oceanic languages and Proto Oceanic. In Martin Haspelmath (ed.), Coordinating constructions (Typological Studies in Language 58), 445–497. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ohori, Toshio
1994 Diachrony of clause linkage: TE and BA in Old through Middle Japanese. In William Pagliuca (ed.), Perspectives on grammaticalization, 135–149. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oosten, Jeanne van
1986 Sitting, standing and lying in Dutch: A cognitive approach to the distribution of the verbs zitten , staan , and liggen . In Jeanne van Oosten & Johan P. Snapper (eds.), Dutch linguistics at Berkeley, 137–160. Berkeley: Dutch Studies Program, University of California at Berkeley.Google Scholar
Pawley, Andrew
1987 Encoding events in Kalam and English: Different logics for reporting experience. In Russell S. Tomlin (ed.), Coherence and grounding in discourse: Outcome of a symposium, Eugene, Oregon, June 1984 (Typological Studies in Language 11), 329–360. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2005 The chequered career of the Trans New Guinea hypothesis: Recent research and its implications. In Andrew Pawley, Robert Attenborough, Jack Golson & Robin Hide (eds.), Papuan pasts: Cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples, 67–107. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2006 Madang languages. In Keith Brown (ed.), Encyclopedia of language and linguistics, 2nd edn, vol. 71, 429–432. Boston: Elsevier. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reesink, Ger
1983 Switch reference and topicality hierarchies. Studies in Language 7(2). 215–246. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1987 Structures and their functions in Usan: A Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. (Studies in Language Companion Series 13). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roberts, John
1987 Amele. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Roberts, John R
1988a Switch-reference in Papuan languages: A syntactic or extrasyntactic device? Australian Journal of Linguistics 81. 75–117. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1988b Amele switch-reference and the theory of grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 19(1). 45–63.Google Scholar
1997 Switch-reference in Papua New Guinea: A preliminary survey. In Andrew Pawley (ed.), Papers in Papuan linguistics No. 3 (Pacific Linguistics A–87), 101–241. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Ross, Malcolm
2005 Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages. In Andrew Pawley, Robert Attenborough, Jack Golson & Robin Hide (eds.), Papuan pasts: Cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples, 15–65. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Vries, Lourens de
1997 The rise of switch-reference in the Awyu languages of Irian Jaya. In Jadranka Gvozdanović (ed.), Language change and functional explanations (Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs 98), 89–108. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2005 Towards a typology of tail–head linkage in Papuan languages. Studies in Language 29(2). 363–384. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 From clause conjoining to clause chaining in Dumut languages of New Guinea. Studies in Language 34(2). 327–349. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wade, Martha
1997 Switch reference and control in Apalɨ. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 28(1). 1–16.Google Scholar
Manuscript a. A survey of the grammatical structures and semantic functions of the Apalɨ (Emerum) language. Pioneer Bible Translators.
Manuscript b. Apalɨ texts. Electronic files, Pioneer Bible Translators.
Z’graggen, John A
1971 Classificatory and typological studies in languages of the Madang District (Pacific Linguistics C–19). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
1975 The Madang-Adelbert Range subphylum. In Stephen A. Wurm (ed.), Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene (Pacific Linguistics C–38), 569–612. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

Daniels, Don
2020. The history of tense and aspect in the Sogeram family. Journal of Historical Linguistics 10:2 ► pp. 167 ff. DOI logo
Daniels, Don
2021. The issue of arbitrariness in syntactic reconstruction. Folia Linguistica 55:s42-s2 ► pp. 393 ff. DOI logo
Daniels, Don
2022. The history of tense and aspect in the Sogeram family. In Development of Tense and Aspect Systems [Benjamins Current Topics, 123], ► pp. 21 ff. DOI logo
Daniels, Don, Danielle Barth & Wolfgang Barth
2019. Subgrouping the Sogeram languages. Journal of Historical Linguistics 9:1 ► pp. 92 ff. DOI logo
Gildea, Spike & Jóhanna Barðdal
2022. From grammaticalization to Diachronic Construction Grammar. Studies in Language DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 september 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.