{"id":593,"date":"2025-04-08T09:19:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T07:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aties.unimi.it\/?page_id=593"},"modified":"2025-05-23T09:53:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T07:53:30","slug":"our-project","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aties.unimi.it\/en\/our-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Our project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p>The research project <strong><em>The lexicalization of the adjective class in Indo-European and Semitic<\/em><\/strong> (MUR code: 2022WHZJ98) bridges historical and typological linguistics. Its main contributions relate to parts-of-speech (PoS) typology, Indo-European (IE) and Semitic studies, as well as linguistic terminology, theoretical morphology, and the history of language sciences.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is well known that no universally accepted and internally consistent theory of PoS classification has been proposed to date. Moreover, some scholars believe not only that such a theory is currently lacking, but that it is, in principle, impossible. This project challenges that view by offering two main contributions:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>i) it proposes a new and coherent theory of PoS classification applicable across languages, tested against a balanced sample of 60 languages;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ii) it applies this theory to analyze two major, yet previously neglected or understudied, typological shifts in PoS that occurred in two of the world\u2019s most ancient language families\u2014Indo-European and Semitic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These language families were chosen for their long and uninterrupted textual traditions, which enable the reconstruction of long-term typological developments. Moreover, both families exemplify a previously undescribed type of change. Adapting the concept of <em>grammaticalization<\/em>, we term this new type of shift <em>lexicalization<\/em>: the emergence of a primary class of adjectival morphemes within the lexicon of a language. More specifically, it refers to the shift of a \u201cmajor\u201d PoS from the domain of constructions (i.e., grammar, and in particular word-formation) to that of the lexicon. In both language families under investigation, it is the adjective class that undergoes this lexicalization process.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Identifying this change not only advances our understanding of typological linguistics but also enables us to propose a cross-linguistically valid, functional definition of the most important (and discussed) unit in historical linguistics: the root. Until now, no one has established a connection between the concept of root and PoS typology. Most scholars reject such a link, viewing the root either as a purely diachronic or formal notion (e.g., a consonantal template), or as simply a verb stem labeled differently in tribute to early Indian or Arabic grammarians (e.g., Skt. <em>dh\u0101tu-<\/em> \u2018base, foundation\u2019, Ar. <em>\u2019a\u1e63l<\/em> or <em>m\u0101dda \u2019a\u1e63liyya<\/em> \u2018root, trunk\u2019, Heb. <em>\u0161ore\u0161<\/em> \u2018id.\u2019).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This project argues against that view by demonstrating that the Sanskrit and Arabic root is neither merely formal nor exclusively diachronic. Rather, it is the lexical morpheme in a system where only two major classes of morphemes exist: verbal roots and nouns. In such systems, adjectives typically emerge as derived stems\u2014nominalizations\u2014formed from verbs denoting qualities, aligning with what Dixon terms <em>verb-like adjectives<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The research project The lexicalization of the adjective class in Indo-European and Semitic (MUR code: 2022WHZJ98) bridges historical and typological linguistics. Its main contributions relate to parts-of-speech (PoS) typology, Indo-European (IE) and Semitic studies, as well as linguistic terminology, theoretical morphology, and the history of language sciences.\u00a0 It is well known that no universally accepted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":408,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-593","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aties.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/593"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aties.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aties.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aties.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/408"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aties.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aties.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"https:\/\/aties.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/593\/revisions\/803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aties.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}