Contact-induced hybridity in Cimbrian nominal composition

Guus Kroonen (guus@hum.ku.dk)

Work in progress meeting

26-01-2014, MPI-EVA, Leipzig

Siben Komeün

Giazza

Roana

Draizene Cameun

Luserna (882)

Val di Cembra

Mòcheno

MHG ei > oa

MHG ī > ei y > eu ū > au

hybrid nominal composition

• Nobject + Nagent – grise-machar ‘carpet-maker’

– prüche-machar ‘wig-maker’

– schuge-machar ‘shoe-maker’

• Nagent + Nobject – machar-ullen (“maker-pots”) ‘potter’

– macher-hangasch (“maker-glove”) ‘glove-maker’

– machar-hüat (“maker-hat”) ‘hat maker’

Pickpocket compounds

• English – pickpocket ‘Taschendieb’

– spoilsport ‘Spielverderber’

– scarecrow ‘Vogelscheuche’

– cut-throat ‘Mörder’

• Not: – *pocket-picker, *sport-spoiler, *crow-scarer,

*throat-cutter

Semantic structure

• What are pickpockets?

– Focus is on the verbal action and its impact, not on the agent.

– Agent lies “outside” the scope of the word, i.e. the compound is exocentric.

– The perspective is not that of the agent.

Grammatical roles

CMP type Subject Object Verb

truck driver expressed expressed not

expressed

pickpocket not

expressed expressed expressed

Morphological analysis

• Ok, so the nominal constituent seems to be an object.

• But what is the verbal constituent?

– Rainer (2002: 225): “Imperativ, Indikativ oder Verbalthema, darum kreist seit über 100 Jahren die Diskussion.”

– Nielsen-Whitehead: “stem”

– Grimm, Dunkel, Hornung: “imperatives”

Morphological analysis

• Real imperative compounds are incomparable:

– E forget-me-not, G Vergissmeinnicht, Du. Vergeet-mij-nietje = Myosotis

– Du. kruidje-roer-mij-niet, West Phalian German krütsken-rôr-mi-nich-ân-ader-ik-bęrste (“wort-do-not-touch-me(-or-I-will-burst)”) = Impatiens noli-tangere

Morphological analysis

• A Dutch pickpocket subtype with many -CTRL verbs (hardly imperatives): – weetal (“know-all”) ‘know-(it-)all’

– bemoeial (“bother-all”) ‘busybody’

– durfal (“dare-all”) ‘dare-devil’

– vergeetal (“forget-all” ‘scatterbrain’

– †vraagal (“ask-all”)

– †vernielal (“destroy-all”)

– †bedrijfal / †albedrijf (“decide-all” / “all-decide”)

– †bedilal / albedil ‘idem’

Cimbrian “picker-pockets”

• Object-second compounds:

– kratzar-holegen (“scratch-saints”) ‘hypocrite’

– machar-ullen (“maker-pots”) ‘potter’

– macher-hangasch (“maker-glove”) ‘glove-maker’

– machar-hüat (“maker-hat”) ‘hat maker’

– vorkoffar-mel (“seller-flour”) ‘flour seller’

– vürar-'z-mear-holz (“leader-the-ship”) ‘captain, piloto’

– kerar-de-heart (“sweeper-the-hearth”) ‘chimney sweeper’

Cimbrian “pocket-pickers”

• Object-first compounds: – prüche-machar ‘wig-maker’

– grise-machar ‘carpet-maker’

– haütene rüste-machar ‘pelt-monger’

– schuge-machar ‘shoe-maker’

– Bint-begar (“wind-weigher”) ‘Pesavento’ (a surname)

– sbaindarbar (< *sbaindar-tarbar < *-traibar) (“pig-driver”) ‘swineherd’

– hurr-knäbpularen (“whore-boy-lover”?) ‘paramour, concubina’

Syntax-induced origin?

• What are actually compounds?

– Jackson & Amvela (2001: 84): “[C]ompounds may be may be characterized by the fact that the relationship between the constituents is highly condensed.”

– Cf. E know-(it-)all, It. dial. manʧa-e-korkətə (“eat-and-go-sleep”) ‘lazybones’

• Did the Cimbrian “picker-pockets” arise following a change in word-order?

Vulgar Latin pickpockets

• Latin: – sēmini-verbius (“spread-word”) ‘gossip’ – verti-pedium (“turn-foot”) ‘common vervain’

• Nielsen-Whitehead (2012: 150): “they seem to pertain to the lower registers; and most are from late strata of Latin that are predominantly of the SVO type [that arose secondarily from SOV], thus confirming the contingency between the constituent order of nominal compounds on the word order of phrases.”

SV1OV2 > SV1V2O

• In Cimbrian, V1 and V2 tend to squeeze out the object and other elements:

– bear mochte baichen de sitten? ‘chi potrebbe fuggire i fulmini?’

– de pömelen kearnt börfan loop ‘The trees are starting to bud out again’

– ich han köt dabart ‘I have told the truth’

– hapetar gaslafet hüpesch? ‘haben Sie gut geschlafen?’

Syntax-induced shift?

• Nobject + Nagent – *ullen-machar ‘pot maker’

– *hangasch-machar ‘glove maker’

– *hüat-machar ‘hat maker’

• Nagent + Nobject – machar-ullen (“maker-pots”) ‘potter’

– macher-hangasch (“maker-glove”) ‘glove maker’

– machar-hüat (“maker-hat”) ‘hat maker’

Dependent determinative CMPs

• Cimbrian has Nmodifier + Nmodified:

– zant-vloas (“tooth-flesh”) ‘gum’

– ais-zockela (“ice-core”) ‘icicle’

– mear-holz (“sea-wood”) ‘boat’

– oge-pluma (“eye-down”) ‘eyebrow’

– regen-pomo (“rain-beam”) ‘rainbow’

Dependent determinative CMPs

• Cimbrian has Nmodified + Nmodifier: – zockel-baimar (“bunch-grape”) ‘bunch of grapes’

(baimara < *bain-peara < *wīn-bera)

– gattar-vestar (“fence-window”) ‘window grate’

– kastel-holz (“pile-wood”) ‘pile of wood’

– burm-mül (“worm-dirt”) ‘oil beetle’

– ars-natla (“ass-needle”) ‘eye of a needle’

– oge-plick (“eye-glance”) / plick-oge (“glance-eye”) ‘moment’

– flim-voll (“river-full”) ‘high water’ (N + Adj)

Romance influence

• Nounmodifief +nounmodifier:

– Fr. timbre-poste ‘post stamp’

– Fr. jeu vidéo ‘video game’

– Spa. cantate rock ‘rock song’

– Fr. assureur-vie ‘life insurer’

– Fr. conducteur automobile ‘professional driver’

– It. coordinatore sicurezza ‘security coordinator’

– etc.

Germanic / Romance contact

• Nielsen-Whitehead (2012) explains that the pickpockets spread from Romance to West Germanic in the Middle Ages, cf. the following bird names:

– Lat. moticilla (“move-ass”), Fr. battequeue, G Wippsterz, E wagtail

– Rom. vârte-cap, Sp. torcecuello, E wryneck

– Rom. fute-vânt, E fuck-wind ‘wagtail’

-ar- conjunction particle

• In nouns: – höwer-springer (“hay-jumper”) ‘locust’

– prutar-henne (“hatch-hen”) ‘idem’

– kluck(ar)-henne (“cluck-hen”) ‘clucking hen’

– trückar-hudar / trück-hudera (“dry-rag”) ‘towel’

– hütar-beldar (“care-woods”) ‘custodia’

• Adverb: – hümelarbege ‘Himmelswege’

-ar- “conjunction” particle

• Adjectives:

– prengar-plumen (“bringer-flowers”) ‘florifero’, quasi It. *feri-fioro

• With suffixed “conjunction” particle:

– drus-prengar (“boil-bringer”) ‘pestifero’

– vil-börfar (“much-thrower”) ‘fertile’, quasi It. *getta-molto

Italian calques with “ar” = hyphen

• Evident calques from Italian:

– machar-bint (“make(r)-wind”) ‘fan, pigliavento’

– traibar-bint (“drive(r)-wind” ‘idem’

– zigher-dreete (“pull(er)-threads”) ‘shoe-maker, tira-fili, tira-spaghi)

– kerar-de-heart (“sweep(er)-the-hearth”) ‘chimney sweeper, spazza-camino’

– kusser-eltere (“kiss(er)-altars”) ‘hypocrite, leccaaltari’

Conclusions

• The kusser-eltere type consists of real calques from Italian pickpockets.

• They are not originally “picker-pockets” induced by the (similarly contact-induced) shift from SV1OV2 to SV1V2O

• But they do fit in neatly with the Romance assureur-vie type.

• The linguistic spread of the pickpockets into Cimbrian is expected on the basis of knowledge of Romance/Germanic language contact elsewhere (see Nielsen-Whitehead 2012).

Selected bibliography

• Bidese, E., J.R. Dow & T. Stolz (eds.). 2005. Das Zimbrische zwischen Germanisch und Romanisch. Bochum.

• Gamillschegg, E. 1912. Die romanischen Elemente in der deutschen Mundart von Lusern. Halle.

• Hornung, M. 1977. Sprachmischung im ostoberitalienischen Sprachraum. In: W.H. Kolb & H. Lauffer (eds.), Sprachliche Interferenz – Festschrift für Werner Betz, 196-213. Tübingen.

• Matzel, K. 1989. Der Untergang deutscher Sprachinseln in Norditalien, in: H. Beck (ed.), Germanische Rest- und Trümmersprachen, 69-86. Berlin.

• Nielsen-Whitehead, B. 2012. Pickpocket compounds from Latin to Romance. Diss. Leiden.

• Ross, M. D. 2003. Diagnosing prehistoric language contact. In: Raymond Hickey (ed.), Motivations for language change., pp. 174-198. Cambridge.

• Schmeller, J.A. 1855. Cimbrisches Wörterbuch. Wien. • Schweizer, B. 2008. Zimbrische Gesamtgrammatik. Ed. James R. Dow. Stuttgart. • Tyroller, H. 2003. Grammatische Beschreibung des Zimbrischen von Luzern.

Wiesbaden.