Lexical semantic constraints on noun roots and noun borrowability
While nouns are thought to be more easily borrowed than verbs, this investigation demonstrates that there may be limitations on noun borrowing into certain languages. The case of Zuni is examined, in which conditions of contact similar to that of neighboring languages nevertheless result in a different treatment of the noun lexicon. The possibility of borrowing natural kind nouns into Zuni exists alongside a tendency against borrowing nouns of the artifact type. It is argued that the source of this tendency against artifact noun borrowing in Zuni is the grammatical complexity of the lexical semantic representation for these nouns: grammatical complexity in Zuni noun roots appears to be dispreferred. These findings belie the claim of Thomason and Kaufman (1988) that “any linguistic feature can be transferred to any other language” given an appropriate degree of contact.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Levin, Beth, Lelia Glass & Dan Jurafsky
2019.
Systematicity in the semantics of noun compounds: The role of artifacts vs. natural kinds.
Linguistics 57:3
► pp. 429 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.