Detransitivity in the Brittonic Languages: Reflexivity, Reciprocity and Middle Voice Constructions

本课题将考察不列颠语系语言中及物性(反身性、互惠性和中间语态结构)的表达情况，重点是威尔士语。与其他几种结构一样，反身性和互惠性也是及物语态的子域。人们对这些语法范畴及其共同的语义和语用特征进行了大量的跨语言和类型学研究。这些范畴不仅通过相互关联的语义属性联系在一起，而且在许多语言中也由相同的标记来表示。大多数欧洲语言显示的标记包含不止一个这样的类别，其基础是所谓的派“反身代词”*S(W)e，cp。例如德语、法语、意大利语。英国语系中威尔士语、中布列塔尼语和中科尼什语采用不同的策略。在这里，反身代词和倒装句的特点是动词前缀威尔士语ym-，布雷顿语em-，科尼什om-。这个前缀起源于原凯尔特语介词*ambi-‘大约，在两边’，最初表示对等，但也可能是中间语态。本项目的目标之一正是验证后一种假设。在康尼尔语和布列塔尼语中，前缀发展成为这两种语言表现出的反身性和互惠性的唯一标志，而威尔士语的表现则不同。除了前缀之外，威尔士还开发了第二种策略，通过复杂的强化词ei hun来表达反身性，随着时间的推移，它完全取代了这一功能中的前缀。这些迄今尚未被研究的发展将基于历时语料库分析来检验和确定日期。它们还将结合为类型学研究和接触语言学收集的数据进行讨论。此外，还将考虑与邻近语言的融合发展。例如，在英语中使用复合加强词本身作为关系代词是否受到了威尔士的影响，这是有争议的。该项目考察了不列颠语言语法子系统的历时重构，旨在提高对它们发展的理解。预期结果还将涉及类型学、语言接触和语言变化等领域。

This project will examine the expression of detransitivity (reflexivity, reciprocity and middle voice constructions) in the Brittonic languages, with a special focus on Welsh.Together with several other constructions, reflexivity and reciprocity are sub-domains of detransitive voice. Much cross-linguistic and typological research has been carried out on the grammatical categories as well as on their common semsntic and pragmatic features. Not only are these categories connected by interrelated semantic properties, they are also represented, in many languages, by identical markers. Most European languages display markers that encompass more than one such category, based on the so-called PIE "reflexive pronoun" *s(w)e, cp. e.g. German sich, French se, Italian si.The Brittonic languages Middle Welsh, Middle Breton and Middle Cornish employ a different strategy. Here reflexives and reciprocals are characterized by the verbal prefix Welsh ym-, Breton em-, Cornish om-. This prefix originates from the Proto-Celtic preposition *ambi- 'about, at two sides' and originally indicated reciprocity, but possibly also middle voice. One of the objectives of the present project is precisely to test this latter hypothesis. While in Cornish and Breton the prefix developed into the only marker of reflexivity and reciprocity that the two languages display, Welsh behaved differently. Next to the prefix, Welsh developed a second strategy to express reflexivity by means of the complex intensifier ei hun, which over time completely replaced the prefix in this function.These developments, which have not been researched so far, will be examined and dated based on a diachronic corpora analysis. They will also be discussed in relation to data gathered for typological research and for contact linguistics. In addition, convergent developments with the neighbouring languages will be considered. It is for example controversial, whether the use of the complex intensifier himself as a relative pronoun in English was influenced by Welsh.The project examines the diachronic restructuring of a grammatical sub-system of the Brittonic languages, and it aims at improving the understanding of their development. The expected results will also be relevant within the fields of typology, language contact and language change.