Papers by Ranko Matasović
Utile cum dulci. Zbornik u čast Pavlu Knezoviću, 2019
Il existe environ un intervalle de trois mille annees entre Homere et l'apparition certaine d... more Il existe environ un intervalle de trois mille annees entre Homere et l'apparition certaine de chants folkloriques slaves. Le mythe de Jarylo est construit a partir d'Homere. L'A. tente une comparaison entre les deux traditions qui possedent de nombreux paralleles sans pouvoir parvenir a identifier autre chose que des traces. L'A. est neanmoins en mesure de proposer une explication pour une des metaphores de Pindare qui apparait dans les Pythiques. Il s'agit sans doute de la moins discutable de ses conclusions
El Funcionalismo En La Teoria Linguistica La Gramatica Del Papel Y La Referencia Introduccion Avances Y Aplicaciones 2012 Isbn 978 84 460 3516 9 Pags 171 186, 2012
The Journal of Indo European Studies, 2013
This paper discusses nine Indo-European roots that have reflexes meaning "to cover" and... more This paper discusses nine Indo-European roots that have reflexes meaning "to cover" and "to hide" in various Indo-European languages. Nominal derivatives from these roots often mean "house, hut" and "roof". We adduce evidence from non-IE languages in which words with these meanings are etymologically related and, having established this systemic pattern of etymological correspondences, we propose new etymologies of six words from different IE languages: ORuss. kuca "house" and Gr. kome "hair" from "covering" (PIE *kem(H)-), Gr. krypto "hide" and Lat. creper "obscure" from "to cover" (PIE *krep-), PSI. *gazb, *guzb "buttock" from "that which is hidden" (PIE *gewg-), and OIr. forad "mound, residence, brow" from "a cover" (PIE *(H)wer-).
Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, 2014
This is the first thorough monograph-length study of the development of PIE laryngeals in Celtic,... more This is the first thorough monograph-length study of the development of PIE laryngeals in Celtic, and it should be welcomed as such. Within Celtic linguistics, it is bound to become the equivalent of R.S.P. Beekes’ monograph on the development of laryngeals in Greek (1969) and of Peter Schrijver’s book on laryngeals in Latin (1991). The introductory chapter (1–18) gives an overview of the sources fromwhich the author excerpted his material, i.e. the collections of etymologies on which his discussions of laryngeal developments are based. All major etymological lexica of Celtic and Indo-European have been consulted, and all forms have been checked in the dictionaries of the individual Celtic languages. This is important since etymological dictionaries (especially older ones) often contain ghost words. After presenting his sources, Zair briefly discusses the current state of knowledge about PIE laryngeals and correctly accepts the now nearly universal reconstruction of three laryngeals in PIE, but mentions other variants of the theory which are now out of fashion. He does not dwell on the history of the laryngeal theory, or of the research relevant to the reflexes of laryngeals in Celtic. Although it is clear from Zair’s discussion that he has considered earlier accounts of the development of laryngeals in Celtic (e.g. Hamp 1965, Joseph 1982, de Bernardo Stempel 1987, Schrijver 1995, McCone 1996, Isaac 2007), a brief account of the history of research would have been welcome in a thorough monograph such as this. The ‘Introduction’ gives a survey of major laryngeal developments in various branches of Indo-European, together with the relevant literature. In cases where laryngeal developments are still disputed, as e.g. in Armenian, Anatolian, and Balto-Slavic, Zair correctly represents the major alternative views and states which one he believes is more probable. For example, with respect to the issue of the origin of Balto-Slavic intonation, he prefers the traditional view, according to which all long vowels (i.e. the apophonic lengths as well as those developing from short vowels followed by laryngeals) yield an acute, and rejects the views of the Leiden school, according to which only syllables that contained laryngeals (or glottalics) yield an acute in Balto-Slavic, while inherited long vowels received circumflex intonation. Such choices were necessary, of course, but they sometimes affect Zair’s overall conclusions about laryngeal reflexes in Celtic. To give one example: Zair accepts Nussbaum’s (1986: 7–8)
Transactions of the Philological Society, 2012
Historical Linguistics, 2010
Studies in Language Companion Series, 2008
In traditional grammars of Kabardian, transitive and intransitive verbs are represented as having... more In traditional grammars of Kabardian, transitive and intransitive verbs are represented as having different rules of case assignment, as well as different order of personal prefixes. This paper shows how both case assignment and order of verbal prefixes can be accounted for by an elegant set of rules within the framework of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG ). It is also shown that in Kabardian, a large majority of transitive verbs are formed by lexical rules or morphological causativization from basic intransitives, and it is argued that there is a systematic correlation between Aktionsart and transitivity: intransitives are, as a rule, activity verbs, while their transitive correlates are active accomplishments.
Linguistic Typology, 2014
Abstract In this article two hypotheses about the relationship of verbal and adnominal agreement ... more Abstract In this article two hypotheses about the relationship of verbal and adnominal agreement are proposed: first, it is claimed that languages tend to have adnominal agreement only if they also have verbal agreement, but not vice versa. Second, it is argued that languages with adnominal agreement are areally restricted, while languages with verbal agreement are not. A sample of languages was selected to test these hypotheses, and both are confirmed by the data. The article closes with an admittedly speculative explanation of the hypotheses involving patterns of grammaticalization of different types of agreement markers.
Indogermanische Forschungen, 2004
Diachronica, 1998
Early Proto-Albanian probably had a dynamic stress on the first syllable. Early Latin loan-words ... more Early Proto-Albanian probably had a dynamic stress on the first syllable. Early Latin loan-words stressed on the penultimate lost the unstressed initial syllable(s), cf. L amīcus >> Alb. mik 'friend', L imperātor >> Alb. mbret 'king', L vicīnus >> Alb. fqinj 'neighbour'. In contemporary language the stress is regularly on the last syllable of the stem, but there are exceptions, cf. lúle 'flower' (but muzé 'museum'), jétë 'life' (but këtë' 'this'), etc. It is possible that Proto-Albanian still had free stress, because this assumption helps us understand some vowel changes in word-final position, e. g. the development of stressed final *-ā toe , but unstressed *-ā to-ë (on which see below). 3.2. Vowels All length oppositions inherited from PIE were lost in Proto-Albanian. However, a new quantitative opposition in the vowel system developed, and was preserved in Old Gheg documents (where long vowels were written with two vowel letters) and in dialects. The long vowels apparently developed by lengthening under accent, e.g. Old Gheg aar /a:r/ 'gold' (Tosk ar) << L aurum, Old Gheg maaj /ma:j/ 'May' << L maius. The difference between long and short vowels does not exist in the standard language. Some unaccented initial vowels were lost by aphaeresis, and this process must have been very early, since it affected Latin loanwords, cf. Alb. pa 'without, before' < PIE *h2epó (G apó, Goth. af), Alb. mbi 'on, upon' < PIE *h2embhi 'around, about' (G amphí, OIr. imm), Alb. blatë 'wafer' << L oblāta, Alb. kishë 'church' << L ecclēsia (originally from Greek), Alb. shemë 'swarm (of bees)' << L exāmen 'swarm', Alb. mik 'friend' << L amīcus. The process must be later than the Tosk rhotacism of-n-, if Alb. rosë 'duck' is from PIE *h2enh2t-yeh2 'duck' (L anas, G nē֮ ssa, Germ. Ente, Russ. útka, etc.). 3.2.1. Short PIE vowels The distinction between PIE long and short vowels was lost in Proto-Albanian (though a new quantitative opposition was partially restored at a later stage, see below). PIE *(H1)e > Alb. je in open syllables, cf. PIE *h1es(s)i > Alb. je 'you are', PIE *h1ep-'take' (Hitt. e-ep-zi 'takes') > Alb. jep 'give'. In closed syllables (before-CC-) the outcome is ja, cf. PIE *g w hermo-'hot' (G thermós) > Alb. zjarm 'fire', PIE *selpo-'fat' (G sélpos) > Alb. gjalpë 'butter'. Both of these changes must be dated after Early Proto-Albanian, because they also affect Latin loan-words, cf. qiell 'sky' << L caelum, fjalë 'word' << L fābella, shalë 'saddle' << L sella, sharrë 'saw' << L serra. In closed syllables before nasals and in all syllables after consonants followed by liquids (*Cl-, *Cr-) the reflex is Alb. e, cf. PIE *penk w e '5' (Sktr. pán͂ ca) > Alb. pesë, PIE *d h reg' h-'run' (G tréhkhō 'run') > Alb. dredh 'turn'. In Alb. vej 'weave' < *webhnyō (PIE *webh-> Germ. weben, etc.), and in PIE *wes-'to dress, put on clothes > Alb. vesh (Skr. váste 'wears', L vestis 'clothes') there was probably a dissimilation *jej > ej, hence we don't have *vjej 'weave' and *vjesh 'dress'. In some Latin loanwords Latin-e-is reflected as-i-, e. g. Alb. grigj 'herd, flock' << L grege-, Alb. mëshirë 'pity, mercy' << L miseria 'misery, wretchedness'. These might
Rasprave Instituta za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje, 2002
Saetak Razlika između neotuđive i otuđive posvojnosti u hrvatskome nije gramatikalizirana, no ip... more Saetak Razlika između neotuđive i otuđive posvojnosti u hrvatskome nije gramatikalizirana, no ipak je izraziva pragmatičkim pravilima, uslijed kojih se neke konstrukcije (poput posvojnoga dativa) osjećaju manje obiljeenima uz neotuđivo ...
The present volume contains most of the papers read at the colloquium, together with three other ... more The present volume contains most of the papers read at the colloquium, together with three other papers, one by Professor Václav Blaek who could not unfortunately attend and another two which take the place of the presentations given at the colloquium by Professor Tatyana ...
Leiden: Brill, 2009
... Furthermore it provides a thorough description of the synchronic phonological system of Hitti... more ... Furthermore it provides a thorough description of the synchronic phonological system of Hittite as well as a comprehensive study of the Hittite historical phonology. More information. 148.00$203.00. Version: Hardback. Publication Value: Language Ref. ...
Journal of Slavic Linguistics, 2017
Reviewed by Marek Majer* * I am grateful to Wayles Browne for helpful suggestions. 1 Cf. also two... more Reviewed by Marek Majer* * I am grateful to Wayles Browne for helpful suggestions. 1 Cf. also two shorter reviews in
This paper presents the basic typological properties of the causative construction in Kabardian, ... more This paper presents the basic typological properties of the causative construction in Kabardian, using Dixon’s (2000) typology of causatives, and points out some of its cross– linguistically unusual features. It is argued that arguments of causativized verbs preserve the same cases they are assigned by the underlying non–causatives, in accordance with the “Dependent–first” strategy of case assignment (Matasovi} 2009). We also discuss the juncture/ nextus type of Kabardian causatives. Several arguments show that the construction represents nuclear coordination. An examination of reflexivized causatives in Kabardian, and the comparison of similar structures in Spanish, English, and Jakaltek, shows that languages can differ in their choice of the argument which serves as the binder of the reflexive in a nuclear juncture: in some languages this is the highest ranking macrorole of the causative verb (e.g. in Jakaltek), but in others this can be the highest ranking macrorole of the underl...
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Papers by Ranko Matasović