Evolutionary paths of Old French reciprocal markers. New and old methodological tools
PDF (Français (France))

Keywords

grammaticalization
exaptation
recycling
evolution
reciprocity
reflexive vs. reciprocal

How to Cite

Nkollo, M. (2012). Evolutionary paths of Old French reciprocal markers. New and old methodological tools. Studia Romanica Posnaniensia, 39(4), 99–112. https://doi.org/10.14746/strop.2012.394.008

Abstract

The present paper revolves around unusual paths of grammaticalization of Old French (12th century) reciprocal markers. This methodological framework requires medieval means of expressing reciprocity to be compared both with their parent forms in Classical Latin and with the markers introduced in subsequent stages of the history of French language. The first hypothesis deals with how parallel markers, i.e. ones that have a common origin and that are used inside the same area of grammar (se… entre- and entre eux < Lat. inter se), are different from each other. This path is claimed to materialize provided one of the two terms begins to serve a particular function not performed by the other one. The second hypothesis accounts for what means were used to prevent ongoing reflexive / reciprocal homonymy. This task happened to be provisionally fulfilled by cors a cors and coste a coste until the advent of adverbs ending in -ment in 14th century. As a consequence, body-part nouns lost most of their grammatical potential. The third hypothesis, formulated in terms of exaptation, explains how and why languages are likely to recycle erstwhile peripheral lexical elements. This evolutionary path takes place in response to a need to convey a given meaning unambiguously. Attempts at avoiding reflexive / reciprocal homonymy prompted the revival of seemingly forgotten Latin items reciprocus / mutuus. Concluding remarks address the problem of whether the concept of exaptation is useful in historical linguistics and contain a proposal towards constraining its scope. As for current views of grammaticalization, this notion seems to call for further refinements, as well.
https://doi.org/10.14746/strop.2012.394.008
PDF (Français (France))

References

Creissels, Denis (2006): Syntaxe générale. Une introduction typologique. 2 : La Phrase. Paris : Hermès science-Lavoisier.

Dahl, Östen (2001): « Grammaticalization and the life cycles of constructions ». RASK – Internationalt tidsskrift for sprog og kommunikation 14 : 91-134.

Dalrymple Mary, Kanazawa, Makoto; Kim ,Yookyung; Mchombo, Sam; Peters, Stanley (1998): « Reciprocal Expressions and the Concept of Reciprocity ». Linguistics and Philosophy 21 (2) : 159-210.

Gaffiot, Félix (1934): Dictionnaire latin-français. Paris : Hachette.

Gildersleeve, Basil Lanneau; Lodg e, Gonzalez (1895/2003): Gildersleeve’s Latin Grammar. Wauconda : Bolchazy-Carducci Publisher.

Guentchéva, Zlatka; Rivière, Nicole (2007): « Reciprocal and reflexive constructions in French ». In : Vladimir P. Nedjalkov et al. [ed.]. Reciprocal Constructions, vol. 2. Amsterdam – Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 561-607.

Heine, Bernd; Kuteva, Tania (2002): World Lexicon of Grammaticalization. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Heine, Bernd; Kuteva, Tania (2007): The genesis of grammar: a reconstruction. Oxford : Oxford University Press.

Heine, Bernd; Miyashita, Hiroyuki (2008): « The intersection between reflexives and reciprocals: A grammaticalization perspective ». In : Volker Gast, Ekkehard König [eds.]. Reciprocal and Reflexives, Theoretical and typological explorations. Berlin – New York : Walter de Gruyter, 169-223.

Heine, Bernd; Song, Kyung-An (2011): « On the grammaticalization of personal pronouns ». Journal of Linguistics 47 : 587-630.

Kuryłowicz, Jerzy (1965): « L’évolution des catégories grammaticales ». Diogène. Revue internationale des sciences humaines 51 : 54-71.

Lamiroy, Béatrice (1999): « Auxiliaires, langues romanes et grammaticalisation ». Langages 135 : 33-45.

Marchello-Nizia, Christiane (1995): L’évolution du français : Ordre des mots, démonstratifs, accent tonique. Paris : Armand Colin.

Meillet, Antoine (1921): Linguistique historique et linguistique générale. Paris : H. Champion.

Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. (2007): « Encoding of the reciprocal meaning ». In: Vladimir P. Nedjalkov et al. [ed.]. Reciprocal Constructions, vol. 1. Amsterdam – Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, 147-207.

Traugott, Elizabeth C. (2004): « Exaptation and Grammaticalization ». In : Minoji Akimoto [ed.]. Linguistic Studies Based on Corpora. Tokyo : Hituzi Syobo Publishing Co., 133-156.

Weiss, Daniel (2005): « Nowe przyimki o pochodzeniu imiesłowowym? ». In : Maciej Grochowski [ed.]. Przysłówki i przyimki. Studia ze składni i semantyki języka polskiego. Toruń : Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu im. Mikołaja Kopernika, 177-207.

Zaring, Laurie (2010): « Changing from OV to VO: More evidence from Old French ». Ianua. Revista Philologica Romanica 10 : 1-18.