Projects
A semantic and etymological study on the Greek verb 'to adapt' and its cognates Ghent University
The purpose of this project is to perform an etymological study on the Greek verb ‘to adapt’ and its cognates. The origin of the word, i.e. its original shape and meaning, will be explored. A key element in this
investigation is its verbal root, which can be linked to the Proto-Indo-European (hence PIE)
language. This root gave birth to hundreds of different words in the IE languages, as in the
common English words harmony, ...
A semantic and etymological study on the Greek verb 'to adapt' and its cognates Ghent University
The purpose of this project is to perform an etymological study on the Greek verb ‘to adapt’ and its cognates. The origin of the word, i.e. its original shape and meaning, will be explored. A key element in this
investigation is its verbal root, which can be linked to the Proto-Indo-European (hence PIE)
language. This root gave birth to hundreds of different words in the IE languages, as in the
common English words harmony, ...
Transitivity oppositions in a diachronic typological perspective: Labile Verbs in the history of the Indo-European languages Ghent University
Many linguists believe that the language of our Indo-European ancestors had a considerable number of verbs which may appear both in intransitive and transitive constructions with no formal change in the verb, as in the case of English "The door opened" ~ "John opened the door" or Dutch "De sleutel draait in het slot" ("The key turns in the lock") ~ "Jan draait de sleutel in het slot" ("John turns the key in the lock"). Such verbs are called ...
Duplication processes in Lusoga morphosyntax Ghent University
Lusoga has a form of nouns and verbs involving duplication of the root. For example, there are two copies of the verb root -w- ‘give’ in the sentence a-lii-ku-w-a bu-w-e ‘he is just giving you’. The duplicated constructions of Lusoga are noteworthy in part because of their apparent complexity: the two halves of the duplicated verb have different prefixes a-lii-ku- vs bu- and suffixes -a vs -e. Duplication of nouns and verbs is common in Bantu ...
Form-function change and the rise of the Dutch auxiliary system. KU Leuven
The class of Dutch auxiliary verbs is subject to constant change, not only in the sense that new verbs keep entering the class, or that new auxiliaries change their grammatical behaviour to conform to other, more venerable auxiliaries, but also in the sense that the grammatical characteristics themselves change. In this project, I want to take a look at these characteristics in Dutch, especially if they diverge from what has happened in ...
Comparatives under the Microscope (COMIC) KU Leuven
The grammar of imperatives and the imperatives of grammar. KU Leuven
Imperatives like Go away! or Don't touch that! are the linguistic expressions that humans use to get other humans to do, or not do, certain things (like going away or not touching something). Although imperatives are very prominent in child-directed speech, research to date has not systematically probed their significance for language acquisition. This project will address this gap in the literature, by conducting an empirically based ...