Edited by Claudine Chamoreau and Zarina Estrada-Fernández
[Typological Studies in Language 113] 2016
► pp. 271–296
The mechanisms via which subordinate clauses arise are relatively well explored, involving two major diachronic pathways (Givón 2009): first, via clause-chaining constructions, as in many Niger-Congo, Papua-New Guinea, Southeast Asian, Athabaskan, or Southern Arawak languages; and second, via nominalization, as in Turkic, Bodic/Tibetan, Cariban, or Northern Uto-Aztecan languages. In many of the latter, erstwhile nominalized subordinate clauses later undergo re-finitization, and the question then arises: by what diachronic mechanism do nominalized clauses eventually revert to finite structure? I have suggested earlier (Givón 2000) that in Ute (Northern Uto-Aztecan), the mechanism may involve the gradual re-acquisition of finite-features such as tense-aspect, but the details of this proposal were never documented. Three other mechanisms seem to suggest themselves. First, in some Bodic/Tibetan languages (Watters 1998) a new generation of finite subordinate clauses emerges, co-exists with, and slowly supplants the older nominalized clauses. Second, in Cariban, Northern Uto-Aztecan, Indo-European, Bantu and many other languages, subordinate clauses, in particular V-complements, are de-subordinated through tense-aspect genesis and other grammaticalization processes, and their nominalized structure then becomes the new finite mainclause standard (Evans 2007, Gildea, 1998, Givón 1971). Finally, in some Northern Uto-Aztecan languages (Guarijio, Tarahumara), the re-finitization mechanism seem to involve a slow elimination of nominalized features, such as e.g. genitive subjects, or re-interpretation of their function. This paper lays the background for a more fine-grained investigation of the diachrony of re-finitization.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 april 2024. 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.