Both syncretism of Instrument and Comitative, and of Instrument and Agent are frequent, while syncretism of Comitative and Agent is very seldom found across languages. Syncretism of Comitative and Instrument is thought to be based on the ‘Companion metaphor’, which complies with a scale, according to which semantic extension operates in the direction: spatial relation > human relation > inanimate relation. That semantic extension is unidirectional must be tested, but evidence from the evolution of Location and Comitative markers seems to support this hypothesis. A counterexample is provided by some Indo-European languages, in which there is evidence for an extension from Instrument to Agent. In my paper I argue that, while the above scale describes a path of metaphoric extension, meaning change from Instrument to Agent is based on metonymy. Outside Indo-European, syncretism of Instrument and Agent seems to have followed the direction Agent > Instrument, which I explain of the basis of the ‘Agent metaphor’.

“Some remarks on Instrument, Comitative, and Agent in Indo-European”

LURAGHI, SILVIA
2001-01-01

Abstract

Both syncretism of Instrument and Comitative, and of Instrument and Agent are frequent, while syncretism of Comitative and Agent is very seldom found across languages. Syncretism of Comitative and Instrument is thought to be based on the ‘Companion metaphor’, which complies with a scale, according to which semantic extension operates in the direction: spatial relation > human relation > inanimate relation. That semantic extension is unidirectional must be tested, but evidence from the evolution of Location and Comitative markers seems to support this hypothesis. A counterexample is provided by some Indo-European languages, in which there is evidence for an extension from Instrument to Agent. In my paper I argue that, while the above scale describes a path of metaphoric extension, meaning change from Instrument to Agent is based on metonymy. Outside Indo-European, syncretism of Instrument and Agent seems to have followed the direction Agent > Instrument, which I explain of the basis of the ‘Agent metaphor’.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11571/151121
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