Cross-linguistically verb classes show similar patterns as to their argument structure constructions, or valency patterns. This similarity raised the attention of researchers, who studied the range of possible variation across verb classes emerging from languages of different genetic and areal affiliation trying to extract general coding tendencies. In spite of numerous attempts to investigate constructional patterns cross-linguistically, no systematic comparative study on diachronic developments across languages is available.
The Pavia research team developed a database under the PaVeDa project funded by the University of Pavia for the year 2021 (https://hodel.unipv.it/paveda), which is configured to contrastively display valency patterns simultaneously in different languages. The datasets from several ancient languages (Early Latin, Ancient Greek, Gothic, Old Irish, Old English, Classical Armenian) are ready to be uploaded in the database, along with the modern languages stored in the ValPaL database (Hartmann et al 2013; http://valpal.info), importable by means of a script that we have designed. The latter database contains data for 80 verb meanings from 36 languages; it is the result of the project “Valency classes in the languages of the world” carried out at Leipzig University from 2009 to 2013 (Malchukov, Comrie 2015).
While the ValPaL database does not allow for contrastive visualization of constructions across the languages it contains, developers of the PaVeDa database designed a special layer of annotation that allows generalizing over language-specific patterns, and makes them visually comparable. Work on ancient languages also brought to methodology redesign, as these languages can only be studied based on corpus data rather than relying on the native speakers’ knowledge. This practice brings about a usage-based methodology that we count on implementing for modern languages too, linking the data on constructional patterns to existing digitalized corpora. With our project, we aim to further develop both typological and diachronic comparison by adding more languages, both ancient and modern, from language families already represented in the ValPal database (Indo-European and Afro-Asiatic) as well as from families that are not represented (Uralic and Turkic). Contrastive study will also enable applications with an impact on language acquisition and L2 learning and teaching of verbal constructions.
Our project is embedded in current research on verbal constructions. We build on results reached by members of the team in earlier projects: ValPaL project to which some members of our research team contributed, PRIN 2015 project “Transitivity and argument structure in flux” (20159M7X5P), PaVeDa project. The database will be made available to the scientific community on an open-source basis through a dedicated web platform. We are planning on cooperating with a number of international partners which have already agreed to participate.
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References
Hartmann I., Haspelmath M., Taylor B. (eds.) 2013. Valency Patterns Leipzig. Leipzig: M. Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at http://valpal.info/).
Malchukov A., Comrie B. (eds.) 2015. Valency Classes in the World’s Languages. Berlin: De Gruyter.