Speaker Series: Paloma Jeretič; Leibniz Center, Berlin.

Paloma Jeretič (Leibniz Center for General Linguistics (ZAS), Berlin) will be giving a talk titled “Derived modality in Ecuadorian Siona & consequences for the cross-linguistic picture” (abstract below).

The talk will take place in 401 Fisher-Bennett Hall – the building is easy to find (South-East corner of 34th & Walnut).

After the talk, there will be a department lunch with Paloma in the department library, starting at noon.

__________________________

Derived modality in Ecuadorian Siona

& consequences for the cross-linguistic picture

Paloma Jeretič (Leibniz Center for General Linguistics, Berlin)

It has been observed that necessity modal meanings across unrelated languages can be expressed using predicative possession constructions, an example being English modal have to, derived from the possession verb have.

I bring forth data obtained from original fieldwork on a modal expression in Ecuadorian Siona, derived from the existential construction ba'iji ('there is...'), to shed light on this puzzle.

(i) Yë'ë sai-ye     ba'i-ji.

     I       go-NMLZ be-3S.PR

    'I have to go.'

I present an analysis of ba'iji that integrates force, flavor and form to show how modal meaning in this construction is not lexicalized in any way, but instead is built from the bottom up. The theory involves a type-flexible existential operator, quantifying over individuals or worlds. This makes ba'iji a possibility modal, as I previously proposed in an account of ba'iji's variable force, where necessity readings are obtained via scaleless implicature (Jeretič 2021). I follow the line of work that takes possession constructions to share structure with existential constructions (originating in Freeze 1992), which happens to be directly reflected in Siona verbal morphology. Then I draw a link between possession relations, which occur between two individuals, and modal relations, which occur between an individual and a world. I propose that a modal relation can be introduced in the same position as a possession relation, and this will predict the range of modal flavors that ba'iji can have (namely, all and only individual-anchored root flavors).

Finally, I discuss how this analysis extends to modals derived from possession and existential constructions cross-linguistically.

Event