Similative and Equative Constructions

A cross-linguistic perspective

Editors

Yvonne Treis

Martine Vanhove

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027206985 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027265975 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

While comparative constructions have been extensively studied in the past decades, the expression of equality and similarity has so far attracted little attention in the typological literature. The fifteen contributions assembled in this volume study similative and equative constructions in typologically and genetically distant languages, albeit with a focus on Africa, and from a range of perspectives. Purely synchronically oriented case studies are supplemented by contributions that also shed light on the diachronic development of similative and equative constructions in language contact situations. Sources of similative morphemes and lexically expressed concepts of likeness are examined, and little-known multifunctionality patterns and grammaticalisation targets of similative morphemes – such as purpose clause markers, modality morphemes and markers of glottonyms – are discussed. Based on a sample of 119 languages worldwide, a new typology of equative constructions is proposed. The book should be of interest to typologists, semanticists, specialists of grammaticalization, historical linguistics and syntax.

[Typological Studies in Language, 117] 2017. vi, 437 pp.

Publishing status: Available
Published online on 8 June 2017

https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.117

Table of Contents

Introduction

Yvonne Treis and Martine Vanhove | pp. 1–6

Part I. Typology and grammaticalisation

Chapter 1. Equative constructions in world-wide perspective

Martin Haspelmath and The Leipzig Equative Constructions Team | pp. 9–32

Chapter 2. Toward a cognitive typology of like-expressions

Wolfgang Schulze | pp. 33–78

Denis Creissels | pp. 79–90

Chapter 4. Similative morphemes as purpose clause markers in Ethiopia and beyond

Yvonne Treis | pp. 91–142

Chapter 5. The deictic identification of similarity

Ekkehard König | pp. 143–164

Part II. Case studies from around the world

Chapter 6. Comparison, similarity and simulation in Zaar, a Chadic language of Nigeria

Bernard Caron | pp. 167–188

Chapter 7. Similative, equative, and comparative constructions in Beja (North-Cushitic)

Martine Vanhove | pp. 189–212

Chapter 8. Expressing comparison in Gbaya, a Ubangian language of the Central African Republic

Paulette Roulon-Doko | pp. 213–238

Chapter 9. Expressing similarity in Yulu and other Sara-Bongo-Bagirmi languages (Central Africa)

Pascal Boyeldieu | pp. 239–258

Jussi Ylikoski | pp. 259–290

Chapter 11. Comparative, similative, and equative constructions in Mon: Form, function, and development

Mathias Jenny | pp. 291–320

Chapter 12. Multifunctionality and polysemy of the similative marker =kán in Pesh

Claudine Chamoreau | pp. 321–338

Part III. Similative constructions and language contact: The Ethiopian Language Area

Chapter 13. Similative morphemes and their grammaticalisations in Yemsa

Silvia Zaugg-Coretti | pp. 341–358

Chapter 14. The morpheme ‑(ä)ŋä in Xamtanga: Functions and grammaticalisation targets

Chloé Darmon | pp. 359–386

Joachim Crass | pp. 387–418

Cited by (15)

Cited by 15 other publications

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2024. Diachronic evolution of the subordinator kak in Russian. Linguistics 62:3 ► pp. 691 ff.

Wiemer, Björn

2024. Polish jakoby: an exotic similative-reportive doughnut? Tracing the pathway and conditions of its rise. Linguistics 62:3 ► pp. 729 ff.

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2024. Equative-approximative markers in the Finno-Ugric languages: Interaction with quantitative scales and the development of ambiguity. Voprosy Jazykoznanija :4

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2023. Degree Morphology. In The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Morphology, ► pp. 1 ff.

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2022. Degree Equative Constructions in English. Lanaguage Research 58:1 ► pp. 31 ff.

Kim, Mija

2022. Degree Equative Constructions in English. Lanaguage Research 58:1 ► pp. 31 ff.

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2022. DISTRIBUTION OF COMPLEMENTIZERS IN THE URMI VARIETIES OF URMIYA. Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology :2(36) ► pp. 22 ff.

Hohaus, Vera & Malte Zimmermann

2021. Comparisons of Equality With Germanso…wie, and the Relationship Between Degrees and Properties. Journal of Semantics 38:1 ► pp. 95 ff.

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2021. POLYSEMY PATTERNS OF THE SIMILATIVE SUFFIX -LA IN HILL MARI. Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology :4(34) ► pp. 88 ff.

Hohaus, Vera & M. Ryan Bochnak

2020. The Grammar of Degree: Gradability Across Languages. Annual Review of Linguistics 6:1 ► pp. 235 ff.

Chamoreau, Claudine & Yvonne Treis

2019. Comparaisons d’égalité et de similitude : comme du pareil au même. Faits de Langues 50:1 ► pp. 9 ff.

Kuteva, Tania, Bernd Heine, Bo Hong, Haiping Long, Heiko Narrog & Seongha Rhee

2019. World Lexicon of Grammaticalization,

Taine-Cheikh, Catherine

2019. L’expression de la comparaison d’égalitéet de la similitude en arabe ḥassāniyya : Points de vue typologique et diachronique. Faits de Langues 50:1 ► pp. 45 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 september 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.

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