A cross-linguistic rarity in synchrony and diachrony
Résumé
This article shows that a hitherto unattested construction type-namely, adverbial subordinator prefixes-is in fact attested in several languages. While Dryer's (2013) 659-language convenience sample does not turn up any clear example of such a construction, we argue that this is in part due to arbitrary coding choices that a priori exclude potential constructions of this type. In order to document the existence of adverbial subordinator prefixes, we present a number of languages with different genealogical and areal affiliations, each of which shows solid synchronic evidence for what appears to be a universally dispreferred feature. Furthermore, we identify some diachronic pathways through which adverbial subordinator prefixes grammaticalize.
Domaines
Linguistique
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
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