Research Articles (Ancient Studies)

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Browsing Research Articles (Ancient Studies) by Author "Andrason, Alexander"

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    The case system of the Vilamovicean adjective : from description to explanation
    (Stellenbosch University, Department of General Linguistics, 2013) Andrason, Alexander
    The present paper offers a detailed description and analysis of the adjectival declensional patterns in the Modern Vilamovicean language. The idiom possesses six declensional patterns – restricted to distinct environments – that, from a morphological perspective, form a continuum ranging from a strong declension (classes 1, 2 and 3) to a weak one (class 6), through intermediate mixed paradigms (classes 4 and 5). Nowadays, only the mixed and weak classes are productive and common. If compared with Classical Vilamovicean, the adjectival declension has suffered a process of syncretism and decay, evolving towards a two-case marking: nominative versus accusative-dative in the masculine singular and nominative-accusative versus dative elsewhere. Thus, the adjectival morphological case marking is more effective than in the nominal system (where no case distinction is usually made) but less successful than in the pronominal system (where a three-case distinction predominates). Within a typological-grammaticalization framework, the inflectional organization of Vilamovicean adjectives can be defined as an advanced case system.
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    Description of the semantic potential of the si-construction in Basse Mandinka
    (Department of General Linguistics, Stellenbosch University, 2012) Andrason, Alexander
    The present paper provides a detailed description of the semantic potential offered by the si-construction in Basse Mandinka (a regional variety of the Gambian Mandinka language), by enumerating all temporal, aspectual, taxis and modal values which this verbal form may convey. The study demonstrates that the si-construction offers a wide range of senses. Most commonly, the construction introduces the idea of futurity, regularly accompanied by modal tones of necessity and obligation. More specifically, in the first person, it expresses desires and promises, obligation and necessity, as well as, permission and deliberation; in the second person, it functions as an imperative; and in the third person, it approximates the category of a jussive. The si-construction also introduces modal ideas of obligation and necessity situated in a past time frame, being additionally able to function as a future in the past category. The si-construction can likewise convey the sense of epistemic possibility with no evident future undertones. Finally, it can denote present habitual and customary activities. A profoundly modal nature of the si-construction additionally justifies its common use with the verb noo "be able, can". In such cases, it introduces various modal nuances, typically bereaved of any future sense.
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    Expressions of futurity in the Vilamovicean language
    (Department of General Linguistics, Stellenbosch University, 2010) Andrason, Alexander
    The present paper aims at presenting all major morphosyntactic means of expressing future meaning in Vilamovicean, the smallest Germanic language spoken in the town of Wilamowice in Southern Poland. As will be demonstrated – and contrary to the opinion found in the literature published so far – the concept of futurity is not limited to the wada future but, rather, can be conveyed by a number of constructions. These forms may be divided into two main groups: the first one includes formations that are employed with no restriction by all speakers (among others these are constructions like the present tense, the periphrases wada + infinitive, wjyd + past participle or adverbials, wada hon/zajn + past participle, and zuła + infinitive, as well as various modally based future expressions) while the second class consists of two novel and "rare" locutions which are accepted uniquely by a limited number of speakers (this group includes locutions such as wada + past participle and wada + present). Furthermore, two other Vilamovicean periphrases will be discussed, namely wie + past participle and wie + present, which, even though restricted to the conditional value, display a similar morphosyntactic shape as the "rare futures".
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    Participatory detection of language barriers towards multilingual sustainability(ies) in Africa
    (MDPI, 2022-07-04) Litre, Gabriela; Hirsch, Fabrice; Caron, Patrick; Andrason, Alexander; Bonnardel, Nathalie; Fointiat, Valerie; Nekoto, Wilhelmina Onyothi; Abbott, Jade; Dobre, Cristiana; Dalboni, Juliana; Steuckardt, Agnes; Luxardo, Giancarlo; Bohbot, Herve
    After decades of political, economic, and scientific efforts, humanity has not gotten any closer to global sustainability. With less than a decade to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deadline of the 2030 Agenda, we show that global development agendas may be getting lost in translation, from their initial formulation to their final implementation. Sustainability science does not “speak” most of the 2000 languages from Africa, where the lack of indigenous terminology hinders global efforts such as the COVID-19 pandemic fight. Sociolinguistics, social psychology, cognitive ergonomics, geography, environmental sciences, and artificial intelligence (AI) are all relevant disciplinary fields to uncover the “foreign language effect” that hinders the implementation of the SDGs in Africa. We make the case for detecting and addressing language barriers towards multilingual sustainability in Africa by (1) exploring the ”foreign language effect” among African decision-makers and recognising their alternative social representations about sustainability; and (2) detecting Western language stereotypes about sustainability. We propose rethinking SDG-related scientific notions through participatory natural language processing (NLP) and the study of African social representations of sustainability, thus enabling a more inclusive and efficient approach to “sustainability(ies)”.
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    A serial verb construction with the verb alāku “go” in Canaano-Akkadian
    (Antiguo Oriente, 2019) Andrason, Alexander
    This paper examines the categorial status of Canaano-Akkadian biverbal sequences built around the motion verb alāku “go” and their possible inclusion in the category of Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs). The evidence demonstrates that SVCs with alāku can at best be categorized as non-canonical and their overall grammaticalization is low. As a result, Canaano-Akkadian may be viewed as the least advanced along the grammaticalization cline of verbal serialization posited for (North-West) Semitic languages.
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    The syntax of interjections in isiXhosa : a corpus-driven study
    (Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Andrason, Alexander; Matutu, Haile
    This paper examines the syntactic properties of interjections in isiXhosa and their compliance with the interjectional prototype and its extra-systematicity as postulated in linguistic typology. By reviewing nearly two thousand uses of interjections in the comic genre, the authors conclude the following: in its integrity, the category of interjections is internally complex and diversified, containing members with varying degrees of canonicity and extra-systematicity. Although in various uses interjections comply with the interjectional prototype, and being extra-systematic in many others, their canonicity and extra-systematicity are significantly lower.
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    Towards a complex analysis of Wayihî + T constructions in Biblical Hebrew
    (Slovak Academic Press Ltd., 2018) Westbury, Josh; Andrason, Alexander
    This study analyses the complex behavioral profile of Biblical Hebrew constructions that are formally characterized by the schematic sequence: wayhî + temporal expression (T) + a wayyiqtol or qatal clause within the corpus of Genesis – 2 Chronicles. More specifically, this schema entails the following construction types: 1) wayhî + T + wayyiqtol, 2) wayhî + T + (ו (+ X + qatal, and 3) wayhî + T + qatal. In analyzing these constructions, this study utilizes a framework known as Construction Grammar, in addition to other complementary frameworks that fall under the more general rubric of Cognitive Linguistics. The constructions are analyzed according to the following parameters: the formal and semantic profile of the temporal adjunct employed; the discourse pragmatic function and distribution in discourse; and the TAM semantics of the wayyiqtol and qatal verb forms. This empirical analysis reveals that, while sharing a prototypical discourse function, these constructions differ with respect to their distribution in discourse. Moreover, this study shows that the choice to use one construction over another is motivated by the simultaneous interplay of several factors, among which the most relevant are: the morpho-syntactic and semantic properties of the temporal adjuncts; the discourse pragmatic profile of each construction type; the TAM properties of the verb; and the syntactic profile of the wayyiqtol and qatal clauses. Overall, the behavior of the wayhî + T constructions epitomizes the complexity of Biblical Hebrew, in particularly, the fuzziness of grammatical categories, their multilevel interconnectivity, and dynamics.