Morphologization in Turkish. Implications for Phonology in Grammaticalization.

Schiering René.

Abstract

Grammaticalization theory assumes that the gradual progression from a content item to a grammatical marker is accompanied by a number of interdependent phonological, morphosyntactic, and functional processes. Accordingly, morphologization processes, such as cliticization and compounding, are said to be concomitant with phonological erosion and desemantization (Lehmann [1982] 1995, Heine & Reh 1984, Heine, Claudi & Hünnemeyer 1991, Hopper & Traugott 1993, Croft 2003). Some proponents of this theory even claim that the loss of autonomy and substance defines grammaticalization as opposed to other mechanisms in language change, for instance reanalysis (Haspelmath 1998). The role of phonology in grammaticalization has recently been reconsidered in the context of a cross-linguistic study on cliticization (Schiering 2006). A number of phonological processes, namely structure preservation, assimilation, weakening and strengthening, can accompany ongoing grammaticalization. The distribution of these phonological rules can be predicted by a rhythm-based typology of language which distinguishes between mora-, syllable- and stress-based languages. With respect to erosion, mora- and syllable-based languages tend to retain the phonological substance of cliticized elements which ultimately leads to disyllabic clitics and affixes. Stress-based languages, on the other hand, tend to reduce and delete the phonological substance of cliticized elements developing subminimal clitics and affixes in the course of morphologization. This paper will test the predictions made by the rhythm-based typology against diachronic data from Turkish. In Section 2, Turkish will be situated in the rhythm‑based typology of language and the latter's predictions concerning the phonology of grammaticalization will be summarized. In Section 3, two morphologization processes in the verbal domain, namely the cliticization of pronouns yielding agreement markers and the univerbation of verb stems resulting in new tense-aspect morphology, will be traced from Old Turkic to Modern Turkish. The phonological changes involved in these processes will be of focal interest. Finally, the actual diachronic data from Turkish will be compared with the predictions made by the rhythm‑based typology and the major findings will be discussed in the context of grammaticalization theory.