Building semantic maps for closely related languages: Words for ‘grain’ and their kin in South Mande (original) (raw)

Semantic maps and the typology of colexification: Intertwining polysemous networks across languages

Building upon the model of Semantic Maps (Haspelmath 2003), which typologists have designed mainly for grammatical semantics, this chapter discusses methodological issues for a model in lexical typology. By breaking up polysemous lexemes of various languages into their semantic “atoms” or senses, one defines an etic grid against which cross-linguistic comparison can be undertaken. Languages differ as to which senses they colexify, i.e., lexify identically. But while each polysemous lexeme as a whole is language-specific, individual pairings of colexified senses can be compared across languages. This model, understood as an empirical, atomistic approach to lexical typology, is finally exemplified with the rich polysemies associated with the notion “breathe”. Intertwined together, they compose a single, universal network of potential semantic extensions.

Ecolinguistics in the Grain Lexicon of Mandailing Language

Britain International of Linguistics Arts and Education (BIoLAE) Journal, 2021

The research discusses the study of ecolinguistics in the grain lexicon of the Mandailing language. The purpose of this study was to describe the grain lexicon in the Mandailing community. This research is a qualitative descriptive study using an ecolinguistic approach. This research conducted inManisak Village, Batang Natal District, Madina Regency (Mandailing Natal). The subjects of this study were native speakers of the Mandailing language in Manisak village. The source of this research data is grain speech in the Mandailing community. The data collection technique was carried out by the listening method which began with observation and interviews. The results of this study are first, the acquisition of the grain lexicon found in the Mandailing community in the form of words and phrases. Second, the resulting lexicon refers to three classifications, namely lexicon related to activities or ways of working (verb), lexicon related to material (noun) and lexicon related to nature (ej...

Lexical Change: Synonym and Homonym in Batak Toba Language in North Sumatra

KnE Social Sciences

This study focuses on language change, specifically the lexical change of the Batak Toba language in two different areas. This research aims to contribute to other researchers and governments related to the future of the local language in maintaining the local language itself. This research used a qualitative research method, specifically a case study, to analyze language aspects among people who use the Batak Toba language in their area. Miles and Huberman’s technique of collecting data was used in this research. The data was collected from two different Batak Language videos in two different areas. The video was transcripted and eliminated by identifying synonyms and homonyms using language change theories. The online Batak dictionary was used to verify the meaning of every synonym and homonym itself. From the data source, which is 25 (twenty-five) videos, the total of the synonym is 22 words, with the detail 14 words found through videos in Tapanuli Tengah and eight words found t...

An areal typology of kin terms in the Nuba Mountain languages

Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, 2022

Despite the relatively large amount of linguistic and anthropological data on kinship terminologies in the languages of the Nuba Mountains, we still lack cross-linguistic studies attempting at reconstructing the areal history of this highly variable lexical field. This paper aims at comparing the formal and semantic features of kin terms across the languages of the Nuba Mountains in order to provide historical evidence for their transmission through inheritance or their possible diffusion via language contact. The comparative study surveys the kinship terminologies of 10 languages belonging to the three phyla attested in the Nuba Mountains (i.e. Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Kadu). In the first part of the paper, I analyze the morphosyntactic properties and functions of kin terms. By adopting a componential perspective of analysis, I then focus on the semantics of kin terms in the languages of the sample. The comparison eventually illustrates a high degree of typological variation whose origins can be traced back to the different genetic affiliations of the Nuba Mountain languages. It is also argued that matter and/or pattern borrowing can possibly occur in the domain of kin terms. However, language contact is less significant than shared sociocultural factors in triggering formal and semantic similarities across different kin terminologies. Above and beyond, the study intends to contribute to the ongoing debate on whether the Nuba Mountains constitute an ‘accretion’ zone and to point out some instances of micro-scale linguistic convergence between the languages of the region.

Meaning or morphology: Individual differences in the categorization of Kinyarwanda nouns

Unlike the gender-based systems of noun categorization in many European languages, numerous semantic categories contribute to Bantu noun class systems. Kinyarwanda, the focus of our study, has a rich inventory of noun class prefixes, but it is unknown the degree to which the semantic and morphological systems underlying these noun classes influence how speakers mentally categorize nominals in their language. To investigate this, speakers of Kinyarwanda (n = 46) were recruited to take part in an online triadic comparison experiment. Across 144 trials, participants were asked to identify the item most different from a written list of three nouns. These lists were constructed based on morphological similarity (from noun classes 3, 5, 7 or 9), semantic overlap (from the domains of 'mammals' and 'tools'), or both. Results show an overall preference for semantic grouping in the triads, although the strength of these preferences differed across individuals. This variation turned out to be systematic and predictable: speakers of Kinyarwanda who spoke Kiswahili as an additional language generally preferred categorizing on the basis of noun class, while those who did not speak Kiswahili as an additional language were more likely to base their decisions on the shared semantic domains of the nouns. These data suggest that noun categorization choices in Kinyarwanda can be influenced by knowledge of other linguistic systems, highlighting the impact that learning additional languages may have on first-language lexical knowledge.

Lexical tectonics: Mapping structural change in patterns of lexification

François, Alexandre. 2022. Lexical tectonics: Mapping structural change in patterns of lexification. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 41/1: 89‒123., 2022

Whether it is based on philological data or on reconstruction, historical linguistics formulates etymological hypotheses that entail changes both in form and in meaning. Semantic change can be understood as a change in "patterns of lexification", i. e., correspondences between forms and senses. Thus a polysemous word, which once lexified senses s1-s2-s3, evolves so it later encodes s2-s3-s4. Meanings that used to be colexified are now dislexified, and vice versa. Leaning on empirical data from Romance and from Oceanic, this study outlines a general model of historical lexicology, and identifies five types of structural innovations in the lexicon: split, merger, competition, shift, and relexification. The theoretical discussion is made easier by using a visual approach to structural change, in the form of diachronic maps. Semantic maps have already proven useful to represent synchronic patterns of lexification, outlining each language's emic categories against a grid of etic senses. The same principle can be profitably used when analysing lexification patterns in diachrony: lexical change is then viewed as the reconfiguration of sense clusters in a semantic space. Maps help us visualize the "lexical tectonics" at play as words evolve over time, gradually shifting their meaning, gaining or losing semantic territory, colliding with each other, or disappearing forever. ___________________ François, Alexandre. 2022. Lexical tectonics: Mapping structural change in patterns of lexification. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 41/1: 89‒123.