Reduplication can express a multitude of semantic or grammatical changes within languages, and can occur in more than one form. Per language there are its own phonological and/or morphosyntactic...Show moreReduplication can express a multitude of semantic or grammatical changes within languages, and can occur in more than one form. Per language there are its own phonological and/or morphosyntactic rules reduplication has to abide by. This thesis is written based on data of the Papuan languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar, found in the collective sketch grammars edited by Antoinette Schapper (Ed.) Volume 1 (2014), Volume 2 (2017), and Volume 3 (2020), comparing the data on reduplication in those languages aiming to formulate typological similarities and differences.Show less
The Guaporé-Mamoré language area hosts a large amount of linguistic diversity; however, its history of contact remains understudied. This thesis aims to shed light on the contact patterns in the...Show moreThe Guaporé-Mamoré language area hosts a large amount of linguistic diversity; however, its history of contact remains understudied. This thesis aims to shed light on the contact patterns in the region through a study which compares languages in area with regards to their word stress and phonological tone. For this aim, a sample of 40 languages belonging to the area, plus 9 control languages, was collected which gathered the characteristics of their word stress and tone systems. The results show that languages in the Guaporé-Mamoré area tend to prefer right-bound, fixed stress, although only the languages south-west of the Guaporé river, corresponding to the Mojo-Chiquito culture area, are significantly different from the control languages (p = .003) in this regard. The results thus imply different levels of contact in sub-regions of the proposed area. Further research is needed into the commonalities and differences between languages in the region, as well as documentation of the languages.Show less
Fishing played an important role in the subsistence economy of the Indigenous people of the Caribbean. Therefore, a lot of research has focused on the fishing techniques and tools that were used by...Show moreFishing played an important role in the subsistence economy of the Indigenous people of the Caribbean. Therefore, a lot of research has focused on the fishing techniques and tools that were used by these peoples before 1492. Already, a lot is known about which fishes were caught, how they were caught, and which tools were used to catch these fishes. However, one particular tool has often been overlooked and, thus, received little attention as of yet. As this thesis will show, Pre-Columbian Caribbean shell fish hooks are a relevant artifact of which its importance needs to be recognized. The gaps of knowledge that current are strongly present in Caribbean shell fish hook literature will be filled up by the means of a comparative analysis. There will be looked at shell fish hooks from three other regions: Hawaii, Australia, and California. The shell fish hooks from these regions have been studied more thoroughly than the Caribbean fish hooks, meaning that a comparison will prove useful. Within this comparison, special attention will be given to the manufacturing process of the shell fish hook, its use, the created typology and the role of men and women in relation to the artifact. It has become clear that certain aspects of the Pre-Columbian shell fish hook, of which the role of males and females is most notable, must be re-evaluated. The role of females in Pre-Columbian society is largely studied with a western bias in mind, something that researchers must stop doing. Women from all the other regions have played a large role in the collection of marine resources and sometimes also the manufacture of shell tools, meaning that the role of women must not be underestimated. It can be concluded that there is a lot of information to be gained of the largely unstudied Pre-Columbian Caribbean fish hook by looking at similar fish hooks from various regions across the globe. These results, furthermore, are expected to result in a more attentive focus on the recognition of the Caribbean shell fish hook during research. This thesis can be the starting point of further detailed research into the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean through the analyses of the Pre-Columbian Caribbean shell fish hook. This tool can be used to track the diaspora of peoples into the Caribbean and can, furthermore, be explored even further in attempts to connect the Caribbean with mainland South and North America.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
Although most ancient Indo-European languages share the same grammatical three-gender system of masculine, feminine and neuter gender, the lack of a feminine gender in the archaic Anatolian branch...Show moreAlthough most ancient Indo-European languages share the same grammatical three-gender system of masculine, feminine and neuter gender, the lack of a feminine gender in the archaic Anatolian branch suggests that development of this gender is a relatively recent development in "Core PIE". This thesis investigates how such a development may have come about. I analyse the attested functions of the suffixes often connected to the rise of the feminine gender: *-eh2, *-ih2 and *-sor. Moreover, I consider the emergence of the PIE feminine from a typological perspective and compare it to gender developments in other language families. On the basis of morphological and typological considerations, I suggest that not the traditional feminine suffix *-eh2, but rather the "secondary" suffix *-ih2 played a crucial role in the emergence of the PIE feminine gender.Show less
This thesis examines the origin of cross-linguistic influence on the realization of the voice onset time of English L3 stop consonants produced by simultaneous bilingual speakers who speak at least...Show moreThis thesis examines the origin of cross-linguistic influence on the realization of the voice onset time of English L3 stop consonants produced by simultaneous bilingual speakers who speak at least one non-European Indo-European language. The participants were asked to read a list of words with stop consonants in word-initial, word-medial, and word-final positions. By comparing the values of the voice onset time realized by the three participants with the voice onset time values of their two first languages, a conclusion was drawn about the origin of the cross-linguistic influence. This thesis concludes that both of a simultaneous bilingual speaker’s first languages are a combined source of cross-linguistic influence and that this influence is determined by the perceived typology of the language and the feature that is being affected.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
It has been observed that pre-PIE *d sometimes turns into PIE *h₁, also referred to as the Kortlandt effect, but much is still unclear about the occurrence and nature of this change. In this thesis...Show moreIt has been observed that pre-PIE *d sometimes turns into PIE *h₁, also referred to as the Kortlandt effect, but much is still unclear about the occurrence and nature of this change. In this thesis, I provide an elaborate discussion aimed at establishing the conditions and a phonetic explanation for the development. All words that have thus far been proposed as instances of the *d > *h₁ change will be investigated more closely, leading to the conclusion that the Kortlandt effect is a type of debuccalisation due to dental dissimilation when *d is followed by a consonant. Typological parallels for this type of change, as well as evidence from IE daughter languages, enable us to identify it as a shift from pre-glottalised voiceless stop to glottal stop.Show less
This thesis is a descriptive account of the form, function, and meaning of Korean verbs of perception in the modalities of SIGHT, HEARING, TOUCH, FEEL, TASTE and SMELL. I categorize the perception...Show moreThis thesis is a descriptive account of the form, function, and meaning of Korean verbs of perception in the modalities of SIGHT, HEARING, TOUCH, FEEL, TASTE and SMELL. I categorize the perception verbs by means of Viberg’s (1983) dynamic system of perception events, distinguishing ACTIVITIES, EXPERIENCES and STATES for each of the six modalities. Focussing on experiencer-based expressions, I find that Korean verbs of SIGHT, HEARING, FEEL, and SMELL do not lexically distinguish between an ACTIVITY and an EXPERIENCE. Stimulus-based verbs derive from experiencer-based basic verbs by means of middle marking. I also find that Korean obligatorily requires a perceived stimulus rather than a source in the domains of HEARING, FEEL, TASTE, and SMELL. Furthermore, an introductory review of the literature on intrafield ‘polysemy’ reveals inconsistencies in the hierarchical models of perception verbs. I put forward a new model that unifies earlier proposals and includes the extensions from SIGHT to TASTE and FEEL to TASTE found in Korean. Examples were retrieved from the highly contemporary VLIVE (2020) spoken corpus as well as various non-spoken corpora, accessed through the online NAVER Korean-English Dictionary (2020).Show less
This is a mini typological study of predicate nominals, predicate adjectives and locative predicates, existentials and possessive predicates in seven native North American languages. This study...Show moreThis is a mini typological study of predicate nominals, predicate adjectives and locative predicates, existentials and possessive predicates in seven native North American languages. This study discusses per language the strategies used for predicate nominals according to the typological overview given in Payne (1997); where adjectives are a separate word class the strategies for predicate adjectives are compared to those for predicate nominals. Lastly, the constructions for locative clauses, existentials, and locative predicates and the relations between them are discussed according to Clark (1978). It was found that some strategy types for predicate nominals were much more common than others and predicate adjectives, where applicable, were usually constructed in the same way. Locative constructions, existentials, and locative predicates were not always formed nonverbally, but a relationship between them was often found.Show less
Proto-Indo-European root morphemes are characterised by co-occurrence constraints on stops, namely **TVT-, **C1VC1-, **DVD- and **TVDh. The traditional reconstruction and historical-linguistic...Show moreProto-Indo-European root morphemes are characterised by co-occurrence constraints on stops, namely **TVT-, **C1VC1-, **DVD- and **TVDh. The traditional reconstruction and historical-linguistic theories aiming to explain the root restrictions from historical-linguistic perspective are critically reviewed. Typology classifies the Proto-Indo-European root restrictions as absolute, static co-occurrence restrictions. **TVT and **C1VC1 are co-occurrence restrictions on place of articulation, whereas **DVD and **TVDh are co-occurrence restrictions on laryngeal features. The application of existing phonological theories shows that **TVT and **C1VC1 can be explained by the Obligatory Contour Principle. A model in Dispersion Theory explains **DVD as a dissimilatory constraint and **TVDh as the consequence of an assimilatory constraint on *Dh.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis presents a systematic study on plural words, a particular type of nominal plurality marking, in Austronesian languages. Building on previous studies, I explore how plural words in...Show moreThis thesis presents a systematic study on plural words, a particular type of nominal plurality marking, in Austronesian languages. Building on previous studies, I explore how plural words in Austronesian languages are distributed, and discuss the diachronic developments of these plural words.Show less
This master’s thesis focuses on comparing and contrasting Property Concept Words (PCWs) in six Amazonian languages. PCWs are usually referred as ‘adjectives’ in Indo-European languages, words that...Show moreThis master’s thesis focuses on comparing and contrasting Property Concept Words (PCWs) in six Amazonian languages. PCWs are usually referred as ‘adjectives’ in Indo-European languages, words that have a semantic denotation of properties or features. However, they vary in different languages regarding whether they belong to a morphosyntactically distinct word class or not. In other words, whether these PCWs should all be included in an adjectival class (if exist) or some may be categorized in subclasses of nouns or verbs. In my sample of six Amazonian languages: Panare, Hup, Karajá, Jarawara, Kwaza and Cavineña, PCWs are found behaving differently in each language. When discussing whether adjectives should be classified as a separate syntactic class or not, semantics is quite often involved. Moreover, the introduction of copula clauses complicates this discussion. Payne & Payne (2013) argues for a separate word class of AD-forms instead of adjectives in Panare to represent words that are usually characterized as either ‘adjectives’ or ‘adverbs’ in Indo-European languages. However, AD-forms are quite similar to nouns in Panare. Epps (2008) agrees on a closed set of adjectives in Hup that is quite similar to verbs regarding their TAM-marking, and similar to bound nouns when occurring postnominally. According to Ribeiro (2012), Karajá lacks an independent part of speech for ‘adjectives’ where PCWs are considered a subclass of nouns without much difference from other types of nouns. Dixon’s (2004) grammar distinguishes a small closed class of adjectives from other word classes in Jarawara and at the same time argues that PCWs can also be expressed through possessed nouns and stative verbs. In Kwaza, Van der Voort (2004) claims that it is unnecessary to exhibit a distinct class of adjectives whereas PCWs behave quite similar to verbs. Lastly, Guillaume (2008) introduces two distinct subclasses of adjectives, predicative and attributive adjectives in Cavineña, where the former function as copula complements and the latter are postnominal modifiers. The six languages vary in whether adjectives should be identified as a distinct word class or not. Even though these analysis may be of different approaches, PCWs show certain similarities across languages: they can both modify nouns and function in predicative constructions; they usually can take TAM-markers; the noun-modifier construction most likely parallels possessive construction. In a nutshell, these Amazonian languages are different from prototypical Indo-European languages regarding the syntactic distribution of PCWs. However, within Amazonian languages, syntactic variability of PCWs is large but possibly limited.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
2016-06-30T00:00:00Z
Recent debates in the field of creole linguistics (creolistics) over the validity of a typological class of creole languages have inspired the adoption of new techniques to empirically test the...Show moreRecent debates in the field of creole linguistics (creolistics) over the validity of a typological class of creole languages have inspired the adoption of new techniques to empirically test the most prominent theories of creole origins and creole typology. Phylogenetic computational tools, i.e. phylogenetic trees and networks, have been utilized in linguistics to model evolutionary scenarios and to predict genetic relationships between languages, and more recently in creolistics to identify typological and genetic relationships between pidgin and creole languages. Following several recent analyses seeking to validate the creole typological class and to test theories of creole genesis and classification using phylogenetic computation (Bakker et al. 2011; Daval-Markussen & Bakker 2012; etc), the present thesis continues this line of research by applying the same methods in order to test an older, frequently overlooked theory of creole genesis—Derek Bickerton’s Language Bioprogram Hypothesis (LBH). Bickerton’s LBH attributes creole genesis to an innate human Bioprogram for language, invoked in situations where linguistic input is insufficient due to the influence of certain extralinguistic factors, resulting in a break in transmission of the lexifier language. This thesis seeks to test the accuracy of a set of LBH features in distinguishing between creoles and non-creoles in a phylogenetic network analysis, supplementing the results with a multiple regression analysis testing the correlation between the degree of creoleness and sociohistorical factors predicted by Bickerton’s theory. Following the specifications of the LBH, the network analysis was expected to show a clear distinction between creoles and non-creoles, as well as patterns within the cluster of creoles associated to the presence of certain extralinguistic factors. The output of the analysis indicates the validity of a creole typological class, yet the complete distribution of the languages in the networks cannot be entirely accounted for by the predictions of the LBH. While some of the clusters in the network can be attributed to prolonged contact with the superstrate language, which proved to be a significant factor in the regression analysis, other groupings are less predictable. The similar patterning of creoles and languages with low complexity scores according to Parkvall’s (2008) metric in the phylogenetic network analysis indicates the compatibility of Bickerton’s LBH and the proposal of a structurally less complex, synchronic class of creole languages. The variability in the patterning of creoles within the creole cluster in the phylogenetic network analysis is thought to be related to the unique combination of extralinguistic factors influencing the development of each individual creole. The structural variation among the class of creole languages is expected to increase with time.Show less
This thesis attempts to establish an adequate framework to describe question words. On the basis of this framework some universal tendencies within the constructions of question words will be...Show moreThis thesis attempts to establish an adequate framework to describe question words. On the basis of this framework some universal tendencies within the constructions of question words will be established and some new insights will be exposed. Through the analysis of the question words of several languages an implicational hierarchy of the semantic categories of question words will be postulated. Furthermore, it will become clear that general question words need to be treated differently from question words which have a specified meaning regardless of the context. When looking at the internal constructions of question words, I conclude that all question words consist of a Q-element (QE), which indicates the interrogative mood and a Semantic Indicator Element (SIE), which specifies the exact content of the interrogative mood. The order of these two elements appears to be similar to the order of the head and dependent of nominal constructions. Finally I discuss the fact that this division between QE and SIE is also to be found in sign languages, and therefore universally applicable. Also, from a historical point of view the order of QE and SIE within submorphemes can be an indication of the head and dependent order in Proto-languages.Show less
