LINGUIST List 22.2641 Fri Jun 24 2011 Qs: Innovation of Functional Categories Editor for this issue: Brent Woo <bwoolinguistlist.org> New! Visit LL's Multitree project for over 1000 trees dynamically generated from scholarly hypotheses about language relationships:             http://multitree.linguistlist.org/ We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate. In addition to posting a summary, we'd like to remind people that it is usually a good idea to personally thank those individuals who have taken the trouble to respond to the query. To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     Juergen Bohnemeyer , Innovation of Functional Categories Message 1: Innovation of Functional Categories Date: 23-Jun-2011 From: Juergen Bohnemeyer <jb77buffalo.edu> Subject: Innovation of Functional Categories E-mail this message to a friend I'm looking for examples of functional categories - semantic distinctions expressed by inflections and/or function words - that were clearly innovated in a given language (family) at some point in a narrow sense of the term 'innovation'. Specifically, I'm interested in cases that fulfill both of the following criteria: (i) One or more members of the particular language family at some point grammaticalized a functional category that is not evidenced or cannot be reconstructed in the common ancestor of the family (ii) This grammaticalization was not in any obvious way contact- induced; i.e., there is no conclusive evidence and no obvious candidate for a model from which the newly minted category could have been diffused. To put this another way, you could say that what I'm looking for are neologisms of grammar. I will post a summary of the responses should the responses warrant this. Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics                             Semantics                             Syntax                             Typology Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 24-Jun-2011       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.