Rights statement: This article has been accepted for publication in Languages in Contrast, Volume 19, Issue 1, 2019, pages: 79-105, © 2019 John Benjamins, the publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use the material in any form.
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - A corpus-based study of the human impersonal pronoun "('n) mens" in Afrikaans
T2 - Compared to "men" and "een mens" in Dutch
AU - Van Olmen, Daniel
AU - Breed, Adri
AU - Verhoeven, Ben
N1 - This article has been accepted for publication in Languages in Contrast, Volume 19, Issue 1, 2019, pages: 79-105, © 2019 John Benjamins, the publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use the material in any form.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - This article compares the grammaticalizing human impersonal pronoun ('n) mens in Afrikaans to fully grammaticalized men and non-grammaticalized een mens in Dutch. It is shown that 'n mens and een mens can still be used lexically, unlike mens and men, and that ('n) mens and een mens are restricted to non-referential indefinite, universal-internal uses while men exhibits the whole range of (non-) referential indefinite ones. Despite the latter’s presence in the earliest Afrikaans data, it is argued not to have influenced the development of ('n) mens. This pronoun and Dutch een mens are also found to have syntactic functions other than subjecthood, unlike men. The contrast is attributed to their different degrees of grammaticalization. Lastly, the Afrikaans ‘man’-pronoun is shown to differ from its Dutch counterparts in relying on the second person singular for suppletion, though forms of ('n) mens are found to occasionally occur instead.
AB - This article compares the grammaticalizing human impersonal pronoun ('n) mens in Afrikaans to fully grammaticalized men and non-grammaticalized een mens in Dutch. It is shown that 'n mens and een mens can still be used lexically, unlike mens and men, and that ('n) mens and een mens are restricted to non-referential indefinite, universal-internal uses while men exhibits the whole range of (non-) referential indefinite ones. Despite the latter’s presence in the earliest Afrikaans data, it is argued not to have influenced the development of ('n) mens. This pronoun and Dutch een mens are also found to have syntactic functions other than subjecthood, unlike men. The contrast is attributed to their different degrees of grammaticalization. Lastly, the Afrikaans ‘man’-pronoun is shown to differ from its Dutch counterparts in relying on the second person singular for suppletion, though forms of ('n) mens are found to occasionally occur instead.
KW - Afrikaans/Dutch
KW - grammaticalization
KW - impersonal and pronoun
U2 - 10.1075/lic.17004.van
DO - 10.1075/lic.17004.van
M3 - Journal article
VL - 19
SP - 79
EP - 105
JO - Languages in Contrast
JF - Languages in Contrast
SN - 1387-6759
IS - 1
ER -