Vedic Sanskrit possesses two forms for the nominative plural masculine of a-stems (e.g. áśv-a- ʻhorseʼ), a shorter variant in -ās (áśvās ʻhorsesʼ) and a longer one in -āsas (áśvāsas ʻhorsesʼ). Cognates of these two forms are also found in Avestan and Old Persian (Av. -ā̊ : OP -ā : Ved. -ās vs. Av. -ā̊ŋhō : OP -āha : Ved. -āsas), which means that this variation is probably of Proto-Indo-Iranian age.

The goal of this project is to investigate the original distribution of these two variants. This goal is to be achieved primarily by examining data from Vedic Sanskrit, for the Old Iranian text corpus does not contain sufficient data that are relevant for this investigation. Due to a preliminary investigation of the data, the following research hypotheses are established: (i) The feature which is expressed by the opposition -ās vs. -āsas is a feature of the entire noun phrase since only one form exhibits the long variant in each noun phrase. (ii) The function of these two forms is to indicate where the respective noun is located on the agentivity scale. Thus, -āsas is used to indicate a high degree of agentivity whereas -ās is used to indicate a low degree of agentivity. (iii) The long form -āsas reflects a univerbation of the short form (Ved. -ās < PIE *-ōs) with the nominative plural of the Indo-European reflexive pronoun *=s-es.

If the hypotheses (i) – (iii) are correct, an opposition like *sutó-es ‘juices’ (>> ved. sutā́s ‘juices’) vs. *sutó-es=ses ‘juices themselves’ (>> ved. sutā́sas ‘juices’) can be assumed for early Proto-Indo-European. It is possible that *=s-es was originally used as an intensifier, similar to the English John himself opened the meeting. Under this assumption it is not unusual from a typological point of view that this element developed into a marker of high agentivity.

In collaboration with the Collaborative Research Center (Sonderforschungsbereich) 1252 Prominence in Language

PIs: Prof. Dr. Eugen Hill, Dr. Michael Frotscher

PhD student: Pascal Coenen M.A.

with Prof. Mario Cantilena (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Mailand)

with Prof. Paolo Poccetti (Università Roma/Tor Vergata, Roma)

Die Hauptziele des Vorhabens Verbalcharakter, Suppletivismus und morphologische Aktionsarten des indogermanischen Verbs bestehen darin, auf der Grundlage von vorwiegend einzelsprachlichen Untersuchungen den Verbalcharakter und die Bedeutung(en) einer Reihe von indogermanischen Verbalwurzeln und damit die präaspektuelle Funktion (Aktionsart) der Primärsuffixe, die bei ihnen belegt sind, zu bestimmen. Diese Untersuchungen, die einzeln veröffentlicht werden sollen, stellen eine unentbehrliche Voraussetzung für das Studium der Verbalkategorien dar und sollen daher in die Vorarbeiten für die Erarbeitung des Bandes "Morphosyntax des idg. Verbums" einfließen, mit welcher der Antragsteller beauftragt wurde. In einer zweiten Phase des Projekts soll (a) Defektivität und Suppletivismus in den anderen indogermanischen Sprachen untersucht und (b) darauf basierend eine Typisierung der verbalen Suppletionsverhältnisse vorgenommen werden.

Kontaktperson: José Luis García Ramón

with Prof. Marina Benedetti (Università per Stranieri, Sienna)

with Prof. Bruno Helly (Maison de l'Orient Jean Pouilloux, CNRS - Université Lumière, Lyon 2)

Supported by Excellent Research Support Programme (University of Cologne), FORUM

(01.01.21 - 31.12.22)

The project deals with language change, in particular with change in grammar. Its focus is on the question as to how grammatical innovations spread in the community of speakers, ultimately becoming a new grammatical norm. The main objective is to explore the explanatory potential of the concept of conversational priming through conventionalized repeating responses in which we see a major factor facilitating this spread. The working hypothesis is situated at the core of the UoC-Key Profile Area VI Skills and Structure in Language and Cognition which investigates ‘the tension between the behaviour of individuals and the structures resulting from their interaction’. Its success would be a step toward the main objective of the Key Profile Area VI, i.e. ‘a framework that accounts for individual behaviour, its crystallisation in diverse linguistic structures across time and space, and the underlying cognitive mechanisms’.

Principal Investigators: Eugen Hill, Sonja Gipper & Martin Becker

Research assistant: Pascal Coenen, M.A.