“Grammaticalization and the explanation of typological universals”

Sonia Cristofaro. 10 avril 2026, INALCO

Date : 10 avril 2026, 14h
Lieu : INALCO PLC, 65 Rue des Grands Moulins, Paris. Salle 4.17
Lien Zoom : lien, Meeting ID: 327 658 4955

Résumé du séminaire :

This paper explores the possible implications of grammaticalization processes for the explanation of typological universals. The latter are empirically observed patterns in which certain grammatical configurations are significantly more frequent than others across languages. This is usually explained by assuming that these configurations are favored because they comply with functional factors, such as economy or processing ease.

Yet, individual configurations recurrently originate through grammaticalization processes, and these processes are usually assumed to be triggered by the properties of particular source constructions and their contexts of use, not the fact that the resulting grammatical configurations comply with particular functional principles. This will be illustrated in the paper through a discussion of the diachronic origins of alienability splits in adnominal possession. While such splits are traditionally explained in terms of iconicity or economy, they originate as various types of source elements evolve into possessive markers as a result of several different processes of grammaticalization. Such processes are usually a result of context-driven inferences, not iconicity or economy, and the distribution of the resulting markers across alienable and inalienable possession reflects the distribution of the source element, also independently of these factors.

Explaining typological universals therefore requires a precise qualitative understanding of multiple grammaticalization processes involved in the emergence of individual universals, particularly inherent properties or discourse uses of multiple source constructions that may trigger the process, and the specific mechanisms involved. Such an understanding is still largely lacking, pointing to new research avenues both for the study of typological universals and for grammaticalization studies.