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Specialized-domain grammars and the architecture of grammars: Possession in Oneida

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2020

JEAN-PIERRE KOENIG  and
KARIN MICHELSON
JEAN-PIERRE KOENIG
Affiliation:
University at Buffalo, Department of Linguistics, 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USAjpkoenig@buffalo.edukmich@buffalo.edu
KARIN MICHELSON
Affiliation:
University at Buffalo, Department of Linguistics, 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USAjpkoenig@buffalo.edukmich@buffalo.edu
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Abstract

This paper describes the grammar of possession in Oneida (Northern Iroquoian), a case where domain-specific syntax permeates disparate areas of the grammar (referencing of semantic arguments, noun incorporation, expression of quantity, and negation). In each of these other areas, something unique must be stated, but some of what is special to possession is also shared across two or more of these areas. We describe this interesting mix of general and specific constraints in terms of a metaphor originally applied by Lévi-Strauss to the construction of myths, ‘bricolage’ (tinkering). We suggest the notion of bricolage aptly captures the properties of Oneida words that include a relation of possession. This novel way of conceiving of grammar of specialized domains is an alternative to the view where only general/universal, possibly parametrized, principles are countenanced.

Keywords

grammar designhead-driven phrase-structure grammarIroquoianOneidapossession
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , August 2021 , pp. 635 - 674
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Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

As with all of our collaborative work, the order of authors is alphabetical. We acknowledge with gratitude the late Mercy Doxtator, the late Norma Kennedy, and Olive Elm, with whom Michelson had discussed some of the issues presented in this paper and who provided some of the examples. We are also grateful to Cliff Abbott, Samantha Cornelius, and Hanni Woodbury for comments on an earlier version of the paper, to the audience of the workshop The Grammar of Regularity and Idiosyncrasy for comments and suggestions, to three anonymous reviewers for their detailed comments, and especially to Penelope Eckert and Brian Joseph for pointing out intriguing parallels between our use of ‘bricolage’ in morphosyntax and similar concepts in sociolinguistics and historical linguistics.

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