MA theses
Spatial Deixis in Chintang: Aspects of a Grammar of Space
Tyko Dirksmeyer, 2008
This thesis examines the semantic structures underlying the linguistic encoding of space in Chintang. It provides a short general introduction to the history of thinking and speaking about space as well as to the notions of deixis and transposition, and sketches a state-of-the-art theory for categorizing spatial semantics (Levinson 2003). Drawing on targeted elicitation with native speakers, the empirical part then relates linguistic items of Chintang to the theoretical framework, with a focus on the nominal domain. After an analysis of deictic, topological, intrinsic and absolute spatial relations and their reflections in the language, the investigation concludes by comparing sets of Chintang deictics to those found in neighbouring Belhare (Bickel 2001). Despite striking formal resemblances, the semantic differences found indicate that even across closely related languages, meaning does not generalize easily.
A quantitative analysis of grammaticalization in Chintang. The case of benefactive compound verbs
Rolf Hotz, 2019
Download cloze test data (csv)
Several complex predicates in Chintang are ambiguous in the sense that the second verb (v2) may express the lexical, etymological meaning of the recruited verb (also term additive meaning, e.g. to V and bring), as well as to operate as a grammatical device. A large part of the literature on grammaticalization predicts both a double change (phonological erosion and semantic bleaching) and an abstraction of the meaning. The coexistence of the lexical and the grammaticalized form is usually considered a transitory phase that will end with the prevalence of the latter. The results seem to confirm the claim from the literature that grammaticalization entails an abstraction of meaning. However, they do not suffice to explain ambiguous complex predicates.
