From Pragmatics to Sentence Type: Non-topical S/A Arguments and Clause-second 
Particles in the Kalahari Basin

Güldemann, Tom; Pratchett, Lee J.; Witzlack-Makarevich, Alena

doi:10.11435/gengo.154.0_53

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From Pragmatics to Sentence Type: Non-topical S/A Arguments and Clause-second Particles in the Kalahari Basin

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Güldemann, Tom
Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Güldemann, T., Pratchett, L. J., & Witzlack-Makarevich, A. (2019). From Pragmatics to Sentence Type: Non-topical S/A Arguments and Clause-second Particles in the Kalahari Basin. Gengo Kenkyu, 154, 53-84. doi:10.11435/gengo.154.0_53.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0003-ADA8-D

Abstract

Languages of the Kalahari Basin contact area share a feature whereby
a special type of particle occurs in clause-second position, often after the S/A
constituent. Previous accounts have used a wide range of labels such as declarative,
indicative, emphatic nominative, or topic, which point to a diverse but
insufficiently understood functional array of this particle type. We address the
phenomenon from a discourse-oriented and comparative perspective by exploring
relevant cases in languages of three different families: Northern Khoekhoe
of Khoe-Kwadi, Nǁng of Tuu, and Ju of Kxʼa. We conclude that the particles are
involved in a network of constructions spanning such diverse domains as nonverbal
predication, focus, entity-central theticity, declarative, and possibly even
differential S/A marking. The last two functions that relate to sentence types and
grammatical relations, respectively, and (may) no longer display a marked information
structure (IS) configuration, emerge from the overuse of thetic particle
constructions and thus are the result of so-called “depragmaticization”.