Deixis, Grammar, and Culture

256 Pages·1992·21.331 MB·Typological Studies in Language 24

by  Revere D. Perkins

DEIXIS, GRAMMAR, AND CULTURE
TYPOLOGICAL STUDIES IN LANGUAGE (TSL)
A companion series to the journal "STUDIES IN LANGUAGE"
Honorary Editor: Joseph H. Greenberg
General Editor: T. Givón
Editorial Board:
Wallace Chafe (Santa Barbara) Charles Li (Santa Barbara)
Bernard Comrie (Los Angeles) Johanna Nichols (Berkeley)
R.M.W. Dixon (Canberra) Andrew Pawley (Canberra)
John Haiman (St Paul) Doris Payne (Oregon)
Kenneth Hale (Cambridge, Mass.) Frans Plank (Konstanz)
Bernd Heine (Köln) Jerrold Sadock (Chicago)
Paul Hopper (Pittsburgh) Gillian Sankoff (Philadelphia)
Margaret Langdon (San Diego) Dan Slobin (Berkeley)
Sandra Thompson (Santa Barbara)
Volumes in this series will be functionally and typologically oriented, cove­
ring specific topics in language by collecting together data from a wide vari­
ety of languages and language typologies. The orientation of the volumes
will be substantive rather than formal, with the aim of investigating univer­
sais of human language via as broadly defined a data base as possible, lean­
ing toward cross-linguistic, diachronic, developmental and live-discourse
data. The series is, in spirit as well as in fact, a continuation of the tradition
initiated by C. Li (Word Order and Word Order Change, Subject and Topic,
Mechanisms for Syntactic Change) and continued by T. Givón (Discourse
and Syntax) and P. Hopper (Tense-Aspect: Between Semantics and Pragma
tics) .
Volume 24
Revere D. Perkins
DEIXIS, GRAMMAR, AND CULTURE
DEIXIS, GRAMMAR,
AND CULTURE
REVERE D. PERKINS
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
Amsterdam/Philadelphia
1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Perkins, Revere D. (Revere Dale)
Deixis, grammar, and culture / Revere D. Perkins,
p. cm. -- (Typological studies in language, ISSN 0167-7373; v. 24)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Language and culture. 2. Grammar, Comparative and general-Deixis. 3. Linguistic
change. I. Title. II. Series.
P35.P47 1992
306.44--dc20 92-33519
ISBN 90 272 2909 0 (hb.) / 90 272 2910 4 (pb.) (European; alk. paper) CIP
ISBN 1-55619-412-9 (hb.) / 1-55619-413-7 (pb.) (U.S.; alk. paper)
© Copyright 1992 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 75577 · 1070 AN Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · 821 Bethlehem Pike · Philadelphia, PA 19118 · USA
Dedication
This work is respectfully dedicated to the speakers of the languages and
writers of the grammars that are the basis for this effort.

Acknowledgements
I gratefully acknowledge the support and encouragement of Joan Bybee,
William Pagliuca, and Talmy Givón in the preparation of this work for publi­
cation. I also acknowledge the roles of David G. Hays and, posthumously,
Raoul Naroll in the development of the theory and methodology of the
present study. Many graduate students and conference participants have also
influenced me in various ways. My parents and wife, Elizabeth Perkins, have
also made significant contributions to the completion of this book. The
responsibility for all short-comings is, of course, mine.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction and Preview 1
Chapter 2: Language Evolution 33
Chapter 3: Cultural Complexity 65
Chapter 4: Language/Culture Dimensions 77
Chapter 5: Linguistic Evolution 91
Chapter 6: Hologeistic Methodology 115
Chapter 7: Sampling 123
Chapter 8: Coding Criteria 135
Chapter 9: Results 145
Chapter 10: Methodological Controls 169
Chapter 11: Extensions and Conclusions 183
Appendix 1: Free Person and Noun Person Distinctions 196
Appendix 2: Linguistic Variables- Sources and Codes 199
Appendix 3: Languages, Affiliations, & Culture Groups 214
Appendix 4: Sampling Notes 217
Appendix 5: Cultural Complexity 218
Appendix 6: Codings 220
Appendix 7: Sample Summary Scores 222
Appendix 8: Spatial autocorrelation Alignments 224
Appendix 9: Sub-sample Scores 226
Appendix 10: Keenan-Comrie Scores 227
Bibliography 229
Index 237