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Article published In: Diachronica
Vol. 37:1 (2020) ► pp.43–82

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Perfective marking conditioned by transitivity status in Western Mande

Constructional competition, specialization and merger

ORCiD logo with link | Languages and Cultures of Africa (CNRS – USPC/INALCO)
Published online: 19 March 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.18050.idi
Abstract
This paper provides a diachronic construction-based explanation of the differential perfective marking conditioned by transitivity status in Western Mande languages, using the Greater Manding group as an exemplar case. This typologically unusual phenomenon has previously been erroneously cast in terms of case alignment, either synchronically (in terms of bidirectional case markers) or historically (in terms of an earlier split-ergative stage). The central insight of my explanation is that the Positive Perfective constructions of the Western Mande languages are multiple-source constructions. The in-depth reconstruction of these constructions presented in the paper provides a theoretically significant illustration of a pattern of repeated emergence of constructional competition in a particular semantic domain, which is subsequently resolved through constructional specialization and merger, resulting in multiple-source constructions and a typologically unusual pattern of differential TAM and polarity marking.
Résumé
Cet article fournit une explication diachronique (liée à la construction) du marquage perfectif différentiel conditionné par la transitivité dans les langues du groupe mandé occidental, en prenant le groupe mandingue comme exemple. Ce phénomène, typologiquement rare, a été conçu antérieurement de manière erronée en termes d’alignement casuel, soit de manière synchronique (en termes de marqueurs de cas bidirectionnels), soit de manière historique (en invoquant un stade antérieur d’ergativité scindée). L’idée centrale de mon explication est que les constructions perfectives positives des langues du groupe mandé occidental sont des constructions à sources multiples. La reconstruction détaillée de ces constructions, telle que présentée dans l’article, fournit une illustration théoriquement significative d’un exemple d’émergence répétée de la concurrence de différentes constructions dans un domaine sémantique particulier, qui est ensuite résolu par la spécialisation et la fusion des constructions, donnant lieu à des constructions à sources multiples et un système inhabituel sur le plan typologique de marquage différentiel des valeurs de TAM et de polarité.
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Artikel liefert eine diachrone konstruktionsbasierte Erklärung der unterschiedlichen Perfektivmarkierungen in den West-Mande-Sprachen am Beispiel der Manding-Gruppe. Die Perfektivmarkierung hängt in diesen Sprachen von der Transitivität des Verbs ab. Dieses typologisch ungewöhnliche Phänomen wurde bisher irrtümlicherweise als Kasusausrichtung interpretiert, entweder synchron (als bidirektionale Kasusmarker) oder diachron (auf ein früheres gespalten ergatives Stadium verweisend). Die zentrale Erkenntnis meiner Erklärung ist, dass die positiv perfektiven Konstruktionen der West-Mande-Sprachen aus verschiedenen Quellen hervorgegangen sind. Die detaillierte Rekonstruktion dieser Konstruktionen, die im Artikel vorgestellt wird, ist von erheblicher theoretischer Bedeutung, da sie illustriert, wie in einem bestimmten semantischen Bereich wiederholt ein Wettbewerb zwischen verschiedenen Konstruktionen entstehen kann, der sich anschließend durch die Spezialisierung und Fusion dieser Konstruktionen wieder auflöst. Dies führt wiederum zu sogenannten Mehrfachquellenkonstruktionen, also zu Konstruktionen die gleichzeitig mehreren historischen Quellen entspringen, und zu einem typologisch ungewöhnlichen Muster unterschiedlicher TAM- und Polaritätsmarkierung.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Mande clausal morphosyntax
    • 2.1Word order on the clause-level and TAMP marking
    • 2.2Transitivity status marking in Mande: The general situation
    • 2.3Typical alignment patterns (with a note on split-ergativity)
  • 3.Positive perfective constructions are multiple source constructions: The scenario
  • 4.The Old res + construction as the source of the pfv I + construction in Greater Manding: Formal and semantic evolution
    • 4.1Overview
    • 4.2The TAMP2 marker *=tà
    • 4.3New Resultative constructions mirror the evolution of the Resultative construction with *=tà
      • 4.3.1Resultative constructions strongly tend to be intransitive
      • 4.3.2 Resultative constructions tend to change from [s cop v-res] to [s v-res cop]
      • 4.3.3Resultative constructions tend to lose the copula
      • 4.3.4Resultative semantics tend to evolve into perfect and perfective
  • 5.Auxiliary verb constructions as source constructions of the pfv T + constructions in Greater Manding: Formal and semantic evolution
    • 5.1Overview
    • 5.2The dedicated pfv T + markers across Greater Manding: Cognate sets and reconstructions
    • 5.3The older layer of pfv I + constructions in Greater Manding: Positive Perfective Auxiliary Verb constructions
    • 5.4The newer layer of pfv T + constructions in Greater Manding: Positive Resultative Auxiliary Verb constructions
    • 5.5Source constructions of pfv T + constructions were indifferent to transitivity status: Cognate sets KA and YA
    • 5.6Motion and “be, happen” verbs as sources of TAMP1 markers in pfv T + constructions
  • 6.Alternative accounts in terms of case alignment: Synchronic bidirectional case markers and a historical split-ergativity stage
    • 6.1Bidirectional case markers: Heath (2007)
    • 6.2Postpositions as the source of TAMP1 pfv T + markers: Creissels (1997)
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Creissels, Denis
2023. Directive and optative clauses in Manding languages. Mandenkan :69 ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo

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