Research that examines diachronic change and modality posit that modal verbs follow certain universal paths of development (e.g. Cornillie, 2007; Bybee & Fleischman, 1995; Bybee, Perkins & Pagliuca, 1994). The present study examines the development of Spanish modality in Mexico through the use of multivariate analyses, relative…

Summaries are reported of papers presented at a symposium on Chinese linguistics held in July 1977 at the University of Hawaii. Topics of the program were: semantics and functions, syntactic relations, diachronic phonology, synchronic phonology and phonetics, and aspect and time relations. (SW)

Examines some of the early uses of instrumental nouns unaccompanied by prepositions and considers the various meanings they conveyed, in order to show the kinds of changes they have undergone. A number of nominal forms have been adverbialized, and some have been replaced by prepositional phrases or other grammatical constructions. (SL)

Argues that the fundamental word order of Mandarin Chinese is SVO (Subject-Verb-Object), and describes word order change from Old Chinese to Modern Chinese. (AM)

A number of syntactic constructions in Mandarin Chinese are analyzed which, synchronically, are unrelated and highly irregular. However, all reflect a diachronic drift which has been operating in Mandarin Chinese, in the light of which the syntactic constructions can be viewed as structures in transition. (Author/RM)

Jane Rosenthal's paper on relative clauses in Classical Nahuatl is discussed, and it is argued that she misses an important generalization. An alternative analysis to a class of relative pronouns and new rules for the distribution of relative pronouns are proposed. (SC)

THIS GRAMMATICAL SKETCH IS A RUSSIAN-TO-ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE APPENDIX TO B.V. MILLER'S "PERSIDSKO-RUSSKIJ SLOVAR," MOSCOW, 1953. THE FIRST SECTION PRESENTS A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE SOUND AND WRITING SYSTEMS OF MODERN PERSIAN, THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF IRAN. FOLLOWING SECTIONS DEAL WITH THE PARTS OF SPEECH AND SIMPLE, COMPOUND,…

This article traces the development through Greek and Latin roots of the use of the verb "haber" in the Spanish language. (Text is in Spanish.) (NCR)

Some of the new statistical research of Wladimir D. Admoni and the language typology work of Winfred P. Lehmann is presented. It is then shown that the results of the two methods can be put together to bring forth new knowledge about the present-day tendencies of German syntax. (Text is in German.) (TL)

Recently collected evidence shows the likely existence of twelve South American Indian languages with object-initial word order. This is contrary to what had been generally predicted in the literature on word order typology before 1977. Numerous examples are provided of OVS (Object-Verb-Subject) and OSV (Object-Subject-Verb) word order, primarily…

The first part of this paper provides a description and discussion of the major aspects of the process of relativization in Israeli Hebrew: (a) the use of a subordinating relative particle which in most cases can neither be deleted nor replaced and which is prefixed to the first constituent of the embedded S; (b) the obligatory pronominalization…

Examines word order in French relative clauses, the last clauses to undergo reanalysis to [SVO] word order through Old and Middle French. Analysis shows that although main clauses change from [SVO] to [TVX] to [SVO] in a progressive manner, clauses in "que" show a preference for [TVX] order until the 13th century, with a resurgence in…