Macrolinguistics and Microlinguistics

Form and qualitative features of demonstratives in ethiosemitic languages

2025-10-21T04:57:42+00:00

Based on the cross-linguistic typological observations in Himmelmann (1996), Diessel (1999), and Dixon (2003, 2010), this study is concerned with the basic form and qualitative functions of demonstratives in Ethiosemitic languages. Ethiosemitic languages use various deictic elements in communication. There are two main demonstrative bases. Regarding the qualitative features, demonstratives can express information about whether the referent is female or male; a single entity or plural; or human or non-human; however, significant variation has been observed in the demonstrative systems among the given languages. Like the basic form, the independent third-person pronoun form also provides some qualitative information about the referent.

The mode of billboard at Padang City: Linguistics landscape

2025-10-21T12:48:01+00:00

This research analyzes the meaning of modes on billboards based on the linguistic landscape in Padang City, Indonesia. The analysis of signs is based on a combination of the main theories of Linguistic Landscape (LL) by Landry and Bourhis and Kress's theory of sign modes. The analysis of the meaning of billboard signs uses the theory of meaning by Leech and the theory of color by Cerrato. The primary data source is public signs found on main roads and protocol roads in the city of Padang. This research uses primary data, in the form of all billboards, found on main roads in Padang, West Sumatra. The data collection method used is non-participant observation. The data collection technique used is the documentation technique by taking photographs (or called photographic techniques). The data analysis method used is an inductive qualitative descriptive method. The results of the study found that billboards use three modes of signs, namely: text mode, image mode, and color mode. One billboard sign contains two meanings, namely: denotative meaning and connotative meaning.

the Semantic Evolution in EkeGusii: A Diachronic Study of Meaning Shifts

2025-09-10T08:08:33+00:00

This study examines the diachronic semantic evolution of EkeGusii, a Bantu language spoken in southwestern Kenya, to understand how lexical meanings have shifted over the past century in response to cultural, social, and political transformations. Drawing on historical-comparative linguistics and frame semantics, the research analyzes diverse sources, including oral histories, missionary translations, colonial administrative records, and contemporary discourse. It maps semantic changes across domains such as religion, health, kinship, and governance, revealing processes of metaphorical extension, semantic narrowing, pejoration, and amelioration. Findings indicate that Christian missionary influence reshaped religious vocabulary, colonial structures recontextualized leadership terms, and biomedical paradigms reinterpreted indigenous concepts of illness. EkeGusii demonstrates both resilience, by adapting traditional frames to new referents, and erosion, where original meanings are marginalized or replaced. By providing a case-based methodology for tracking lexical change in under-documented languages, this study contributes to Bantu historical linguistics and highlights the dynamic interplay between language, culture, and socio-historical pressures.

The semantics of the Amharic verb alə ‘say’ as an auxiliary:

2025-04-27T01:04:54+00:00

Contemporary Amharic has three verbal forms: alǝ ‘say,’ al(ǝ) ‘aux’, and –al ‘infl’ sharing phonological similarity and the same semantic origin. Previous literature, however, treats them as if they are independent of each other in forms and meanings. On the contrary, this study presents an alternative description treating the three forms as interrelated based on converging evidence, following a grammaticalization process and collecting 43 sets of data from various written sources as a result the study identified the auxiliary al’s and its grammaticalized meanings; introducing single and double words and expressing subjectivity to independent clauses it introduced. As a single-word introducer, the auxiliary alǝ provided meanings such as valency changer, modal auxiliary, expressive marker, verbalizer (light verb) and enclitic word introducer; as a double words introducer the entire construction provided figurative meanings and as a linker of two clauses al(ǝ) ‘aux’ gave subjectivity readings to the entire event encoded by the construction.