Grammaticalization of the Directional Verbs iku/kuru

1
Grammaticalization of complex predicates
Masayoshi Shibatani Department of
Linguistics Rice University
2
Introduction
Phenomenon Grammaticalization of motion verbs
COME/GO in complex predicatesconverbal complex
predicates and serial verbs
Converbal complex predicates
Japanese arui-te iku/kuru walk-CON
go/come come/go walking
Korean tally-e ota/kata run-CON1 come/go
come/go running
Serial verbs
Mandarin Chinese ta zou qù he walk go He went
walking.
Atayal (Formosan) m-usa? m-ka?i tasah Tali?
AF-go AF-walk there Tali Tali goes
over there walking.

3
Formal difference between converbal complex
predicates and serial verb constructions
Foley Olsen (1985) on serial verb
constructions constructions in which verbs
sharing a common actor or object are merely
juxtaposed, with no intervening conjunction
(18)
Mandarin Chinese wo zou qù xúeixiào I walk
go school I walk to school/(lit.) I go to
school walking.
Japanese Boku-wa gakkoo-ni arui-te iku/kuru
I-TOP school-to walk-CON go/come I
walk to school/(lit.) I come/go to school walking
4
Serial verb constructions in Formosan languages
Wulai Atayal m-usa? m-aniq mami? Sayun AF-go
AF-eat meal Sayun Sayun goes to eat a
meal.
Mayrinax Atayal wah-an i m-itaal ni
yumin i yayania come-LF LINK
AF-see GEN Yumin NOM mother3SG.BG Yumin
came to see his mother.
Paiwan ma?tj?z-ak?n a pacun tjai
kina come-1S.NOM LINK see OBL
mother I came to see Mother.
Changpin Amis ma-hr?k kaku (a) k-um-a?n
tu futi? AF-finish 1S.NOM LINK eat-AF
ACC fish I have eaten the fish.
5
Grammatialization of iku/kuru go/come in the
spatial domain
Cline of grammaticalization
Kanozyo-wa gakkoo-ni arui-te it-ta. she-TOP
school-to walk-CON
go-PAST She walked (walk went) to school.
Less
(Manner Motion)
Kanozyo-wa heya-kara sotto de-te
ki-ta. she-TOP room-from quietly
exit-CON come-PAST She came out (exit came)
of the room quietly.
(Location change Motion)
Kare-wa kissaten-de koohii-o non-de
ki-ta. he-TOP café-at cofee-ACC
drink-CON come-PAST He drank coffee at the
café (and came).
More
(Action Motion)

6
Questions
How does grammaticalization take place in
specific constructionse.g. complex predicates?

• Which environment facilitates grammaticalization?

Does metaphor drive grammaticalization?
Does high text frequency facilitates
grammaticalization?

• Is there instantaneous or abrupt
  grammaticalization?

7
Summary of the decategorialization pattern of
iku/kuru come/go in Japanese
mieru rassyaru
Valency Fragments Neg. scope lexical
kuru come ? X X ? ?
N/A walk come arui-te kuru ?
? ? ? ? both exit
come de-te kuru ? ? ? X
X wide drink come non-de kuru
X ? ? X X
narrow
-ku
more V-like
less V-like
(? super, ? O.K., ?grudgingly, X no)
8
? mieru (lit. visible) honorific suppletion
Lexical kuru come
mieru visible (honorific come)
mie-ta
Yamada-sensei-ga koogi-ni ki-ta. Yamada-profe
ssor-NOM lecture-to come-PAST Prof. Yamada
came to lecture.
9
Sensei-ga ki-ta/mie-ta/irassyat-ta/rassyat-ta.
(Lexical kuru) teacher-NOM come-PAST The teacher
came.
Kono atui-noni arui-te ki-ta
no? this
hot-despite walk-CON come-PAST
COMP (You) came walking
despite this heat?
/mie-ta
/irassya-ta
/?rassyat-ta
Tonari-no okusan-ga omote-ni de-te
ki-ta neighbor-of wife-NOM outside-to
exit-CON come-PAST The neighbors wife came
(exist came) outside.
/mie-ta
/irassyat-ta
/rassyat-ta
Yamada-sensei-wa ippai non-de
ki-ta Yamada-professor-TOP a.drink drink-CON
come-PAST Prof. Yamada had a drink (and came).
/mie-ta
/irassyat-ta
/rassyat-ta
10
Valency property the goal relation
Taroo-wa Mie-no heya-kara zibun-no heya-ni
it-ta(Lexical iku) Taro-TOP Mie-of
room-from self-of room-to go-PAST Taro
went to his room from his own room.
x
Japanese manner of motion Vs do not sanction a
goal argument
Taroo-wa gakkoo-ni arui-ta. Taro-TOP
school-to walk-PAST Taro walked to school.
Taro-wa gakkoo-ni arui-te it-ta. Taro went to
school walking.
Iku/kuru go/come of the arui-te iku (walk go)
type are like lexical iku/kuru in sanctioning a
goal argument.
?
11
de-te iku (exit go) type
?
Taroo-wa zibun-no heya-o de-te, Mie-no
heya-ni it-ta. Taro-TOP self-of room-ACC
exit-CON Mie-of of room-to go-PAST Taro exited
his room and went to Mies room. (Clausal
conjunction)

Taroo-wa Mie-no heya-ni zibun-no heya-o de-te
it-ta. Taro-TOP Mie-of room-to
self-of room-ACC exit-CON go-PAST lit.
Taro went out of his room to Mies room.
(Converbal complex)
12
? tabe-te iku (eat go) -type
ringo-o tabe-te ik-u apple-ACC eat-CON
go-PRES
Clausal conjunction
go (after) eating an apple
ringo-o tabe-te ik-u eat an apple (and go on)
Complex predicate
gakkoo-e ringo-o tabe-te i-ku school-to
apple-ACC eat-CON go-PRES go to school (after)
eating an apple
Loss of the motion component of the GO verb gt
deictic marking
gakkoo-e ringo-o tabe-te i-ku

Cf. Lets go to McDonalds to eat.
Loss of the valency property
Lets go eat to McDonalds.
13
Again the cline of grammaticalization
Grammaticalization
Kanozyo-wa gakkoo-ni arui-te it-ta. she-TOP
school-to walk-CON
go-PAST She walked (walk went) to school.
Less
(Manner Motion)
Kanozyo-wa heya-kara sotto de-te
ki-ta. she-TOP room-from quietly
exit-CON come-PAST She came out (exit came)
of the room quietly.
(Location change Motion)
Kare-wa kissaten-de koohii-o non-de
ki-ta. he-TOP café-at cofee-ACC
drink-CON come-PAST He drank coffee at the
café (and came).
More
(Action Motion)

14

Question What drives grammaticalization in the
manner of the attested cline of
grammaticalization?
Metaphor?
grammaticalization can be interpreted as the
result of a process that has problem solving as
its main goal, whereby one object is expressed
in terms of another.
(Heine, Claudi and Hünnemeyer 1991 29)
Bernd Heine, Ulrike Claudi and Friederike
Hünnemeyer. 1991. Grammaticalization A
Conceptual Framework. Chicago University of
Chicago press.
15
Frequency?
Traugott, E.C. and B. Heine (19919) Given that
a form A is a candidate for grammaticalization
both because of its semantic context and its
salience, a further condition has to apply for
grammaticalization to take place The form has
to be used frequently. The more grammaticalized
a form, the more frequent it is ...The seeds of
grammaticalization are therefore in a correlated
set of phenomena Semantic suitability, salience
and frequency. Only the third actually leads to
grammaticalization and hence to fixing, freezing,
idiomatization, etc. Tarugott, E. C. and B.
Heine 1991 (eds.). Approaches to
Grammaticalization, vol. 1. Amsterdam John
Benjamins.
16
Both iku and kuru are high frequency verbs
--both are equally involved in our constructions
Frequency of the whole constructions?
Less grammaticalized More
grammaticalized
arui-te iku 20,500,000 tabe-te
iku 458,000
walk-CON go
eat-CON go


hasit-te iku 713,000
non-de iku 71,400
run-CON go
drink-CON go
(Google 2/28/06)
17
Frequency and phonetic bulk (Zipf 1932, 1935)
Bybee, Perkins and Pagliuca (1994 20) There
is a link between frequency of use and phonetic
bulk such that more frequently used material,
whether grammatical or lexical, tends to be
shorter (phonetically reduced) relative to less
often used material.
Joan Bybee, Revere Perkins and William Pagliuca.
1994. The Evolution of Grammar Tense, Aspect,
and Modality in the Languages of the World.
Chicago University of Chicago Press.
18
Rate of ku contraction
Main verb GO iku does not contract to -ku (0)
arui-te ikuto 328,000 arui-te-kuto
956 walk-gowhen 0.003
de-te ikuto 58,200 de-te-kuto
63 exit-gowhen 0.01
tabe-te ikuto 17,400 tabe-te-kuto
751 eat-gowhen 0.04
(based on Google search)
19
Semantic account
Less grammaticalized
arui-te iku walk-CON go
(Manner Motion) spatio-temporal overlap
de-te iku exit-CON go
(Location change Motion) spatio-temporal overlap
tabe-te iku eat-CON go
(Action Motion) sequential/no spatio-temporal
overlap
More grammaticalized
Semantically less congruous environment
facilitates grammaticalization
20
Semantically congruous event combinations

• Events sharing participants

• Events showing spatio-temporal overlap

Co-occurring events

• Causally connected sequential events

Causative
Purposive
Resultative

• Other naturally connected sequential events
• 
  

21
Gradual grammaticalization pattern
mieru rassyaru
Valency Fragments Neg. scope lexical
kuru come ? X X ? ?
N/A walk come arui-te kuru ?
? ? ? ? both exit
come de-te kuru ? ? ? X
X wide drink come non-de kuru
X ? ? X X
narrow
-ku
more V-like
less V-like
(? super, ? O.K., ?grudgingly, X no)
22
Rate of ku contraction
Main verb GO iku does not contract to -ku (0)
arui-te ikuto 328,000 arui-te-kuto
956 walk-gowhen 0.003
de-te ikuto 58,200 de-te-kuto
637 exit-gowhen 0.01
tabe-te ikuto 17,400 tabe-te-kuto
751 eat-gowhen 0.04
(based on Google search)
23
How about the loss of valency property?
Taroo-wa gakkoo-ni arui-te it-ta. Taro-TOP
school-to walk-CON go-PAST Taro went to school
walking.
X
Taroo-wa (kaisya-ni) sinbun-o yon-de
it-ta. Taro-TOP company-to newspaper-ACC
read-CON go-PAST Taro read the newspaper and
went to the company.
Korean
(?)
Taroo-nun hoysa-ey sinmwun-ul ilk-ko
ka-ssta Taro-TOP company-to newspaper-ACC
read-CON go-PAST read a newspaper and ran
off to the company
24
Instantaneous grammaticalization (Givón 1991122)
involves the mental act of the mind recognizing
a similarity relation and thereby exploiting it,
putting an erstwhile lexical item into
grammatical use in a novel context. The minute a
lexical item is used in a frame that intends it
as grammatical marker, it is thereby
grammaticalized.
Givón, T. Serial verbs and the mental reality
of event Grammatical vs.
cognitive packaging. InE.
Traugott and B. Heine (eds.) Approaches to
Grammaticalization, Vol. 181-127. John
Benjamins.
25
Temporal domain Aspectual use of GO and COME in
Japanese
kuraku nat-te ki-ta dark.ADV become-CON
COME-PAST It has started to get dark.
syoozikini iki-te ik-u honestly live-CON
GO-PRES go on living honestly
syoozikini iki-ru honestly live-PRES live
honestly
kuraku nat-ta dark.ADV become-PAST It got
dark.
x
x
x
x
Past
Future

26
Temporal use of GO in Wulai Atayal
Perfect Realis form of GO
a. gwan m?ka? Sayun (Lexical GO) go.REAL
Taipei Sayun Sayun is gone to Taipei.
b. gwan bka?  pyatu?   qasa la (Perfect GO)
GO.REAL break rice bowl that F.PART
That rice bowl has broken.
Future Irealis form of GO
a. m-usa? m-aniq mami? Sayun (Lexical GO)
AF-go AF-eat meal Sayun Sayun
goes to eat.
b. m-usa? qwalax (Future GO) AF-GO
rain It will rain.
27
On the rise of the future meaning
Bybee, Pagliuca and Perkins (199129) Back to
the future
FUTAGE 1 FUTAGE 2 FUTAGE 3 FUTAGE
4 obligation
probability gt intention
gt future gt desire
imperative


COME-TO GO-TO
(cf. Heine, Claudi Hünnemeyer 1991174)
intention use comes fairly directly form the
literal meaning of the subject is on a path
moving towards a goal. The only necessary
change is for the movement and path to be
taken figuratively for the intention sense to
arise. (Bybee, et al. )
28
While some have argued that a metaphorical
transfer is involved in deriving future meaning
from a movement construction (Sweetser 1988
Emanation 1991), we do not see the need for
invoking a metaphorical mechanism in this case.
The temporal meaning that comes to dominate the
semantics of the construction is already present
as an inference from the spatial meaning. When
one moves along a path toward a goal in space,
one also moves in time. The major change that
takes place is the loss of the spatial meaning.
Here again the function of expressing intention
comes into play. When the speaker announces that
s/he is going somewhere to do something, s/he is
also announcing the intention to do that thing.
Thus intention is part of the meaning from the
beginning, and the only change necessary is the
generalization to contexts in which an intention
is expressed, but the subject is not moving
spatially to fulfill that intention. Bybee, J.,
R. Perkins, and W. Pagliuca The Evolution of
Grammar Tense, Aspect and Modality in the
languages of the world. 1994269. Chicago
University of Chicago Press.
29
Heine, Claudi and Hünnemeyer (199170)

• Henry is going to town. (Literal spatial meaning)
• Are you going to the library?
• c. No, I am going to eat. (Intention gt
  Predictiongt Spatial)
• d. I am going to do my best to make you happy.
• (Intention gt
  Prediction gt Spatial)
• e. The rain is going to come. (Intention gt
  Prediction/Future)

30
Future use of usa? go in Wulai Atayal

• m-usa? m?ka? kira? Sayun (main verb use)
• AF-go Taipei today Sayun
• Sayun goes to Taipei today.

b. m-usa? m-aniq mami? Sayun (serialization use)
AF-go AF-eat meal Sayun
Sayun goes to eat.
c. p-qwalax IRR-rain It will rain
d. m-usa? qwalax AF-GO rain It
will rain.
31
a. m-usa? m-nuw AF-GO AF-earthquake
An earthquake will occur shortly
b. m-usa? takuy ?asan qani la AF-GO
fall down house this F.PART
This house will fall down shortly.
c. m-usa? mu-qwas qutux knerin AF-go
AF-sing one woman A woman goes (to
some place) to sing. A woman will sing.
d. p-qwas qwas knerin IRR-sing song
woman A woman will sing.
32
Aspectual use of gwan go.REALIS

• gwan m?ka? Sayun (main verb use)
• go.REAL Taipei Sayun
• Sayun is gone to Taipei.

b. gwan m-tuw sakaw Sayun (serialization use)
go.REAL AF-exit room Sayun Sayun
has gone out of the room.
c. gwan tgayaw qhuniq qasa la GO.REAL
fall down tree that F.PART
That tree has fallen down.
d. gwan bka?  pyatu?   qasa la GO.REAL
break rice bowl that F.PART That
rice bowl has broken.
33
A third-person actor vs. a first-person actor
a. gwan m?ka? Sayun go.REAL Taipei
Sayun Sayun is gone to Taipei.
b. ?gwanku? m?ka?
go.REAL1SG.NOM Taipei ?I am gone
to Taipei.
c. gwanku? m-ka? pyatu? qasa la
GO.REAL1SG.NOM AF-break rice bowl that
F.PART I have broken that rice bowl.
d. gwan m-ka? pyatu? qasa Sayun go.REAL
AF-break rice bowl that Sayun Sayun
went/is gone to break that rice bowl.
34
Repercussion of grammaticalization in syntax
Loss of a valency property

• m-usa?ku? te m?ka?
• AF-go1SG.NOM to Taipei
• I go to Taipei.

b. m-usa?ku? te m?ka? (ru?) m-aziyku? kaya?
AF-go1SG.NOM to Taipei and
AF-buy1SG.NOM thing I go to Taipei and buy
stuff.
c. m-usa?ku m-aziy kaya? (?te) m?ka?
(serial verbs) AF-go1SG.NOM AF-buy stuff
to Taipei I go buy stuff (to/in)
Taipei.
35
NAF form of the non-initial verb
Normal verb serialization (Wulai Atayal) AF
AF
NAF AF
AF NAF

NAF NAF
a. m-qwasku? qwas Sayun (AF)
AF-sing1SG.NOM song Sayun I sing Sayuns
song.
b. qwas-anmu? qwas Sayun (PF)
sing-PF1SG.GEN song Sayun I sing
Sayuns song.
c. t-arinku? m-qwas qwas Sayun (AFAF)
AF-start1SG.NOM AF-sing song Sayun I
start singing Sayuns song. d. t-arinku?
qwas-an qwas Sayun (AFPF) AF-start1SG.NOM
sing-PF song Sayun e. tri?-unmu?
m-qwas qwas Sayun (PFAF) sing-PF1SG.GEN
AF-sing song Sayun
36

• wanku? m-aniq mami? (AFAF)
• GO.REAL1SG.NOM AF-eat meal
• Ive eaten a meal.

b. gwanku? niq-un kwala mami?su?
(AFPF) GO-REAL1SG.NOM eat-PF all
meal2SG.GEN Ive eaten all your meal.
c. nyuxku? m-kas m-ita
yaya?su? (AFAFAF) EXIST1SG.NOM
AF-look.forward.to AF-see mother2SG.GEN I
am looking forward to seeing your mother. d.
nyuxku? pkas-un m-ita yaya?
Sayun (AFPFAF) EXIST1SG.NOM
look.foward.to-PF AF-see mother Sayun I am
looing forward to seeing Sayuns mother.
e.nyuxku? pkas-un qit-an yaya?
Sayun (AFPFPF) EXIST1SG.NOM
look.foward.to-PF see-PF mother Sayun
37
Japanese aspectual iku/kuru go/come
a. kare-mo dondon biiru-o non-de ik-u
he-also steadily beer-ACC drink-CON go-PRES
He also keeps on drinking beer.
b. Ningen-wa nani-o tabe-te ki-taka.
human-TOP what-ACC eat-CON come-PASTQ
What have humans been eating?
c. Korekara-mo dondon sake-o non-de ik-u
from.now-also steadily sake-ACC drink-CON
go-PRES From now on too (I will) keep on
drinking sake steadily.
d. korekara-mo dondon eki-e arui-te iku
from.now-also steadily station-to walk-CON
go-PRES (Intended for) From now on too (I
will) keep on walking to the station.
38
a. Ano kooen-o sanzyuu-nen-rai zutto arui-te
ki-ta. that park-ACC thirty-year-over
steadily walk-CON come-PAST (I) have walked
that park steadily over thirty years.

Action Motion (less congruous)
b. Sanzyuu-nen-rai zutto uti-kare gakkoo-ni
arui-te ki-ta. thirty-year-over
steadily house-from school-to walk-CON
come-PAST (I) have walked from the house to
the school over thirty years.
Manner Motion (congruous)
39
Korean aspectual ota come
(a) i kongwuen-ul kenil-e-o-ass-ta.   (Action
Motion)     this park-ACC
take.a.walk-CON-come-PAST-IND (I) walked
the park (and came back). (b) 30nyenkan ccwuk
i kongwuen-ul kenil-e-o-ass-ta.      
30.years.during steadily this park-ACC
take.a.walk-CON-come-PAST-IND (I) have
walked this park steadily over the (past) 30
years.  
(a) cip-eyse hakkyo-kkaci kel-e-o-ass-ta.
(Manner Motion) house-from school-to
walk-CON-come-PAST-IND I walked
(walk-come) to school from the house. (b)
30nyenkan ccwuk cip-eyse hakkyo-kkaci
kel-e-o-ass-ta. 30.year.during steadily
house-from school-to walk-CON-come-PAST-IND  
    I have walked (walk-come) to school from
house for the (past) 30 years.
40
Semantically less congruous environment
facilitates grammaticalization
Applies to both gradual and instantaneous
(metaphorical extension) cases of
grammaticalization
41
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to the Institute of Linguistics,
Academia Sinica and the National Science Council
of the Republic of China for financial support
for my stay in Taiwan and for my fieldwork in
Wulai.
My sincere thanks also go to Lillian Huang and
Elizabeth Zeitoun for making my visit to Taiwan
in December 2005 possible.
??!
(matt_at_rice.edu)