Periodic Reporting for period 4 - LexsemLexcat (The lexical semantics of lexical categories)
Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2024-08-31
We have found that while an abstract mass-type meaning is restricted to nominal property concept words, a predicative type of meaning can be found across noun, verb and adjective. Furthermore, we have shown that the contrast between this meaning type is deep, and can be found at the level of the root, as exemplified by our work on Washo, which has shown that the same language shows both meaning types in different root classes. We have additionally found that there are categorizers crosslinguistically that can turn abstract mass-type roots into predicates of individuals of all major categories---noun, adjective, and verb---a consequence of the possibility of the semantics of possession being packaged with functional heads which categorize roots as noun, verb and adjective. Property concept words across all these categories can be found behaving as if they have a semantics of “degree”, though evidence suggests that the degree-related meaning comes not from the open class noun/adjectives/verbs, but rather from functional vocabulary. Internal to the category of verb, a crosslinguistic survey of state/change of state derivation shows that verbal states are more likely to be polysemous with derivationally related change of state predicates than nominal or adjectival ones, a fact which is attributed to verb being the only category that can describe changes of state.
In support of this, we undertook in WP3 and WP4 work to understand how gradability in degreeless languages with verbs (Washo) and nouns (Warlpiri). In the case of Washo, we found that the language invokes possession in the predication of property concept lexemes (Hanink and Koontz-Garboden in press). This work shows that degreelessness and property concept possession crosscut one another. Warlpiri is unlike Washo and like English in allowing conjoined comparatives to be used in crisp judgement contexts. Bowler (under revision) has argued that this can be understood with reference to the nature of nominal property concept words and noun phrases in Warlpiri generally. Another major strand of work in WP3 collected data to expand on the database `Verbal Roots Across Languages’ to show that a property concept word is more likely to have the same form as a change into that property concept just in case the property concept word is a verb, providing confirmatory evidence for a key project hypothesis about the nature of verb meaning: that only verbs can describe changes of state.
Further to this, Smith, Hopperdietzel and Koontz-Garboden (under review) and Hopperdietzel (2024, in press) in WP3, drew on data from Japanese, Tongan, Mandarin and Daakaka, showing that there are more types of relationship between verbal state and associated change of state than previously appreciated, with some types of change of state simply targeting the onset of the state, while others are type shifts.
WP2 investigated adjectives in Fijian and Basaa. We have shown (Hanink 2019) that while the property concept lexemes are indeed adjectival in Fijian, the facts do not support a degreeless analysis, contrary to previous belief. Investigation of Basaa (Hanink et al 2019) offered rare evidence for the claim that the meanings of adjectives (e.g. strong) are the same as the meanings for have + mass property concept noun constructions (e.g. have strength).
This result fed into WP5. Drawing on crosslinguistic results of WP1 and fieldwork, Hanink and Koontz-Garboden (in press) showed that there are affixes that create property concept words that are nouns, adjectives, or verbs that are at the same time possessive. Building on this and results of WP2 and WP3, Hanink and Koontz-Garboden (under review) conducted a study of Washo property concept roots to investigate the universality of property concept root meaning, showing that it has two semantic classes of root: those with a quality-based semantics while those which denote predicates of individuals. Work on Logoori (Bowler and Gluckman 2021) showed that a single semantic generalization underlies the use of a range of word classes with the verb kudoka ‘arrive/be enough/reach/must’, offering evidence for a particular meaning component in property concept words.