Linear lengthening in Iwaidja : an event-quantifying intonation at the phonology to semantics/pragmatics interface

This paper investigates the meaning of a specific intonation contour called linear lengthening intonation (LLI), which is found in the northern Australian language Iwaidja. Using an experimental field work approach, we analysed approximately 4000 utterances. We demonstrate that the semantics of LLI is broadly event-quantificational as well as temporally scalar. LLI imposes aspectual selectional restrictions on the verbs it combines with (they must be durative, i.e., cannot describe ‘punctual’, atomic events), and requires the event description effected by said verbs to exceed a contextually determined relative scalar meaning. Iwaidja differs from other northern Australian languages with similar intonation patterns in that it does not seem to have any argument NP-related incremental or event scalar meaning. This suggests that LLI is a decidedly grammatical, language-specific device and not a purely iconic kind of expression (even though it also possibly has an iconic dimension)

Die etymologische Forschung und Lehre auf dem Gebiet des Germanischen in Deutschland am Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts

Die etymologische Erforschung des Germanischen und seiner Tochtersprachen wird vielfach als traditionelles Kerngebiet der historischen Sprachwissenschaft in Deutschland angesehen, und das aus naheliegenden Gründen. Erstens wurde die moderne Sprachwissenschaft in der Anfangszeit vor allem als historisch-vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft begriffen, in der die Etymologie naturgemäß eine Schlüsselposition einnimmt (vgl. Anttila 1989: 327), zweitens waren die Pioniere der Linguistik vornehmlich Deutsche, und drittens sind die grundlegenden Werke auf dem Gebiet der historischen Erforschung der germanischen Sprachen von deutschen Wissenschaftlern verfasst worden. Dies gilt nicht nur für die Blütezeit der junggrammatischen Ära am Ende des 19. und am Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts, sondern auch für die wichtigen etymologischen Wörterbücher, die im späten 20

The wolf in sheep's clothing: Camouflaged borrowing in Modern German

This article addresses a phenomenon of language contact that has not received much attention in mainstream contact linguistics, namely borrowing via a mechanism Zuckermann (2003) calls MULTISOURCED NEOLOGISATION. Multisourced neologisation is a subtype of Zuckermann's larger class of CAMOUFLAGED BORROWING, and constitutes a special form of calquing in which the calque is phonetically similar to the source language material: It has much in common with folk etymology and is sometimes identified with it, but there are good theoretical reasons to keep the two phenomena apart. Though German is well known for its calquing ability, the application of this special type of calquing has gone virtually unnoticed in the literature as well as in the ongoing public debate over the excessive influx of loanwords. This paper shows that multisourced neologisation is not uncommon in the integration of elements borrowed from English into German, and argues that factors favouring its use include lexical and structural congruities between both languages as well as the relatively high transparency of English to the average speaker of German. Thus, though German does not belong to the protypical language groups using multisourced neologisation that are described by Zuckermann (2003), special circumstances prompt the application of this and other methods of camouflaged borrowing

Phonological contrast and phonetic variation: The case of velars in iwaidja

2020, Linguistic Society of America. All rights reserved. A field-based ultrasound and acoustic study of Iwaidja, an endangered Australian Aboriginal language, investigates the phonetic identity of nonnasal velar consonants in intervocalic position, where past work has proposed a [+continuant] vs. [−continuant] phonemic contrast. We analyze the putative contrast within a continuous phonetic space, defined by both acoustic and articulatory parameters, and find gradient variation: from more consonantal realizations, such as [ɰ], to more vocalic realizations, such as [a]. The distribution of realizations across lexical items and speakers does not support the proposed phonemic contrast. This case illustrates how lenition that is both phonetically gradient and variable across speakers and words can give the illusion of a contextu-ally restricted phonemic contrast

Rhotic contrasts in Arabana

Arabana has a three-way rhotic phoneme contrast: /r/ (alveolar trill) vs /ɾ/ (alveolar tap) vs /ɻ/ (retroflex continuant). The rhotic contrasts are prosodically restricted in Arabana. The triple contrast only appears following the tonic vowel, which is the first vowel. In other onset positions /ɻ/ is contrastive, but there is no /r/ vs /ɾ/ contrast. There is no contrast in coda positions. We undertook the first-ever production study of Arabana rhotics. Recorded audio materials were independently coded in PRAAT by two trained transcribers. We found the following allophony: /r/ [r, ɾ, ɹ]; /ɾ/ [ɾ, ɹ], /ɻ/ [ɻ]. The /r/ vs /ɾ/ contrast is thus negatively determined, /r/ permits [r] realizations, but /ɾ/ does not. The commonest realization of both /r/ and /ɾ/ is [ɹ]. The phoneme in neutralized coda position is /r/. The high degree of overlap in realizations between /r/ and /ɾ/ accords with reported perception difficulties

Rhotic contrasts in Arabana

Arabana has a three-way rhotic phoneme contrast: /r/ (alveolar trill) vs /ɾ/ (alveolar tap) vs /ɻ/ (retroflex continuant). The rhotic contrasts are prosodically restricted in Arabana. The triple contrast only appears following the tonic vowel, which is the first vowel. In other onset positions /ɻ/ is contrastive, but there is no /r/ vs /ɾ/ contrast. There is no contrast in coda positions. We undertook the first-ever production study of Arabana rhotics. Recorded audio materials were independently coded in PRAAT by two trained transcribers. We found the following allophony: /r/ [r, ɾ, ɹ]; /ɾ/ [ɾ, ɹ], /ɻ/ [ɻ]. The /r/ vs /ɾ/ contrast is thus negatively determined, /r/ permits [r] realizations, but /ɾ/ does not. The commonest realization of both /r/ and /ɾ/ is [ɹ]. The phoneme in neutralized coda position is /r/. The high degree of overlap in realizations between /r/ and /ɾ/ accords with reported perception difficulties.This research was supported by ARC Discovery Projects Reconstructing Australia's linguistic past: Are all Australian languages related to one another? (DP140100863) and The Indigenous Grammar of Aboriginal English: implications for language contact theory (DP130103935)

Die etymologische Forschung und Lehre auf dem Gebiet des Germanischen in Deutschland am Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts

Die etymologische Erforschung des Germanischen und seiner Tochtersprachen wird vielfach als traditionelles Kerngebiet der historischen Sprachwissenschaft in Deutschland angesehen, und das aus naheliegenden Gründen. Erstens wurde die moderne Sprachwissenschaft in der Anfangszeit vor allem als historisch-vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft begriffen, in der die Etymologie naturgemäß eine Schlüsselposition einnimmt (vgl. Anttila 1989: 327), zweitens waren die Pioniere der Linguistik vornehmlich Deutsche, und drittens sind die grundlegenden Werke auf dem Gebiet der historischen Erforschung der germanischen Sprachen von deutschen Wissenschaftlern verfasst worden. Dies gilt nicht nur für die Blütezeit der junggrammatischen Ära am Ende des 19. und am Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts, sondern auch für die wichtigen etymologischen Wörterbücher, die im späten 20

On the origin of the Germanic strong verb system

Publisher's permission requested and denied.ISSN 0344-8169This paper proposes a solution for two characteristic peculiarities of Germanic, the unique systematisation and functionalisation of verbal ablaut on the one hand, and the drastic reduction of verbal categories compared to what is commonly assumed for the parent language on the other. Both phenomena are well known and described in the relevant textbooks, in which they have mostly been ascribed to some kind of internal development left largely unspecified. Despite the fact that this null hypothesis seems to have a privileged position in historical linguistics, it cannot be considered an explanation. By contrast, it is suggested in this paper that these two phenomena, namely the systematisation and functionalisation of two qualitative ablaut grades in the Germanic strong verb and the reduction of the inherited Proto-Indo-European tense system, are interrelated and that these innovative developments can be attributed to language contact: Speakers of a superstratum language with a highly systematised verbal ablaut recognised a similar feature in Pre-Germanic when they had to learn the language of the people they dominated. In this process of language shift the learners over-generalised ablaut as the subjectively most salient morphological feature and subsequently transferred the native semantic content onto the familiar structure. Due to the linguistic compatibility and the high social prestige of the forme superstratum speaker’s sociolect this structural change survived and eventually became a property of Proto-Germanic. This hypothesis is supported by research on language contact, bilingualism and language acquisition

Towards an Aspect-Based Analysis of the Verb Categories of Amurdak

This paper proposes a reanalysis of the TAM categories of Amurdak. Previous work has assumed a contrast of tense categories. It will be shown that such an analysis is inadequate, as it cannot accurately account for the data, because the morphemes representing these categories do not have the function to localize events in time. Instead, it is posited that the Amurdak verb possesses a contrast between a perfective and an imperfective aspect. This permits an accurate explanation of the data, and it is wellsupported cross-linguistically. In addition, it opens up interesting questions from the viewpoint of comparative areal and typological linguistics