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Linguistic concepts and categories in language description and comparison

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Christian Lehmann at University of Erfurt
Christian Lehmann
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Abstract

The question of whether two phenomena should be subsumed under the same concept is a frequent conceptual problem in linguistics and particularly relevant in typology. Questions such as whether a certain Turkish case can be called a dative if the Latin dative is are typical of the general methodological problem of comparative concepts. Recent approaches have tended to play down the relationship of comparative to descriptive categories, as if these belonged to unrelated fields. Quite on the contrary, a fruitful relationship between comparative and descriptive linguistics presupposes that they use the same conceptual framework. This requires that the relation between a language-specific category and a corresponding comparative category be made explicit. This task has often proved elusive. Its solution presupposes the following steps: • many linguistic concepts are prototypical rather than categorical concepts • descriptive and comparative concepts are in a hierarchy of increasing generality and abstractness • grammatical categories of individual languages are “hybrid” semiotic categories, while comparative categories may be purely formal, purely semantic or hybrid. These principles are illustrated by concepts in the vicinity of numeral classification.
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CLIPP
Christiani Lehmanni inedita, publicanda, publicata
titulus
Linguistic concepts and categories
in language description and comparison
huius textus situs retis mundialis
http://www.christianlehmann.eu/publ/lehmann_
ling_concepts_categories.pdf
dies manuscripti postremum modificati
05.07.2018
occasio orationis habitae
Typology, acquisition, grammaticalization studies.
Convegno internazionale per festeggiare il trentennio di vita
del Dottorato in Linguistica di Pavia. Pavia, 14 – 15 october,
2016
volumen publicationem continens
Chini, Marina & Cuzzolin, Pierluigi (eds.), Typology,
acquisition, grammaticalization studies. Milano: Franco
Angeli (Materiali Linguistici)
annus publicationis
2018
paginae
27-50
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#!
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C&
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;*= #          )  ,
   " 
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)6!!
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!
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.!
,
!
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+3-3!
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2#!
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  , + ! ! 

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9H"
. K -     
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 
 
  
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        !! 
        
+   ! !     !
B!!":
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" 
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!""!
/!
!
#
!!
.!<5*!
          

((%;
=!&;.*1(1I'J$2K?=

(*.;*1(1IJ$2@K=%!
   & ! !    

(5 -;(@@?=!
 K
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#,
)
/!
%&;.*1(1I'J=!;
0!,S=
;ATU *11@$5@5=
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O89!897
 ! +  
!!
,!
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6;>
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 !
;=
,"!
!  "  : 5   "       
,7 #
  ;.*1(1I'J!<2= !!
"!
!,7,7!
!,7
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,"<*(!
!!(D
,7
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"*1(B!<DD
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                    .!      )  
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,
                    
3*18,!
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!     !    
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O!
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
= /0';!I/'J=
= ';!=
= /'!
;=
;?= #! ;= /0
;/0\=!
" -
" -.,
#  \ / ;/!/"=   89  !$%
89/ $89  "$ 89 4  &! 89
'89; &!'"$=

(*58Z"
\9-E E! ! 4''   
 - *  5!    !   4'' 
'!$(%
( ]"9[
8;)=9
*  ]"9[
89
 9[
89
5  ]"^"9^
89
 ^"9^
89
)898;=9!!
;/'=?D 8Z/'\9
/'!/0
O"!!
'!/'>!
2!
?  ]"_Y
89
 _9
89
 (K
D  ]"9
89
 9
89
2 ]"[
89
$\/#$(%
)8989
      

" -
#   ' ;'! ' =  *+,-./ 89  &'
89/*/-.+,89*01,894234564789
'8 89;234534,79*+,-./:9234534,7
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!(K(5O
(K(*
 (@
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#8989/89
8948989
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\9!!
'
'!
(B 
89
(@  
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 
"89!89!!!
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!*5'!/'
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 
**  "
 "
*5 
899899
(B*5;=
)
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[$
= 7!
3

= 3
'5B
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O!
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5BH!
+!!
4"!3!
"!"!
!!'
 *1
3O!
!"#!
#
!
!
# 


 !! #!
"
!
+
    !     

,
,
3!
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... En réalité, la question de savoir si les catégories linguistiques sont spécifiques aux langues individuelles ou universelles fait l'objet d'un long débat qui concerne surtout les linguistes comparatistes et les typologues (cf. Haspelmath, 2010 ;Lehmann, 2018). ...
... Chomsky, 1965), mais il a également été adopté par des linguistes d'orientation fonctionnaliste, tels que Payne Le deuxième groupe d'auteurs rejettent l'idée que les catégories linguistiques sont des entités interlinguistiques (par ex. Joos, 1957 ;Dryer, 1997 ;Croft, 2000Croft, , 2001Lazard, 2006 ;Haspelmath, 2007Haspelmath, , 2010Haspelmath, , 2012Cristofaro, 2009 ;Lehmann, 2018). Ils argumentent au contraire que ce sont des entités spécifiques à la langue. ...
Des catégories sous pression : le gérondif et le participe présent du latin tardif à l’ancien français
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2023
This paper empirically investigates the evolution of the gerund and the present participle in Late Latin, and examines on the basis of this investigation the impact of their morphological merging in Old French on their categorial distinction. The results confirm the standard hypothesis of the evolution in Late Latin, but only partly: they support a specialisation of the gerund in adverbial syntax, but not of the present participle in adjectival syntax. Thus, the gerund shows signs of converbalisation, while the present participle does not undergo a process of participialisation. Like the gerund, the present participle has mostly adverbial syntax, and is as such more converb than participle-like. This similarity between the gerund and the present participle in Late Latin makes that their morphological merging in Old French raises a major issue for their categorial distinction. A considerable number of all Old French ant forms are categorially indeterminate, i.e. not categorisable as gerunds or present participles. This finding leads to the conclusion that the morphological merging of the gerund and the present participle in Old French causes these two forms to merge also on a categorial level. The label proposed for this blend is « -ant form ».
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On the comparability of prosodic categories: why ‘stress’ is difficult
Article
  • Dec 2022
This article argues that the prosodic category stress in West Germanic languages, which implicitly underlies practically all work on stress, is a complex cluster concept consisting of at least six dimensions which in turn involve a number of subdimensions. Because of its complexity, this concept is not useful for cross-linguistic comparison. A promising starting point for further typological inquiry is one of the six dimensions, i.e. acoustic and auditory prominence. However, identifying acoustic and auditory prominence distinctions cross-linguistically is also not straightforward and requires considerable empirical effort. Nevertheless, cross-linguistic comparison is still possible in the case of ‘difficult’ cluster concepts such as stress and does not require the use of arbitrary comparative concepts.
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Categories under pressure: The gerund and the present participle from Late Latin to Old French
Thesis
Full-text available
  • Sep 2021
This dissertation empirically investigates the evolution of the gerund and the present participle in Late Latin, and examines on the basis of this investigation the impact of their morphological merging in Old French on their categorial distinction. The results of this thesis confirm the standard hypothesis of the evolution of the gerund and the present participle in Late Latin, but only partly: they support a specialisation of the gerund in adverbial external syntax, but not of the present participle in adjectival external syntax. Thus, the gerund shows signs of ‘converbalisation’, while the present participle does not undergo a process of ‘participialisation’. Like the gerund, the present participle in Late Latin has mostly adverbial external syntax, and is as such more converb-like than participle-like (cf. Haspelmath 1995: 4). This functional similarity between the gerund and the present participle in Late Latin makes that their morphological merging in Old French raises a major problem for their categorial distinction. A considerable proportion of all Old French -ant forms (38%) is categorially indeterminate, that is, not categorisable as either gerunds or present participles – even under the assumption that the gerund and the present participle do not encroach on each other’s distribution, neither in the transition from Late Latin to Old French, nor during the Old French period. This finding leads to the conclusion that the morphological merging of the gerund and the present participle in Old French causes these two types of non-finite verb forms to merge also on a categorial level. The label proposed for this categorial blend is the purely formal one ‘-ant form’.
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The category ‘pronoun’ in East and Southeast Asian languages, with a focus on Japanese
Chapter
  • Jul 2021
Few issues in the history of the language sciences have been an object of as much discussion and controversy as linguistic categories. The eleven articles included in this volume tackle the issue of categories from a wide range of perspectives and with different foci, in the context of the current debate on the nature and methodology of the research on comparative concepts – particularly, the relation between the categories needed to describe languages and those needed to compare languages. While the first six papers deal with general theoretical questions, the following five confront specific issues in the domain of language analysis arising from the application of categories. The volume will appeal to a very broad readership: advanced students and scholars in any field of linguistics, but also specialists in the philosophy of language, and scholars interested in the cognitive aspects of language from different subfields (neurolinguistics, cognitive sciences, psycholinguistics, anthropology).
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Theories of language, language comparison, and grammatical description: Correcting Haspelmath
Chapter
  • Jul 2021
Few issues in the history of the language sciences have been an object of as much discussion and controversy as linguistic categories. The eleven articles included in this volume tackle the issue of categories from a wide range of perspectives and with different foci, in the context of the current debate on the nature and methodology of the research on comparative concepts – particularly, the relation between the categories needed to describe languages and those needed to compare languages. While the first six papers deal with general theoretical questions, the following five confront specific issues in the domain of language analysis arising from the application of categories. The volume will appeal to a very broad readership: advanced students and scholars in any field of linguistics, but also specialists in the philosophy of language, and scholars interested in the cognitive aspects of language from different subfields (neurolinguistics, cognitive sciences, psycholinguistics, anthropology).
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Comparative concepts are not a different kind of thing
Chapter
  • Jul 2021
Few issues in the history of the language sciences have been an object of as much discussion and controversy as linguistic categories. The eleven articles included in this volume tackle the issue of categories from a wide range of perspectives and with different foci, in the context of the current debate on the nature and methodology of the research on comparative concepts – particularly, the relation between the categories needed to describe languages and those needed to compare languages. While the first six papers deal with general theoretical questions, the following five confront specific issues in the domain of language analysis arising from the application of categories. The volume will appeal to a very broad readership: advanced students and scholars in any field of linguistics, but also specialists in the philosophy of language, and scholars interested in the cognitive aspects of language from different subfields (neurolinguistics, cognitive sciences, psycholinguistics, anthropology).
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Linguistic categories, language description and linguistic typology – An overview
Chapter
  • Jul 2021
Few issues in the history of the language sciences have been an object of as much discussion and controversy as linguistic categories. The eleven articles included in this volume tackle the issue of categories from a wide range of perspectives and with different foci, in the context of the current debate on the nature and methodology of the research on comparative concepts – particularly, the relation between the categories needed to describe languages and those needed to compare languages. While the first six papers deal with general theoretical questions, the following five confront specific issues in the domain of language analysis arising from the application of categories. The volume will appeal to a very broad readership: advanced students and scholars in any field of linguistics, but also specialists in the philosophy of language, and scholars interested in the cognitive aspects of language from different subfields (neurolinguistics, cognitive sciences, psycholinguistics, anthropology).
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Essentials of the unityp research project: Attempt of an overview
Chapter
  • Jul 2021
Few issues in the history of the language sciences have been an object of as much discussion and controversy as linguistic categories. The eleven articles included in this volume tackle the issue of categories from a wide range of perspectives and with different foci, in the context of the current debate on the nature and methodology of the research on comparative concepts – particularly, the relation between the categories needed to describe languages and those needed to compare languages. While the first six papers deal with general theoretical questions, the following five confront specific issues in the domain of language analysis arising from the application of categories. The volume will appeal to a very broad readership: advanced students and scholars in any field of linguistics, but also specialists in the philosophy of language, and scholars interested in the cognitive aspects of language from different subfields (neurolinguistics, cognitive sciences, psycholinguistics, anthropology).
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zaefferer 21 Beware-of-th
Preprint
Full-text available
  • Apr 2021
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