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Article published In: From and Towards Demonstratives: Grammaticalization processes and beyond
Edited by Veronica Orqueda and Berta González Saavedra
[Journal of Historical Linguistics 15:2] 2025
► pp. 176–203

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Pathways to demonstratives and beyond

ORCiD logo with link | University of California, Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara
Published online: 3 June 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.24022.mit
Abstract
Demonstratives are generally assumed to be universal, but their diachronic pathways of development are notoriously obscure. If they were completely resistant to change through time, they should match across related languages, apart from regular processes of sound change. Languages of the Iroquoian family all contain demonstratives, as would be expected, but these are not all cognate. Closer examination reveals that they have developed from slightly different sources, but along parallel pathways. Their development has not stopped there, however. Some have evolved further into articles but to varying extents in the different languages. The articles are evolving further into nominalizers, forming both participant and event nominalizations. These nominalizations not only serve as referring expressions but are also coming to function much like dependent clauses in complex sentences.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Basic demonstratives across the Iroquoian languages
  • 3.Basic proximal demonstratives: The final elements
  • 4.Basic proximal demonstratives: Initial elements
    • 4.1Mohawk and Oneida
    • 4.2Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca
    • 4.3Tuscarora
  • 5.Basic distal demonstratives: Final elements
  • 6.Basic distal demonstratives: Initial elements
    • 6.1Five Nations languages
    • 6.2Tuscarora
  • 7.Discourse demonstratives
    • 7.1The Five Nations languages
    • 7.2Wyandot
    • 7.3Tuscarora
    • 7.4Cherokee
  • 8.Looking forward: Demonstratives > articles
  • 9.Looking forward: Articles > nominalizers
  • 10.Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (21)
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