semantic elevation examples

From a logical point of view there is no reason to exclude such usages, but their actual existence has yet to be proven by future research.4. By registering you get free access to our website and app (available on desktop AND mobile) which will help you to super-charge your learning process. In order to be able to accomplish a detailed typological study we need more comprehensive descriptions of language-particular systems that are based on natural corpus data such that not only formal properties are covered but also the actual use and possibly frequency estimations can be detected. The original meaning of 'attitude' was 'position, pose'. 31, 7498. Nominal demonstratives can be used adnominally or pronominally in Sanzhi, but they are only case-marked in the latter use (and thus formally distinct). The word has been ameliorated over time and nowadays we use 'nice' in a positive sense - meaning someone or something that is good and pleasant. Radden (2003) hypothesizes that the cultural importance of the Yangtze River may have also played a role: the river flows downward and any objects moving on it would be located higher at an earlier period of the journey and lower at a later period [(see also Bender and Beller, 2014, p. 369), who call this the river model of time]. These are extralinguistic causes (not involving language) and linguistic causes (involving language). Recalling that April 1564 is the date on which Shakespeare was born. doi: 10.1017/9781108333818.002. Here are some more amelioration examples: terrific and sick. Yu (1998, p. 111) argues that this conceptualization can be explained if one presupposes that on the horizontal plane the sagittal FRONT (or FURTHER) corresponds to EARLIER and BACK (or NEARER) to LATER. Which elevational expresses which compass direction depends on the local position of the mountains that serve as anchor points and thus varies from language to language. Later, during the Hundred Years War, 'knight' took on a more specific military sense until around the sixteenth century when the word was used as a rank in the nobility. A grammar sketch of Sougb, in Languages of the Eastern Birds Head, ed. There are many examples of semantic change that can be found in our day-to-day speech! However, the categorization of Blank (1998) has gained increasing acceptance: . Structures and Their Functions in Usan: A Papuan Language of Papua New Guinea. Stop procrastinating with our study reminders. (iii) The global scale, e.g., locations on other continents that are never visible from the location of the speaker. A word that previously had a negative meaning develops a positive one. Table 4. A Grammar of Lepcha. The reason for the relative rareness of person-based elevational demonstratives is probably unnecessary specificity. The sense of the word 'terrific' that we still use now - meaning 'excellent' - began to be used later in the 19th century. Locations in front of X or left of X are potentially ambiguous because they can depend on the relative viewpoint: By contrast, normally we unambiguously understand above/over X or below/under X if we know the position of X. 8486; Heeschen, 1998, p. 143). Table 1. doi: 10.1086/465747. 27, 35) states that topographic demonstratives make use of an absolute frame of reference because the referent is located on a notional gradient (upriver/downriver and uphill/downhill) which actually delivers an angle on the horizontal. He adds that such local landmarks do not have the same abstract properties as cardinal directions (Levinson, 2003, p. 90). Z. Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht 8, 226239. Copyright 2020 Forker. In addition, I have also shown that elevational meaning per se is not deictic, because it does not depend on the speakers (or addressees) location, but simply relational and needs an anchor point, which can be a location that is independent of speaker or addressee. Or it can be derivational suffixes for the formation of demonstrative pronouns, adverbs or verbs as in Yupno and Makalero, and Khasi adverbial demonstratives. Dixon, R. M. W. (1972). Cognition 46, 223244. See Examples and Observations below. Linguist. In Andi and Manambu, the elevational markers are only used with the deictic demonstratives and thus belong to the (a) subtype. Synthetic: A synthetic sentence is one which is not analytic or contradictory, but which may be true or false depending on the way the world is. T. Dutton (Canberra: Pacific Linguistics), 179223. For example, demonstratives in the Athabaskan language Tanacross (Alaska) morphologically and semantically combine deictic meaning (distality) with specific topographic and elevational morphemes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. My sample is a convenience sample because elevational demonstratives are not particularly frequent in the worlds languages. Many languages have words for up and down or higher and lower, but not all languages have this semantic distinction grammaticalized as part of certain closed class items, most notably demonstratives, which are the topic of this paper, but also spatial preverbs and case systems. A Grammar of Movima. I then discuss metaphorical extensions of elevational demonstratives to non-spatial uses such as temporal and social deixis. Leiden: Brill. Table 1 shows the demonstrative system of Muna (Malayo-Polynesian, Sulawesi). With time, this meaning changed once again, to 'attractive, skillfully made' until it shifted to 'fine'. Only topographic elevational systems make a straightforward reference to mountains or hills, but as I stated above, most languages have general elevational systems and genuine topographic systems are rare. 4151; Dixon, 2003, pp. Linguist. The elevational demonstrative systems of the 50 surveyed languages have been coded for a number of formal and semantic properties. (iii) Optional co-occurrence of demonstrative morphemes with elevational morphemes in a single word-form. G. Senft (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 197220. Amelioration is a type of semantic change that elevates a word's meaning over time. The meaning of the word changed, referring to someone's way of thinking instead. It now specifically refers to devices that are created to fulfil a specific purpose. The word reached its peak in hierarchy when it began to be used as a direct translation of 'Dominus' which, in religious tracts, is the Roman word for 'God'. The word knight is a good example of this semantic phenomenon. It is the process in which the word's meaning changes from negative to positive over time. Sign up to highlight and take notes. Elevational demonstratives that are characterized as topographic in grammars can be used at the local scale such as within a house or close by a house or, with respect to a tree. They are part of paradigms or subparadigms that consist of three (Andi) to five (Makalero, Manambu, and Buru) items on average, but more than seven members are not exceptional (Daga). The latest version of the Topographic Correspondence Hypothesis, which is called Sociotopographic Model, states that languages spoken in similar topographic environments tend to have similar systems of absolute spatial reference, whereby social and cultural factors also play a role (Palmer et al., 2017). Create and find flashcards in record time. Which is an example of a potential psychological factor? The opposite of broadening is a process called narrowing. Sentence (34) is the only example that she cites for this use and it shows the elevational UP-directional da up (without a preceding pronoun, deictic or anaphoric suffix). They are used at the local scale (17), the larger local scale (18) and the global scale (26). van Staden, M. (2018). 1 - An example of semantic narrowing is 'hound.'. Mandarin and English speakers conceptions of time. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.03.007. Burenhult, N. (2008). Other languages are Makalero, Bantawa, Baskeet, and Sougb. What did the word `` knight '' mean in Old English? Visibility has attracted some attention (Diessel, 1999, pp. Berlin: de Gruyter. For example, in William Blake's poem Night, he uses . In Daga, there seems to exist a correlation such that FUTURE/PAST = UP because yampoa utu-pa (third up.there-out.of.sight) means next Wednesday and wataget utu-p (before up.there-out.of.sight) means long ago (Murane, 1974, pp. This can be because of cultural changes that lead to a change in how the word is categorised (causing a semantic change). The elevation of meaning refers to the derogatory meaning and neutral meaning change into commendatory meaning. In languages such as Manambu, Sougb, or Nlmwa-Nixumwak, in which the morphemes with the elevational semantics can be readily identified and are sometimes also used with lexical items other than demonstratives (e.g., verbs), the elevationals resemble English non-deictic expressions such as up. This means that the word went the semantic change (more specifically narrowing). The demonstrative system of Tanacross (Holton, 2019). Except for East Caucasian none of the other language families spoken in the Caucasus has elevational demonstratives. A Grammar of Abui: A Papuan Language of Alor. Seyoum, M. (2008). Friederici, A. D., and Levelt, W. J. M. (1990). Hafniensia 50, 129160. Traugott, E. C. (1978). Therefore, an object is, for example, located upriver when its location is referred to with topographic demonstratives. Doctoral dissertation, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. 41, 768799. There are two types of semantics: logical and lexical. Gravelle, G. (2010). Psychological factors are factors that affect how people view a word and its meaning. In order words, the word can be used in more contexts than it could originally. Semantic reclamation is when a group of people reclaim words that have once been used to disparage them. Elevation as a category of grammar: Sanzhi Dargwa and beyond. Pejoration is a type of semantic change that is more common than amelioration. We will cover five types of semantic change: narrowing, broadening, amelioration, pejoration, and semantic reclamation. As explained in the Section Materials and Methods, the sample is a convenience sample, but based on a rather systematic and comprehensive survey of all areas of the world and more than half of the language families (Killian, unpublished). According to Schackow (2015, p. 187), the /u/-forms combine with the proximal demonstrative (singular na, non-singular kha), but not with the distal or anaphoric demonstratives (Table 11). 413414). They can also be general as in Usan and applied in the local domain (14). As said in the introduction, elevation refers to the expression of a location of a figure with respect to the ground on the vertical axis.1 The three axes and planes through the human body provide the ground for three pairs of (linguistic) concepts, namely UP/DOWN, BACK/FRONT, and LEFT/RIGHT (Figure 1). Semantics is/refers to the study of the meaning of words, Semantic change is the term given to how the meanings of words can change over time. The basic semantic values that elevational demonstratives encode can be ordered along a hierarchy (UP/DOWN > LEVEL/ACROSS) that reflects cross-linguistic tendencies in the frequency of the respective elevational values. It is important to remember when discussing this form of semantic change that, unlike amelioration, the word may still also be used in the pejorative sense. Extralinguistic causes in semantic change are mainly to do with the social or historical causes of semantic change. Earn points, unlock badges and level up while studying. The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland. doi: 10.1075/clscc.6.08pal. Languages have a plethora of linguistic means to express locations of objects along the vertical axis, e.g., A is above/over B, A is higher than B, A can be upward, uphill, up the road with respect to B. StudySmarter is commited to creating, free, high quality explainations, opening education to all. (ii) The local larger, but delimited environment, e.g., a village, a valley, or an island; locations within this area can be visible or not. Which word is NOT an example of amelioration? There are many other open questions left for future studies of elevational demonstratives. Bril (2004, p. 120) provides another example from Nlmwa-Nixumwak (Oceanic), where so-called directionals, which are regularly added to deictic or anaphoric suffixes, which, in turn, are added to pronouns or determiners to form demonstratives, can be used for respectful reference to people of a higher social status. 23, 59106. Elevation refers to a change in the connotations of a word, occuring in one of two ways. Aikhenvald, A. However, we can escape gravity in the sense that we can change the frame of reference from absolute to intrinsic or relative. Eipo (Mek, Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea) has two subsets of demonstratives (Table 2). The more specific value ACROSS (8 languages) occurs only around half as often as LEVEL (19 languages). The structure of Buru demonstratives (Grimes, 1991, p. 168). True or False: Amelioration is more common than pejoration. Create the most beautiful study materials using our templates. In practice, locations above the speaker and above the addressee during a conversation largely coincide. . "Amelioration (word meanings)." The Manambu Language of East Sepik, Papua New Guinea. Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks. When talking about inhabitants of the village, a person might conventionally be referred to by an UP or DOWN demonstrative based on the permanent location of her house within the village, which is mentally divided into an upper part and a lower part, and not on the location of that person with respect to the speaker or another spatial anchoring. The three body planes and axes. van den Berg, R. (1997). It is important to keep in mind, however, that these verbal metaphors are not necessarily indications or proofs that speakers of those languages have a vertical mental time line. The vertical axis is special in comparison to the other two axes of the body (frontal and sagittal) (Figure 1) for one major reason: gravity normally determines what counts as up and down. Nordquist, Richard. In Yakkha, a spider can be referred to as being on the downhill side of the speaker, even if it is located on the same elevation level as the speaker and thus factually not lower than the deictic center (Schackow, 2015, pp. Which is not an example of semantic change? Even in a language such as Lak, in which the elevational demonstratives cannot unambiguously be analyzed as co-expressing distance or proximity to the hearer or a third referent, they are not used when the respective locations are so close that the speaker can touch them with her/his finger (e.g., a hat on the head is not located UP).13 Thus, it seems that elevational demonstratives largely refer to areas outside the peripersonal sphere in a similar way as simple, non-elevational distal demonstratives (e.g., Coventry et al., 2008). Haspelmath, M. (1997). I propose that this can be explained in the following way: in the proximal domain, fine grained semantic distinctions are superfluous since this area is accessible to the interlocutors who in the default case of a normal conversation are located in close proximity to each other [(see also Imai, 2003, p. 42) for a similar observation]. The Structure of Kiranti Languages. This type of co-expression or combination of distance and elevation in demonstratives is not obligatory because there are languages such as Makalero (Table 3), Hatam, Iaai, Hua, Tidore, and Baskeet (8), in which elevational demonstratives are unmarked for distance and cannot be co-expressed with distance. Grammaire de la Langue Avar (Langue du Caucase Nord-Est). Nie wieder prokastinieren mit unseren Lernerinnerungen. Lang. A fundamental issue in the study of semantic transfer is the relation between language and thought. Daga grammar: From Morpheme to Discourse. 57, 322), and thus Dyirbal belongs to the (b) subtype. So far, I did not find any language with both LEVEL and ACROSS elevational demonstratives, so these two values seem to exclude each other (although semantically ACROSS can be considered a sub-category of LEVEL). In Iaai (Oceanic, Loyalty Islands) the deictic particle jii down (and toward the sea) can express the meaning past (32), and also serves to introduce relative clauses with past time reference. However, for this paper the answer to that question is largely irrelevant, because I am only interested in the combined forms, i.e., the co-occurrence of demonstratives and elevational morphemes. I finally examine areal tendencies and potential correlations between elevational demonstratives and the geographical location of speech communities in mountainous areas such as the Himalayas, the Papuan Highlands and the Caucasus. It was originally used to mean any dog, however, over time this word came to mean a hunting dog specifically. The demonstratives in the East Caucasian language Andi (Zilo dialect, Caucasus, Russia) are particularly transparent and consist of stems that express distance- and person-based deixis, followed by a range of further optional suffixes such as an emphatic marker, the elevational morphemes and gender suffixes (and/or oblique stem markers and case suffixes not displayed in Table 5). Casad, E. H. (1985). The deictic center is usually egocentric, i.e., the speakers location serves as the ground, but can also shift depending on the speech situation. Create beautiful notes faster than ever before. However, this hypothesis might obviously be rejected by new data and future studies. Around the year 1100, 'knight' came to mean 'military follower of a king or other superior.'. According to Ozanne-Rivierre (2004, p. 135), there are other Austronesian languages such as Taba with the same temporal extension DOWN = PAST. For example, broadcast originally meant "to cast seeds out"; with the advent of radio and television, the word was extended to indicate the transmission of audio and video signals. The language has also one temporal expression employing a spatial metaphor omo-ropmo bilak (down.there.other.side year) a couple years ago, a few years ago. In Avar, the adverbials orisa last year and tadejau next year originate from the adverbs or down(ward), under and tade up(ward), respectively, and in Lak jalunin next year is derived from jalu(w) up(ward). Finally, in Tzeltal, which does not have elevational demonstratives, the topographic terms -ajkol uphill and -anil/alan downhill are also employed with the meanings later and ahead of time, before. Brown (2012, p. 10) analyzes those expressions as providing evidence for the metaphor time moves uphill or the future is up(hill)., I take the examples (27)(33) as metaphors that map spatial expressions onto a temporal dimension: the future is located above or higher than the deictic center, and the past below. The meaning of a word doesn't just change in an instant, it can take many years. I'm afraid I'm sick, the doctor said I need to stay in bed. Only when occurring in opposition with tatu, the neutral distal demonstrative watu can also mean DOWN or LEVEL. 3, eds C. Maienborn, K. von Heusinger, and P. Portner (Berlin: de Gruyter), 24072431. Utrecht: LOT. Distance contrasts in demonstratives, in The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, eds M. S. Dryer and M. Haspelmath (Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology). The word 'terrific' comes from the Latin word 'terrificus' which meant 'causing terror or fear, frightful'. To put it simply, pejoration is the opposite of amelioration. However, this cross-categorical formal flexibility is not the rule. Hyslop, C. (1993). The handling editor declared a shared affiliation, though no other collaboration, with the author DF at the time of the review. Linguist Andreas Blank breaks down this factor into three main subcategories. A. Schapper (Berlin: de Gruyter), 115172. It has been hypothesized several times that there is a correlation between the presence of elevational demonstratives and the location of the speech community, more specifically, that the respective languages are spoken in hilly or mountainous areas (e.g., Imai, 2003, pp. What is the term given to the opposite of narrowing? The Phonology and Morphology of the Tanacross Athabaskan Language. Recalling the type of food people in ancient Egypt used to eat. In this sentence, 'nice' indicates that the person is having a good day. One example of semantic change would be the word 'hound'. etc can lead to the semantic change. A Grammar of Hatam: Birds Head Peninsula Irian Jaya. An old lady with short white hair who usually wears a red coat. 89, 121. Will you pass the quiz? During the first years of their life human beings become taller as they get older, which means that if we compare one and the same person across time in the past the same person was smaller (=DOWN) whereas in the future s/he will be taller (=UP). Set individual study goals and earn points reaching them. The position of a figure above or over a ground object is usually defined by gravity and thus in most instances in practice absolute (see also Clark, 1973). (2015). "The original meaning was followed by a succession of narrower ones, including 'spiritually blessed . Copular demonstratives are cross-linguistically rare (Killian, unpublished; see also Gurin, 2015). A Grammar of Galo. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Amelioration is when a word's meaning changes from negative to positive over time. For instance, Tanacross has nine items (Table 4), and Movima even has 14 basic demonstratives occurring in paradigmatic relationship. Epps, P. (2008). van den Berg, R. (1989/2013). In the proximal domain, fine grained semantic distinctions such as those encoded by elevational demonstratives are superfluous since this domain is accessible to the interlocutors who in the default case of a normal conversation are located in close proximity to each other. J. H. Greenberg (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press), 369400. Later, the sense of the word shifted and it was associated with 'mental state, mode of thinking' until its meaning took on more negative connotations and it began to be associated with what we understand by 'attitude' today - 'confronting, uncooperative manner'. In the following, I will provide examples from the four languages and discuss this type of spatial metaphor. Table 7. However, since we know that other elevational terms such as ABOVE or BELOW can, in principle, be employed within intrinsic and relative frames of reference, it is desirable in future research on elevational demonstratives to systematically test if there are any elevational demonstratives that can also be used in that way. (1997). Other examples of specialization are deer, which originally had the general meaning 'animal,' girl, which meant originally 'a young person,' and meat, whose original meaning was 'food.'" (Sol Steinmetz, Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meanings. What does it now refer to? 48, 359384. All languages expect for Tanacross and Maale employ elevational demonstratives in the adnominal context, and this is therefore the second most commonly attested type of usage. A Grammar of the Muna Language. This meaning grew more specific until the word 'meat' was only used when relating to one type of food (animal flesh). You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Amelioration: I'm having a lovely time - today is a nice day! In Old English, the adjective was used to describe someone or something that was 'cunning, skillful, artful, wily, astute.' Yu adds that in Western cultures family trees are arranged in a similar fashion: the oldest (earliest) generations are placed on the treetop and the last generation on the bottom. The projection can be explained by the fact that due to their upright position human beings have to move the head downward in order to look at proximal items whereas the gaze goes upward in order to look at distal items (see Bickel (1997 and references therein). In this paper, I concentrate on the semantic and pragmatic properties of elevational demonstratives, more specifically, adnominal, spatial adverbial, and pronominal demonstratives. They can have very local meanings, which means that they can be applied, for instance, to refer to positions close to the speaker, inside a room or in the immediate environment (7), (8) but they are also used to denote locations in the geophysical environment (9). The first type (general) corresponds to Burenhults verticality proper and global elevation, and the second term (topographic) to his geophysical elevation. General elevationals are used in accordance with the gravitational axis. Holton, G. (2000). However, as a modern slang term, the word has been elevated and has taken on the positive meaning of 'great': Think of other slang words that have gone through a similar process like 'wicked', for example. Casad, E. H. (1984). West Greenlandic. Elevation refers to the expression of a location of a figure with respect to the ground on the vertical axis. In linguistics, amelioration is the upgrading or elevation of a word's meaning, as when a word with a negative sense develops a positive one. Another fruitful direction of research are various experimental approaches. Dadibi, Tok Pisin, English, Po Dage Dabe. Even among the few languages which clearly have topographic elevationals, there are three languages not spoken in the mountains, but in lower hills (Dyirbal), on a flat island (Iaai) and in a flat area of Alaska (Tanacross). Masters thesis, University of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby. The frequency of elevational systems classified according to basic elevational meanings1. All languages with LEVEL or ACROSS elevationals also have DOWN and UP elevationals. It's interesting to imagine and guess what words that we associate with something negative today would be ameliorated with time. Seaward/landward (Iaai, Tidore, Tanacross, and Koyukon). Palmer, B., Lum, J. T. S., Schlossberg, J., and Gaby, A. R. (2017). Oxford: Oxford University Press. The meaning of a word may also become taboo or is used as a euphemism, eg. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12357, Coventry, K. R., Griffiths, D., and Hamilton, C. J. In addition, an unpublished database by Killian (unpublished), which contains data on demonstrative systems in around 1,100 of the worlds languages, served as a major reference. Levinson (2018, pp. The topographic elevationals can be followed by another marker from a smaller set that contains only three items that encode general elevation and the meaning out in front but also seem to have some additional meanings that are not explicitly discussed in the grammar (Dixon, 1972, p. 48). The opposite of amelioration is pejoration (degenerating meaning over time so that a word takes on more negative connotations). Demonstratives in Space and Discourse: A Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis. MacDonald, G. E. (1976). (2012). The term 'semantic change' refers to how the meaning of words changes over time. . Examples of Semantic Memory Recalling that Washington, D.C., is the U.S. capital and Washington is a state. It may also be referred to as semantic amelioration or semantic elevation. Vignettes of Cora locatives. 12, 99142. Spatial deixis in Muna (Sulawesi), in Studies in Austronesian and Papuan Languages, ed.

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semantic elevation examples

semantic elevation examples