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Papers by Benji Wald

Research paper thumbnail of One of the transformations which lays claim to universal status is that of relativization. Current conventions in generative grammar build the conditions for the application of the relativization transformation into the phrase structure by means of the recursive rule

Research paper thumbnail of The 0 tense marker in the decline of the Swahili auxiliary focus system

The 0 TM identifies a mmphological position within the Swahili (and general Bantu) verb complex i... more The 0 TM identifies a mmphological position within the Swahili (and general Bantu) verb complex immediately following the obligatmy su~ject marker, and necessarily preceding the verb of the clause. A few additional elements, such as the o~ject markers in ( 1 ), may intervene between the TM and the verb. Usually the TM position is filled by one of a number of substantive IMs Example (2) below exemplifies with a and na, the two TMs which will be of further interest to us, since in certain contexts they are only minimally, if at all, distinct fiom the 0 TM

Research paper thumbnail of Concise History of the Language Sciences : From the Sumerians to the Cognitivists . Ed. by E. F. K. Koerner and R. E. Asher

Historiographia Linguistica, 1996

Research paper thumbnail of A Lega and English Dictionary

Research paper thumbnail of Swahili and the Bantu Languages

The World's Major Languages, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of On the PIE root-structure constraint prohibiting repeated consonants

Papers in Historical Phonology

This paper confronts and resolves the problem of apparent exceptions to the constraint prohibitin... more This paper confronts and resolves the problem of apparent exceptions to the constraint prohibiting the co-occurrence of identical consonants in both syllable margins of the PIE root: schematically, †… Ci … E … Ci …, where † indicates the prohibition of the root structure following it, Ci = the identical consonant, E = the ablauting vowel, and … = optional additional consonants in the syllable margins. In advancement of previous work addressing this problem — most recently exemplified in Cooper (2009), Corbeau (2013) and Weiss (2020) — it eliminates several potential exceptions to the constraint and proposes that, once a cross-linguistic absence-of-contrast principle is taken into account which determines the relation of laryngeal features (glottalization, aspiration, and voicing) to the syllable margins that contain them, no clear-cut exceptions remain.

Research paper thumbnail of Syntactic development after childhood

Diversity and Diachrony, 1986

Research paper thumbnail of Standards and Variation in Urban Speech

Research paper thumbnail of Discourse Features of Ten Languages of West-Central Africa

Research paper thumbnail of Competition in syntax (Book)

Research paper thumbnail of Particle verbs and local domains (Book)

Research paper thumbnail of Vernacular and Standard Swahili as Seen by Members of the Mombasa Swahili Speech Community

Language of Inequality, 1985

... Lakini zaidi ni ki-Swahili kabisa, lugha ambayo ninayoelewa kutoka mwanzo nilipoanza kusema n... more ... Lakini zaidi ni ki-Swahili kabisa, lugha ambayo ninayoelewa kutoka mwanzo nilipoanza kusema ni kiSwahili mpaka hivi sasa... ... (8) KiSwahili (cha nde) ni ile lugha ambayo kila mtu anaisema, lakini kiSwahili cha ndani ni le lugha ambayo waSwahili wenyewe wanaijua. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Spanish-English grammatical contact in Los Angeles: the grammar of reported speech in the East Los Angeles English contact vernacular

Linguistics, 1987

This article uses the grammar of reported speech in East Los Angeles English as a vehicle to disc... more This article uses the grammar of reported speech in East Los Angeles English as a vehicle to discuss the notion and development of a subs t ratal contact vernacular. Though rarely attended to in current research on bilingualism and language shift, contact vernaculars are anticipated by earlier substratal theories of linguistic evolution. They develop when a large ethnically homogeneous community shifts from one language (LI) to another language (L2). The salient characteristic of a substratal contact vernacular is that, under the conditions which promote language shift, it does not violate the grammatical patterns of native varieties of L2 in individual utterances, but rather it skews the pattern of grammatical variation to maximize matching with L2 of LI grammatical structures and/or of interlanguage structures between LI and L2. An additional point is made that lexical reinterpretation ofL2 under the influence of LI can lead to the creation of novel grammatical patterns in the contact vernacular through an interaction of lexicon and syntax. To the extent that this article is successful, the contact vernacular may prove to be a common phenomenon, where the necessary social conditions for its formation obtain. In addition, it may be possible to reconsider some historical cases where theories of substratal influence have remained moot due to superficial ambiguity in tracing the origins of particular grammatical changes in particular language varieties.

Research paper thumbnail of Salikoko Mufwene (ed.), Africanisms in Afro-American language varieties. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1993. Pp. vii, 512. Hb $40.00

Language in Society, 1995

Research paper thumbnail of Charles Taylor, Nkore-Kiga (Croom Helm Descriptive Grammars). London: Croom Helm, 1985. Pp. 254

Language in Society, 1991

Research paper thumbnail of The Structure of Dagaare (review)

Research paper thumbnail of An Atlas of English Dialects

Research paper thumbnail of Theoretical Bases of Indo-European Linguistics

Language, 1998

First published in 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published... more First published in 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Reprinted 1995, 1999 First published in paperback 19% © 1993 Winfred P. Lehmann Routledge is ...

Research paper thumbnail of Functional Categories and the Syntax of Focus in Tuki

Research paper thumbnail of Mungaka (Bali) Dictionary

Research paper thumbnail of One of the transformations which lays claim to universal status is that of relativization. Current conventions in generative grammar build the conditions for the application of the relativization transformation into the phrase structure by means of the recursive rule

Research paper thumbnail of The 0 tense marker in the decline of the Swahili auxiliary focus system

The 0 TM identifies a mmphological position within the Swahili (and general Bantu) verb complex i... more The 0 TM identifies a mmphological position within the Swahili (and general Bantu) verb complex immediately following the obligatmy su~ject marker, and necessarily preceding the verb of the clause. A few additional elements, such as the o~ject markers in ( 1 ), may intervene between the TM and the verb. Usually the TM position is filled by one of a number of substantive IMs Example (2) below exemplifies with a and na, the two TMs which will be of further interest to us, since in certain contexts they are only minimally, if at all, distinct fiom the 0 TM

Research paper thumbnail of Concise History of the Language Sciences : From the Sumerians to the Cognitivists . Ed. by E. F. K. Koerner and R. E. Asher

Historiographia Linguistica, 1996

Research paper thumbnail of A Lega and English Dictionary

Research paper thumbnail of Swahili and the Bantu Languages

The World's Major Languages, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of On the PIE root-structure constraint prohibiting repeated consonants

Papers in Historical Phonology

This paper confronts and resolves the problem of apparent exceptions to the constraint prohibitin... more This paper confronts and resolves the problem of apparent exceptions to the constraint prohibiting the co-occurrence of identical consonants in both syllable margins of the PIE root: schematically, †… Ci … E … Ci …, where † indicates the prohibition of the root structure following it, Ci = the identical consonant, E = the ablauting vowel, and … = optional additional consonants in the syllable margins. In advancement of previous work addressing this problem — most recently exemplified in Cooper (2009), Corbeau (2013) and Weiss (2020) — it eliminates several potential exceptions to the constraint and proposes that, once a cross-linguistic absence-of-contrast principle is taken into account which determines the relation of laryngeal features (glottalization, aspiration, and voicing) to the syllable margins that contain them, no clear-cut exceptions remain.

Research paper thumbnail of Syntactic development after childhood

Diversity and Diachrony, 1986

Research paper thumbnail of Standards and Variation in Urban Speech

Research paper thumbnail of Discourse Features of Ten Languages of West-Central Africa

Research paper thumbnail of Competition in syntax (Book)

Research paper thumbnail of Particle verbs and local domains (Book)

Research paper thumbnail of Vernacular and Standard Swahili as Seen by Members of the Mombasa Swahili Speech Community

Language of Inequality, 1985

... Lakini zaidi ni ki-Swahili kabisa, lugha ambayo ninayoelewa kutoka mwanzo nilipoanza kusema n... more ... Lakini zaidi ni ki-Swahili kabisa, lugha ambayo ninayoelewa kutoka mwanzo nilipoanza kusema ni kiSwahili mpaka hivi sasa... ... (8) KiSwahili (cha nde) ni ile lugha ambayo kila mtu anaisema, lakini kiSwahili cha ndani ni le lugha ambayo waSwahili wenyewe wanaijua. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Spanish-English grammatical contact in Los Angeles: the grammar of reported speech in the East Los Angeles English contact vernacular

Linguistics, 1987

This article uses the grammar of reported speech in East Los Angeles English as a vehicle to disc... more This article uses the grammar of reported speech in East Los Angeles English as a vehicle to discuss the notion and development of a subs t ratal contact vernacular. Though rarely attended to in current research on bilingualism and language shift, contact vernaculars are anticipated by earlier substratal theories of linguistic evolution. They develop when a large ethnically homogeneous community shifts from one language (LI) to another language (L2). The salient characteristic of a substratal contact vernacular is that, under the conditions which promote language shift, it does not violate the grammatical patterns of native varieties of L2 in individual utterances, but rather it skews the pattern of grammatical variation to maximize matching with L2 of LI grammatical structures and/or of interlanguage structures between LI and L2. An additional point is made that lexical reinterpretation ofL2 under the influence of LI can lead to the creation of novel grammatical patterns in the contact vernacular through an interaction of lexicon and syntax. To the extent that this article is successful, the contact vernacular may prove to be a common phenomenon, where the necessary social conditions for its formation obtain. In addition, it may be possible to reconsider some historical cases where theories of substratal influence have remained moot due to superficial ambiguity in tracing the origins of particular grammatical changes in particular language varieties.

Research paper thumbnail of Salikoko Mufwene (ed.), Africanisms in Afro-American language varieties. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1993. Pp. vii, 512. Hb $40.00

Language in Society, 1995

Research paper thumbnail of Charles Taylor, Nkore-Kiga (Croom Helm Descriptive Grammars). London: Croom Helm, 1985. Pp. 254

Language in Society, 1991

Research paper thumbnail of The Structure of Dagaare (review)

Research paper thumbnail of An Atlas of English Dialects

Research paper thumbnail of Theoretical Bases of Indo-European Linguistics

Language, 1998

First published in 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published... more First published in 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Reprinted 1995, 1999 First published in paperback 19% © 1993 Winfred P. Lehmann Routledge is ...

Research paper thumbnail of Functional Categories and the Syntax of Focus in Tuki

Research paper thumbnail of Mungaka (Bali) Dictionary

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