Abstract This study investigates demonstratives as the diachronic source of first/second person pronouns and shows that though several languages use them to designate the speaker/addressee, most usage does not conventionalize as first/second person pronouns despite the claim in previous studies. It then presents functional reasons that demonstratives rarely give rise to first/second person pronouns. This study additionally examines nouns and reflexives as the source of first/second person pronouns and shows that while it is relatively common for nouns to develop into first/second person pronouns, the same conclusion as demonstratives can be drawn for reflexives. I argue that the historical development of first/second person pronouns differs from that of third person pronouns due to speech-functional and discourse-pragmatic reasons. The development of the former concerns the speaker-addressee axis, thus more strongly affected than the latter by the tug of war between efficiency in linguistic communication and social success in interpersonal communication.

Abstract Kassian et al. (2023) propose a method to detect ancient linguistic relationships by means of a weighted permutation test applied to word lists. The method provides evidence for an ancient historical connection between Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages and Nivkh languages, and between Samoyedic languages and Yukaghir. In this paper, I argue that while the word lists collected by the authors represent a valid dataset for language comparison and are supported by extensive etymological work, their statistical tests constitute a departure from the significance testing framework that has propelled contemporary literature on long-range comparison. I then advance some proposals on how their tests can be integrated and compared with those traditionally accepted in the literature.

Abstract The development of the Persian definitive object marker -rā from Old Persian rādī through Middle Persian benefactive rāy has been established as a model grammaticalization process by Bossong (1985). His explanations on other modern Iranian languages, and their interplay in the historical development, have received far less research attention. This article offers a novel and comprehensive account of the historical development of -rā in West Iranian, from Old Persian up to approximately 20 New Iranian languages. Based on the semantic map model, it demonstrates that concerning -rā, most West Iranian languages can be subdivided into three typological groups, two of which represent more or less clearly defined genetic subgroups within the continuum of West Iranian. The interplay of genetic and typological/functional factors is complex, and open questions remain. The present study aims to provide empirical data, and to raise relevant questions, for future in-depth studies.

The possible origins of the various alignment patterns attested in the world's languages have been the object of sustained interest in both language typology and historical linguistics (see Dahl 2021a for a recent overview). What is meant here by alignment, in a maximally general sense, is any pattern pertaining to the distribution of particular coding or behavioral properties (e.g., particular case or indexation forms, particular control patterns, particular word orders) across different verbal arguments. The latter include the three arguments, A, S, and P (that is, following a well-established tradition, the two arguments of monotransitive clauses and the only argument of intransitive clauses), as well as the three arguments of ditransitive clauses (A, T, and G; see, for example, Zúñiga 2018). In the functional-typological research paradigm that originated from the work of Joseph Greenberg, alignment has generally been accounted for in terms of principles of optimization of grammatical structure, in the sense that individual alignment patterns are assumed to be beneficial for the user. A first idea is that alignment reflects the relative need to disambiguate particular arguments. This provides an explanation for the cross-linguistic rarity of patterns where A and P arguments are treated in the same way in regard to the relevant properties, whereas S arguments are treated differently. The former two arguments co-occur within the same clause, so they need to be disambiguated from each other and will not be treated in the same way. S arguments, on the other hand, occur in isolation, so they can be treated in the same way as either A or P arguments (see Comrie 1989, among others, for an application of this idea to case marking alignment). This presupposes a principle of economy whereby speakers will not use distinct forms for different arguments unless they genuinely need to do so, that is, for arguments more in need of disambiguation. A second idea is that arguments that are treated in the same way share particular semantic or pragmatic properties, so that morphosyntactic similarity between

Abstract Besides highly grammaticalized analytic verb forms that constitute the system’s main tense, aspect, and mood forms, Basque has a handful of less grammaticalized periphrases for secondary aspectual and modal meanings. In both older and more recent texts, some of these periphrases have been reanalyzed as monoclausal and readjusted in accordance with the auxiliated verb’s argument structure. This readjustment or actualization process involves changes in two respects: case-marking and indexation through auxiliary change. The reanalysis and actualization of theses periphrases seem to be driven by analogy with highly extended and frequent analytic verb forms. With regard to their actualization, it seems to depend on three factors: word order, valency of the auxiliated verb, and plural patient agreement.

Abstract This paper analyzes vowel shifts in Wichi (Mataguayan, South America) between the 18th and early 20th centuries, some of which contributed to the emergence of the Pilcomayeño and Bermejeño dialects. Based on a historical database and using the comparative method, we date the vowel shift over the period we have named as Middle Wichi. At the early stage of this period, the /e/ > /a/ lowering is analyzed as a sporadic change, spread across the dialects in part of the vocabulary. At a later stage, the chain shift /ɑ/ > /o/ > /u/ > /e, i/, the merger of /u/ with /e/ and /i/, and the sporadic change of /i/>/e/ lowering in some words took place in Bermejeño. The paper explores implications in the implementation of sound change, the regular changes and the lexical diffusion, in particular, in chain shifting. It also explores some connections with other Mataguayan languages in both the lowering e>a and the possible causes of the changes. Thus, the paper contributes to the historical study of the Wichi language and the Mataguayan family in the Gran Chaco area in South America.

Abstract The aim and scope of this article is to take a closer look at the functions and semantics of the three relative particles da, so, and wo, and to show that they have developed differently over a period from 1350 to 1800, continuing up to our modern dialects and the standard language. We will focus on wo because it is the only relativizer which is attested both as locative relative and as general relative clause marker, and we will propose that wo has extended its functional domain from a locative relative to a general relative marker. We will furthermore discuss if there has been a grammaticalization path “relative locative > general relative clause marker” in German diachrony or not. Finally, we will suggest that standardization processes are responsible for the different degrees of functional extension of wo attested in the historical/modern varieties and the standard language.

Abstract This study sets out several phonological features in Caijia that are notable from a diachronic point of view. The Caijia language is an endangered language spoken in northwestern Guìzhōu, China. It was first formally documented in the early 1980s and is generally viewed as a Sinitic language. Some aspects of Caijia phonology are noteworthy from the perspective of historical phonology. There exist features which cannot be accounted for in terms of Middle Chinese (MC), such as the retention of the contrast between Old Chinese (OC) T-type and L-type onsets in words with d- or dr- in Middle Chinese. Moreover, Caijia also demonstrates features which are observed or preserved in Middle Chinese, but absent in mainstream modern Sinitic varieties, including the retention of bilabial stops in words with initials Fēi/Fū/Fèng. This study will also explore the implications certain phonological features have for the classification of Caijia in the Sinitic clade and examine the relationship between Caijia and Bai.

Abstract The present study contributes to the description of the coding of anticausatives and causative-anticausative alternation in Classical Armenian based on conventional typologically-oriented questionnaires and a dataset of verbs attested in the Armenian translation of the Bible. The synchronic evidence is then analyzed from a diachronic perspective with an outlook on modern varieties of Armenian and the Proto-Indo-European reconstruction. It is argued that discriminating between the derivational and inflectional tiers allows for a better explanation of the morphological links between the patterns used to code causative-anticausative alternation in verbs of different semantic types. According to preliminary quantitative estimations, the overall valency orientation of Classical Armenian is dominated by a nondirected equipollent coding strategy. Altogether, when coded by transitivizing pairs, causative-anticausative alternation shows preference for noncausal verbs of the a-conjugation, the paradigm of which typically combines equipollent perfective forms with labile imperfective ones. An improved descriptive model enables a better cross-linguistic alignment of coding patterns as illustrated by comparing Classical Armenian to other cognate languages. Classical Armenian provides additional evidence on the typologically common split in the coding of causative-anticausative pairs. Whereas the transitivizing and equipollent (and marginally suppletive) patterns are diachronically stable within the prehistory of Armenian, the labile strategy constitutes a major innovation typical for the imperfective part of the verbal paradigm.