The morphopragmatics of Modern South Arabian
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
- Venue
- SOAS University of London
- Room
- S209 (Paul Webley Wing, Senate House North Block)
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
Part of the SOAS Linguistics Research Seminar Series 2025-26
Speaker: Giuliano Castagna
Abstract
Morphopragmatics is "the study of the interrelationship between morphology and pragmatics. Morphology is relevant pragmatically in so far as word structure (affixes, clitics) can be taken as an indication of the speech situation and/or of the speech event" (Kiefer 1998: 272).
After introducing the audience to some commonly occurring morphemes with pragmatic values in European languages, this talk will analyse the functions of some analogous morphological categories in the Semitic Modern South Arabian languages:
- Diminutives
- The nominalising suffix *-in
It will be argued that whilst this morphemes retain their semantics, they are also employed pragmatically to express politeness, endearment, self-deprecation, belittlement (diminutives) and surprise, reproach (nominalising suffix).
Speaker
Giuliano Castagna is a Research Associate at SOAS. His research is focused on the Modern South Arabian branch of the Semitic languages. In particular, he is interested in verbal and nominal obsolescent morphological categories, root formation, native (i.e. non-Arabic) onomastics, the role pre-documentary Modern South Arabian-speaking people in the old Indian Ocean trade network, as well as in the study of the epigraphic heritage of south-eastern Arabia.
Image: Eduard Galitsky, Unsplash
