The Emergence of Functions in Language

Zygmunt Frajzyngier is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Colorado Boulder. His main research interests are the foundations of syntax and semantics in cross-linguistic perspective, typological explanations in grammar, grammaticalization, and Chadic and Afroasiastic linguistics. His many books include The Role of Functions in Syntax: A Unified Approach to Language Theory, Description, and Typology (with Erin Shay; Benjamins 2016), and, as co-editor with Erin Shay, The Afroasiastic Languages (CUP 2012). Marielle Butters is a PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder. She works on languages in the Tibeto-Burman family, as well as on Sundanese and Chadic languages, particularly in the subfields of language documentation, historical linguistics, and linguistic anthropology. Her research interests include negation, evidential systems, and language in post-colonial settings.

• 1: Introduction 2: Methodology 3: Forced interpretation: The emergence of the comment clause 4: Systemic ambiguity as a motivation in the emergence of logophoricity 5: The emergence of benefactive function in English 6: The emergence of point-of-view of the subject 7: The emergence of goal orientation 8: The principle of functional transparency as a motivation for the emergence of functions 9: Inherent properties of verbs and nouns and the emergence of the locative function 10: The emergence of functions through metonymy and language contact: Relationships between propositions 11: The emergence of complex action as an outcome of the availability of coding means 12: The emergence of gender and number coding in content questions 13: The emergence of grammatical relations 14: The emergence of a functional domain through language contact 15: Conclusions and implications