Lecture | Language and the Human Past
Explaining typological universals from the perspective of language change: The diachronic emergence of alienability splits cross-linguistically
- Date
- Friday 8 May 2026
- Time
- Series
- Language and the Human Past
- Location
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 1.21
Abstract
Typological universals are usually explained in terms of efficiency principles: certain grammatical configurations are favored across languages because they are beneficial for speakers, for example in terms of economy or processing ease. Diachronically, however, these configurations emerge from pre-existing constructions, for example through grammaticalization or other processes of constructional reinterpretation. Such processes are traditionally assumed to be triggered by properties of the source constructions and their contexts of use, not by the efficiency of the resulting configurations. This will be illustrated in the paper through a discussion of the diachronic origins of alienability splits in adnominal possession. While such splits are traditionally explained in terms of iconicity or economy, they originate as various types of source elements evolve into possessive markers as a result of several different processes of grammaticalization. Such processes are usually a result of context-driven inferences, not iconicity or economy, and the distribution of the resulting markers across alienable and inalienable possession reflects the distribution of the source element, also independently of these factors. These facts suggest that explaining typological universals requires a detailed understanding of several diachronic factors independent of the efficiency of the relevant configurations, including multiple source constructions and multiple processes of change through which individual configurations arise from their respective sources. These factors remain largely underinvestigated, pointing to new research perspectives for both language typology and the study of language change.