Such similatives: a cross-linguistic reconnaissance

This paper is a preliminary exploration of the semantic and formal properties of the English word such and some of its counterparts in other languages. The proposal is that such words are ‘demonstrative similatives’ (or, equivalently, ‘similative demonstratives’), i.e., their meanings lie at the intersection of the semantic dimensions of similarity and demonstration. We show that this kind of classification is straightforward for languages like Latin and Sanskrit, in which the counterparts to such occur in both similative and demonstrative paradigms. In these so-called ‘correlative’ paradigms the demonstrative similatives occur in systems with both non-demonstrative similatives and non-similative demonstratives. English such and French tel do not occur in correlative systems, and the treatments of such and tel in their respective traditions show a great amount of confusion, in part as a result of the absence of these paradigms, and also because both elements differ strongly from ordinary demonstratives. We also show how the Sanskrit similative paradigm (and that of Kannada) extends the one of Latin in allowing similatives to encode similarity with the speaker and the hearer(s). The paper ends with the methodological point: if more than one language-specific category can do justice to the specifics of one language, the better category is the one that does double duty as a cross-linguistic category.

Publication year:2020

Keywords:A1 Journal article

BOF-keylabel:yes

BOF-publication weight:1

CSS-citation score:2

Authors:International

Accessibility:Closed