Papers by Denis Creissels
dans Tatiana Bottineau (dir.), La prédication existentielle dans les langues naturelles : valeurs et repérages, structures et modalités, Presses de l’Inalco, pp. 17-41., 2020
Beaucoup de langues (probablement la majorité des langues du monde), n’ont pas véritablement gram... more Beaucoup de langues (probablement la majorité des langues du monde), n’ont pas véritablement grammaticalisé une prédication existentielle formellement distincte de la prédication de localisation, et les constructions possessives comportant un prédicatif de localisation / existence auprès duquel le possesseur est encodé comme la figure dans une prédication de localisation ou d’existence sont très répandues. Mais il n’est pas rare non plus de trouver dans les constructions existentielles un prédicatif qui apparaît aussi dans des constructions possessives alignées sur la construction transitive de base. Deux explications historiques sont envisageables : ou bien la construction existentielle est issue historiquement d’une construction trans-possessive (comme en français), ou bien la construction trans-possessive est issue historiquement d’une prédication de localisation / existence mais a évolué de façon à ce que l’encodage du possesseur et du possédé en vienne à s’aligner avec celui de l’agent et du patient dans la construction transitive de base.
Linguistics 58(2). 463-491., 2020
Cuwabo (Bantu P34, Mozambique) illustrates a relativization strategy, also attested in some North... more Cuwabo (Bantu P34, Mozambique) illustrates a relativization strategy, also attested in some NorthWestern and Central Bantu languages, whose most salient characteristics are that: (a) the initial agreement slot of the verb form does not express agreement with the subject (as in independent clauses), but agreement with the head noun; (b) the initial agreement slot of the verb form does not express agreement in person and number-gender (or class), but only in number-gender; (c) when a noun phrase other than the subject is relativized, the noun phrase encoded as the subject in the corresponding independent clause occurs in post-verbal position and does not control any agreement mechanism. In this article, we show that, in spite of the similarity between the relative verb forms of Cuwabo and the corresponding independent verb forms, and the impossibility of isolating a morphological element analyzable as a participial formative, the relative verb forms of Cuwabo are participles, with the following two particularities: they exhibit full contextual orientation, and they assign a specific grammatical role to the initial subject, whose encoding in relative clauses coincides neither with that of subjects of independent verb forms, nor with that of adnominal possessors.
In Walter Bisang & Andrej Malchukov (eds), Grammaticalization scenarios. Areal patterns and cross-linguistic variation.. De Gruyter. 695-727., 2020
In this chapter, I review grammaticalization processes that can be reconstructed in the history o... more In this chapter, I review grammaticalization processes that can be reconstructed in the history of Manding languages on the basis of internal reconstruction and/or comparative data (both within Manding languages and between Manding languages and languages belonging to other branches of the Mande language family), and also phenomena found in present-day Manding languages that can be analyzed as grammaticalization in progress.
In Walter Bisang & Andrej Malchukov (eds), Grammaticalization scenarios. Areal patterns and cross-linguistic variation.. De Gruyter. 769-801., 2020
In the present paper, I review grammaticalization processes that can be reconstructed in the hist... more In the present paper, I review grammaticalization processes that can be reconstructed in the history of Tswana on the basis of internal reconstruction and/or comparative data (including regular relationships between Tswana forms and Proto-Bantu reconstructions), and also phenomena observable in present-day Tswana that can be analyzed as grammaticalization in progress.
Linguistic Discovery 7.1. 7-20., 2020
Identificational clefts dissociate the assertion of the exclusive identification of a participant... more Identificational clefts dissociate the assertion of the exclusive identification of a participant in an event from the rest of the information about the event. In all languages, this can be achieved by combining equative predication and participant nominalization, but in the evolution of languages, the routinization of such a construction as the usual way of expressing participant focalization may result in its grammaticalization as a specific type of construction. After proposing to reformulate the usual distinction between 'pseudo-clefts' and 'clefts' as a distinction between 'plain clefts' and 'grammaticalized clefts', this article discusses successively the relationship between cleft constructions and the notion of subordination, the changes that may convert plain clefts into grammaticalized clefts, the emergence of focus markers from cleft constructions, semantic aspects of the evolution of clefts, and the trend towards monoclausality in the evolution of clefts.
Italian Journal of Linguistics 31(2). 38-106. , 2019
The central topic of the present paper is the typology of inverse-locational predication, illustr... more The central topic of the present paper is the typology of inverse-locational predication, illustrated by English There is a cat in the tree. After defining inverse-locational predication as a comparative concept and discussing its relationship with other types of constructions commonly called 'existential', I propose a morphosyntactic typology of inverse-locational predication constructions, and I discuss the alignment relationships that can be found in the languages of the world between plain-locational, inverse-locational, and possessive predication.
Langages 216. 17-32., 2019
Cet article est consacré aux interactions possibles entre réflexivisation et causativisation. Il ... more Cet article est consacré aux interactions possibles entre réflexivisation et causativisation. Il examine successivement la dérive sémantique de constructions de verbes transitifs combinant causativisation et réflexivisation, la dérive sémantique de constructions de verbes intransitifs combinant causativisation et réflexivisation, et la question des constructions réfléchies implicitement causatives. / This article deals with the possible interactions between reflexivization and causativization. It examines in turn the possible semantic evolutions of constructions combinining causativization and reflexivization of transitive and intransitive verbs, and the question of the causative interpretation of constructions involving reflexive marking but no causative marking.
Linguistic Typology 23(3). 467-532., 2019
Recent accounts on the typology of predicative possession, including those by Stassen, recognise ... more Recent accounts on the typology of predicative possession, including those by Stassen, recognise a Topic Possessive type with the possessee coded like the figure in an existential predication, and the possessor coded as a topic that is not subcategorised by the predicate and is not related to any syntactic position in the comment, literally: As for Possessor, there is Possessee. The Asian region is explicitly singled out as being a Topic Possessive area. On the basis of a sample of 71 languages from the four main language families of continental East and Southeast Asia-Sino-Tibetan, Hmong-Mien, Tai-Kadai and Austroasiatic, contrary to these previous accounts of the distribution of the main types of predicative possession in the world's languages, we argue that this area should rather be considered as showing a particularly high concentration of Have-Possessives, with the additional particularity that the verbs occurring in the Have-Possessive constructions in this linguistic area are polysemous verbs also used for existential predication. After briefly reviewing Stassen's typology of predicative possession, we discuss his account of the Topic Possessive type and then present five arguments for considering why the possessor NP of the existential/possessive verb yoǔ 有 in Standard Mandarin Chinese cannot be analysed as invariably occupying the position of a topic, and consequently, that the construction should be reclassified as an instance of the Have-Possessive type. In the final sections, the situation is examined for other Southeast Asian languages showing the same configuration for predicative possession and existential predication as Standard Mandarin, to the extent that data is available.
Mandenkan 61. 3-46, 2019
This article describes the tonal system of Pakaawu Mandinka. This Manding variety is characterize... more This article describes the tonal system of Pakaawu Mandinka. This Manding variety is characterized by the importance of syllable weight in the conditioning of tonal phenomena, and by systematic tonal alternations affecting the last syllable of words that differ in important respects from what has been described so far for other Manding varieties, leading to posit that words ending with a light syllable cannot have a basic tonal contour ending with two successive H-toned syllables, and that the possible basic tonal contours of verbal lexemes ending with a heavy syllable are different from those possible for the nominal lexemes having the same syllabic structure.
Afrikanistik-Aegyptologie-Online., 2019
Among the various types of constructions that may have been referred to as 'existential' in the l... more Among the various types of constructions that may have been referred to as 'existential' in the literature, the present article deals with inverse locational predication (abbreviated as ILP), illustrated by English There is a cat in the tree. Inverse locational predication, like plain (or direct) locational predication, illustrated by English The cat is in the tree, is characterized by its ability to encode prototypical figure-ground relationships; it differs from plain locational predication in that it encodes the marked perspectivization 'from ground to figure'. Not all languages have an ILP construction morphologically distinct from plain locational predication, but in many languages that do not have a specialized ILP construction, variation in constituent order is related to variation in perspectivization. However, this is not the case for the languages of the Sudanic belt. A remarkable typological particularity of the languages of this area is that most of them do not have a morphologically distinct ILP construction, and at the same time do not use variation in constituent order to express variation in perspectivization. Résumé Parmi les différents types de constructions qui ont pu être désignées comme 'existentielles' dans la littérature, cet article s'intéresse à la prédication de localisation inverse, illustrée en français par Il y a un chat dans l'arbre. La prédication de localisation inverse, comme la prédication de localisation simple, illustrée en français par Le chat est dans l'arbre, se caractérise par son aptitude à encoder les relations figure-fond prototypiques; elle diffère de la prédication de localisation simple par le fait qu'elle encode la perspectivisation marquée 'du fond à la figure'. Toutes les langues n'ont pas une construction prédicative de localisation inverse morphologiquement distincte de la prédication de localisation simple, mais dans beaucoup de langues qui pas une telle construction, l'ordre des constituants peut varier en relation avec la perspectivisation. Ce n'est toutefois pas le cas pour les langues de la ceinture soudanaise. Une particularité typologique remarquable des langues de cette zone est que la plupart d'entre elles n'ont pas une construction morphologiquement distincte pour la prédication de localisation inverse, et en même temps n'utilisent pas la variation de l'ordre des constituants pour exprimer un changement de perspective dans la prédication de localisation. Zusammenfassung Zu den verschiedenen Konstruktionstypen, die in der Literatur als existenzbeschreibend diskutiert werden, befasst sich der vorliegende Artikel mit inversen lokalen Prädikationen (abgekürzt ILP), wie z.B. Deutsch Da sitzt eine Katze im Baum. Inverse lokale Prädikation, wie einfache lokale Prädikation, z.B. Deutsch Die Katze sitzt im Baum, zeichnet sich durch ihre Fähigkeit prototypische Figure-Ground Beziehungen zu beschreiben. Sie unterscheidet sich von einfachen lokalen Prädikationen, durch die markierte Perspektive 'von Ground zu Figure'. Nicht alle Sprachen haben eine ILP Konstruktion, die sich von der einfachen morphologisch unterscheidet. In vielen Sprachen aber, die keine spezielle ILP Konstruktion haben, werden die verschiedenen Perspektiven durch unterschiedliche Reihenfolgen der Konstituenten ausgedrückt. Das gilt allerdings nicht für die Sprachen des Sudanic Belt. Eine bemerkenswerte typologische Eigenart der Sprachen dieser Region besteht darin, dass sie weder eine spezifische morphologische ILP Konstruktionen haben, noch unterschiedliche Konstituentenfolgen, um Variation der Perspektiven auszudrücken. 2
In Alena Witzlack-Makarevich & Balthasar Bickel (eds), Argument Selectors. A new perspective on grammatical relations. John Benjamins. 301-348., 2019
In this paper, after establishing on a strictly language-internal basis the distinction between f... more In this paper, after establishing on a strictly language-internal basis the distinction between four possible syntactic positions for arguments in Mandinka predicative constructions, and analyzing alignment relationships in the coding properties of arguments, I discuss alignment in the syntactic operations and constructions likely to be relevant to the definition of grammatical relations. Most of them confirm the S = A ≠ P alignment apparent in the coding properties of arguments. However, Mandinka also has several constructions or operations with no differentiation between S, A and P, a few others in which A and P behave differently and S is aligned with P, and one with a tripartite treatment of S, A and P.
Dans Jean Léo Léonard & Annie Rialland (éds.), Linguistique africaine - perspectives croisées, Société de Linguistique de Paris., 2018
Soninke, spoken by approximately two million speakers in Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, and Gambia, b... more Soninke, spoken by approximately two million speakers in Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, and Gambia, belongs to the western branch of the Mande language family. The most remarkable characteristic of its tone system, based on a binary H vs. L contrast (with downsteps analyzable as the manifestation of floating L tones), is the pervasiveness of tonal processes in constructional and derivational morphology. All possible types of tonal processes are attested in Soninke morphology: interaction between the inherent tones of units put in contact by morphological operations (lexeme + lexeme or lexeme + affix), complexification of the inherent tone pattern of a unit involved in a morphological operation (explicable as resulting from the action of an additive morphotoneme), simplification of the inherent tone pattern of a unit, and replacement of the inherent tone pattern of a unit by a uniform tone pattern (attributable to the action of a replacive morphotoneme). After a brief sketch of Kingi Soninke segmental and tonal phonology, this article is devoted to a detailed description of the involvement of replacive morphotonemes in the inflection of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and numerals.
FAB, 2018
In most Subsaharan languages, noun incorporation as a morphological operation combining a nominal... more In most Subsaharan languages, noun incorporation as a morphological operation combining a nominal lexeme and a verbal lexeme into a compound verbal lexeme is very marginal or even inexistent, but Soninke is an exception. In this paper, after presenting the verbal predicative constructions of Soninke, the valency alternations found in this language, and the division of verbs into valency classes, we analyze the relationship between transitivity and the various subtypes of incorporation found in Soninke.
published in Tom Güldemann (ed.), The languages and linguistics of Africa. Mouton De Gruyter. 712-821., 2018
This paper does not aim at providing a general survey of morphosyntactic phenomena already signal... more This paper does not aim at providing a general survey of morphosyntactic phenomena already signaled as particularly frequent or rare among Sub-Saharan languages, or showing a particular genetic or areal distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa. The idea here is rather to select topics on which recently published works shed some new light, or which I consider particularly promising on the basis of my own descriptive work on individual languages, or my participation in collective research projects. The questions discussed in this paper are grouped under the following five headings:
– Nouns and noun phrases (section 2)
– Argument structure and valency operations (section 3)
– Clause structure (section 4)
– Complex constructions (section 5)
– Information structure (section 6)
published in Mandenkan 59. 3-30., 2018
Cet article décrit une catégorie de mots du soninké jusqu'ici négligée dans les descriptions de c... more Cet article décrit une catégorie de mots du soninké jusqu'ici négligée dans les descriptions de cette langue. Les caractéristiques générales de cette catégorie sont comparables à celles des 'verbes statifs' des langues mandingues. En particulier, ils assument la fonction prédicative en combinaison avec un couple unique de marqueurs prédicatifs (positif vs. négatif) qui sont attestés par ailleurs, mais appariés différemment, et avec des valeurs aspecto-modales dont ils sont dépourvus dans leur emploi avec les verbes statifs. Mots-clés: mandé, soninké, parties du discours, verbes statifs. Abstract. This article describes a lexical category found in Soninke that has been neglected so far. The general characteristics of this category are similar to those of the 'stative verbs' found in Manding languages. In particular, they fulfill the predicative function in combination with a single pair of predicative markers (positive vs. negative) also attested with the other verbs, but in different pairings, and with aspecto-modal values of which they are deprived in their use with stative verbs.
Published in Joseba A. Lakarra & Blanca Urgell (eds.), Studia Philologica et Diachronica in honorem Joakin Gorrotxategi. Euskal Herriko Univertsitatea / Universidad del Pais Vasco. 175-187., 2018
This article contributes to the typological profile of Basque by discussing its status with respe... more This article contributes to the typological profile of Basque by discussing its status with respect to the parameter of transitivity prominence, i.e. the extent to which it makes use of transitive coding to encode events that are not prototypically transitive. The article is based on a questionnaire of 30 verb meanings specially designed to investigate the cross-linguistic variation in transitivity prominence. The main conclusion is that the relatively low degree of transitivity prominence found in Basque sharply contrasts with the situation of its Romance neighbors. However, in a typological perspective, the situation of Basque in this respect is similar to that observed in some Indo-European languages such as Russian, and cannot be compared to the extremely low degree of transitivity prominence observed in some Caucasian languages.
published in Diana Forker & Timur Maisak (eds.), The semantics of verbal categories in Nakh-Daghestanian languages. Leiden / Boston : Brill. 166-187., 2018
The verbal inflection of Northern Akhvakh includes five synthetic tenses that equally describe ev... more The verbal inflection of Northern Akhvakh includes five synthetic tenses that equally describe events as having occurred before the time of utterance or some other reference point on the time scale, and consequently share an aspectual value of the type commonly labeled ‘completive’ or ‘perfective’. These five perfective tenses do not differ in terms of distance in time, current relevance, or aspect, but only in their epistemic implications (including –but not limited to– evidentiality distinctions of the type commonly found in Caucasian languages). After an overview of the verbal inflection of Northern Akhvakh, this paper describes the semantic distinctions carried by the choice between the five perfective tenses.
published in Sonia Cristofaro and Fernando Zúñiga (eds.), Typological hierarchies in synchrony and diachrony, John Benjamins, pp. 59-109., 2018
The Obligatory Coding Principle accounts for the inventories of possible coding frames in languag... more The Obligatory Coding Principle accounts for the inventories of possible coding frames in languages that, according to the current terminology, can be characterized as consistently accusative or consistently ergative in their system of argument coding. In coding frame inventories fully consistent with the Obligatory Coding principle, every coding frame includes a given type of coding, either A (in obligatory A coding languages) or P (in obligatory P coding languages). However, languages with coding frame inventories violating this principle are not exceptional. This chapter examines the types of evolutions that may result either in global shifts affecting the Obligatory Coding Principle, in systematic violations of the Obligatory Coding Principle, or in the gradual spreading of non-canonical coding frames. The idea underlying this study is that, before discussing the theoretical status of this kind of generalization, it is crucial to clarify its involvement in diachronic processes.
conference on Reciprocity and …, 2004
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Papers by Denis Creissels
– Nouns and noun phrases (section 2)
– Argument structure and valency operations (section 3)
– Clause structure (section 4)
– Complex constructions (section 5)
– Information structure (section 6)
– Nouns and noun phrases (section 2)
– Argument structure and valency operations (section 3)
– Clause structure (section 4)
– Complex constructions (section 5)
– Information structure (section 6)
Sans unité thématique, ce n° 2 (juin 2016) présente quatre études sur le tswana, le cuwabo et le makhuwa, le ǁgana et le shingazidja, soit en anglais, soit en français, ainsi que quatre comptes-rendus (v. la table des matières en téléchargement).
Vendu 20 euros en librairie, ce numéro est téléchargeable en libre accès ("fair open access") en cliquant sur le lien ci-dessous.