What can Linguistics tell us about History? On language contact between Agaw and Ethiosemitic
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Transcript of What can Linguistics tell us about History? On language contact between Agaw and Ethiosemitic
1. Preliminaries
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Genetic affiliation
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?
The « tree » model: Agaw
4 « Lasta/Wag/Sek‟ot‟a Agaw »
(Xamtanga)
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The « tree » model: Ethiosemitic
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The « tree » model: reading
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(Though one should keep in mind that a language is not a
static/homogeneous entity)
The languages of a family tree are genealogically related
They ultimately descend from a common ancestor (a „proto-
language‟)
Language subgroupings represent the chronological evolution of
the language family with intermediate ancestor languages (nodes)
This chronological evolution is established through the observation
of « exclusively shared innovations » (cf. Comparative Linguistics)
(François, 2014)
The « tree » model: reading
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“The idea is that, instead of positing the same change in languages
(M, N, O) independently, it is more parsimonious to propose that it
took place just once in a single language (Proto‐MNO) and then
was simply inherited by its descendants.”
(François, 2014)
J K L M N O
Proto-MNO
Illustration in Ethiosemitic
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- geminated perfective (A)
- root zht’ñ for „nine‟
- …
(Hetzron, 1976)
Why do languages change?
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Economy (principle of „least effort‟)
Analogy to create regularities
Typologically triggered changes (chain reactions)
Multilinguism
Sociolinguistic factors
…
Language contact with neighboring languages
2. Language contact:
the importance of
Agaw
for the study of
Ethiosemitic
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(SIL, 2009)
The « Ethiopian Linguistic Area »
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“A linguistic area is a geographical region containing a group of three
or more languages that share some structural features as a result of
contact rather than as a result of accident or inheritance from a
common ancestor.”
(Grey Thomason, 2001)
“No matter how controversially one may discuss the question of
whether there is a linguistic area at the Horn of Africa, there can be no
doubt about the highly complex multilayered texture of contact
situations that make this area into a zone of contact-induced
structural convergence”
(Bisang, 2006)
…
Language contact
Semitic/Cushitic relationships
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(Crass & Meyer, 2008; Ferguson, 1976; Tosco, 2000; Zaborski 1991…)
Two types of features
Pan-Ethiopian features:
Concern many languages
Eg: The fact that modern
Ethiosemitic languages are verb final
(rather than verb initial) is ascribed
to the influence of Cushitic upon
early Ethiosemitic
Specific subarea-restricted features
Concern few languages
Eg: Gurage-Sidaama subarea: negative
morpheme –da/-ta in Ennemor might
be borrowed from Sidaama di-
(Leslau, 1952)
Historical scenario
« The Agäw peoples of
Eritrea and Ethiopia
today represent the
remnants of what must
have been the original
population of much of
the highland region […]
who were later absorbed
into the Semitic
language and culture of
the Aksumite kingdom »
(Appleyard, 2003, p.139)
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3. A case study
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Light verb constructions
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A predicate made of two elements:
(1) a lexical base + (2) a light verb
- hɨk’k’ + alä(w) „have the hiccups‟
- fägägg + alä „smile briefly‟
- zɨmm + alä „be silent‟
- k’uč’č’ + alä „sit down‟
- däss + alä(w) „be happy‟
- zɨk’k’ + alä „go down a little‟ …
(Amharic)
varies
uninflected
provides the semantics
does not vary (here alä „say‟)
inflected
less semantic importance
In which languages?
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Common throughout the world‟s languages
Exist in nearly all Cushitic languages, in (all?) Omotic languages,
in some Nilo-Saharan languages…
Exist in all Ethiosemitic languages including few examples in Geez
But, crucially, not in Semitic languages spoken outside of Ethiopia
and Eritrea (Arabic, Hebrew, Maltese, Sabean etc.)
Consequently assumed to be a Cushitic borrowing in early
Ethiosemitic (Hetzron, 1975; Meyer: 2009) -> common Cushitic
origin
From Agaw? (Hetzron, 1972)
Classification by transitivity
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Two possibilities:
(a) the language uses the causative of the verb „say‟
(b) the language uses another light verb (generally „do‟)
- hɨk’k’ + asbalä(w) „cause to have the hiccups‟
- fägägg + asbalä(w)/assäññä(w) „cause to smile briefly‟
- zɨmm + asbalä(w)/adärrägä(w) „cause to be silent‟
- k’uč’č’ + adärrägä(w) „seat‟
- däss + assäññä(w) „make happy‟
- zɨk’k’ + adärrägä(w) „lower‟ …
Most languages belong either to type (a) or to type (b)
Amharic displays both patterns:
In Ethiosemitic
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In Cushitic
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a. Causative of ‘say’
b. Other verb (‘do’)
(Darmon, 2012)
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