Seri verbs: multiple complexities

许多语言似乎对它们的词形变化表现出了武断的阐述。例如，大多数英语名词都可以带复数结尾，但每个名词的复数结尾并不相同：试比较鸟-S、牛-恩和现象-a。确切地说，使用哪一个是必须学习和记住的附加事实。在这种情况下，这可能看起来并不是一项伟大的任务，但有些语言远远超过了英语，在语言用来表达意义的已经相当可观的机器上增加了一层看似不必要的复杂性。在一般的语言理论中，这种形态的复杂性相当于房间里的大象：它在那里做什么，以及为什么它会占据这么大的空间，这一点还远不清楚。屈折变化最极端的例子之一--我们认为是最极端的--来自斯里语，这是一种孤立的语言，墨西哥索诺兰海岸大约有900人说这种语言。根据我们所掌握的最佳信息，用于标记主语和事件编号(即动词主语是单数还是复数，以及动作是一次还是多次)的范式有500多个屈折类别。这让我们所知道的任何其他语言都相形见绌--为了便于比较，请注意，这是法语课堂数量的七倍，法语以其语言系统的复杂性而闻名。这使得系列动词系统在某种程度上具有超形态复杂性：破解这一点，这个谜题就被一劳永逸地破解了。请注意，这个系统的复杂性远远不能仅仅通过列举结尾或类的数量来表达。首先，与英语不同，规则动词和不规则动词之间没有明显的区别：不规则动词遍及整个系统，因此即使是有根据的猜测也很难对给定动词的形式做出猜测。第二个复杂的因素是形式在范式中的分布方式，这阻止了我们为形态构成词赋予固定的功能，并增加了学习者必须掌握的事实集。然而，该系统并不混乱，并遵循严格的形态层次结构。这种层级是否反映了意义的各个方面或在形态上是自主的，这是一个具有相当大的理论和类型学兴趣的问题，因为我们不知道其他语言中有类似的例子。第三个复杂的因素是意义。动词标记主语数，这是一个比较熟悉的概念，也是事件数。这实际上意味着什么还远不清楚。从跨语言的角度来看，数字可以是事件的一种属性，从简单的量化到言语意义的内在特征。它在特定情况下的意思部分取决于动词的意义，部分取决于所描述的情景。鉴于我们目前对该系统背后的语义和句法原理知之甚少，可能至少有一部分形态复杂性可以追溯到尚未认识到的意义或功能方面。这些数据为我们提供了两个主要的研究机会。首先，动词范型的形态--它的种类繁多，它的不可预测性，以及它的形式的可变功能--已经达到了在世界语言中几乎没有类似之处的程度。其次，“事件数”所包含的意义和功能代表着一个正在进行的跨语言研究的主题，其在语法系统一般理论中的地位仍在确定中。我们将直接与墨西哥的塞里语使用者合作，使用各种启发式技术来帮助解释这一独特系统背后的词法、语义和句法因素。

Many languages show seemingly arbitrary elaboration of their inflection. For example, most English nouns can take a plural ending, but it is not the same for every noun: compare bird-s, ox-en, and phenomen-a. Exactly which one to use is an additional fact that must be learnt and remembered. In this case that might not seem all that great a task, but there are languages which far outstrip English, adding an extra layer of seemingly gratuitous complexity to the already considerable machinery that languages employ for the expression of meaning. Within a general theory of language, such morphological complexity is rather the elephant in the room: it is far from clear what it's doing there, and why it is taking up so much space. One of the most extreme examples of inflectional variation - the most extreme, we would argue - comes from Seri, a language isolate spoken by approximately 900 people on the Sonoran coast in Mexico. According to the best information we have there are over 500 inflection classes for the paradigm used to mark subject and event number (i.e. whether the verb subject is singular or plural, and whether the action occurs once or multiple times). This dwarfs anything we are aware of in any other language - for the sake of comparison, note that this is seven times the number of classes that French has, a language well known for the complexity of its verbal system. This makes the Seri verb system something of a nec plus ultra of morphological complexity: crack this, and the puzzle is cracked once and for all.Note that the complexity of this system involves far more than can be conveyed by a mere enumeration of the number of endings or the number of classes. First, unlike e.g. English, there is no clear division between regular and irregular verbs: irregularity pervades the entire system, so that it is hard to make even an educated guess as to what the forms of a given verb would be. A second complicating factor comes way forms are distributed in the paradigm, which prevents us from assign a fixed function to the morphological formatives, and adds to the set of facts the learner must acquire. Nevertheless, the system is not chaotic, and follows a strict morphological hierarchy. Whether this hierarchy reflects aspects of meaning or is morphologically autonomous is a question of considerable theoretical and typological interest, as we are not aware of parallel examples from other languages. A third complicating factor is meaning. Verbs mark subject number, which is a relatively familiar notion, but also event number. What this actually means remains far from clear. Cross-linguistically, number can be a property of events in a variety of ways, from simple quantification to inherent characteristics of the verbal meaning . What it means in a given instance depends partly on verb meaning and partly on the situation being described. Given how little we currently know about the semantic and syntactic principles underlying the system, it could be that at least some portion of the morphological complexity can be traced back to as yet unrecognized aspects of meaning or function. These data provide us with two major research opportunities. First, the morphology of verbal paradigms - in its proliferation of classes, in its unpredictability, and in the variable functionality of its forms - has attained a degree of complexity with few parallels in the languages of the world. Second, the meanings and functions subsumed under the rubric 'event number' represent a category which is the subject of lively ongoing research cross-linguistically, and whose status within a general theory of grammatical systems is still being defined. We will work directly with speakers of Seri in Mexico, using various techniques of elicitation to help explain the morphological, semantic and syntactic factors behind this unique system.