Linguistic universals and the order of verbs in Germanic
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Linguistics
Abstract
Debates over the depth and provenance of linguistic universals are a central part of current linguistics. Their interest derives from the fact that they bear on the issue of how mind works, how diverse or similar all humans are, and what roles nature and nurture play in this. I will contribute to these debates by giving further empirical support to a particular set of universalist proposals. This will be achieved by studying possible and impossible word order patterns within the Germanic languages and dialects.
Recent work motivates strong universalist claims about word order. Cinque (2005: Deriving Greenberg's Universal 20 and its Exceptions, Linguistic Inquiry) has argued that all attested neutral orders of nouns (N), adjectives (A), numerals (Num), and demonstratives (Dem) are simple permutations derived from a common underlying structural type.
In English, as in many other languages, the order is 'these five public employees', i.e., Dem-Num-A-N, while in the Kwa language Gungbe, as again in many other languages, it is the exact opposite: N-A-Num-Dem. In a rarer type of language, for example the Bantu language Kikuyu, the relative order of demonstrative, numeral and adjective is the same as in English, while the noun comes first: N-Dem-Num-A. The exact opposite of this order is not attested in any language. Of the 24 logically possible orders of Dem, Num, A, and N, Cinque (2005) reports 14 as attested and 10 as unattested and suggests a simple, formal theory that generates all and only the 14 attested orders.
The current project focuses on Germanic languages and dialects. In these languages and dialects, the order of verbs and verb-related elements is notoriously variable. The order of the verbs 'will', 'want', 'call' and the particle 'up' in the sentence 'John will want to call up Sue' is will-want-call-up, it would be the exact opposite in German: up-call-want-will. This contrast between English and German is reminiscent of that between English and Gungbe mentioned above. In Dutch the order comes out as 'up-will-want-call', where 'will', 'want', and 'call' come in an English-like order, but the particle precedes. This is reminiscent of the Kikuyu order in the noun phrase, which was English-like, except with the noun in initial position. The mirror image of the Dutch order, 'call-want-will-up', is never found in any language or dialect. This is again reminiscent of the absence of the reverse Kikuyu order from the cross-linguistic record regarding the noun phrase.
The similarity between ordering possibilities in the noun phrase and among verbs in Germanic are striking and suggestive. I will investigate first, to what extent the variable orders found amongst verbs in the Germanic languages and dialects can be characterized formally in the same terms as the orders described above for the noun phrase. The research revolves around the empirical question whether in constructions that cluster together four verb and verb-related elements all and only the 14 expected orders show up in some Germanic variant or other. If this hypothesis can be upheld, the orders of verbs in Germanic can no longer be seen as a counterexample to one of the crucial proposals contained in Cinque's work: In the generation of neutral word orders, whenever an item (such as the noun in Kikuyu or the particle in Dutch) moves, it moves forward. Such a result would strengthen the universalist position considerably.
The second set of questions concerns more subtle generalizations regarding the order of verbal elements. For example, while there are large word-order differences between the Germanic languages and dialects, there is no language or dialect where a participle could follow a hierarchically more prominent element while infinitives have to precede such hierarchically more prominent elements. Such generalizations from the literature willbe tested empirically and an explanation sought in structural terms.
Recent work motivates strong universalist claims about word order. Cinque (2005: Deriving Greenberg's Universal 20 and its Exceptions, Linguistic Inquiry) has argued that all attested neutral orders of nouns (N), adjectives (A), numerals (Num), and demonstratives (Dem) are simple permutations derived from a common underlying structural type.
In English, as in many other languages, the order is 'these five public employees', i.e., Dem-Num-A-N, while in the Kwa language Gungbe, as again in many other languages, it is the exact opposite: N-A-Num-Dem. In a rarer type of language, for example the Bantu language Kikuyu, the relative order of demonstrative, numeral and adjective is the same as in English, while the noun comes first: N-Dem-Num-A. The exact opposite of this order is not attested in any language. Of the 24 logically possible orders of Dem, Num, A, and N, Cinque (2005) reports 14 as attested and 10 as unattested and suggests a simple, formal theory that generates all and only the 14 attested orders.
The current project focuses on Germanic languages and dialects. In these languages and dialects, the order of verbs and verb-related elements is notoriously variable. The order of the verbs 'will', 'want', 'call' and the particle 'up' in the sentence 'John will want to call up Sue' is will-want-call-up, it would be the exact opposite in German: up-call-want-will. This contrast between English and German is reminiscent of that between English and Gungbe mentioned above. In Dutch the order comes out as 'up-will-want-call', where 'will', 'want', and 'call' come in an English-like order, but the particle precedes. This is reminiscent of the Kikuyu order in the noun phrase, which was English-like, except with the noun in initial position. The mirror image of the Dutch order, 'call-want-will-up', is never found in any language or dialect. This is again reminiscent of the absence of the reverse Kikuyu order from the cross-linguistic record regarding the noun phrase.
The similarity between ordering possibilities in the noun phrase and among verbs in Germanic are striking and suggestive. I will investigate first, to what extent the variable orders found amongst verbs in the Germanic languages and dialects can be characterized formally in the same terms as the orders described above for the noun phrase. The research revolves around the empirical question whether in constructions that cluster together four verb and verb-related elements all and only the 14 expected orders show up in some Germanic variant or other. If this hypothesis can be upheld, the orders of verbs in Germanic can no longer be seen as a counterexample to one of the crucial proposals contained in Cinque's work: In the generation of neutral word orders, whenever an item (such as the noun in Kikuyu or the particle in Dutch) moves, it moves forward. Such a result would strengthen the universalist position considerably.
The second set of questions concerns more subtle generalizations regarding the order of verbal elements. For example, while there are large word-order differences between the Germanic languages and dialects, there is no language or dialect where a participle could follow a hierarchically more prominent element while infinitives have to precede such hierarchically more prominent elements. Such generalizations from the literature willbe tested empirically and an explanation sought in structural terms.
Planned Impact
In the immediate term, the results of the current project will be used in an outreach project of the linguistics department at UCL (project coordinator K. Szendroi, funded by UCL's outreach office): 'Introducing linguistics through the science curriculum.' As part of the project the department will offer A-level math and science students a 5-session extracurricular activity introducing the basic principles of linguistic inquiry through linguistic puzzles. As Honda and O'Neil (1993) explain, linguistics can be successfully used to 'trigger science-forming capacity' in secondary school students. The principles behind the word order patterns in the noun phrase and in Germanic verb clusters are simple enough lend themselves to this kind of project: Discovering the principles governing the word order patterns will strengthen the students' analytic skills and strengthen their understanding of their native language. In addition, by gradually understanding how language and in particular how their own language works and relates to other languages, students can also develop confidence and pride in their language and culture.
I plan to dedicate one week of the project to producing an appropriate set of materials to be used by A-level students.
It is unlikely that basic research of the kind undertaken here will have other immediate impacts. However, in the long term there are a number of potential benefits. For example, the research tradition that the current project falls into tries to shed light on the functional architecture of the mind. To what extent is it modular and domain specific, to what extent is it domain general? To what extent is its structure and content determined genetically and to what extent is it fashioned by properties of use? Such questions are central, fundamental questions in cognitive science. They have not been answered fully to date. Relatedly, it is known that stroke patients who have lost the ability to speak fluently often have particular difficulty understanding and producing sentences that involve non-canonical word order. This effect is apparently independent of the native language of these patients. Canonical word order seems to be unaffected in many such patients. The current project will help elucidate the mechanisms underlying the creation of sentences with canonical word order. Ultimately this will help characeterize the differences between canonical and non-canonical orders, which, in turn will inform new therapeutic approaches to language loss as a result of a stroke.
Linguistic issues sometimes catch the public's attention. The attention grabbing claims often relate to exotic peoples and cultures and purport to demonstrate such peoples' exotic way of thinking through their language. The most enduring example of this is the false claim that the Eskimo language has an astonishing number of words for snow and that this purported fact provides an important insight into the Eskimos' way of way of seeing the world. Unfortunately, such claims of exoticism easily end up supporting racist discourses or political discourses of cultural supremacy. Findings of linguistic universals on the other hand accentuate similarities rather than differences, they support a universalist political discourse, and, by minimizing the perceived differences, enhance our ability to empathize with members of other communities.
I plan to dedicate one week of the project to producing an appropriate set of materials to be used by A-level students.
It is unlikely that basic research of the kind undertaken here will have other immediate impacts. However, in the long term there are a number of potential benefits. For example, the research tradition that the current project falls into tries to shed light on the functional architecture of the mind. To what extent is it modular and domain specific, to what extent is it domain general? To what extent is its structure and content determined genetically and to what extent is it fashioned by properties of use? Such questions are central, fundamental questions in cognitive science. They have not been answered fully to date. Relatedly, it is known that stroke patients who have lost the ability to speak fluently often have particular difficulty understanding and producing sentences that involve non-canonical word order. This effect is apparently independent of the native language of these patients. Canonical word order seems to be unaffected in many such patients. The current project will help elucidate the mechanisms underlying the creation of sentences with canonical word order. Ultimately this will help characeterize the differences between canonical and non-canonical orders, which, in turn will inform new therapeutic approaches to language loss as a result of a stroke.
Linguistic issues sometimes catch the public's attention. The attention grabbing claims often relate to exotic peoples and cultures and purport to demonstrate such peoples' exotic way of thinking through their language. The most enduring example of this is the false claim that the Eskimo language has an astonishing number of words for snow and that this purported fact provides an important insight into the Eskimos' way of way of seeing the world. Unfortunately, such claims of exoticism easily end up supporting racist discourses or political discourses of cultural supremacy. Findings of linguistic universals on the other hand accentuate similarities rather than differences, they support a universalist political discourse, and, by minimizing the perceived differences, enhance our ability to empathize with members of other communities.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Klaus Abels (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Abels K
(2015)
Exploring Language and Linguistics
Abels K
(2013)
On 2-3-1
Abels K
(2016)
The fundamental left-right asymmetry in the Germanic verb cluster
in The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics
| Description | Debates over the depth and provenance of linguistic universals are a central part of current linguistics. Their interest derives from the fact that they bear on the issue of how mind works, how diverse or similar all humans are, and what roles of nature and nurture play in this. This project has contributed to these debates by by giving further empirical support to a particular set of universalist proposals. Recent work motivates strong universalist claims about word order. Cinque (2005: Deriving Greenberg's Universal 20 and its Exceptions, Linguistic Inquiry) argues that all attested neutral orders of nouns (N), adjectives (A), numerals (Num), and demonstratives (Dem) are simple permutations derived from a common underlying structural type. In English, as in many other languages, the order is Dem-Num-A-N, while in the Kwa language Gungbe, as again in many other languages, it is the exact opposite: N-A-Num-Dem. In a rarer type of language, for example the Bantu language Kikuyu, the relative order of demonstrative, numeral and adjective is the same as in English, while the noun comes first: N-Dem-Num-A. The exact opposite of this order is not attested in any language. Of the 24 logically possible orders of Dem, Num, A, and N, Cinque reports 14 as attested and 10 as unattested and suggests a simple, formal theory that generates all and only the 14 attested orders. The main aim of the project was to test the hypothesis that the notoriously variable order of verbs in the Germanic languages follow the same pattern of relating hierarchy to order that we also find in the noun phrase. The hypothesis was corroborated in that 13 out of 14 of the expected orders were found and none of the unexpected orders were found as neutral cluster orders in any of the Germanic languages or dialects. This finding can be explained by generalizing the proposals made in Cinque (2005, 2009) in a fairly straightforward way so that it extends beyond the noun phrase and also covers the clause. These findings have been reported in various places, in a paper accepted for publication in ``Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics.'' A much earlier version of the ms. is available through the ``Groninger Arbeiten zur Germanistischen Linguistik.'' A further contribution can be found in the paper ``On 2-3-1'' distributed through the UCL Working Papers in Linguistics. An impression that had been expressed in a lot of previous literature on the issue could also be confirmed. Certain orders are very rare in verb clusters in Germanic. A new explanation for this in terms of the intonation of such clusters was proposed. The basic idea is that in all but the rarest orders, there is a match between syntactic constituency and prosodic constituency. The rare orders are rare, precisely because the prosody-syntax mismatch creates a difficulty and parsing and learning such structures. These findings are presented at the Comparative Germanic Syntax Workshop (May/June 2012) and in a manuscript submitted to the journal ``Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics.'' The project also set out to address certain word-order generalizations from the perspective of the syntax-morphology interface. The leading hypothesis that a unified notion of syntactic size that an explanation of ordering-generalizations and generalizations about morphological shape could be based on could not be corroborated. |
| Exploitation Route | The most important finding is no doubt the confirmation of the approach to neutral word order put forward by Cinque (2005, 2009) and Abels and Neeleman (2012), which can now be reasonably expected to extend to many other domains together with the insight that the observed pattern is relative to morphosyntactic classes. This should allow a wide-reaching extension of the results. It also opens up the question of the interaction between within-class orderings once across-class orderings are considered. In addition, experts on the various dialects studied under this award should be able to identify conditioning factors for various word orders, which will no doubt deepen our understanding of the conditions under which particular orders occurs. Such results can then ultimately feed back into typological work on genetically unrelated languages. |
| Sectors | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | The research done in this project has been used in a number of public outreach talks to educate the public on findings pertaining to the universality of the human linguistic endowment. In public speaking I have made explicit connections to universal human rights founded on the assumption of the fundamental sameness of all humans (and denied those species that are deemed substantially different from humans). |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Introducing Linguistics into the Science Curriculum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | There is an ongoing outreach initiative of the linguistics department at UCL to introduce high school students to scientific thinking using linguistics and also to introduce content of linguistic theory into high school curricula. As part of this project, a lesson plan on the hierarchy-order relations within the noun phrase has been worked out, which can be used as a module with students who have worked through the first few chapters of W. O'Neil. Thinking Linguistically: A Scientific Approach to Language. Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA, 2007. The first run of the lesson will be taught by msyelf, additional runs will be delivered by postgraduate teaching assistants. The aim was to increase interest in studying linguistics by finalists from involved schools. To what extent this was successful is unknown to me as I do not handle enquiries to our program and the department does not have a reliable way of tracing enquiries to schools. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Split Scope and the verbal right bracket in German |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This talk discusses the interaction between the sctructure of the verbal cluster and the scope of negative indefinites in various dialects of German. The talk lead to fruitful discussions on the issues covered with a number of the members of the audience, which stimulated a deeper look at the interaction of scope and cluster order across languages. Work on this question is still in progress. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | These Three Simple Truths |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A brief description of the typological facts relating to the neutral word order in the noun phrase and of the theory of this word order is given. The talk defends the claim that there are strong linguistic universals and that such universals partly define humans as a species. The talk was part of a panel discussion that aimed at highlighting scientific evidence underpinning commonalities among all humans no matter what their culture, history, or race. The aim was to deepen the audience's committment to a universalist perspecti |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |