Faculty of Arts University of Groningen

THE DIACHRONY OF DERIVATIONMuriel Norde

AIMS

• To contribute to a better understanding of the derivation – inflection interface by discussing the origins of derivational and inflectional morphology

• To examine the implications of the diachronic findings for grammaticalization theory

OUTLINE

• Derivation vs. inflection: synchronic observations

• The origins and development of derivational and inflectional morphology

• Transitions from derivation to inflection and vice versa

• Theoretical discussion

SYNCHRONIC OBSERVATIONS

1. Obligatoriness

2. Lexicon vs. syntax

3. The ability to change word-class

4. Cumulative exponence

DERIVATION VS. INFLECTION

• obligatoriness– derivation: ; inflection:

the duckling was swimmingthe duck was swimming*the duckling was swim(but: femine suffix may be

(semantically) obligatory:the lioness / *lion gave birth to two

cubs)

DERIVATION VS. INFLECTION

• part of syntax– derivation: ; inflection:

The prince is lazy / Prinsen är latThe princess is lazy / Prinsessan är latThe princes are lazy / Prinsarna är lata(Subj-V concord) / (N-Adj concord)

(but: feminine derivational suffixes may affect concord)

la lionne / *lion est grandede boerin / *boer (/ vrouw) d’r klompen)

DERIVATION VS. INFLECTION

• The ability to change word-class– derivation: ; inflection:

beauty (N) > beautiful (Adj)great (Adj) > greatness (N)(but: some inflectional suffixes may

change word-class

The singVingADJ detective

Hon sjunger vackerADJtADV

‘She sings beautifully’ (-t = NEUT.SG)

DERIVATION VS. INFLECTION

• Cumulative exponence (portmanteau morphemes)– derivation:; inflection:

IE nominal suffixes, e.g. Lat. –us in servus: simultaneous realizations of gender, number and case

(but: feminine derivational suffixes may be cumulative:

vend-re vend-eur vend-euse

V V-AGENT V-AGENT-

FEMALE)

CONCLUSION

• Fuzzy boundaries• Derivation and inflection form a continuum

(Dalton-Puffer 1996):

lexical > derivational-lexical (e.g. lovely) > derivational-grammatical (e.g. patiently) > inflectional

(Booij 2002):

lexical > derivational > inherently inflectional (e.g. participle suffixes) > contextual inflectional

DIACHRONY: GRAMMATICALIZATION

• “Grammaticalization consists in the increase of the range of a morpheme advancing from a lexical to a grammatical or from a less grammatical to a more grammatical status.” (Kuryłowicz 1975 [1965]

• “[…] an evolution whereby linguistic units lose in semantic complexity, pragmatic significance, syntactic freedom, and phonetic substance […]”(Heine & Reh 1984

DIACHRONY: CLINES

• The cline of grammaticalitycontent item > grammatical word > clitic > inflectional affix

mot (N) > mot (P)

‘meeting’ > ‘against’

hin > in > -in DEMONSTRATIVE > CLITIC > DEFINITE SUFFIX

• The cline of lexicalitypart of phrase > part of compound > derivational affix

manz lik > man(z)lik > manlig

‘a man’s body’ > ‘man’s body’ > ‘masculine’

OTHER ORIGINS

• Not all grammatical change is grammaticalization!

• inflectional suffixes: e.g. rebracketing

OSw. æple – æple – æple-na

‘apple – apples - the apples’

(PL suffix –ø)

MoSw. äpple – äpple-n – äpplen-a

(PL suffix –n)• derivational suffixes: e.g. clitics

WHERE DO THEY GO?

Derivational affixes• fossilize

– PGmc –m to derive agent nouns from verbs: bloem ‘flower’, storm ‘storm’, helm ‘helmet’ (cf. MoDu verbs bloeien ‘to bloom’, storen ‘to disturb’, helen ‘(older): ‘to cover’)

• lexicalize– Fascism and other isms– Juices and ades (< Lemonade)

• degrammaticalize– Du tig ‘umpteen’ (< -tig ‘ty’ as in twintig ’20’ etc.)

• become inflectional

WHERE DO THEY GO?

Inflectional affixes:• become –ø

– most nominal and verbal suffixes in English

• fossilize (hardly)– Du schoen (< PL of schoe ‘shoe’)

• degrammaticalize– Eng / ContScand enclitic s-genitive

• do not lexicalize• become derivational

FROM DERIVATION TO INFLECTION

• Proto-Scand *sik ‘self’ > enclitic sk > Old Norse derivational –st > MoScand inflectional –s(t) – Evidence for derivational status, e.g.

word-class changing st-verbs in ON, e.g. V fyrnast ‘age, become older’ < Adj forn ‘old’

• English adverbial –ly (productive and obligatory)

FROM INFLECTION TO DERIVATION

• Old Swedish MASK.SG.NOM –er > Modern Swedish nominalization suffix, e.g. en dummer ‘a stupid person’

• Old Swedish NEUT.PL.NOM/ACC –on > “berry-name suffix” as in hallon ‘raspberry’) > count noun derivation suffix, e.g. päron ‘pear’

• Swedish NEUT.SG –t > adverbial –t : examples of derived adverbs without adjectival counterpart, e.g. enbart ‘only’ (*enbar)

RARE

THEORETICAL ISSUES

1. Derivational affixes: grammaticalization or lexicalization (= creation of new lexemes)?

• Pro-lexicalization: new items are added to the lexicon

– but: derived item as a whole is added, not derivational suffix itself

• Pro-grammaticalization: derivational afffixes have many characteristics of grammaticalized items

– notable exception: they do not become part of a paradigm

THEORETICAL ISSUES

• Grammaticalization properties (Heine / Kuteva 2002) and Swedish –lig (e.g. ljuvlig ‘lovely) < lik ‘body’– 1: Desemanticization or semantic bleaching

loss of (concrete) meaning: • meaning ‘body’ is lost

– 2: Extension or context generalization use in new contexts:

• -lig can derive Adj from V: tro ‘believe’ > trolig ‘conceivable’

– 3: Decategorialization loss of morphosyntactic properties (e.g. inflection):

– 4: Erosion or phonetic reduction loss of phonetic substance:

THEORETICAL ISSUES

• Possible solution to reconcile opposite views: derivational affix is grammaticalized item which itself is involved in a lexicalization process

• Himmelmann 2004: lexicalization is a process sui generis

THEORETICAL ISSUES

2. If derivational affixes and inflectional affixes develop along different clines, how can they form a continuum?

THEORETICAL ISSUES

• Extended cline of lexicality:

phrase > compound > derivation affix > inherent inflection affix > inflection affix

CONCLUSIONS

• Instead of describing grammatical change in terms of clines, it is better to describe their subchanges

• Instead of universal pathways, it is better to speak of tendencies

• Inflectional affixes may have different origins

• There are no “end-points” in grammatical change

MORE INFO

• This presentation and more:

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~norde/downloadables.htm

(coming soon)