Calendar

• Denis Bertet (DDL)

Séminaire de recherche DiLiS

Morphosyntax and semantics of the “spatial” derivational suffixes of the Tikuna verb root (PART 1)

Tikuna (isolate, western Amazonia) verb roots feature a single slot for derivational morphology. This slot may be optionally filled by one of 19 mutually exclusive suffixes. Of these 19 suffixes, 11 appear to form a system and express notions of spatial relations between entities. These 11 suffixes typically occur on verb roots referring to spontaneous or caused posture (e.g. chi̊ ‘to stand’, g̃à ‘to tie’) or manner of motion (ñā ‘to run (sg.)’, tȕ ‘to drag’). Their function, I argue, is precisely to specify the type of spatial relation that holds (or does not hold) between a figure (subject referent of an intransitive verb or object referent of a transitive verb) and a ground (optionally-expressed participant in a locative case) at the culminating phase (i.e., often, the end) of the process that the verb root refers to.

Thus the suffix -ku̽chí (sg.)/-ku̽ (pl.) ‘in’ (which, like two other suffixes in the system under discussion, agrees in number with the figure) specifies that the relation that holds between the figure and the ground at the culminating phase is one of “containment”. By contrast, the suffix -ʼV̽chí (sg.)/-ʼü̃̀ (pl.) ‘out’ specifies the figure-ground relation as one of “non-containment”. Likewise, -V̄chì ‘at’ vs -gàchì ‘away’ encode a figure-ground relation of “propinquity” vs “non-propinquity”, respectively. The suffixes -na̽gǘ ‘on’ and -ã́chí ‘upslope’ encode a relation of “support” (with the ground being a horizontal or a slanting surface, respectively), while -ē (sg.)/-ʼü̃̀ (pl.) ‘off’ encodes a relation of “non-support” (irrespective of the configuration of the ground). I tentatively analyze the suffixes -yé ‘UNILOC’ vs -a̽ ‘PLLOC’ as encoding “unilocality” vs “plurilocality” (i.e. contiguity of the figure with a single spot vs several spots of the figure). The last two suffixes of the system are not organized in a pair: -pétǜ ‘across’ encodes “transversality” (whereby the figure gets to find itself at the opposite side of the ground) and -ègù ‘INV’ an inverted spatial relation (often implying that the figure gets back to its initial relation relative to the ground).

After describing the morphology of this system of suffixes and some of its syntactic properties, I will attempt to interpret it from a semantic perspective. Following Levinson & Wilkins’ (2006:3-4) terminology, I will determine, in particular, that these suffixes are not of an angular nature (they do not tell “in which direction from a ground we need to search to find the figure” in configurations where “figure and ground are separated in space”), but of a topological nature (telling in what subtype of contiguity relation the figure stands—or does not stand—relative to the ground in configurations where figure and ground are not separated in space).

Reference:

Link to videoconference room: https://meet.jit.si/AtelierTypologieSemantique

• Dan Dediu & François Pellegrino & Alice Vittrant

Ateliers doctorants

Dans ce séminaire, les intervenants expliqueront leurs expériences vécues en demandant des bourses diverses, en France comme à l'étranger.

In this seminar, the speakers will tell us about their diverse experience with grant applications, in France as well as abroad.

Link to the meeting: https://univ-lyon1.webex.com/univ-lyon1/j.php?MTID=mf268a8f61737c7b9cb8aa925418fab3e
Password: iuKemXjf373

• Christian Döhler (ZAS Berlin)

dans le cadre DILIS : Atelier Morphosyntaxe

• Link to the slides
• Link to the videoconference room

• Feyza Altinkamis (Ghent University)

dans le cadre DENDY : séminaire bilinguisme

As a result of a paradigmatic shift in the research field of bilingualism, it is now commonly accepted that for a compact assessment of bilingual children’s language skills, both languages should be considered in the light of family factors, quality and quantity of language input. In addition, an interdisciplinary approach through the collaboration among linguists, language and speech pathologists and psychologists has enabled us to see the language profile of bilingual children from a broader perspective. In this talk, putting the results of different studies together, I would like to talk about Turkish-Dutch bilingual children’s early language abilities with a focus on a specific group in Flanders/Belgium. In addition, I would like to raise attention on language behaviours in Turkish families as an influential factor on early language trajectories. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84502988739?pwd=UkJmNENPdHZRMzB0UTc4Q2UzZm5udz09

• Denis Bertet (DDL)

dans le cadre DILIS

Morphosyntax and semantics of the “spatial” derivational suffixes of the Tikuna verb root (PART 2)

Tikuna (isolate, western Amazonia) verb roots feature a single slot for derivational morphology. This slot may be optionally filled by one of 19 mutually exclusive suffixes. Of these 19 suffixes, 11 appear to form a system and express notions of spatial relations between entities. These 11 suffixes typically occur on verb roots referring to spontaneous or caused posture (e.g. chi̊ ‘to stand’, g̃à ‘to tie’) or manner of motion (ñā ‘to run (sg.)’, tȕ ‘to drag’). Their function, I argue, is precisely to specify the type of spatial relation that holds (or does not hold) between a figure (subject referent of an intransitive verb or object referent of a transitive verb) and a ground (optionally-expressed participant in a locative case) at the culminating phase (i.e., often, the end) of the process that the verb root refers to.

Thus the suffix -ku̽chí (sg.)/-ku̽ (pl.) ‘in’ (which, like two other suffixes in the system under discussion, agrees in number with the figure) specifies that the relation that holds between the figure and the ground at the culminating phase is one of “containment”. By contrast, the suffix -ʼV̽chí (sg.)/-ʼü̃̀ (pl.) ‘out’ specifies the figure-ground relation as one of “non-containment”. Likewise, -V̄chì ‘at’ vs -gàchì ‘away’ encode a figure-ground relation of “propinquity” vs “non-propinquity”, respectively. The suffixes -na̽gǘ ‘on’ and -ã́chí ‘upslope’ encode a relation of “support” (with the ground being a horizontal or a slanting surface, respectively), while -ē (sg.)/-ʼü̃̀ (pl.) ‘off’ encodes a relation of “non-support” (irrespective of the configuration of the ground). I tentatively analyze the suffixes -yé ‘UNILOC’ vs -a̽ ‘PLLOC’ as encoding “unilocality” vs “plurilocality” (i.e. contiguity of the figure with a single spot vs several spots of the figure). The last two suffixes of the system are not organized in a pair: -pétǜ ‘across’ encodes “transversality” (whereby the figure gets to find itself at the opposite side of the ground) and -ègù ‘INV’ an inverted spatial relation (often implying that the figure gets back to its initial relation relative to the ground).

After describing the morphology of this system of suffixes and some of its syntactic properties, I will attempt to interpret it from a semantic perspective. Following Levinson & Wilkins’ (2006:3-4) terminology, I will determine, in particular, that these suffixes are not of an angular nature (they do not tell “in which direction from a ground we need to search to find the figure” in configurations where “figure and ground are separated in space”), but of a topological nature (telling in what subtype of contiguity relation the figure stands—or does not stand—relative to the ground in configurations where figure and ground are not separated in space).

Reference:

Link to videoconference room: https://meet.jit.si/AtelierTypologieSemantique

• Rémi Anselme

Ateliers doctorants

Rémi Anselme montrera comment utiliser Zotero, un outil très pratique et facile à utiliser qui permet de bien structurer sa bibliographie, et qui facilite les références dans les textes rédigés sous Word. Les étudiant-e-s en M1 et M2 sont les bienvenu-e-s aussi !

Rémi Anselme will show how to use Zotero, very practical and easy to use software that allows you to keep your bibliography well structured, and makes it easier to add references in texts edited in Word. Students from M1 and M2 are welcome as well!

• Denis Bertet

dans le cadre DILIS : Atelier

Tikuna, a language isolate from western Amazonia, features a relatively large number of lexical items that can be identified as loanwords, as was already noted by several authors (see in particular Montes Rodríguez 2002:68-69 and Skilton 2017:20-21). What can these loanwords tell us about the history of the Tikuna human group?

In this talk, I will first show how loans in Tikuna—at least relatively recent ones, i.e. loans possibly dating from the last four centuries—can be easily detected based on their phonological shape (number of syllables and tonal pattern in particular). So far, applying these criteria has allowed me to collect a list of ca. 300 confirmed or suspected loans in data from two varieties of the language (Cushillococha Tikuna and San Martín de Amacayacu Tikuna; data mainly from Anderson & Anderson 2016, Skilton p. c., and my own fieldwork).

I will then discuss how the immediate source languages for these lexical items can be identified. The main source languages of the ca. 200 confirmed loans (i.e. those for which I have already been able to identify a likely source) are Old Omagua, Língua Geral Amazônica, Portuguese, and Spanish, four languages with which Tikuna is known to have been—or still is to this day—in close contact. Conspicuously lacking from this list, however, are Arawakan and Quechuan languages, which are reported to have been formerly influential in the area where Tikuna is spoken.

Finally, I will attempt to make sense of the presence or absence of lexical traces of contact with these languages in Tikuna within the frame of what is said in the existing literature of the history of the Tikunas themselves and of the area they inhabit. How well does our linguistic examination fit within the historical picture? Does it suggest alternative historical scenarios from the ones described in the literature?

References

Anderson, Doris & Lambert Anderson (eds.). 2016. Diccionario ticuna – castellano. Serie Lingüística Peruana 57. Lima: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano (SIL). [consult online]

Montes Rodríguez, María Emilia (ed.). 2002. Libro guía del maestro. Materiales de lengua y cultura ticuna. Colección Textos. Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá. [consult online]

Skilton, Amalia H. 2017. Phonology and nominal morphology of Cushillococha Ticuna. Ph.D. dissertation prospectus. UC Berkeley. [consult online]

Link to videoconference room: https://meet.jit.si/AtelierDiLiS

Link to the slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JDRO9Ge0s3x0uVSIMkAm5hwHUFcI8d6P/view?usp=sharing

Le prochain atelier "Méthodes" sera consacré à la question de l'éthique et celle de la mise en œuvre du RGPD au sein de l'axe Dendy. Il ne s'agira pas d'apporter les réponses à toutes nos questions dans un premier temps, mais plutôt de faire un état des lieux des expériences et d'amorcer une concertation autour de ce questionnement au sein de l'axe afin de réfléchir à une harmonisation de nos démarches que ce soit dans le cadre de nos projets de recherche ou de nos encadrements. Ce premier échange nous permettra aussi de voir si une discussion propre à l'axe est nécessaire (ex : pour certains aspects expérimentaux,RIPH etc) ou si l'ensemble de la discussion doit être replacée au niveau du laboratoire. Véronique et Jennifer feront une synthèse des formations auxquelles elles ont assisté pour introduire la discussion.