Åshild Næss | University of Oslo (original) (raw)
Papers by Åshild Næss
Binominal Lexemes in Cross-Linguistic Perspective
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - memSIC, 2020
Over the last decades, there has been extensive discussion in the typological literature of the f... more Over the last decades, there has been extensive discussion in the typological literature of the functions and uses of demonstratives. It is well established that demonstratives are not restricted to referring to items in situational use based on concrete spatial parameters, but that discourse deictic, anaphoric/tracking, and recognitional uses are also common, if not universal, functions of demonstratives (see Himmelmann 1996; 1997; and Diessel 1999 for systematic overviews). Studies have shown that many parameters beyond location and configuration of referents and speech-act participants play a role in demonstrative choice. In particular, directing the addressee's attention towards a target entity and prior knowledge of a referent either through the previous discourse or from the real world have been identified as relevant (see e.g.
Oceanic Linguistics, 2021
This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and... more This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and valency in the Oceanic language Äiwoo: the undergoer-voice suffixes-i,-nyi(i),-ive,-eâ, and-nâ, and the circumstantial voice clitic =Cä. It compares these functions and distributions to those reconstructed for the Proto Oceanic transitivising morphemes *-i and *akin[i], and suggests pathways of change that can account for many of the present-day Äiwoo forms as being reflexes of these morphemes and of the 3SG object clitic *=a, though some of the formal differentiation remains unexplained. This analysis implies that Äiwoo has a Philippine-type symmetrical voice system with Oceanic morphology, an unusual state of affairs which has implications for our understanding of the transition from Proto Malayo-Polynesian to Proto Oceanic. AV-take.out SPEC woman NPIV rice LOC sack for LOC child 'The woman will take some rice out of a/the sack for a/the child.' b. A-alis-in ng babae ang bigas sa sako para sa bata. DUR-take.out-PV GEN woman SPEC rice LOC sack for LOC child 'A/the woman will take the rice out of a/the sack for a/the child.' c. A-alis-an ng babae ng bigas ang sako para sa bata. DUR-take.out-LV GEN woman NPIV rice SPEC sack for LOC child 'A/the woman will take some rice out of the sack for a/the child.' d. Ipag-alis ng babae ng bigas sa sako ang bata. CV-take.out GEN woman NPIV rice LOC sack SPEC child 'A/the woman will take some rice out of a/the sack for the child.' 2 There has been considerable debate in the literature regarding what, if anything, can be considered the subject in Philippine-type symmetrical voice languages in particular, see e.g.
Studies in Language, 2020
This paper examines a comparative construction in the Oceanic language Äiwoo and argues that it d... more This paper examines a comparative construction in the Oceanic language Äiwoo and argues that it differs from those known in the typological literature on comparatives on two counts. It is similar to a so-called ‘exceed’ comparative in involving a morpheme meaning ‘go far’; but unlike canonical exceed comparatives, the construction is intransitive, and the standard of comparison is expressed as an oblique. Moreover, the standard is indicated not only by this oblique phrase but also by a directional marker on the verb, in an extension of the frequent use of directionals in Äiwoo to indicate peripheral participants. This construction thus, on the one hand, expands the established typology of comparative constructions; and on the other, shows that the use of directional morphemes to indicate peripheral participants, otherwise attested e.g. for recipients of give verbs, may extend to the standard in comparative constructions, pointing to an avenue for further typological exploration.
Cognitive Linguistics, 2018
This paper discusses how verbal directional markers are used to encode stative spatial relations ... more This paper discusses how verbal directional markers are used to encode stative spatial relations in the Oceanic language Äiwoo. It argues that the apparent reversal of directional meaning in stative expressions, where ‘up’ is used in expressions meaning ‘underneath’, ‘down’ in expressions meaning ‘above’, and ‘out’ in expressions meaning ‘inside’, can be explained by a fictive motion analysis where the figure is construed as metaphorically moving towards the ground. It moreover argues that in expressions where motion leads to a resulting spatial configuration, where ‘up’ means ‘on top of’ rather than ‘underneath’, this reading is overridden by the so-called goal bias, whereby the resultant configuration is more cognitively salient than the motion producing it. It suggests that the linguistic construal of stative spatial relations may to some extent be correlated with the formal means of expression, where marking by adpositions favours a ‘search domain’ construal whereas encoding wit...
Journal of Language Contact, 2011
In this paper we discuss two cases of contact-induced language change where lexical and grammatic... more In this paper we discuss two cases of contact-induced language change where lexical and grammatical borrowing appear to have gone in opposite directions: one language has borrowed large amounts of vocabulary from another while at the same time being the source of structural borrowings into the other language. Furthermore, it appears in both cases that the structural borrowing has come about through bilingualism in L1 speakers of the source language, while L1 speakers of the language undergoing the structural change are largely monolingual. We propose that these two unusual factors are not unrelated, but that the latter is the cause of the former: Under circumstances where the numerically much smaller language in a contact situation is the contact language, the L2 speakers' variety, influenced by their L1, may spread into the monolingual community. e lexical borrowing naturally happens from the bilingual speakers' L2 into their L1, resulting in opposite directions of lexical ...
Language Sciences, 2015
This article traces the birth of two different pink categories in western Europe and the lexicali... more This article traces the birth of two different pink categories in western Europe and the lexicalization strategies used for these categories in English, German, Bernese, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic with the cognate sets pink, rosa, bleikur, lyserød, ceris. In the 18th century, a particular shade of light red established itself in the cultural life of people in Western Europe, earning its own independent colour term. In the middle of the 20th century, a second pink category began to spread in a subset of the languages. Contemporary experimental data from the Evolution of Semantic Systems colour project (Majid et al., 2011) is analysed in light of the extant historical data on the development of these colour terms. We find that the current pink situation arose through contact-induced lexical and conceptual change. Despite the different lexicalization strategies, the terms' denotation is remarkably similar for the oldest pink category and we investigate the impact of the advent of the younger and more restricted secondary pink category on the colour categorization and colour denotations of the languages.
Typological Studies in Language, 2011
This paper examines the argument-marking system in the Polynesian language Vaeakau-Taumako, which... more This paper examines the argument-marking system in the Polynesian language Vaeakau-Taumako, which has pragmatically related functions similar to those found e.g. in so-called Differential Object Marking systems, but which does not refer to syntactic relations or semantic roles, the functions normally attributed to case-marking systems. It asks exactly which functions should be taken to define a case-marking system as opposed to a system marking pragmatic functions such as topic-focus-structure, and suggests a distinction between two grammatically relevant types of pragmatic salience: referent-determined salience, which is often relevant to case marking, and speaker-determined salience, which is typically encoded in purely pragmatic marking systems. On this account, referent-determined salience emerges as the property that links case-marking and pragmatic marking systems.
STUF - Language Typology and Universals, 2000
Item does not contain fulltex
Documenting Endangered Languages, 2011
Oceanic Linguistics, 2006
The little-described Reefs-Santa Cruz (RSC) languages are usually assumed to be of mixed Papuan-A... more The little-described Reefs-Santa Cruz (RSC) languages are usually assumed to be of mixed Papuan-Austronesian origin, though attempts at linking them systematically either to known Papuan or Austronesian languages have yielded meager results. One of the main arguments in the literature for the presence of “Papuan structures” in the RSC languages has been the claim that the languages have complex systems
Oceanic Linguistics, 2013
This paper examines three properties of the Reefs-Santa Cruz language Äiwoo that are unusual for ... more This paper examines three properties of the Reefs-Santa Cruz language Äiwoo that are unusual for an Oceanic language-a distinction between prefixal marking of subjects for intransitive verbs and suffixal marking for transitive verbs, OVA word order in clauses that are morphologically and syntactically transitive, and an ergatively structured verb phrase in OVA clauses-and one that is frequent in Oceanic languages, namely the existence of clauses that appear to be morphologically intransitive but syntactically transitive (socalled "transitive discord" in the terminology of Margetts). I argue that all these properties are straightforwardly explained by the assumption that the Äiwoo system derives from a western Austronesian-style symmetrical voice system where two basic changes have taken place: the loss of the contrast between an actor voice and an undergoer voice, and the accretion of subject pronouns as bound person markers on verbs. Given that Äiwoo is an Oceanic language, this suggests that a voice system must have persisted later into the development of Oceanic than has previously been assumed.
Oceanic Linguistics, 2011
This paper argues that the best way of analyzing the directional morphemes in the Polynesian Outl... more This paper argues that the best way of analyzing the directional morphemes in the Polynesian Outlier Vaeakau-Taumako (Pileni) is as verbs that most frequently—but not exclusively—occur in serialization with another verb. The class of directionals in Polynesian in general is somewhat heterogeneous; most sources classify them as particles or adverbs, while often noting that some items have a limited verbal use, or are homophonous with verbs with similar meanings. The analysis of directionals as verbal in Vaeakau-Taumako suggests that they are less grammaticalized in this language than in most other Polynesian languages, and so raises the question of how this situation has arisen. One possible explanation is that the presence of verb serialization in Vaeakau-Taumako may have preserved the verbal nature of the directionals longer than in other Polynesian languages. This may in turn have been reinforced through contact with the neighboring Äiwoo language of the Reefs-Santa Cruz group, which has several serialization constructions that are structurally and functionally very similar to those found in Vaeakau-Taumako. A second possibility is that the difference between Vaeakau-Taumako and other Polynesian languages is only apparent, and that Polynesian directionals in general may have verbal properties to a greater extent than generally recognized. As Polynesian languages are poor in verbal morphology, distinguishing verb serialization from other types of complex verbal constructions in these languages is problematic, which might explain why directionals have typically not been analyzed as verbal.
Oceanic Linguistics, 2012
This paper examines a set of structural parallels between Vaeakau-Taumako (Pileni), a Polynesian ... more This paper examines a set of structural parallels between Vaeakau-Taumako (Pileni), a Polynesian Outlier spoken in Temotu Province in the Solomon Islands, and the Vanuatu Outliers Emae, Ifira-Mele, and Futuna-Aniwa. It shows that these four languages share a set of structural features that is not, as a whole, shared by other known Polynesian languages; other languages may show one or two of the features under discussion, but not all four. It argues that the parallels are too detailed to be coincidental, and asks why it should be that just these four languages show such detailed similarities in structure. While it is not possible on the basis of the available data to decide whether the similarities should be assumed to result from shared origins or contact (or both), it is proposed that they may be seen as tentative support for the suggestion made by Bayard that the Vanuatu Outliers (and West Uvean) received their primary settlement from the Vaeakau-Taumako area, rather than directly from Triangle Polynesia.
Journal of Linguistics, 2014
Formal models of syntax typically accord the structural position external to the verb's domai... more Formal models of syntax typically accord the structural position external to the verb's domain a privileged status in the overall syntactic makeup of a language, either by assuming that external arguments are always S or A, or by linking external argument position to syntactic pivothood. This paper demonstrates that the Oceanic language Äiwoo has an ergative verb phrase – i.e. A as the VP-internal argument and S/O as external arguments – but no corresponding S/O pivot. That is, the ergative structure of the verb phrase in Äiwoo does not entail any syntactically privileged status of the VP-external arguments; rather, it is simply a by-product of various diachronic developments. This situation shows that what has traditionally been perceived as fundamental differences in grammatical organisation – the difference between an accusative and an ergative pattern of VP structure – need not in fact be associated with any broader differences in syntactic or pragmatic structure. More impor...
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2012
This article looks back over 40 years of language and culture change in the region of the Solomon... more This article looks back over 40 years of language and culture change in the region of the Solomon Islands where the four Reefs-Santa Cruz (RSC) languages are spoken. Taking the works of Davenport and Wurm as a starting point, we list specific linguistic changes we have identified and discuss the sociological factors which have both promoted and undermined the vitality of these languages. We then determine the level of vitality for each language through the recently proposed Extended Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale-EGIDS (Lewis and Simons 2010), and based on our results for the RSC languages, we provide a short evaluation of the usefulness of EGIDS for prioritizing language documentation efforts.
A short dictionary of Äiwoo A short dictionary of Äiwoo Åshild Naess This is a short dictionary o... more A short dictionary of Äiwoo A short dictionary of Äiwoo Åshild Naess This is a short dictionary of the Äiwoo or Reefs language, which belongs to the Reefs-Santa Cruz group spoken in Solomon Islands' Temotu Province. It includes around 3,500 words in the Äiwoo language with English translations and examples of use, as well as an English-Äiwoo reversal list which makes it possible to find Äiwoo words based on their English translation. The dictionary is intended to be useful both for speakers of Äiwoo and for researchers interested in the language. The Reefs-Santa Cruz languages are of interest to research on Oceanic languages because their ancestral language appears to have been spoken by one of the first groups of people to leave the Proto-Oceanic homeland more than 3,000 years ago. Knowing more about these languages will help us understand more about how the Pacific region was settled and of how languages of Temotu Province are related to the rest of the Oceanic language family. The dictionary is also intended as a tool for the people of the Reef Islands to help support and develop the continued use of their language.
Cognitive Linguistics, 2012
This paper examines the lexical encoding of events of “cutting and breaking” in the Oceanic langu... more This paper examines the lexical encoding of events of “cutting and breaking” in the Oceanic language Äiwoo. It shows that this language differs from previously described languages in this domain in several ways: in having complex “cut and break” forms consisting of two bound elements referring to distinct aspects of the cut and break event; in integrating these forms into a cline of lexicalisation vs. serialisation, arguably reflecting a conceptual-semantic continuum of event integration; and in violating previously suggested generalisations concerning the behaviour of verbs of cutting and breaking in inchoative alternations. It shows that lexicalisation may clearly be a matter of degree, and that the degree to which an event is construed as being constituted by independent subevents vs. subevents which cannot occur independently may be directly reflected in the type of formal expression a language provides to describe it. Furthermore, it suggests that the distinction between “cut” ...
Oceanic Linguistics, 2021
This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and... more This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and valency in the Oceanic language Äiwoo: the undergoervoice suffixes-i,-nyi(i),-ive,-eâ, and-nâ, and the circumstantial voice clitic =Cä. It compares these functions and distributions to those reconstructed for the Proto-Oceanic transitivizing morphemes *-i and *akin[i], and suggests pathways of change that can account for many of the present-day Äiwoo forms as being reflexes of these morphemes and of the 3SG object clitic *=a, though some of the formal differentiation remains unexplained. This analysis implies that Äiwoo has a Philippine-type symmetrical voice system with Oceanic morphology, an unusual state of affairs which has implications for our understanding of the transition from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Oceanic.
Oceanic Linguistics, 2019
Binominal Lexemes in Cross-Linguistic Perspective
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - memSIC, 2020
Over the last decades, there has been extensive discussion in the typological literature of the f... more Over the last decades, there has been extensive discussion in the typological literature of the functions and uses of demonstratives. It is well established that demonstratives are not restricted to referring to items in situational use based on concrete spatial parameters, but that discourse deictic, anaphoric/tracking, and recognitional uses are also common, if not universal, functions of demonstratives (see Himmelmann 1996; 1997; and Diessel 1999 for systematic overviews). Studies have shown that many parameters beyond location and configuration of referents and speech-act participants play a role in demonstrative choice. In particular, directing the addressee's attention towards a target entity and prior knowledge of a referent either through the previous discourse or from the real world have been identified as relevant (see e.g.
Oceanic Linguistics, 2021
This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and... more This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and valency in the Oceanic language Äiwoo: the undergoer-voice suffixes-i,-nyi(i),-ive,-eâ, and-nâ, and the circumstantial voice clitic =Cä. It compares these functions and distributions to those reconstructed for the Proto Oceanic transitivising morphemes *-i and *akin[i], and suggests pathways of change that can account for many of the present-day Äiwoo forms as being reflexes of these morphemes and of the 3SG object clitic *=a, though some of the formal differentiation remains unexplained. This analysis implies that Äiwoo has a Philippine-type symmetrical voice system with Oceanic morphology, an unusual state of affairs which has implications for our understanding of the transition from Proto Malayo-Polynesian to Proto Oceanic. AV-take.out SPEC woman NPIV rice LOC sack for LOC child 'The woman will take some rice out of a/the sack for a/the child.' b. A-alis-in ng babae ang bigas sa sako para sa bata. DUR-take.out-PV GEN woman SPEC rice LOC sack for LOC child 'A/the woman will take the rice out of a/the sack for a/the child.' c. A-alis-an ng babae ng bigas ang sako para sa bata. DUR-take.out-LV GEN woman NPIV rice SPEC sack for LOC child 'A/the woman will take some rice out of the sack for a/the child.' d. Ipag-alis ng babae ng bigas sa sako ang bata. CV-take.out GEN woman NPIV rice LOC sack SPEC child 'A/the woman will take some rice out of a/the sack for the child.' 2 There has been considerable debate in the literature regarding what, if anything, can be considered the subject in Philippine-type symmetrical voice languages in particular, see e.g.
Studies in Language, 2020
This paper examines a comparative construction in the Oceanic language Äiwoo and argues that it d... more This paper examines a comparative construction in the Oceanic language Äiwoo and argues that it differs from those known in the typological literature on comparatives on two counts. It is similar to a so-called ‘exceed’ comparative in involving a morpheme meaning ‘go far’; but unlike canonical exceed comparatives, the construction is intransitive, and the standard of comparison is expressed as an oblique. Moreover, the standard is indicated not only by this oblique phrase but also by a directional marker on the verb, in an extension of the frequent use of directionals in Äiwoo to indicate peripheral participants. This construction thus, on the one hand, expands the established typology of comparative constructions; and on the other, shows that the use of directional morphemes to indicate peripheral participants, otherwise attested e.g. for recipients of give verbs, may extend to the standard in comparative constructions, pointing to an avenue for further typological exploration.
Cognitive Linguistics, 2018
This paper discusses how verbal directional markers are used to encode stative spatial relations ... more This paper discusses how verbal directional markers are used to encode stative spatial relations in the Oceanic language Äiwoo. It argues that the apparent reversal of directional meaning in stative expressions, where ‘up’ is used in expressions meaning ‘underneath’, ‘down’ in expressions meaning ‘above’, and ‘out’ in expressions meaning ‘inside’, can be explained by a fictive motion analysis where the figure is construed as metaphorically moving towards the ground. It moreover argues that in expressions where motion leads to a resulting spatial configuration, where ‘up’ means ‘on top of’ rather than ‘underneath’, this reading is overridden by the so-called goal bias, whereby the resultant configuration is more cognitively salient than the motion producing it. It suggests that the linguistic construal of stative spatial relations may to some extent be correlated with the formal means of expression, where marking by adpositions favours a ‘search domain’ construal whereas encoding wit...
Journal of Language Contact, 2011
In this paper we discuss two cases of contact-induced language change where lexical and grammatic... more In this paper we discuss two cases of contact-induced language change where lexical and grammatical borrowing appear to have gone in opposite directions: one language has borrowed large amounts of vocabulary from another while at the same time being the source of structural borrowings into the other language. Furthermore, it appears in both cases that the structural borrowing has come about through bilingualism in L1 speakers of the source language, while L1 speakers of the language undergoing the structural change are largely monolingual. We propose that these two unusual factors are not unrelated, but that the latter is the cause of the former: Under circumstances where the numerically much smaller language in a contact situation is the contact language, the L2 speakers' variety, influenced by their L1, may spread into the monolingual community. e lexical borrowing naturally happens from the bilingual speakers' L2 into their L1, resulting in opposite directions of lexical ...
Language Sciences, 2015
This article traces the birth of two different pink categories in western Europe and the lexicali... more This article traces the birth of two different pink categories in western Europe and the lexicalization strategies used for these categories in English, German, Bernese, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic with the cognate sets pink, rosa, bleikur, lyserød, ceris. In the 18th century, a particular shade of light red established itself in the cultural life of people in Western Europe, earning its own independent colour term. In the middle of the 20th century, a second pink category began to spread in a subset of the languages. Contemporary experimental data from the Evolution of Semantic Systems colour project (Majid et al., 2011) is analysed in light of the extant historical data on the development of these colour terms. We find that the current pink situation arose through contact-induced lexical and conceptual change. Despite the different lexicalization strategies, the terms' denotation is remarkably similar for the oldest pink category and we investigate the impact of the advent of the younger and more restricted secondary pink category on the colour categorization and colour denotations of the languages.
Typological Studies in Language, 2011
This paper examines the argument-marking system in the Polynesian language Vaeakau-Taumako, which... more This paper examines the argument-marking system in the Polynesian language Vaeakau-Taumako, which has pragmatically related functions similar to those found e.g. in so-called Differential Object Marking systems, but which does not refer to syntactic relations or semantic roles, the functions normally attributed to case-marking systems. It asks exactly which functions should be taken to define a case-marking system as opposed to a system marking pragmatic functions such as topic-focus-structure, and suggests a distinction between two grammatically relevant types of pragmatic salience: referent-determined salience, which is often relevant to case marking, and speaker-determined salience, which is typically encoded in purely pragmatic marking systems. On this account, referent-determined salience emerges as the property that links case-marking and pragmatic marking systems.
STUF - Language Typology and Universals, 2000
Item does not contain fulltex
Documenting Endangered Languages, 2011
Oceanic Linguistics, 2006
The little-described Reefs-Santa Cruz (RSC) languages are usually assumed to be of mixed Papuan-A... more The little-described Reefs-Santa Cruz (RSC) languages are usually assumed to be of mixed Papuan-Austronesian origin, though attempts at linking them systematically either to known Papuan or Austronesian languages have yielded meager results. One of the main arguments in the literature for the presence of “Papuan structures” in the RSC languages has been the claim that the languages have complex systems
Oceanic Linguistics, 2013
This paper examines three properties of the Reefs-Santa Cruz language Äiwoo that are unusual for ... more This paper examines three properties of the Reefs-Santa Cruz language Äiwoo that are unusual for an Oceanic language-a distinction between prefixal marking of subjects for intransitive verbs and suffixal marking for transitive verbs, OVA word order in clauses that are morphologically and syntactically transitive, and an ergatively structured verb phrase in OVA clauses-and one that is frequent in Oceanic languages, namely the existence of clauses that appear to be morphologically intransitive but syntactically transitive (socalled "transitive discord" in the terminology of Margetts). I argue that all these properties are straightforwardly explained by the assumption that the Äiwoo system derives from a western Austronesian-style symmetrical voice system where two basic changes have taken place: the loss of the contrast between an actor voice and an undergoer voice, and the accretion of subject pronouns as bound person markers on verbs. Given that Äiwoo is an Oceanic language, this suggests that a voice system must have persisted later into the development of Oceanic than has previously been assumed.
Oceanic Linguistics, 2011
This paper argues that the best way of analyzing the directional morphemes in the Polynesian Outl... more This paper argues that the best way of analyzing the directional morphemes in the Polynesian Outlier Vaeakau-Taumako (Pileni) is as verbs that most frequently—but not exclusively—occur in serialization with another verb. The class of directionals in Polynesian in general is somewhat heterogeneous; most sources classify them as particles or adverbs, while often noting that some items have a limited verbal use, or are homophonous with verbs with similar meanings. The analysis of directionals as verbal in Vaeakau-Taumako suggests that they are less grammaticalized in this language than in most other Polynesian languages, and so raises the question of how this situation has arisen. One possible explanation is that the presence of verb serialization in Vaeakau-Taumako may have preserved the verbal nature of the directionals longer than in other Polynesian languages. This may in turn have been reinforced through contact with the neighboring Äiwoo language of the Reefs-Santa Cruz group, which has several serialization constructions that are structurally and functionally very similar to those found in Vaeakau-Taumako. A second possibility is that the difference between Vaeakau-Taumako and other Polynesian languages is only apparent, and that Polynesian directionals in general may have verbal properties to a greater extent than generally recognized. As Polynesian languages are poor in verbal morphology, distinguishing verb serialization from other types of complex verbal constructions in these languages is problematic, which might explain why directionals have typically not been analyzed as verbal.
Oceanic Linguistics, 2012
This paper examines a set of structural parallels between Vaeakau-Taumako (Pileni), a Polynesian ... more This paper examines a set of structural parallels between Vaeakau-Taumako (Pileni), a Polynesian Outlier spoken in Temotu Province in the Solomon Islands, and the Vanuatu Outliers Emae, Ifira-Mele, and Futuna-Aniwa. It shows that these four languages share a set of structural features that is not, as a whole, shared by other known Polynesian languages; other languages may show one or two of the features under discussion, but not all four. It argues that the parallels are too detailed to be coincidental, and asks why it should be that just these four languages show such detailed similarities in structure. While it is not possible on the basis of the available data to decide whether the similarities should be assumed to result from shared origins or contact (or both), it is proposed that they may be seen as tentative support for the suggestion made by Bayard that the Vanuatu Outliers (and West Uvean) received their primary settlement from the Vaeakau-Taumako area, rather than directly from Triangle Polynesia.
Journal of Linguistics, 2014
Formal models of syntax typically accord the structural position external to the verb's domai... more Formal models of syntax typically accord the structural position external to the verb's domain a privileged status in the overall syntactic makeup of a language, either by assuming that external arguments are always S or A, or by linking external argument position to syntactic pivothood. This paper demonstrates that the Oceanic language Äiwoo has an ergative verb phrase – i.e. A as the VP-internal argument and S/O as external arguments – but no corresponding S/O pivot. That is, the ergative structure of the verb phrase in Äiwoo does not entail any syntactically privileged status of the VP-external arguments; rather, it is simply a by-product of various diachronic developments. This situation shows that what has traditionally been perceived as fundamental differences in grammatical organisation – the difference between an accusative and an ergative pattern of VP structure – need not in fact be associated with any broader differences in syntactic or pragmatic structure. More impor...
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2012
This article looks back over 40 years of language and culture change in the region of the Solomon... more This article looks back over 40 years of language and culture change in the region of the Solomon Islands where the four Reefs-Santa Cruz (RSC) languages are spoken. Taking the works of Davenport and Wurm as a starting point, we list specific linguistic changes we have identified and discuss the sociological factors which have both promoted and undermined the vitality of these languages. We then determine the level of vitality for each language through the recently proposed Extended Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale-EGIDS (Lewis and Simons 2010), and based on our results for the RSC languages, we provide a short evaluation of the usefulness of EGIDS for prioritizing language documentation efforts.
A short dictionary of Äiwoo A short dictionary of Äiwoo Åshild Naess This is a short dictionary o... more A short dictionary of Äiwoo A short dictionary of Äiwoo Åshild Naess This is a short dictionary of the Äiwoo or Reefs language, which belongs to the Reefs-Santa Cruz group spoken in Solomon Islands' Temotu Province. It includes around 3,500 words in the Äiwoo language with English translations and examples of use, as well as an English-Äiwoo reversal list which makes it possible to find Äiwoo words based on their English translation. The dictionary is intended to be useful both for speakers of Äiwoo and for researchers interested in the language. The Reefs-Santa Cruz languages are of interest to research on Oceanic languages because their ancestral language appears to have been spoken by one of the first groups of people to leave the Proto-Oceanic homeland more than 3,000 years ago. Knowing more about these languages will help us understand more about how the Pacific region was settled and of how languages of Temotu Province are related to the rest of the Oceanic language family. The dictionary is also intended as a tool for the people of the Reef Islands to help support and develop the continued use of their language.
Cognitive Linguistics, 2012
This paper examines the lexical encoding of events of “cutting and breaking” in the Oceanic langu... more This paper examines the lexical encoding of events of “cutting and breaking” in the Oceanic language Äiwoo. It shows that this language differs from previously described languages in this domain in several ways: in having complex “cut and break” forms consisting of two bound elements referring to distinct aspects of the cut and break event; in integrating these forms into a cline of lexicalisation vs. serialisation, arguably reflecting a conceptual-semantic continuum of event integration; and in violating previously suggested generalisations concerning the behaviour of verbs of cutting and breaking in inchoative alternations. It shows that lexicalisation may clearly be a matter of degree, and that the degree to which an event is construed as being constituted by independent subevents vs. subevents which cannot occur independently may be directly reflected in the type of formal expression a language provides to describe it. Furthermore, it suggests that the distinction between “cut” ...
Oceanic Linguistics, 2021
This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and... more This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and valency in the Oceanic language Äiwoo: the undergoervoice suffixes-i,-nyi(i),-ive,-eâ, and-nâ, and the circumstantial voice clitic =Cä. It compares these functions and distributions to those reconstructed for the Proto-Oceanic transitivizing morphemes *-i and *akin[i], and suggests pathways of change that can account for many of the present-day Äiwoo forms as being reflexes of these morphemes and of the 3SG object clitic *=a, though some of the formal differentiation remains unexplained. This analysis implies that Äiwoo has a Philippine-type symmetrical voice system with Oceanic morphology, an unusual state of affairs which has implications for our understanding of the transition from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Oceanic.
Oceanic Linguistics, 2019