How much impact can grammatical system have on the semantic evolution of grams (a case study on the Tas Selkup system of evidential markers).


2015. №6, 54-77

Anna Yu. Urmanchieva
Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 199053, Russia;
Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 125009, Russia
urmanna@yandex.ru

Abstract:

This paper is devoted to an aspect of the semantic evolution of grams, which seems to be usually underestimated in grammaticalization studies. It is stated that a grammatical system can have a considerable impact on the process. This issue is examined on the example of a Tas Selkup evidential marker, which has developed a wide range of various semantic functions meeting the reqiurements of Selkup verbal system.