Different Matter, Same Pattern: Direct Object Marking in Northwest Semitic
Duration: 43 mins 52 secs
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| Description: |
Wright Lecture given on 24th January, 2013 by Prof. Holger Gzella, Professor of Hebrew & Aramaic, Leiden University
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| Created: | 2013-01-25 12:03 |
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| Collection: | Wright Lectures |
| Publisher: | University of Cambridge |
| Copyright: | University of Cambridge |
| Language: | eng (English) |
| Distribution: |
World
(downloadable)
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| Keywords: | Semitic; grammar; North-west Semitic; Northwest; Language; Linguistics; |
| Categories: |
iTunes - Language - Middle Eastern |
| Explicit content: | No |
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 |
| Screencast: | No |
| Bumper: | UCS Default |
| Trailer: | UCS Default |
| Abstract: | The Northwest Semitic languages compensate for the loss of a morphological case system by means of a direct object marker in order to maintain, at least in certain circumstances, a distinction between the grammatical roles of subject and object, a phenomenon now often called "differential object marking". Different particles disambiguating a direct object from the subject emerged in Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, and related idioms some time after 1000 BCE, yet the underlying use pattern is very similar. This talk attempts to explain differential object marking in Northwest Semitic as an instance of linguistic convergence in ancient Syria-Palestine. After a brief discussion of the etymology of the individual forms in question in light of their wider Semitic context (a problem that has already been tackled by William Wright), it will address the pragmatic function of object marking as such, provide typological evidence for various tendencies found across different languages, and conclude with a few remarks on the nature of contact-induced linguistic convergence and its historical underpinnings in Iron Age Northwest Semitic. No specialized knowledge of Semitic languages will be presupposed, and points of general interest will be duly highlighted.
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