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The grammaticizationof coordination
Marianne Mithun
university of Califurnia, Santa Barbora
Of all syntactic constructions, we might expect the most basic and
universal to be coordination. Coordination seems so fundamental to
languagethat its form should be relatively stable over time and constant
across cultures. Yet there is surprising variety in the tlpes of coordinating
constructionsexhibited by different languages,and even in the degreeto
which coordination is grammaticized at all. Some languagescontain
elaboratesetsof obligatoryconjunctions,someindicatesyntacticlinks morphologically with non-finite tense or switch-referencemarkers, but many
languagescontain no grammaticizedmarkers of coordination at all.
Doesthis variety mean that coordination is a language-specificstrategy?
Do speakersof different languagesdiffer in the kinds of constituents they
conjoin, or the occasionson which they link them?In fact, if intonation patterns are comparedacrosslanguages,striking similaritiesemerge.Speakers
of very different typesof languagescombineelementsintonationally under
essentiallythe samecircumstances,with comparablefrequency.
In what follows, the grammaticizationof coordinating conjunctions
will be comparedacrosstypologically diverselanguages.First, patternsof
coordination reflected in intonation will be compared. Next, the types of
grammaticized conjunctions used to signal coordination will be surveyed,
along with their diachronic sourcesand the processesinvolved in their grammaticization. Finally, the stimuli initially motivating the grarnmaticization
of the conjunctionswill be explored.
1 COORDINATION BY INTONATION
A survey of spontaneousspoken texts in a variety of languagesindicates
332
MARIANNE MITHT,'N
that coordination is normally signalled intonationally in two principal ways,
whether overt conjunctions are present or not. Coordinate constituents may
be combinedwith no intonation break, or they may be separatedby 'comma
intonation', usuallya pauseand a specialnon-final pitch contour. Thesetwo
pattems characterizeconjoined noun phrasesand predicatesas well as conjoined clauses.
1.1 Coordinate noun phrrses
Noun phrasesjoined with no intonation break typically designatea
singleconceptualunit. Conjoined noun phrasesof this type often refer to
the sorts of concepts designated by single lexical items or compounds in
many languages,such as 'parents' for 'mother and father'. By contrast,
noun phrasesseparatedby comma intonation typically designateconceptually distinct membersof some set. Each new conjunct introducesa separate
pieceof inforrnation.
This distinction is characteristic of all tlpes of languages.Compare the
sentencesbelow from Gurung, for example, a relatively analltic, SinoTibetan languageof central Nepal. During a discussionof Gurung traditions, a speakerhad reportedthat when girls ar€ first born, they are given
a raggeddress.They wear raggeddressesuntil the ageof three or four, when
they are given a cape and skirt. The cape and skirt together constitute a
costume, a replacement for the ragged dress. The speaker conjoined these
two nouns, 'cape' and 'skirt', with no pause.
(l)
Gurung (Glover, 1974:210.22)
jxa:li ryyw[ coki pl-m
then cape skirt give-m
'Then (we) give (the girls) a cape and skirt'
When conjoined nouns identify conceptually distinct entities, however, they
are separatedby comma intonation. In (2), the conjoined nouns refer to two
distinct groups of people, Gurungs and Nepalis.
(2)
Gurung (Glover, 1974:201.1)
dasad 4i tamfr-mo4-la, nxepa:li-la dasa6 ...
Dasain we Gurung-rl-roe Nepali-rop Dasain
aso&i mxaina-r pardim
Asod month-in fall-Np
THE GRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
JJJ
'Dasain' for us Gurungs, and Nepalis, falls in the month of
Asod'
Theseintonation patterns are not restricted to analytic languages'Kampolysynthetic' Verbs
chadal, a Luoravetlan language of Siberia, is highly
contain pronominal affixes referring to core arguments,and may incorporate nouns. In (3) below, the conjoined noun phrase'wife and son' conjoined with
stitutes a conceptual unit, the family of the hero' The nouns are
no break in intonation.
(3)
Kamchadal(Worth, 1961: 18.8)
lic PCcqam inxkinkin
wife son not he found.
'He did not find his wife and son'
In (4), by contrast, the conjoined nouns refer to assorted, conceptually
distinct items. They are separatedby comma intonation'
(4)
Kamchadal(worth, 196I: 41.15-16)
dwa cgizin:
mnil
Qtkitxen qtxzenk
on the route everything that there is
throw
sdpan,
qCyulxtn,
Ixmin,
csdlen
reindeer hides hides of reindeer calves sable furs fox skins
'Throw everything we have out onto the path: reindeer hides'
reindeercalves'hides, sablefurs, fox skins'
The two intonation patterns can be combined to form constructions
with internal structure. Note the conjoined noun phrase below from
Parengi, a mildly synthetic South Munda (Afroasiatic) language of India'
The fkst two nouns, 'bow' and 'arrow', constitut€ a conceptual unit, so they
are linked intonationally. The third noun, 'gun', representsa separateentity,
so it is separatedfrom tbe others by comma intonation.
(5)
Parengi (Aze and Aze, 1973:324.1O7)
ona?-di amon-di, noli'di d'on-aY
borv-Focarrow-Foc gun-Foctake-sP/rMP
'Bring me a bow and arrow, and a gun.'
1.2 Coordinste prsdicstes
Similar intonation patterns characterizeconjoined predicates' Concep-
334
MARIANNE MITHTJN
tually unitary events are expressedin single intonation units, while those
consisting of conceptually distinct components are expressedin seriesof intonation units. In the Parengi sentencein (5), the two future tenseverbs,
referring to subparts of a conceptually unitary action, are combined intonationally with no pause.
(5)
Parengi (Aze and Aze, 19731240,65)
e-noznd'ar-t-at
zuml-ay
grasp-FuT-sP
eat-FUT-sP
to-him
'I will grasp him and eat him'
The verbs in (6) are conjoined becausethey describecausally related evenft.
The eventsare conceptuallydistinct, however,so the verbsare separatedby
comma intonation.
(6)
Parengi (Aze and Aze, 1973:24O.65)
din-ru?
noTn kut alung ir-ru,
he well inside jump-rnsr die-plsr-uxonncorn
'He jumped inside the well and died.'
These two intonation patterns can be combined to yield complex
predicates,similar to the complex nominals illustrated above. The Kamchadal sentencein (7), for example,containstwo conjoined predicates,the
secondof which also containstwo conjoinedpredicates.The hero's coming
to Walen-Sinanewt is seenas one action, then his throwing himself on her
and seizing her constitute a second.
(7)
Kamchadal(Worth, 1961:24.7)
l4/aleA -Sinaqewtankekdlknen, qano4 kspensknan
To Walen-Sinanewt he came thus he threw himself seized
kinknen
her
'He came to Walen-Sinanewt.threw himself on her and seized
her'
Examination of connected discoursein a variety of languagesindicates
that the types of predicates speakersconjoin are rernarkably similar. Compound predicates most often position a major participant for a subsequent
action, as in the three examplesabove. Not surprisingly, these are the very
sorts of concepts that typically exhibit special bonding or fusion in many
languages.The bond may take a variety of forms, such as serial verb con-
THE GRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
JJ)
structions, verb compounds, and verb stems derived with andative affixes
meaning'go and ...'.
1.3 Coordinrte clauses
Conjoined clausesexhibit the samekinds of intonation patterns as conjoined nominalsand predicates.Thoseconjoinedwith no intonation break
typically describesubpartsof what is conceivedof as a single event, One
clausetlpically sets the stage for the other by positioning a major participant. The Gurung sentencein (8), in which agentsare moved into position
for their subsequentaction, is typical.
(8)
Gurung (Glover, 1974t207)
gxri gxri aba
xrbsa xrbsa-d
xrZsyo mi
sxl-i
self self-of
houses--rvpseach personone one now
mm:rsi
mr6-r-bae
xr6sa
xr'oso-d
mr6 xyaii biri
field go-coNr self self-of field-in-lu marsi
mkaa
na: ti-na
rice-of head pluck-oI
'One person from eachhouseholdwent to their respective
fields and plucked of their own field a head of marsi rice.'
The Kamchadal sentencein (9), in which an instrument is obtained for a
subsequentaction, is also typical(9)
Kamchadal(Worth, l96t: 16.3)
Qanti:4 ldqen klin xkdlax sitlxpket pemocx
kinkvntan
thus the girls took burning firebrands the boy burned all over
'The girls took the burning brands and burned the boy all
over'
By contrast, clausesseparatedby comma intonation typically represent
conceptually distinct aspectsof an action, event, or scene. The conjoined
clausesmost often describe sequential actions as in (10)
(10) Kamchadal(Worth, 1961: 19.12)
ina,
lil,
ktdwsiknen {na, mCyen
Ktkil-fn
she threw the line was taken up he, in such a way he
kfiatqa4lknen, kn qzuknm, kney qzuknen
kCtcaknan,
he became satiated
was dried out, he became glad, he ate,
JJO
MARIANNEMITHUN
'She thew down the cord, he was pulled up, dried out, and
becarnehappy; he ate, he becamesatiated'
They frequently relate causesand effects, as in (11).
(11) Kamchadal(Worth, 196l: 16.4)
Kima o:ztizk
hinc milkicen isxanke tdnaq,
I
tomorrow not will go to the father again
nanqwdtaxman kima xkdlan sitlxpqel
one will burn me with hot firebrands
'I will not go to my father again, or they will burn me with
hot firebrands'
Sometimesthey describesimultaneousaspectsof a sceneor state.
(12) Gurung (Glover, 1974:204)
kwi xra: kidi mxai-m, kwi lai kudi mxaC-m
some ferris swing play-m some long swing play-Ne
'Some play on the ferris wheel, and some play on the long
swing.'
2 FORMAL MARXERS OF COORDTNATION
Despit€their similarities in intonation patterns, languagesvary strikingly
in the degreeto which coordinationis structurallymarked. A large number
of languageslack any morphologicalor lexical indicationsof conjunction
whatsoever.Many others,of course,contain highly grammaticizedrnarkers
of syntacticcoordination. Yet not eventheselanguagesmark all types of
coordination uniformly or obligatorily. In many languages,only certain
kinds of coordinationare overtly mfiked. In many, coordinatingconjunctions are optional. Interestingly, the diachronic sourcesof the markers are
often still transparent. This suggeststhat it might be possible to trace the
path along which formal syntactic coordination can develop over time. The
differences in system of marking coordination among languages might
represent different stagesin the grammaticization of conjunction.
2.1 Sourcesof noun phrssecoordination
A surprising nurnber of languagescontain no grammaticized markers
T}IE GRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
of noun phrase coordination at all. Juxtaposition and intonation alone are
consideredsufficient to signalconjunction,as in the Gurung examplesin (1)
and (2). whether coordination is overtly marked or not in a language,
however, conjoined noun phrasesare actually relatively rare in spontaneous
discourse,especiallyin topic position. They are considerablyrarer than conjoined clauses,A casual perusal of almost any spoken texts in any language
will quickly bear this out. This rarity is not altogether inexplicable: several
factors convergeto minimize the need for conjoined nominals in connected
speech.
Most important, speakerstlpically introduce only one major pieceof
information into discourseat a time (Chafe, 1987).Conceptuallydistinct entities are introducedby distinct intonation units, often separateclauses,as
in the Parengiexamplebelow.
(13) Parengi (Aze and Aze, 1973:281.14)
le-detitu
le-taring-tu, ooh
tongk
cooked rice we-cook-r'urvegetablewe-cook-rur
'We will cook rice and vegetables'
Oncethey havebeenintroducedindividually, setsof entitiescan be referred
to collectivelyby plural pronouns, so the needfor conjoined noun phrases
is bypassed.
A number of languageswith bound pronominal affixes exhibit a related
mechanismfor identifying joint argumentswithout conjoined noun phrases.
One entity is first introduced with a full noun phrase and established as
topic. Thereafterpronominal referenceis sufficient to identify it. When an
additional entity is involvedjointly in subsequentevents,only this new one
need be identified by a noun prase. A dual or plural pronoun is sufficient
to indicate the joint participation. An exampleof such a constructioncan
be seen in the sentencebelow from Kathlamet, a Chinookan language of
Washington state. The narrator has been describing the adventures of a
woman abandonedby her husband.
(14) Kathlamet (Boas, 1901: 158.9)
agA'xan
A' qa gud' nEsum qasxold'kcaitx
picked
berries her daughter
they two
then always
'Then she and her daughter always went picking berries'
The samestrategycan be usedto identify third personmembersof first or
secondplural arguments.Sincespeakerand hearerare inherentlygiven by
338
MARIANNE MITHUN
the discourse context, pronominal reference is sufficient to identify them.
Only the additional third person need be identified by a separate noun
phrase.
(15) Kathlamet (Boas, 1901:36.14)
Ewa' tga'qlaqstakuk aqo'lEktca agE'kikal anta'Lxana
thus their heads
are roastedmy wife our smelts
(thoseof my wife and me) are
heads
of
our
smelts
'The
roasted'
In many languages,another construction provides a substitute for conjoined nominals. A topic is established,then subsequentlyreferredto pronominally. If an additional entity participates jointly in some event, it is
mentioned in a comitative construction. The original topic remainsthe same.
Note the position of the companionin the sentencebelow from Jacaltec,a
Mayan language of Guatemala.
(16) Jacaltec(Craie, 1977:32)
Xc-in to ilo'
kiii boj
ix
Asp-I go to.seefiesta and/with cllher
'I went to seethe fiesta with her'
or: 'She and I went to seethe fiesta'
In somelanguages,the coordination of noun phrasesis usually either
expressedby juxtaposition or simply avoided, but particles do occasionally
appearthat seemto lirrk coordinatenoun phrasesovertly. In many cases,the
appearanceof the particlesis not random: they are usedonly when a set is
first established,or when the speakerwishesto specifythat the set is closed
or complete. The Kamchadal sentencecited earlier in (3) lacked a noun
phra$ecoordinator,but it wasprecededin the origial text by a sentencecontaining one. Both can be seenin (17).
(17) Kamchadal(Worth, 1961:18.8)
qic e* pcc. Kilknen inan kdstanke.
Czdlkutq ktxilnen
Czalkutz rememberedwife and son he went to his house
'Then Czalkutz rememberedhis wife and son and went home'
qic pdc qam inxkinktn
Kdlknen kdstanke,
he came to the house wife son not he found
'He cameto his house.but did not find his wife and son'
THE GRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
339
Sometimes,their optionality reflects a changein progress:the grammaticization of coordination.Often in thesecases,the origin of the dev€lopingcoordinating conjunctionsis still transparent,
Frequently,the sourceof noun phraseconjunctionsis a comitativeconstruction,ofthe type originally usedto circumventcoordinatenoun phrases.
An exampleof the early stagesof sucha developmentcan be seenin Sarcee,
an Athapaskanlanguagespokenin Alberta. Cook (1984)reportsthat noun
phrasesare usually conjoined without any conjunctions at all in Sarcee,
whetherthe resultingset representsa conceptualunit, or a diversifiedlist.
(18) Sarcee(Cook, 1984:87)
ind ddni-ld
ditod
dd6-2i
own-father own-mother-oershe-told
'She told her father and mother'
(19) istli gitsis d66ni icr-ctcid, gini
horse scalp gun I-capture, they saY
"'I captured horses,scalps,and guns," they say'
Sarceenoun phrasesmay, however,be joined by meansof the comitative/instrumentalpostpositionih pltts ila.
(20) Sarcee(Cook, 1984:87)
ihili tidsnl-ld-d
d6d
ditdd
with
she told
own father own mother
'She told her father and mother'
(21) Sarcee(Cook, 1984:96)
kddtld-ld
kd-nhili
tctistiti kbidji istld
weasel coat
legging shoe-with he-brought-out
'He brought out weaselcoats, leggings,and shoes"
The postpositionis in the processof beinggrammaticizedas a conjunction.
Cook points out that the last "verb stemabove,-/d'to handleplural objects'
clearly suggeststhe plurality of the object NP. Int€rnal as well as comparative evidencesuggeststhat the conjunctive use of /t is a relatively new
development" (1984: 96).
The later stagesof such a developmenthave beendocumentedin several
Kwa languagesof West Africa by Lord (1973).Sheshowsthat noun phrase
conjunctionshavea clearsourcein comitativeverbalconstructions.Note the
translationsof the sentencesbelow.
MARIANNE MITHUN
34'O
Q2) Ge (Lord 1973: 288)
*<in
&ft Jd
iry{ kl
Ayi with Tete drink soup
Tete drank soup'
'Ayi drank soup with Tete' or 'Ayi and
tdtd nd itYi kd k\kd
Tete saw AYi and Koko
'Tete saw AYi and Koko'
dzi dwild rigti
kdfi kd a'md he
Ago
is Mr'
father
Kofi and Ama
(both)
Kofi and Ama'
'Mr. Ago is the father of
a subject and
The particle &e originated as a comitative verb preceded by
in num-beragreefollowed by an obejct. Tracesof this origin can still be seen
phrase' the
noun
a
conjoined
is
ment. When the subject of a sentence
phrase'
the
original
pr.ai**
agreeswith only the first noun of the noun
subject of comitative verb.
(23') mi td
'I sit (sa)'
wd tri!
'we sit (PL)'
mi kd Ii td
'I and he sit (sc)'
behavior of
The contexts in which the particle is now used, as well as the
has
now moved
te
that
indicate
nominal conjunctsin focus constructions,
consyntactic
grammaticized
beyond its oiiginal status as a simple verb to a
junction.
source'an
Nominal conjunctionsalsofrequentlydevelopfrom a second
of such
function
original
The
well"
as
adverbialparticlemeaning'also, too,
entities'
separate
otherwise
a particle ls to point out a parallelism between
particlel'ni'
In Cayuga,a Northern Iroquoian languageof Ontario' the
clauses'instill has the meaning'too' or'also'. It appearsin independent
This use
dicating their connection with other information in the discourse'
canbeseenbelow'Aspeakerwasdescribinghisdayinthebush'explaining
symthat he had been scratched by branches' His listener commented
the
moment
a
pathetically and at somelength on how unlucky he was' After
THE GRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
341
victim rememberedan additional mishap.
(24\ Cawga (ReginaldHenry P.c.)
Akitakrd hni' sh4 nJ6: n'at6:td:ke:
also as far I cameback
I fell
fell
on
the way back, too.'
'I
On another occasion,a customerin a hardware store had just selecteda
hammer. The clerk then asked whether he wanted anything else. The
customerreplied,
(25) Cayqa (ReginaldHenry P.c.)
ki' hni' tewakatbhwetsd:nih
EhA'. Enestanya'kthd'
yes one cuts board with it just also I want
'Yes, I want a saw, too'
In both cases.ftni' links the content of the statementto the rest of the
discourse,but the link is semantic,not s)'ntactic'The fall in (24) is not syntactically coordinatewith other misadventuresin previousdiscourse,nor is
the saw in (25) coordinatewith the hammer selectedearlier.
Although conjoined noun phrasesare relatively rare in spontaneous
Cayuga discourse,as in other languages,when they do occur, they are
systematically followed by hni'. The particle has been grammaticized as a
coordinatingconjunction. Noun phraseslinked with hni' fotm a syntactic
constituent.When they identify subjects,their predicatesbear plural pronominal prefixes.
It is not difficult to imagine how a particle of this type could develop
from an adverbialinto a syntacticconjunction. Sucha particlewould often
occur in potentially ambiguouscontexts.Considerthe sentencebelow. One
neighborhad askedwhat the family was going to plant that year. The reply
was:
(26) Cayuga(ReginaldHenry p.c')
A:yA:' akwe:, onEhZ'osahe'td' ohbn'atd'6 hni'
potato-guessalso
corn bean
it seemsall
'Oh, I guesseverything,com, beans,potatoes,and squash'
With pauses separating the nouns, the squash could be interpreted as an
afterthought, an addition to the original list. As pausesare shortened,the
particle appearsto closethe list.
In many contexts,ftni' now functionsunambiguouslyas a coordinating
MARIANNE MITHIJN
342
beenthought of before
conjunction, where all constituentshave obviously
neighbor askedwhether
,h" *r"r"na". During the aboveconversation,the
The friend replied that no'
ir,"y rtua pU"t.a poiatoes the summer before'
planted corn and
it ey *ere'ufraiO the potaties would rot, so they had only
beans.
hni' \kwatEthwE hne:'
Q7) Ne:'tsh6: ne' onEh6'sahe'tri'
only the corn beans also we planted coNrR
it
'No, we onlY Plantedcorn and beans'
prototypical set in Iroquoian
Corn, beans, and squash constitute a
corn and
Intonation confirms that the gardener had both the
"gri""ftut".
in mind at the outset'
beans
--askedwhat their
,C gu"tt had beenwatching three children play' and
nameswere. His host rePlied,
(28) Junior, Helen' Hercules hni'
Junior Helen Hercules also
'Junior, Helen, and Hercules'
either' Ilni'has
The original meaning 'also' is no longer present here'
for noun
conjunction
become-completelygrammaticized as a coordinating
and
coordinated'
phrases.It is systlmatically presentwhen nominals are
iignals no more than the syntactic[nk betweenthem'
clauses'unless
Note that hni'doesnot appearwith conjoinedverbs or
the side of the
by
stranded
was
A
man
it is filling its original adverbial role'
roadwithacarthatwouldnotrun.Apasserbystoppedandaskedwhathad
happened.The man rePlied:
Tho tsh6: nhe:ytiht ake'tr6' atkti:ts'
(29) T6:ka'.
don't know there only so it is I drove it stopped
'I don't know. I was just driving along and it stopped'
No conjunction connectsthe verbs 'I drove' and 'it stopped';
of hni? from a
Comparative evidenceconfirms that the development
Other Iroquoian
discourseparticteto a syntacticconjunctionis fairly recent'
as
grammaticized
been
not
have
particles,but these
f*tr"t"t'ftuta
"ognat;
in
indepenappear
.Guo""tiont. fft.y still mean'also', or 'too', and usually
dent sentences.
parallel developInterestingly,one related language,Seneca,showsa
has the same
now
Kho
pgIlticle,
kho
'too"
ment. but with a different
THE GRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
343
distribution as Cayugaini', following conjoined noun phrases,but otherwise functioning as a discourseparticle meaning 'also'. It shows a much
older relationshipto a Siouanparticle, Lakhota kho. The Lakhota particle
functions only adverbiallywith the meaning'too, also, as well'.
(30) Lakhota (Deloria,1932:3'13)
khd
Tnipi-itdkniheYa wd dl wdai
a to carrying food too
council-tipi
Skdpi
they were activelYengaged
'Another thing elsewas that women were taking food to the
council tipi'
These two constructions, comitatives and 'also' adverbials, are by far
the most mmmon sourceof noun phraseconjunctions. They are not the only
sourcesof coordinating conjunctions, however. Conjunctions may originate
as links between predicates as well.
2.2 Sourcesof predicoie coordination
Many languagescombine predicatesby simplejuxtaposition and appropriate intonation, as in the Parengi sentencesin (5) and (6) and the
Cayuga sentencein (24) above. There are also languageswith special conjunctions for coordinatingpredicates.A good exampleof the grammaticization of predicate coordination comes from Nguna, a Melanesian language
of the Central New Hebrides. In Nguna, verb phrasesthat describesubparts of a single action or event are conjoined with a special pafiicle poo(A different particle conjoins nominals and clauses.)
(31) Nguna(Schi.lz,1969:3.8)
vano poo taw na-Feka seara
A ga
some
I NoN-rlsr go and get Yam
yams'
go
get
some
and
'I'll
(32) Nguna(Schiitz,1969:159'185)
... go e Pae asaPorau, Poo Paluse
and row
and he begin sail
'... and he beganto sail and row'
Poo is fully grammaticized as a coordinating conjunction. It is
MARIANNEMITHUN
344
obligatorybetweenconjoinedpredicates,and addslittle information beyond
identifying the structural link. It appearsas an adverbial in other contexts'
however.In those situations,it adds a completivefeature, or the meaning
'already'.
(33) Nguna (Schiitz, 1969a:27)
punust a
a poo
him
see
I coMPLETIvE
him'
seen
alreadY
'I've
it is not
Sinceconjoined predicatesmost often representsequentialactions'
surprisingthat the completiveparticleshouldbe exploitedas a coordinating
conjunction.
2,3 Sourcesof clausecoordination
juxtaposition and inMany languagesindicateclausecoordinationby
in (8)
tonation alone, as was seenin the Kamchadaland Gurung sentences
resemble
initially
that
words
- (12). Suchlanguagesdo occasionallycontain
coordinating conjunctions.A closer look at the use of thesewords shows
that they are not in fact grammaticizedconjunctionsafter all' but rather
sentenceadverbials.
Tiwi, a non-Pama-Nyunganlanguageof Australia, is a languageof this
type. In his Tiwi gramrnar, Osborne remarks, "Coordination of clauses
within a complex sentencehas to be effected in Tiwi by intonation alone' as
ther€ is no form equivalentto English 'and'. The end of the sentenceas a
whole is marked by a fall of intonation, while the non-final characterof the
included clauses(other than the last) is signalled by a final rise of intonation" (Osborne, 1974:70).Osborne'stextual material amply illustratesthe
intonation pattems described earlier: conceptually unitary events are
presentedwith no break in intonation; conceptually more distinct actions are
separatedintonationally.
There. are two Tiwi particles which might at first appear to be coordinaling conjunctions.One is ki'ttle\'' It can appearin intonationally conjoined clauses,as below.
(34) Tiwi (Osborne,1974:70)
purewari, purewari, purewari' purewari
'They fought and fought and fought and fought
THE GRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
ki - juwulJepunipa.
and then, he hit him in the eye'
The particle ki is more often usedwith intonationally independentclauses,
however.It specifiestheir temporal relationshipto previousdiscourse,but
no particular grammaticalrelationship.
(35) Tiwi (Osborne, 1974:90)
moqelani
Looki ji-i-m-ani look he-llNr-do-nnrdirtY-M
Ki, ka i malala-ni Ki ii'ne-ri-mari
then here clean-M then he-Loc-LINK-get
'He kept looking - dirty water. Then here was some clear
water. He brought it back'
A secondTiwi particlethat could be construedas a conjunctionis apa.
(36) Tiwi (Osborne, 1974t97)
lu-we le-rumuta t0a, tuli lu-wry$imi
and spearhe-stab
he-pur-aim
he sPearedher'
and
took
aim,
'He
.4pa is usedin many other contexts,however,which could neverbe interpreted as coordinatestructures.
(37) Tiwi (Osborne, 1974:96)
pu-ne-i-kuwuntir apa kwanioiri
they-Loc-LlNK-race KwaniPiri
'They had a race to KwaniPiri'
.Apa functions as a pause filler, a signal that the sentenceis not yet over'
rather than as a formal marker of syntactic coordination.
The lack of a clear distinction between adverbials and clause conjunctions is not unusual among languages. Bogoras, in describing the
Luoravetlan languages,including Karnchadal, explicitly abandoned all hope
of distinguishingthem. He remarked, "On the following pagesI give a list
of adverbsand conjunctions without attempting to differentiate betweenthe
two groups. The rneaning of many of the adverbial or connective particles
is so uncertainthat a division seemshardly possible" (1922:849).This situation is typicat of languagesin which clausesand constituents are normally
combined by simple juxtaposition. Particles and clitics sometimesappear in
346
MARIANNE MITHUN
suchconstructionswithmeaningslike'also','then"'andso"'andnow"
sentences'
etc. Theseparticlesusually appearmore frequenllywith separate
pragmatic
link
or
provide
a
semantic
is
to
however. iheir primary function
one'
to previousdiscourse,not ro specifya syntactic
syntactic
The fluidity of the boundarybetweendiscourseadverbialsand
the
source
be
conjunctionsis significant.The adverbialparticlesappearto
history of conjuncof most clausalcoordinatingconjunctions'Considerthe
of Quebec'Onlanguage
Iroquoian
tion in modern Mohawk, a Northern
talri'
conjunction
tario, and New York State. Mohawk has a coordinating
to
coorcognate
is
not
that conjoins clauses,not unlike English 'and" It
closelv
even
dinating conjunctions in any of the other Iroquoian languages'
its source
fact'
In
recently'
relatively
have
developed
so it must
related-ones,
is identifiable through historical documents'
informaIn other Iroquoian languages,a particle /d is usedto tie new
tiontoprecedingdiscourse'Ittendstoappearatthebeginningofparagraph.
then"
like uniis, and may be translated'and so', 'so then', 'so now" or'now
(38) Seneca(Mithun and Peterson,1980: 111'15)
Ti: o:nE nii: ky6'-osZ n6'o:ta:' o:n-eky'oeb
then QUor
so then really QUor three days
wa:aY6'.
he arrived
a man appeared.'
'Now then, after about three days, it seems,
(39) Oneida (LounsburYms: 2)
tshazkdhewe'oni wahaniklate' laksd:'
Tti: ni: kati'bni
and now when the time came when he was born boy
.''
'And so when the time came for the baby to be born'
and
Early Mohawk grammars and texts recorded during the eighteenth
as
in
the
Mohawk
in
nineteenth centuries indicate that /a once functioned
at
recorded
other languages.The passagebelow is from a cosmologylegend
the turn of the century.
(40) Mohawk (Hewitt: 1903:282.5)
neft iakotehid:ron'Ta', ne' ka'ti' wa'hi'ne'dji'
now she grew up
where
the
so. the so then verily
neit' eia'tase' i'ken, nefi' wa'hi'
now she is maid it is, now verily
THE GRAMMATICIZATIONOFCOORDINATION
347
'So then, of course,when she grew up and was a maiden,
then. of course,...'
Za is no longer used by most modern Mohawk speakers,although it is
familiar to many.
At the time the cosmologylegendwas recorded,the particle toni' had'
not yet beengrammaticizedin Mohawk as a generalconjunction' Other parclauses,and constituentsin that text, but they are opticleslink sentences,
which indicatesthat their
tional. Thesealsoappearin independentsentences,
pragmatic,
discourse level link'
primary function was to supply a
A compoundparticle tahn ' the ancestorof modern tani'does appear
in the cosmologytext. (Tanit' representsthe combination of two particles,
the /d mentionedabove, and someother particle, possiblyrelatedto n-u:wa
'now'. The two componentshave now fused for most speakers')In the
cosmologytext, tahnfi' was still an adverbial,usually translated 'besides',
'moreover', or 'furthermore'. Like the other particlesmentionedabove, it
appearsmost often at the beginningof a new sentenceor paragraph,announcing a separate,but somehowrelated, statement'
(41) Mohawk (Hewitt 1903:258.15)
katofirie"se', tahnon"
Enwa'htka'we' ne' dji'
besides
it will cease the where I breathe
ne' kier'on'ke,nefi' tahnon""'
enkawis'tohte'
it will make it cold the my flesh on now besides
'My breathing will cease;b€sidesthat, my flesh will become
cold. and then. also, (the joints of my boneswill become
stiffl'
Just within this century, tdni has taken over the function of a grammaticizedgeneralconjunction, similar to English' dnd or French 'et'' lt ap'
pearssystematicallybetweenconjuncts,and specifiessyntacticcoordination'
as in the rernark below'
(41) Mohawk (Muriel Rice, P.c.)
A:ke ne tsi n(ihe' watyaki:li', tanfr' katithkdrya'ks
oh the so long I was out and I am hungry
'I was out a long time, and I'm hungry'
The Kwa, Cayuga, Nguna, and Mohawk examplesshow that coordinating conjunctionscan enter languagesat a variety of points' Somefirst
MARIANNE MITHUN
developinto noun phaseconjunctionsfrom comitativeconstructionsor particlesmeaning'also, too, aswell'' Somedevelopinto predicateconstructions
from aspectual particles. Some develop into clause conjunctions from
discourseadverbialparticles\'/ith meaningslike 'and then', or 'and so'. Yet
in many if not most languages,particularcoordinatingconjunctionsare not
limited to singletype of constituent.
In Nguna, for example,the particlepao conjoins only predicates,but
another particle, go, can function adverbially to link new sentencesto
previous discourse,it can conjoin full clauses,and it can conjoin noun
phrases.In the passagebelow, it functions as a discourseadverbial'
(42) Nguna (Schiitz,1969:122.11-15)
sikai te too umai punusi fiila-na
Go kanao pots
mother-his
and man another one he pnoc come see
maa te
poogi. Go mail-poogi te pano' Go bila-na
and mother-hisalso she
night and morning he go
pa-ki roara ateata rski na-vinaga' Go waina e liliu,
go-to gardentheir for his-food and when she return
'But at night, another man came to seethe mother and left in
the morning. The mother, too, she left to go to the garden for
food. When she returned, ...'
In (44), it conjoins clauses.
(44) Nguna (Schiitz, 1969:240.39)
Eu munu na-maloku, go eu sale Poogi
and they dancenight.
they drink kava
they dancedat night'
kava,
and
'They drank
It is obligatory, and addsno information beyondthat of syntacticcoordination. The conjoined clausesmay representsequentialevents,as in ('K)' or
simultaneousor genericones, as in (45)'
(45) Nguna (Schiitz, 1969:271.39)
ganikani asa,
No-rei ki na-vei-vairota-ana maaga eu too
in it
they PRoc eat
PL
peopleof chief
go eu too mari na-saisai-ana
and they PRocmake rneeting
'The chief's peopleeat in it and have meetings...'
THE GRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
349
Go also appearsobligatorily betweenconjoined noun phrases'
(46) Nguna (Schiitz,1969:238.117)
Tama ni kanao e ga veesPaa-kotovi
father of boy he NrR first PaY
'The father of the boy would first pay'
e Pa-ki tama-no go Pila-na
suo
father-her and mother-her
couplsrloN it to
'He [wouldl go to the [girl's] father and her mother'
This apparentmultiplicity of functions could arisein two ways' Conjunctions that coordinate a variety of types of constituentsmight either
developall at once as generalmarkersof coordination, or they might first
be grammaticizedin one context,then spreadthrough the languagegradually to additional contexts.
3 THE GENERALIZATION OF COORDINATION
Instancesof the spreador generalizationof coordinatingconjunctions
havein fact beendocumented.Recallthat in Sarcee,a comitativepostposition, ift 'with/and', is currently being grammaticizedas a noun phraseconjunction, Clausesare usually conjoined by simple juxtaposition' cook
reportsthat 'conjoining is not a major syntacticdevice'(1984:98)' He notes'
however,ift is now sometimesbeing usedto conjoin clausesas well' In this
context, it is affixed to mi-, a third personsingularspecifiedmarker referring to the preceding clause, and yielding the combination mih(ila)'
(4?) Sarcee(Cook, 1984:97)
tcti'b,a mih ntinistlis-i ninddstld
wait it with I-sew-NoMLoI go get
'Wait and I'll go get what I was sewing'
Cook also notesthat Chipewyanhas a particle l'a "which is virtually identical to Sarcee li in its form class and function. Although they are not
cognates,their historicaldevelopmentsappearto havebeenparallel" (1984:
99).
As discussedearlier, the conjunctions coordinating noun phrasesin
many Bantu languageshave developed relatively recently from comitative
350
MARIANNE MITHTJN
verbs or particles.In most of the languages,they have remainedrestricted
to this context. Welmer remarks:
in the vast majority of African languages,there seemsto be a sirEle simpleword
for 'and', frequentlya monosyllable... The beginneris almostsureto assumethat
he can use the sameword to join verbs or sentedces,to expresscombinations like
'they were eating and drinking'. That simply is not true in any African languageto
which I have had sufficient exposurero find out (1973:305).
Clausesare conjoined by other morphologicaldevices.
Thereis nothing like a conjunctionjoining verbsor sentences,
Nouns may be conjoined, often in ways similar to English,but it is rare to find a languagein vhich
verbs are conjoined; the constructiods themselv€s indicate a following or
simultan€ousaction (1973t365).
He points out, however,that
Akan is one of the very few languagesilr which a kind of verbal and clausal coordinating conjunctionis found. Noutrsmay be conjoinedby /nal or /ina/ ,and,.
The same conjunction is also used between verbs and clauses, sometimes
translatableas 'and' but frequentlyrequi ng th€ translation'but, (1973:372-3).
Coordinating conjunctions can thus originate as noun phraselinks from
comitative constructions,then spreadto predicatesand clauses.
Not all generalcoordinatingconjunctionsspreadform noun phrasesto
clauses.They can also spreadin the oppositedirection. Recallthe origin of
the Mohawk conjunction tanit', from a discourseparticle ta ('and so,),
whosefunction wasto link paragraph-likesegments.Texts from the beginning of this centurydocumentits developmentinto a disco\rse particletahnu'
('moreover, and'), whose function was to link sentencesto previous
discourse.At that point, it wasnot usedto conjoin noun phrases.In modern
Mohawk, however, tanit'has become fully grammaticizedas a regular
marker of syntacticnoun phrasecoordinationas well. The sentencebelow
was the answerto the question'What are you cooking?'.
(48) Mohawk (Muriel Rice p.c.)
O'wd:rlt hnt osahila wakekh-u:ni
meat
and beans I food make
'I'm cooking meat and beans.'
The generalizationof this Mohawk conjunction from clausesto noun
phrasesyieldsan interestingresult.It might havebeenassumedthat the posi-
THE GRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
351
tion of conjunctions within coordinate constituents should point to
typologically interesting differences among languages.Languagesdo differ
in their placement of conjunctions. Compare English and, which appears
betweencoordinateconstituents,with Latin -4ue,which follows the last constituent. Differences in position can stem instead from the diachronic origins
of the markersthemselves.Mohawk and Cayuga,both Northern Iroquoian
languages,are typologically similar in nearly every way. They have essentially equivalent morphological structures and exhibit equivalent syntactic and
discoursepatterns. Yet the Mohawk conjunction tanit' 'and' appearsbetweencoordinatenouns, as in (48), while the Cayugaconjunction ltli"and'
follows them, as in (26), Q7), and (28). The reasonfor this difference is
clear. The Mohawk conjunction developedfrom a discourseadverbial'and
so', which precededthe new statementit linked to previousdiscourse.The
Cayugaconjunctiondevelopedfrom a particle 'as well', which followed the
additional information addedto a list.
4 THE STJDDEN EMERGENCE OF GRAMMATICIZED
TIONS
CONJUNC-
Coordinating conjunctionsarise from a variety of sources,at a variety
of points in the grammar, and spreadin a variety of directions.There does
not appearto be a universal path of developmentalong which they necessarily evolve.
A surprising number of coordinating conjunctions do share one
characteristic, however: their youth. Both internal and comparative evidence
indicate that conjunctions have been grammaticized quite recently from all
of the sourcesmentionedabove,in languagesall over the world. The evolution of noun phraseconjunction from comitative constructionsin Sarcee
and WestAfrican languagesare both still in progress.The gammaticization
of noun phrase conjunction in Cayuga from an additive particle is relatively
new. The developmentof the generalcoordinatingconjunctionin Mohawk
can be dated through documentsto the early part of this century, a time
when Mohawk speakerswere becomingwidely bilingual, first in French,
then in English.
Several facts suggestthat this bilingualism may be a significant factor.
An astonishingnumber of coordinating conjunctions have been recently
borrowed into languagesthat previously had none. Bogoras (1922: 881)
352
MARIANNEMITHUN
noted the presencein Kamchadal of local Russianconjunctions I dai 'and' '
je'b|ut' , potom'after that', etc. Osborne'sTiwi texts, like many other texts
from Australian Aboriginal languages,show a surprisingEnglishloanword:
'and'. The vast majority of coordinating conjunctions in languages
throughout Mexico are borrowedfrom Spanish.Suifueznoted that "in most
of theselMixe-Zoque]languagescoordinatingparticleshavebeenborrowed
from Spanish,but in spiteof that, coordinationthrough merejuxtaposition
(with different meaningsaccordingto context)is still very common" (109)'
languages,"constituents of the clauseand clauses
In Tequistlatec-Jicaque
may be linked by coordinatingparticles;in CoastalChontal someof these
particles are native, but in Highland Chontal all particles with this function
are borrowings from Spanish" (115). "Coordination is made largely
throughjuxtapositionin Huixtan Tzotzil. In Tojolabal, the samemechanism
is found, althought there are coordinating particles borrowed from
Spanish" (120).In Huave, "in most casescoordinationis markedwith particlesborrowed from Spanish,and the constructionswith a reducedsecond
clausematch the Spanishpatternsso closelythat thesehave probably been
imitated too" (132). Grammars of other Meso-Americanlanguagesdocument the samesituation. South American Indian languagesin cootact with
Spanish,such as Guarani and Quechua,exhibit the phenomenonas well'
(See,for example,Cole 1982:78-80.)
It may not be a coincidencethat the sourcelanguagesfor theseconjunctions havelterary traditions. Literacy itself may contribute to the development of grammaticizedconjunctions.Loogman notes, for example:
Careful Swahili writers do not commonly interpolate ,4 as a conjunction connec_
ting clauses;how€verthereis an increasingtendencyto use/t4 in this way, especially
in too literal translations lrom English texts or in essayswritten under the direction
of Erylish speakers(1965:282).
Welmersrecountsan interestinganecdoteabout Vai, a Northern Mande
languageof Liberia and Sierra Leone' Clausesare usuallyjoined in Vai by
simple juxtaposition alone, whether coordinate or subordinate' There is'
however, a particle timl'and then, and so' that can occur optionally between clauses.Welmerswrites,
The appropdateness of simple parataxis, and the optionality of the conjunctive
/dmirl, are vividly demonstrated by a conversation (in English) with Fr' Kandakai
after we had heard a little of a Vai newsbroadcastoo a car radio' He mentioned
that the particular announcer we had been listening to was well known for his
THE CRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
353
sprinkling /emu, rimu, dmu/ liberally through his newsrePorts, when in most cases
it was unnecessary;
the effect was clearly considetedrather amusiitg.(1976: 130)
Radio newsreporting is especiallylikely to influenced by a literary European
style. The Vai are also well known for their own indigenouswriting system.
(See,for example,Scribnerand Cole, 1981)
Cherokee, an lroquoian language spoken in North Carolina and
Oklahoma.now hasseveraldevicesfor indicatingcoordination.One, a/ehas
clear cognates in the other Iroquoian languagesmeaning 'again'. In
Cherokee,it can now be usedto coordinateclausesas well as norninalsor
predicates,and is easilyelicitedby requestfor translationsfrom English' It
is rare, however,in spontaneousspokenlanguage.Pulte and Feeling(1975:
343)note that "it is usedin relativelyformal speechstylesin Cherokeeand
in written style." Speakerscomment that it sounds Biblical. (Scancarelli
p.c.) Recatlthat the Cherokeeare not only generallybilingual in English,but
they have also had a well known tradition of general literacy in their own
syllabary.
It is intriguing that so many languagescould exist for so long without
grammaticizedcoordinatingconjunctions,then suddenlyneedthem enough
to grammaticize them spontaneously from any available source, internal or
external.This suggeststhat grammaticizedcoordinationmight afford some
power or quality of expressionimpossiblewith intonation and discourseparticles alone, but that this extra power may not always be felt to be cognitively
essential.
The linking of noun phrasesby intonation alone can indeedindicate a
conceptuallink, but the precisenatureof this link can be quite vague.Series
of noun phrasesmay indicatesetsas in the sentencebelow from Kupia, an
Indo-Europeanlanguageof India, recordedby Christmas and Christmas
(1973).
(49) abbo-si
uT-l-a
ayya-si
father-poss 3 mother-poss 3 waken-PAsr-they
'his father and mother woke up'
Simple juxtaposition can also link alternatives,however.
gec-a ker-a, wagg-o, welugu-lu, kicco
(50) Do9gr-e
what
mountain-to go-rr do-re tiger-rl bear-rl
jantu
tinto
kuDa Do9gr-e
Di:s-ile
wild animal appear-wheneven mountain-on from
MARIANNEMITHUN
354
peTT-a der-a ie-lula
hit-pp bear-ppcome-theywill
'Having gone up the mountain, they'll shoot tigers or bears,or
whatever wild animal happens to appear, and come carrying it
down from the mountain' (10.12)
It may also indicate apposition, quite a different tlpe of link.
te:r
(51) ja-le
taruwate iewe-ka ga:Nw-i-ca
female
village-in-ones
her-to
become-if then
gec-ula
na:nsuJ,
bo:da-lu, well-ela mantiri
child-rl big-rl old woman person-Plgo-they will ..'
'Then the women of the village, the important senior women,
will go to her ...' (28.15)
Most languagespossessdevicesto disambiguatethese relationshipswhen
necessary,suchas cornitativeconstructions,or particleslike 'as well' or 'in
addition'. The formal grammaticizationof conjunction, however,provides
systematicovert disambiguation.
The linking of predicatesand clausesby intonation alonecan also mirror a conceptuallink, but again, the precisenature of this conceptuallink
can vary considerably.The most common type of relationshipbetweenintonationallylinked predicatesor clausesin narrativeis one of sequence''and
then'. The examplesbelow comefrom the Kathlamettextsrecordedby Boas
(re0r).
(52) Ilgc'gElga, iLgexc'ma
he took him he threw him away
'Then the man took him and threw him away' (105.13)
distinguishablefrom sequence,is conseAlso very frequent,and not ahryays
quence('and so'), or cause.
(53) KpEm noxod'xax fia'xatakoax, qatcio'xax id'lXam'
pothing became his reason he did it his town
LImAn, LImAn, Llmdn, hmdn
break break break break
'Then he lost his sensesand destroyedthe whole town' (33.4)
qaftuxawalafi ' -itx
da 'caxtikc
(54) Niktcd'xamx
he cried all the time he made them unhappy his relatives
'He cried. becausehe made his relativesunhappy' (32.9)
THE GRAMMATICIZATIONOF COORDINATION
355
Juxtaposed clausesmay describe simultaneous events or states.
(55) Tbte ' Iak
ae 'Xt aqtu 'nam,
dried salmon one dish
aC'Xt adlu'nam
tkpana'LkLiX
dried and broken salmon bonesone dish
'Dry broken salmon was in one dish, and pounded salmon
boneswere in the other' (34.5)
They may, instead,indicate a contrast.
(56') Kd'nuwa iqdxklro,
ned igaxEla'lEmtck
try
she was pulled not she moved
'They tried to pull her, but she did not moye' (223.17)
They may specifya purpose.
(57) A'yaq aqa qaLxE'laqL, aLaga'tpqs
quick then open the door they may com€ in
'Now open the door that they may enter' (37.10)
elaborations.A speaker
Frequently,juxtaposedclausesrepresentsuccessive
clauses,adds more information.
introducesan idea, then, in successive
(58) Igo'ya, igagE'low
algle'cana
she went, she went to gather fern roots (225.15)
Often juxtaposed clauses are not actually coordinate pragmatically; some
would be renderedin other languagesby subordinateclauses.Thesemay be
adverbial, as below.
(59) Aqd'wstix
icto'qo)a, igc'kim e'yalxt ...
severaltimes they slept he said his elder brother
'After a few days, his elder brother spoke' (105.4)
They may representcomplements.
(6O) O:, Ea' btiLau, aquiuqod'nimx ikEnuwakcd'max
Oh it is forbidden he is laughed at the Thunderbird
'Oh, it is forbidden to laugh at the Thunderbird' (232.17)
(61) Anxk, Lc'tcguama, fiA'maq atktclotxoa
tgd'xeqLax
shoot they will do them the hunters
I will tell them
'I will tell the huntersto shoot them' (233.12)
356
MARIANNE MITI{UN
Prior to the grammaticizationof clauseconjunction' the relationships
The grambetweenjuxtaposedclausesare usuallyinterpretedfrom context'
of link'
maticizaiionresultsin a systematicspecificationof the precisenature
or
semantic
merely
longer
It has another effect as well. The link is no
content
the
pragmatic:it is also syntactic.While discourseadverbialsrelate
grammaticizedconof material within their scopeto previousinformation,
boundaries'
sentence
signal
overtly
and
junctions specifysyntacticstructure
with
contact
and
conjunction
The cooccurrenceof grammaticized
written
known'
well
literary languagesis probably no accident'As is by now
Chafe
languagediffers from spokenlanguagein a numberof pertinentr#ays'
(p.c.) ttut discoveredthat within English there are substantialdifferences
and in
betweenthe use of conjunctionsin spontaneousspoken discourse
linkcoordinators'
plannedwritten texts. Speakersusemore sentence-initial
per
1000
(32
0'9
versus
to previousdiscourse,than writers
ing new sentences
discourse
wJrds). This is reminiscentof the use of the pre-grammaticized
adverbials described above, whose function is to link information
pragmaticallyto previousideas,rather than to link structuress]'ntactically'
Within clauses,speakersconjoin significantly fewer constituentsthan
of
writers (9.9 versus23.8 per 1000words)' Speakers,under constraints
conmernory and production time, typically produce syntacticallysimpler
piece
important
one
only
to
introduce
tend
structi;ns (Chafe, 198?).They
luxury of
of information per intonation unit. Writers, by contrast,havethe
to earlier
new
information
adding
time to producelong, elaboratesentences,
assemble
write
to
statementsor rephrasingat will. They may pauseas they
eachtime' Accornew thoughtswithout being forced to end their sentences
packed
more tightly with
and
longer
typically
are
dingly, written sentences
information (Chafe 1985)'
writers
Speakersdo have an important resourceat their disposalthat
lack.Intonation,withfinerangesofrhythmandpitch,andvaryingdegrees
that
of pauselength and volume, can provide structural cues to hearers
marking
The
overt
imitate'
weakly
only
punctuationin written languagecan
ofgrammaticalrelationshipsinwrittenlanguageisfunctional'guiding
readersthrough highly complex structures'
demonAs Chafe (1985),Pawlev and Syder (1983), and others have
an
strated,many of the specialcharacteristicsof written languagerepresent
processed'
The
produced
and
it
is
which
adaptationto the conditionsunder
more'
variability in coordinating constructionsacrosslanguagessuggests
over
the
all
The sudden grammaticizationof coordination in languages
THE GRAMMATICIZATION OF COORDINATION
357
world, at times when many of their speakershave been exposedto IndoEuropean languageswith literary traditions, indicates that written language
can, in turn, exertan influenceon spokenlanguage.Perhapssuchinfluences
are first felt in the speechof writers and readers,possiblyin marked formal
settings.The powerof theseinfluences,furthermore,is astonishing'In many
of theselanguages,speakerswho now use newly cr€atedor borrowed conjunctions are not themselvesliterate, nor evenbilingual in a languagewith
a literary tradition.
5 CONCLUSION
Although the intonational linking of conceptsseemsto be universalin
spoken discourse,the grammaticizationof coordination is not' In some
languages,coordination is not formally marked at all, while in others, it is
marked syst€matically and obligatorily. Even the developm€nt of fornal
systemsfor marking coordination is not uniforrn across languages' coordinating conjunctions may originate in a number of different areas of the
grammar, from a number of different sources, and spread in a variety of
directions.
What seemslike such a basic device is not only highly variable in form
from one languageto the next, but it is also easilyborrowed. Exposureto
language with written traditions, or, even more' exposureto literacy itself,
may provide a stimulus for the overt marking of grammatical structures,
and, eventually, the grammaticization of coordinating conjunctions' This
grammaticization not only results in the systematicmarking of distinctions
often previously left vague, but perhapsalso in the heightenedidentity of the
sentenceas a fundamental unit of linguistic structure.
ABBREVIATIONS
DI = discovery; for further abbreviations,seelist on p. vii.
RF,FERENCES
Aze, Richard and Trish. 1973. "Parengi Texts" ' In Pattems in Clause,
Sentence,and Discourcein selectedtanguagesof India and Nepal: Texts'
358
MARIANNE MITHUN
Vol III, R. Trail (ed.), 213-362.Kathmandu: University Press.
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